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10 GAMES THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT THE GAME GEAR

8/11/2018

24 Comments

 
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While certainly not the worst thing with the initials GG that the games industry has ever seen, Sega's Game Gear was this: massively overshadowed by the Game Boy. Nintendo's handheld had the benefit of a head start, a load momentum, and "Tetty" (Tetris). 

Sega, however, was pretty confident that it could win the handheld war, by releasing a full colour machine. Now get a load of this controversial opinion: in many respects, the Game Gear was the better hardware. At least you could play it in low light situations, and it never gave anybody the clap (legal disclaimer: neither did the Game Boy, probably).

Admittedly, it wasn't quite as pocket-friendly as the Game Boy, and it chewed through batteries like a dog with an advent calendar, but it was essentially a hold-in-your-hand version of Sega's Master System, and that's a pretty remarkable thing. Heck, with the TV tuner add-on you could even watch Going For Gold and Fort Boyard on it.

Unfortunately, where the Game Gear stumbled was its game library - lots of Master System ports, basically - which simply wasn't as diverse or strong as the Game Boy's. And yet... there were some surprising gems in there which bucked the trend.

​Here are 10 Game Gear games which might just make you think again.
LAND OF ILLUSION STARRING MICKEY MOUSE
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Mickey Mouse? More like "DICKY MOUTH", amirite!?!?!?!?

Well, that was a bit unnecessary. 

Also a Master System title, Land of Illusion was a sort of sister game to the Mega Drive's brilliant Castle of Illusion. While "it" boasted some nice animation and bright colours, it obviously doesn't look quite as good as Castle, but get this: it might actually be the better platformer.

It's more involved - with collectable items able to endow the Mickster with new abilities, and appearances from his special cartoon friends, such as Jym Ryvvers, Fort Boyard, and Calpol.
STREETS OF RAGE 2
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Though it's stripped back a little - with obvious concessions being made to the less potent hardware -  a Game Gear version of the Mega Drive's peerless Streets of Rage 2 has no business being as faithful as this. You might not be able to do kicking, and the characters are somewhat more shrivelled and stunted by comparison to their 16-bit counterparts, but everything else is mostly intact.

And you could play it while watching Fort Boyard! On the toilet (if you had a toilet near your television)!
GUNSTAR HEROES
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Though it's missing a couple of levels from the Mega Drive original, the Game Gear port of the brilliant Gunstar Heroes has pretty much everything else intact.

Indeed, had it been released earlier in the Game Gear's life - and not right at the arse-end - it's possible that the handheld wars might've turned out quite differently. Aside from a spot of sprite flicker, and a lack of parallax scrolling, the brightness and detail on the characters could almost convince you this is the Mega Drive version.

It even has that weird wobbly tree thing from the first level. Imagine if Fort Boyard had one of those!!!!
TAILS ADVENTURE
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Though paced more like a Metroid than the games in which he first appeared, Tails Adventure - the first, and to date only, solo outing for Sonic The Hedgehog's very own "piece of tail" - offers some truly lovely animation.

​The puzzle-based platforming is broken up with underwater shooting sections, and... well... I'm boring myself writing about it. But really: lovely animation. 
VIRTUA FIGHTER ANIMATION
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Yeah: there was a Virtua Fighter title on the Game Gear. Even suggesting such a thing sends a shiver of incomprehension across my labrum.

Obviously it didn't have the polygons of the arcade and Saturn versions, but it did its best to compensate with a storyline. Now get this: it looked really good, it felt like Virtua Fighter, and it played well. Unfortunately, it was absurdly easy.

Other than that though... oh-hoh, Johnny!
ARENA: MAZE OF DEATH
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This isometric delicacy was another late-era Game Gear release, and managed to wring some unexpected drops of graphical prowess out of its bowels.

Yes, there's a lot of repetitive scenery, and the explorin' and shootin' isn't the most stirring (it's no Fort Boyard), but - y'know - it demonstrated that the Game Gear had the potential to be a contender. 
SONIC 2
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The Game Gear/Master System versions of the first two Sonic games featured completely different levels and gameplay elements to the Mega Drive versions. Somehow, they managed to be just as fast, and - in their own way - sort of as good.

