Best of the Best on the Sega Game Gear

[Music] all right the Sega Game Gear was originally released in Japan in the fall of 1990. it was meant to be a direct competitor to Nintendo's Game Boy with the added attraction of a color backlit screen and much more impressive visuals the core technology was mostly based on the Master System though it did have access to more color Sega was intent on making it a success advertising it heavily in every major region it was released in when it was all said and done they had moved nearly 11 million units worldwide and though the Game Boy crushed that number it was still one of sega's best-selling pieces of hardware for those that owned and supported the Game Gear it proved to be a fantastic portable with a varied library that was well over 300 titles strong it often is labeled as simply a portable Master System but I feel this does the device a great disservice there are many titles that either appeared first on the Game Gear or were exclusive to it that got me to thinking talking about what were the very best games for the old Game Gear and in this episode we are gonna be looking at what I think are the answers to that question in a number of categories I've structured this video as one runner-up and one winner for each given section and separated the honorable mentions into their own piece hope you guys enjoy the best of the best on the Sega Game Gear [Music] thank you [Music] let's begin this with a proper shout out to some honorable mentions The Game Gear had some really nice titles and it would be a shame not to give as many as we can they're due respect thanks to recent fan translations many of the Game Gear strategy adventure and RPG offerings are now fully playable in English and a few other languages be sure to check out the meadow monogatari series for example these dungeon crawling RPGs are fairly simple to get into they were done by compile and have you battling all sorts of creatures like dragons demons and even puyos there were four of these on the game gear and everyone now has an English translation you're also going to want to check out the Sonic releases for this device there were 12 related titles to the Sonic Universe in total some of them were actually quite good too even Tails got a few games of his own for the Game Gear Megami tensei Gaiden last Bible and last Bible special are part of the larger shin Megami tensei series now fan translated into English these games are much softer and simpler than what we saw on consoles and the story is geared to a much younger audience still it's an interesting series and retains many other traits that made its Big Brothers a must play you may also want to give titles like Mega Man Ninja Gaiden and dynamite hideia look Mega Man is sort of a mixture of Mega Man 4 and 5 borrowing stages and bosses from both the gameplay feels a tad different but the design is fairly solid for portable release Ninja Gaiden is a completely new entry into that Universe though the gameplay style is similar Dynamite hidey is supported a Genesis Masterpiece that manages to capture the spirit of it quite well Sports were well represented on The Game Gear too super off-road was a great arcade Port clutch hitter did baseball games proud and even a few other Joe Montana NFL releases were very playable finally don't skimple and exploring action titles like rosten and Aladdin these were excellent and often get overlooked on The Game Gear foreign let's start out with the often underappreciated puzzle genre The Game Gear had a number of decent entries here and it was actually difficult choosing just two our runner-up is super columns a take on the classic formula that includes a new flash mode that challenges you to break strategically placed blocks buried under a mountain of regular blocks there's also a story mode with magical attacks and an endless mode for you score lovers but when it comes to the most compelling and truly fun puzzle game I gotta go with magical puzzle Popples this is an action Puzzler that has you trying to rescue your true love by breaking blocks climbing ladders and avoiding enemies this one is so incredibly simple yet so challenging you don't do much of anything but break blocks and climb so you need to get pretty inventive to solve each area it won't knock your socks all visually but this one is a must play nonetheless [Music] foreign foreign [Music] racing games on Portables back then really didn't have the visual punch of their console cousins but that didn't mean they still weren't fun The Game Gear Port of outrun is our runner-up and it retains much of the fun of the arcade original it's been simplified but the music is still there as are the multi-course layouts gameplay wise it feels similar to The Master System version but now has a special one-on-one mode against the computer or another player with the system link our winner happens to be even better Road Rash came out of nowhere and blew my socks off the first time I played it yeah it's slower than the 16-bit versions but it's still an unbelievable Port all the same having this one on the go was the kind of thing you dreamed about only a few years earlier it even managed to keep just about all the same content right down to the tracks personalities and upgrades for the time you couldn't ask for more thank you [Music] thank you [Music] we are gonna break from the traditional runner-up and winter formula for the best Shoot Em Up section here when it comes to this genre there are the GG elusta games and then there's pretty much everything else for that reason we are putting Gigi alesta one and two as runner-ups and Gigi alesta 3 is the winner for those that don't know GT olesta is a compound developed vertically scrolling shooter with solid visuals and a great weapon system that gave way to Gigi alesta 2 which is also known as power strike 2 in Europe it was again another solid all-around well-made shooter with impressive action for a portable game the GG alesta 3 wouldn't be released until 2020 when M2 developed it for a modern compilation which was then dumped and hacked to run on actual Hardware the end result is a shooter that is very impressive for an 8-bit console big Sprites massive bosses and Screen filling weapons really make it stand out there are a few other shoot em ups on The Game Gear that are really fun but the GG olesta games are in a class all by themselves [Music] [Music] back in the early 90s Sega Disney games were spot on incredible no joke some of the most playable games of that era our runner-up was definitely in that group and easily earns its place here as our runner-up best platformer Land of Illusion had great animation colorful stages and that classic design that made it so enjoyable to play Mickey must rescue his friends find magical items and face down