Switchblade II is a platform action game that originated on the Amiga; was developed by Gremlin Graphics, and published for the Atari Lynx by Atari Corporation in 1992. It is similar in some respects to Capcom‘s Strider, although the main character – Hiro – isn’t quite as dynamic as Strider Hiryu. The first Switchblade wasn’t released for the Lynx – just the sequel was.

Hiro is capable of two types of jump: long and short (to do the long jump you press up while pressing the jump button). He can swipe with a blade when enemies are close up, and he’ll shoot bullets from a gun when they’re at a distance. That is: as long as he has the ammunition to fire his gun.

As Hiro fights his way through the scrolling levels he collects money from destroyed enemies, and ammo and energy as he comes across them. Energy replenishes Hiro’s health, which is shown as a bar in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. The bar in the bottom right-hand corner represents Hiro’s gun ammunition.

There are a variety of enemies and hazards that Hiro must either destroy or avoid. Some enemies fire bombs or guns at you, while others are more passive and damage only by touch. Hiro must avoid touching fire or falling from too high, both of which will damage him. At the end of each level there’s also a boss fight that must be overcome to continue.

Occasionally you’ll encounter glowing white doors, and these lead to shops where you can buy special weapons and power-ups. Some of which are very useful. You can also top-up your health and ammo in these shops, as well as buy extra lives. Doors that aren’t white lead to interior rooms, tunnels, or caves that can contain enemies, traps or goodies.

Switchblade II is not a bad Lynx game at all, but it is relatively slow-moving. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although some might argue that Switchblade II isn’t very challenging because of that. I would say that it’s sometimes refreshing to play a game that isn’t head-bangingly hard from the outset, but gradually increases in difficulty, which Switchblade II seems to do. It’s safe to say that the Lynx version of this game is not as difficult as the Amiga original, though.

In total there are six different stages in Switchblade II, each with four sub-levels, making 24 levels in total.

Initially I didn’t much like Switchblade II, but it grew on me the more I played it, and by the end I really liked it. Controlling Hiro feels good and is enjoyable; the game looks and sounds good, and the extra weapons you can buy from shops do add variety to the gameplay.

As Lynx platform games go, I’d say that Switchblade II is definitely worth playing through at least once, and if you collect real Lynx hardware it’s arguably a must-own title.

More: Switchblade II on Wikipedia