​Best to ignore Sonic Triple Trouble, mind. That was like following up the first two series of Fort Boyard with a show set in a pervert-owned diarrhoea factory.
NINJA GAIDEN
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Upon release, the Game Gear version of Ninja Gaiden received a degree of stink for deviating from the rest of the series. Taken on its own, however, it's a solid hack 'em up - with some particularly decent visuals, and a superb soundtrack. Also, at least you could see what you were doing, unlike on Ninja Gaiden Shadow for the Game Boy.
PANZER DRAGOON MINI
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Panzer Dragoon was another franchise best known for its next-gen visuals, and one that you might've not expected to have shown up on the Game Gear. Playing a bit like Space Harrier - with the addition of its Saturn progenitor's lock-on weaponry - Panzer Dragoon Mini was, in all honesty, pretty feeble, but the sheer gall of the endeavour it makes it worth a look.
SHINOBI II: THE SILENT FURY
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Playing similarity to the Mega Drive Shinobi games, The Silent Fury (fart joke: here) might possibly be the best game that ever there was (on the Game Gear).

It even managed to add a level of depth that was missing in the Mega Drive versions, with players required to retrace their steps to access new areas once they'd acquired the items to unlock them. Its non-linear structure and multiple ninja characters - with differing abilities - were all enhanced by a brilliant soundtrack from Sega music legend Yuzo Koshiro.

​It was no Fort Boyard title music, but then... what is?
24 Comments
Peter Parker link
8/11/2018 10:19:32 am

I made a web on the ceiling. Haw.

Also Sonic 2 is very good, trust me, I'm Peter Parker, of the famous web website, web net.

Reply
Jenuall
15/11/2018 03:33:03 pm

It's a great game but the first boss is all messed up on the Game Gear version making it stupidly hard! The Master System version is much easier by comparison.

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Conor
8/11/2018 10:44:36 am

True story: Sonic 2 on the master system is my favourite Sonic (I can't vouch for the Game Gear version)

I always felt it looked 'cleaner' than the Mega Drive games.

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RG
8/11/2018 11:19:40 am

Please, what is worst thing with the initials GG that the games industry has ever seen?

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John Veness
8/11/2018 11:41:10 am

I had the same problem thinking of it until someone reminded me - Gamergate.

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Col. Asdasd
8/11/2018 11:44:17 am

That's easy, Geoffrey Giraffe. As a nipper I was taken to a Toy R Us with the promise that I would get a game for my NES. My parents hadn't reckoned on the ridiculous mark up they put on their games and basically took one look at the prices and said 'sod this'.

I'm not sure I've ever truly recovered from the breach of trust but I suppose it taught me a valuable lesson about the world.

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RG
8/11/2018 12:00:36 pm

Cheers both, I can stop straining my brain now.

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Neptunium
8/11/2018 11:56:37 am

The best thing about the Game Gear was the Master Gear Converter. Master System Fantasy Zone and R-Type handheld = bestest handheld.

The worst thing about the Game Gear was having the AC adapter permanently plugged in because you couldn't afford 6 new AA's every 5 minutes.

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Bingo Rose
8/11/2018 12:03:20 pm

Pretty certain Biffo was referring to Gilbert Gottfried... who of course starred in the 1994 live-action Double Dragon movie.

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Paul
8/11/2018 12:14:57 pm

I had a GameGear. Like most of my (limited) gaming stuff at the time, it was second hand, as were pretty much the games I had for it. I was being a student at the time, and treated myself to a game or so every now and then from a shop that sold “pre loved” cartridges.

The one thing I wanted for it, but which never turned up in the second hand shop, was the TV Tuner which turned the system into a portable television. Allegedly.

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Hamptonoid
8/11/2018 07:41:42 pm

I had the tv tuner, it was surprisingly decent. I didn't even know it existed at the time, so can only assume my mum picked it up on the cheap. Presumably because no one else was buying them. She always maintained that the game gear was the best thing she ever bought me - I could at least be an antisocial gamer in the living room with the rest of the family, whilst they watched Corrie.

Lots of good games. My favourite was Defenders of Oasis, a decent Zelda rip off with some lovely graphics.

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Leigh L.
8/11/2018 12:21:37 pm

Biffo: who are you calling a pervert, Dirty Den or DI Burnside?

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lilock3
8/11/2018 01:28:08 pm

And here's me just having bought myself a Master System...