awesome looking enemies they could easily be considered the best in this category if it weren't for our winner Castle of Illusion I prefer the stage design in this one but it otherwise shares many of the same traits that made Land of Illusion a winner great visuals and Rock Solid gameplay that easily challenges any similar 16-bit title at the time the only knock I could seriously give it is that it's short but as a portable game that pretty much was par for the course ha [Music] foreign [Music] the fighting genre is not something I'd call well represented by any 8-bit console much less one that was portable that's why R2 Takara made entries were such a pleasant surprise our runner-up is Samurai Showdown a stripped down version of the Neo Geo classic we lose earthquake gain some Sprite Flicker and slow down but still retain enough of the fun to make this one a must play the stages the music the special moves most of it is still here and enjoyable but the best fighter on The Game Gear is fatal Fury Special by a country mile and then some based on a Neo Geo classic itself this one retains gameplay that feels exceptional considering the device it's on we even get the time of day changes and a soundtrack that is completely recognizable it makes Samurai Showdown look terrible in comparison it's so impressive neither of these will live up to their console counterparts but considering the platform and form factor this is top shelf stuff [Music] thank you [Music] I didn't play many strategy or RPGs for my Game Gear until much later but I did discover a number of them I quite enjoyed our runner-up is Defenders of Oasis a fantasy star style RPG that sees a displaced Prince attempt to avenge his father and free his kingdom most of what is here has been done a hundred times before but it's done well and the ease of place should appeal to most of you they usually don't adore the genre it's got great music and the visuals are very colorful our winner here is easily the strategy RPG Shining Force Gaiden final Conflict I came to love this game first completing it only recently and realizing what a great game it was this Bridges many of the story elements of the first two Shining Force Genesis titles centering on many of the same characters and their stories and like those two games you'll love the cast the presentation and the well-designed battle system which mimics the Genesis titles perf perfectly Shining Force had a grand showing on sega's handheld and I consider this one the best of an already Elite group of software [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you the adventure genre is when they didn't have a ton of representation on the game gear but what is here is still quite good our runner-up is Wonder Boy dragons trap a side-scrolling adventure with lots of platforming exploration and things to find I overlooked this title a lot because I didn't play it on the Master System originally but I think it's a great fit for the portable Game Gear you get multiple forms that allow you to deal with your quest like a dragon a mouse a piranha and even a hawk the visuals are super colorful and look great on The Game Gear screen our winner is truly one of the system's great titles however and that is Sylvan tail this is another fan translated title that was Japanese only for years now fully playable to English-speaking audiences it takes a zelda-like approach with top-down action and exploration as you search for the six magical droplets to save the children of silverland gameplay is heavily focused on puzzle solving in real-time action so this one was right up my alley no crappy random battles here it also has a killer soundtrack to help drive your adventure if you enjoy games like golden ax Warrior or Crusader of Senti you will absolutely adore this one [Music] thank you [Music] The Game Gear had a few decent beat em ups and our runner-up may come as a surprise Battletoads was hard as heck but it was nearly as good here as it was on the Genesis it it's colorful and the gameplay has a great Variety in its design like vehicles and stages where you are doing things other than simply running left to right it's been cut back some in terms of content but what is here is not bad at all the winner is orders of magnitude better however Streets of Rage 2 was a beast on The Game Gear adding super moves that even the 16-bit Edition didn't have it does omit Max among your choices but I had a blast with this and it was one of my most played game gear titles for months while it has a number of design differences it mostly follows the Genesis version and you'll recognize the great music instantly it even supports the gear to gear cable for two players as far as portable beat-em-ups go I don't think you can really do much better than this [Music] thank you [Music] when you think portable you don't really latch onto the idea of enjoying a sports game but like the Genesis before it there were plenty of choices on the old Game Gear our runner-up is NHL hockey a sport I'm not particularly smitten with and yet found this game quite impressive it isn't quite as smooth or as fast as the Genesis games but it's still incredibly playable and it even looks nice it has an impressive amount of options too including two-player Link cable support all the real teams and players and a full season with playoffs and the Stanley Cup impressive to say the least on a similar note is our winner NBA Jam tournament Edition appeared back but impressive game itself this is two on two basketball and a port of the wildly popular arcade game that translated shockingly well to the 8-Bit screen you still get the real NBA license and players the outrageous moves and a load of new additions like All-Star and rookie teams the only thing it really lacks is a two-player option and the announcer but this is still a must-have on the go regardless the original NBA Jam is on The Game Gear as well though it's missing quite a bit of content [Music] thank you the best running gun was an easy one for me because both choices were so much better than what you may have guessed the runner-up is an 8-bit Port of the Genesis classic gun star Heroes this was done by M2 a six stage approximation that has most of the content of its 16-bit Big Brother there's a fair bit of sprite flicker here in the area and it's slower than you'd expect but those are typical drawbacks you'd expect from the technology the big winner in this category is RoboCop vs Terminator a blood-soaked adventure that has RoboCop trying to change the fate of all mankind like Gunstar Heroes it does a very admirable job recreating the Genesis version right down to the weaponry and very similar stage layouts what I really enjoyed about this is that it's not your typical ho-hum running gun the stages are laid out so you need to jump climb and