Best of the Best on the Sega Game Gear
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ส.ค. 2023
- Let's look at my picks for the best games on the Sega Game Gear.
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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.
Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.
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By: Jan Neves
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Intro by Evan S.
portfolio.tsestudios.com/
Episode Notes:
1. For most of this stuff I used Kega. My Game Gear has a modded screen but no TV output.
2. The Game Gear was re-issued by Majesco, as were many of its games in 2000.
3. In South Korea, the Game Gear was known as the Handy Gam Boy.
4. The Game Gear was not Sega's only handheld. In 1995 Sega released the Nomad, a portable Genesis.
5. I tried to streamline this one a bit and not spend time on factoids like who made it or when it was released. I wanted it to flow smoothly from game to game just on the merits of why it was chosen.
6. You may notice that Royal Stone is in my Top 10 but not in this episode. While I enjoyed Royal Stone quite a bit, I felt Defenders of Oasis and Shining Force Gaiden III would have a stronger appeal to the majority of you. - เกม
The game gear saved the battery industry 🪫
My dad could afford to buy me a GG, but he couldn't afford the supply of Energizers.
@@GeraldGarciaShould've picked up the charge cable too, it was available at launch or shortly after. I only used batteries for car trips.
😆👍
I feel like the Game Gear’s legacy is largely seen as “the handheld that failed against the Gameboy” and I think that’s both sad and unfair. If you judge the game gear for what it was rather than for what it wasn’t, you’ll find that it was a great little handheld!
It was ahead of its time
The way Sega marketed it, especially in North America, I'd say the legacy it received is warranted.
@@SomeOrangeCat Like I said, I (strongly) believe that things should be judged for what they are rather than what they are not. Was it the Gameboy killer that Sega advertised it to be? No, it absolutely did not turn out to be that. But what it DID turn out to be was a great handheld with a lot of fun games. It definitely wasn't perfect, but it was certainly ahead of its time IMO
Imagine a world where pokemon red launched on the GB and pokemon blue on the Game Gear and you could trade between both with a newer, joint company, game link cable. Both could have sold +60 million, maybe +100 if you get gold/silver generation there.
@@juansanchez209 It definitely had it's fans, but I'm not among them. It all comes down to the library for me.
My first portable system. My dad helped get me the Game Gear on my Birthday of 1994.
Same for me for Christmas 94
Same for me! I got it for my 8th birthday and rode home from New Jersey to VA, and the 6 AA batteries held strong the whole 6 hour trip 😂
Christmas '92 for me. Came with a voucher to come back after Christmas to pick up Sonic 2, since they couldn't sell the game until then. Disappeared two moves ago. I miss it.
I WANT DARK CHOCOLATE PRETZELS!
I remember getting my GG on my bday. My parents got me the Lil suitcase too. Had a handful of games. I loved the GG
Always happy to see videos for the wonderful, battery-guzzling Game Gear.
I Had the AC PowerCord.
@@aretnap3653 It was a required accessory.
@@aretnap3653 So did everyone else. But it's a portable console on the road and the game boy crushed it when it came to battery life portable.
The Game Gear was great when I was a kid because I could use it in my room without taking up the living room TV (since I didn't have my own). Never actually took it anywhere because of the battery consumption, lol.
You had an ac adaptor?
Basically how I use my switch lite today! 30 years later and the habits never change.
@@laughingseal2282 Yup, always plugged in. To this day, I don't think I've ever used a Game Gear on AAs.
@@themadmadcow Same with mine, i only used it when i was at home resting in my bedroom. Never took it outside mostly because i could get robbed anytime. So basically only used it with the ac adaptor.
Same here always plugged in & playing in my room. GG was and is special to me I still have it, but it needs to be recapped etc. And my soldering skills aren't good enough...
Your knowledge about everything Sega is so impressive. Can't believe you nailed the puzzle genre with Popils, not that many people know about that amazing game.