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fatnick link
8/11/2018 01:42:14 pm

The Master System had it's own (very good) version of Castle of Illusion - I think Land of Illusion was the Game Gears answer to 16-bit Castle sequel World of Illusion.
(everyone seems to have forgotten about World, which is a shame as the graphics were beautiful and it featured a great Co-op mode)

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
8/11/2018 05:11:55 pm

I loved my Game Gear, it did indeed have lovely games. The size and weight (especially given having a battery pack was almost essential) meant it didn’t come everywhere like my Game Boy did, but the GG did do well for car trips or flights or whatever.

The Super Off-Road port was pretty much perfect.

Desert Strike was reasonable, too.

We bought Arena: Maze of Death after my mother and I saw it in the shops and thought the ridiculous title and equivalent cover art (an unshaven Michael Biehn-alike angrily firing a green uzi) was too funny to resist.

My most enduring memory was riding in a rented Ford Escort down the M1 from Newcastle to London. I was in the back seat with my nan, and I noticed there was a large bee in a state of distress on the parcel shelf. My dad refused to pull over so we could deal with it, and I was so convinced I was about to get stang up that I dropped my Game Gear and broke one of the flaps off my carry case for it.

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David Heslop
8/11/2018 05:46:22 pm

Fun fact: I had to make several promos for the CITV relaunch of Fort Boyard.

Another fun fact: the first series of which was produced in association with the Disney Channel in the US, and it turns out that although Americans love guns, they're terrified of tigers, and as such the poor little kitties were banned from the show. Subsequent, non-Disney-related series reinstated the chunky tiggers, however.

Another fun fact: our commissioner got to jet off to the location to, ahem, oversee the filming, whereas us plebs were stuck back in the office in Manchester making jokes about Dirty Den.

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Bob Trousers
9/11/2018 09:57:08 am

'as least you could see what you were doing' - indeed.

The Game Gear was ace. I was a Nintendo fanboy, but it was clear that the 'Gear, for all its flaws, provided a far superior gaming experience compared to the 'Boy.

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CM Punk
9/11/2018 06:35:31 pm

The Game Gear was an amazing console and it's problem was the lack of Lithium-ion batteries in its era.

Had current cellphone batteries existed back then, it would have run for months on a single charge.

In that era battery tech was lagging far behind the potential of electronics (e.g screens/miniaturised circuit boards/processors).

Whilst we would like longer battery life today, the technology isn't holding back devices to the same extent and we can even deliberately restrict battery capacity for negligible reductions in device size/form as opposed to capacity being a huge be-all, end-all limiting factor.

The modern day equivalent of the GG would be the electric car in 2018. The energy storage technology hasn't kept pace with the motors/regeneration technology. Put a solid-state battery from 2030 in a Nissan Leaf or similar today and you would have an awesome car without changing anything else.

Put a Li-ion battery in a GG in 1991 and without changing anything else I am sure it would have gone on to dominate with the games library issue solving itself as the install base rocketed.

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Kelvin Green link
10/11/2018 11:39:48 am

Things with which I agree:

Game Gear was brilliant.
Battery life was terrible.
TV adaptor was a great idea.
Master System converter was amazing because the MS had some great games.
Sonic 2 on the GG/MS was a super game, just as good as the MS one in its own way.
The console itself looked a bit chubby.

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Fancy Pants
10/11/2018 05:17:43 pm

I have a GG with a load of games. It turns on, screen obviously has power going to it, but it stays blank. I assume something has rotted away in its innards. Any ideas?

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John Veness
10/11/2018 05:23:58 pm

It'll need a "recap" - change all the capacitors. A few pounds and a couple of hours soldering.

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Mr SunnyBones
27/11/2018 10:33:04 pm

The main problem with collecting old GameGear stuff is that capacitor problem.
Well that and people looking for crazy prices for games 'cos they've seen a ludicrous buy it now price on ebay and reckon its worth that!

mrak
12/11/2018 07:56:26 am

The strangest thing is that the French version of Fort Boyard has been in production since 1990 and cannot be stopped.

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John JTM
22/11/2018 03:26:42 pm

I can remember two games for the Game Gear which my brother got. Sonic The Hedgehog which made driving through Wales on "holiday" a lot more fun. I can still hear the " Seeeee-GAAAA!" intro in my mind, rather than the sound of rain in Llandudno. Great fun.

The second was Olympic Gold. A because it was great - diving was a fantastic laugh. B, because my friend Adam upper-cutted me in celebration (accidentally) when he beat the Pole Vault record. Not great battery life (and everything else that's been mentioned) but a kit - good times ahad (chin injury not withstanding)

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