find your way around a bit enemies are placed all around you and you actually need to aim to hit them sometimes the large your enemies and the more intense scenes create a ton of sprite Flicker and slow down but that's the only black mark on this otherwise Stellar portable release foreign [Music] the best action game category is massive and includes what amounts to about three quarters of the library the runner-up is a good one though the beautiful wrist star this was a looker on the Genesis and it remained so here you get most of that great animation and the amount of color will blow you away for an 8-bit portable title best part is it's no simple Port it features numerous new stages and level layouts making it its own adventure the best though has to be the Castlevania inspired master of Darkness this has great music solid graphics and the gameplay to make you really wish Sega had kept doing this series well past this release comparisons to Castlevania are fully Justified and the developers were utterly unashamed in their homage to it just about everything is perfect in regards to working as a portable accent title it's paste well the presentation is on point and the LinkedIn challenge are just about perfect dig in and make sure those batteries are charged this one is really hard to put down [Music] best exclusive is a tall order because time usually means many of the better games received ports elsewhere so we are gonna simplify this a bit and stay within the era The Game Gear was available at retail our runner-up is Tails Adventure a spin-off for the Sonic franchise that gives everyone's favorite sidekick a game of his own it's much slower and more deliberate than Sonic giving Tails bombs to dispatch enemies the power of limited flight and stages that require a bit of exploration it's a great deviation from what you know and love from Sonic and the sound and visuals hold up well the winner couldn't have been anything else and that's Shinobi too this was a continuation of the great design of the first subtitled the silent Fury again you need to unlock the various colored ninja secure your weapons and powers and then take on the final challenge to win it all it's pretty much the perfect portable release it looks and sounds incredible the gameplay forgets tiresome and the gameplay and variety ties it all together it was a major missed opportunity to bring these games to the Genesis or Sega CD in one package but the Game Gear does just fine regardless [Music] thank you [Music] Sound and Music could be something of an acquired taste on The Game Gear thanks to its PSG based Hardware like the Master System when things were rough it could be ear piercing thankfully a number of developers could do great things with it which gives us our runner-up Batman Returns unlike the Genesis version this was developed by aspect and it's got some of the best audio on the platform it's dark Eerie and fits the atmosphere like a glove let's listen to a snippet to see what you think [Music] thank you [Applause] foreign our winner for best sound is the very first Gigi Shinobi a master class of how to do PSG music right composed by yuzo kashiro this has once again proof this dude was born to create the soundtracks that Define the 90s Sega experience this isn't just good music you could add this to just about any action game of the time and it'd make the entire thing better again let's listen to get a feel for just how epic this release truly was [Music] thank you best graphics is a tough one because there are so many Game Gear games that easily rank high among the best looking 8-bit visuals you've ever seen my runner-up is tempo Jr a colorful little guy that looks damn near as good as any 16-bit title the animation the enemies the stages it all comes together in one impossibly great looking game some of this stuff Rivals PC engine releases like bonk's Adventure the winner of Best Graphics is one that still impresses me all these years later the lucky dime keeper yup Sega and Disney combine yet again for another home run uncanny color in detail for the time and Technology this is another one that puts some 16-bit efforts to shame you could trade out deep duck trouble here as they both are equally gorgeous oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] our final category is the big one best overall Game Gear game let's not mince words the Shinobi games dominate this area Bar None these two games are about as well made as games get for sega's affordable the presentation the gameplay the variety The Challenge I dare you to find something even remotely in the same league I put the Gigi Shinobi in the runner-up spot here just because part two improves upon just about everything enough to capture the win I prefer the music in the first though separating these two comes down to splitting hairs on the basis of preference I just can't recommend either enough if you enjoy any of the Shinobi games elsewhere you are in for one hell of a treat start to finish they are some of the better portable action games of that time [Music] laughs [Music] foreign [Music] sega's Game Gear lived a relatively fruitful life seeing software releases through 1996 and even into 1997 a bit an impressive seven year stretch it often gets marginalized because platforms like the Game Boy lasted for more than a decade saw over a thousand software releases and sold over a hundred million units worldwide that must mean the Game Gear was a piece of garbage in comparison right not at all even with a number of its offerings also appearing on the Master System The Game Gear still retains an impressive amount of stuff you could only play there you saw some of those games here in this very episode it could be argued that it's never been a better time to own and support an old Game Gear you have devices like the everdrive that give us the entire library in one cartridge upgrades like modern screens that vastly improve the image quality and even rechargeable battery packs to give the device battery life like it's never seen before the The Game Gear will always have a place in my retro collection because I just adore much of its Library it was a great way to experience Master System releases since I was late to that party and the Modern English translations have given me a number of games to ReDiscover if you haven't played some of these and enjoy games on the go I recommend you fire up your favorite device and try some of them out you might just find a treasure Trove of memorable releases I'm sigalord X thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time [Music] thank you [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 56,487

Keywords: sega game gear, game gear, retro gaming

Id: hWMo0grhX2c

Length: 29min 15sec (1755 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 12 2023