Bro these retro videos always put a smile on my face. 😀
Your videos can really bring me a bit of joy even in the most depressing times of my life, thank you!
You are very welcome.
Same here, the right kind of person can always cheer us up :)
Fatal Fury Special on GG is FANTASTIC. It's honestly pretty insane how well it turned out considering the limitations of the hardware. The graphics are great, the controls work really well, the gameplay is smooth, etc. Hell, it even has the day and night cycles for the stages that the Sega CD version lacks. Beautifully done job by Takara. Also yes, the GG version of Streets Of Rage 2 is AWESOME. It even has The Predator as the boss for stage 3 (seriously, I'm not even joking) that isn't in the SMS version. In fact, the SMS version of SOR2 is pretty trash overall.
Oh, and yeah.
SMS Streets of Rage games were weird. First was better than the second by a lot, but even in that one the grab range is ridiculously huge.
So many similar games (not to mention the hardware itself). A Game Gear vs. Master System (and which game to choose, when the versions are similar) would be really cool!
I second this.
I can say that Streets of Rage 2 is good on GameGear and horrendous on Master System. On the opposite end, Sonic 2 is much better on Master System because of the extended screen real estate, especially in the first boss I think it is. It's like an antlion with bombs dropping in on you, and you can barely see anything on GameGear, it's obnoxiously difficult.
I had a game gear and turbo grafx express way back in the 90s on board the USS Shennandoah ad44. They were in constant use and nothing ever ever broke except the turbo grafx power cord needed to be taped. But on board a ship they were used 24/ 7 . Quality
It's 2023 and we are still playing those old games, and i love it!
You made my day, and i hope you're making videos for a long long time!
That version of Road Rash is incredible.
I LOVED my Game Gear as a kid, and this was not even knowing the Master System existed! It was indeed an amazing system just as long as you had the official batter pack!
Yep I was smart enough to realize how important it was even as a young kid. I dunno why that was so hard for some ppl to get...
What was the official batter pack?
@@drunkensailor112 What do you mean what was it? It was the battery pack. What else would it be? It looks like a big cylindrical thing that you charge & plug into the power port.
Or the AC adapter to plug it into the wall - that’s what I always used as a kid
@@thePoetDominic Indeed, that is also what I always used while at home or at someone's house. While in the car I either used the Cig Lighter adapter or the Battery Pack.
Never had a Gamegear proper but Sonic Triple Trouble and Sonic Chaos were both really fun games. Now I’ve got an Analouge Pocket with a Gamegear adapter and a handful of games on the way. It’ll be fun to try some of these out
One thing that bears mentioning... the Game Gear has excellent controls and feels very comfortable to hold. Anyone who's ever crippled their hands on a Wonderswan or GBA SP will appreciate the feel of a Game Gear.
Very true.
I never did get a chance to own the Game Gear, but I did get to play Shining Force via emulation. For the time, I was impressed with it's really nice music, and addictive gameplay!
Nice to see the Game Gear getting some love. I had one and I agree Streets of Rage 2 burned thru allot of batteries. I'm gonna try out those English patched RPGs now👍
I ran through entire packs of batteries trying to play through Shinobi 2. One of the few games that actually made backtracking enjoyable.
And I never played the game gear shining force and didn't realize it connected 1 and 2. That would explain things since I remember playing shining force 2 and not understanding why there was no story connection to the first one.
I enjoy playing game gear games both on my RetroPie and my gaming tower PC with retrobat.
If you are into strategy RPG like Shining Force which also got two Game Gear entries, check out a game called Royal Stone which also was only translated by fans. Visually the game can almost pass off for a Sega 16 bit game.
@@TheDutchGhost
Hard second on Royal Stone, the game is genuinely gorgeous and the fact it runs on it at all is crazy.
I remember buying one in 1992.
My favorite thing about it was the TV adapter.
I was the only person in Army training with a tv.
😂😂😂
GG Shinobi to me is the definition of a good game in an unexpected place.
