Atari Lynx #2: Gordo 106

Developer: Tenth Planet

Publisher: Atari

Release: August 1993

(Wait there's a giant mutated gorilla in this game? Maybe I should give it another chance)

Okay I’ll go ahead and get it out of the way. “ Why don’t you review Gordos 1-105 first?” There I said it. Gordo 106 is a game that’s just about as clunky as its name. It’s almost the exact opposite of Scrapyard Dog. The humor is more strained, the levels are much more mundane, and the difficulty is based on unfairness. I hate rating games without actually finishing them, but even with save states I have hit a wall and can’t get any further. The worst part is that I don’t even have the desire to power through it. Maybe someday I will get that weird urge to play through a stinker, but for now I will set it aside and evaluate it as well as I can.

Gordo 106 is a rad lab monkey trying escape the scientists that mutated him into an intelligent primate. You can tell he’s rad because he has a red hat. He doesn’t have sunglasses, but he’s so rad that I can picture him wearing some. He’s going to escape the same way every video game character did in the early 90s, by running from left to right and jumping a whole lot. There is not that much I can say about the basic setup that you don’t already know. Let’s get to the problems already.

 

First of all the controls are not good. Even on modern hardware it is unresponsive and strange. There are hanging fixtures everywhere that Gordo is supposed to swing across, and I am still not sure how it is supposed to work. Sometimes I jump up and he instantly connects. Sometimes he holds on for a split second and then lets go. I am not sure if pushing a button makes it work or not because sometimes it seems to help and sometimes it doesn’t. Considering how much time is spent swinging you would think they would make it intuitive. It should work every time. This leads right back into the other problem which is all the holes. I have no idea why a research laboratory is so full of hard to see holes. It doesn’t make any sense aesthetically and it makes the game a nightmare t play. With so much time spent in the air it’s usually not until it’s too late that you notice that giant hole under you. The game also has a ceiling that makes it impossible to jump if you are on a high ledge, so sometimes the holes are simply unavoidable. The most strange thing, however, is that holes don’t kill you but instead sends you to a fiery hellscape. I haven’t been able to escape them very often, but the one I did escape from sent me back to the beginning of the level which was no fun at all. It’s sort of like the parallel worlds in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. On the top side is a goofy mutated monkey game, on the bottom is an entirely different game full of lava and terror. Sadly they are both bad.

Okay so maybe hellscape is a little strong, but it's still not a fun situation to be in

There is some interesting trivia with this game. Tenth Planet only developed this game and then never did anything else. Half of the credited people never worked on another game. The other half, however, went on to make the first two Diablo games. It’s comforting to know that the people who worked on Gordo 106 either quickly learned their lesson and got better or got out of the industry so they couldn’t make the same mistakes again. Hey at least this game taught some people what not to do.

 

Lynx quality percentage: 1/2 or 50%

 

1. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. The Legend of Zelda

4. Galaga

5. Donkey Kong

6. Exodus: Ultima III

7. Pac-Mania

8. Wrecking Crew

9. Super Pac-Man

10. Pac-Man

11. Viva Pinata

12. Dragon View

13. Excitebike

14. Drakkhen

15. Arc the Lad

16. Clu Clu Land

17. Tails’ Adventures

18. Scrapyard Dog (Lynx)

19. Artifact Adventure Gaiden DX

20. Mickey’s Racing Adventure

21. Metro-Cross

22. Double Dragon

23. Panic Restaurant

24. Felix the Cat

25. Ice Climber

26. Gaplus

27. Dragon Spirit

28. Pinball (NES)

29. Ninja Golf

30. Super Soccer

31. Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour (GBC)

32. Red Sea Crossing

33. Baraduke

34. Demon’s Crest

35. Evoland

36. Tennis

37. Renegade

38. Hogan’s Alley

39. Gamma-Attack

40. The Legend of “Valkyrie”

41. Galaxian

42. Dragon Crystal

43. Cosmic Commuter

44. Hot Pixel

45. PocketBike Racer

46. Wild Gunman

47. Defunct

48. Gyruss (2600)

49. Looney Tunes Racing

50. Squidlit

51. Gordo 106

52. Baseball

53. Birthday Mania

54. Bad Street Brawler

55. Burly Men at Sea

56. WeakWood Throne

57. X-Men (HyperScan)

58. My Name is Mayo

59. Marvel Heroes

60. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

61. Ben 10

screenshots from mobygames.com