There's two of them I think, right?
@@StomachPlug yes. I have not played the second one yet but I’m sure it’s equally as good if not better
I'm collecting for the Sega Game Gear now. This video helps a lot. Thank you for making this.
very cool! not an easy console to collect for, but totally worth it. best of luck my friend
I'm glad you brought up Popils. I always loved games early on that allowed you create your own stages. I would spend hours building something and testing it out.
I loved my Game Gear, but that thing was always plugged into a wall; six batteries was not worth 90 minutes of unplugged play.
I was never a Game Gear owner (I was a Lynx guy - don't @ me), but this video was terrific - I'm inspired to check a bunch of these games out. Another great video, sir!
Lynx is underrated!
Lynx was ahead of it's time
dude
Have you gotten around to checking any of them out yet?
Thanks for this video. I mainly used my Game Gear with the TV tuner back in the day, and most of the stores nearby didn't have a huge selection of titles anyway, so it's fun to see, and I will definitely be checking out many of these on the strength of your recommendations!
Terrific list. I don’t think I would change one bit.
I’m delighted to see most my favorites, some usually overlooked, being represented, like Lucky Dime Caper, Master Of Darkness, Land Of Illusion, etc.
Great list! My only objection would be Shining Force: Final Conflict. I think that Sword of Hayja is just a tiny bit better.
Wow-such a great trip down memory lane, as always! My Game Gear library was modest-just a handful of titles-but SoR2, NBA JAM TE, and NHL Hockey were my favorites and provided hours upon hours of fun on-the-go. The Game Gear is definitely an underrated gem, its strengths often overlooked in the shadow of the Goliath Game Boy.
01:54 Honorable Mentions
04:06 Best Puzzle Game
05:29 Best Racing Game
06:49 Best Shoot-em Up
08:30 Best Platformer
09:53 Best Fighting Game
11:16 Best Strategy or RPG
13:02 Best Adventure Game
14:46 Best Beat'Em Up
16:13 Best Sports Game
17:54 Best Run'n Gun
19:37 Best Action Game
21:05 Best Exclusive Game
22:44 Best Sound
24:27 Best Graphics
25:47 Best Overall Game
I got a Sega Game Gear during its launch year and loved it to death. I also had a Gameboy, but for me, the Game Gear won out because of the backlit color screen. I have a lot of fond gaming memories with the GG. Both Shinobi games were absolute masterpieces. I also loved the Lucky Dime Caper and Castle of Illusion. There were some duds on the system, but overall, I had a lot of these on my own Game Gear. Oh, and Aladdin is it's own game; it is not a port of either the Genesis or Nintendo versions, and I think it's all the better for it. The TV tuner was also amazing to me; I could watch TV in the car or while waiting after school.
Love this channel, man. I've been going back and watching all these vids.
This video hit at the perfect time. My analogue pocket with the gamegear adapter is finally coming. and I have the Everdrive cart for it loaded it up and ready to play.
After you sung praise to the GG Shinobi I bought the title on the 3DS virtual console.
You were not kidding that game is absolutely incredible.
I still had no interest in starting a gamegear collection since the original hardware is a pain to deal with.
But when I saw the GG adapter for the Analog Pocket I cashed it. Since then I grabbed so many games including a repro of Sylvantale. That game is just dropdead gorgous. And just last week I found a copy of GG shinobi 2 so you know I'm in portable heaven right now.
Awesome. Great list. I still have my game gear to this day! Thrilled to see the shining force love. And GG outrun is very special indeed
Excellent video! My experience with the GG in the 90's was brief, I only really remember playing some Sonic. Looking forward to rediscovering the games you recommended- especially Shinobi II! This type of video is so clear, helpful, and entertaining so - thanks!!
Road Rash is even smoother that their 16 bit counter part.
I loved this Video and it brought back a lot of memories. Thanks, SLX! I had a Master2Gear converter and was playing my Master games on the GG on the go (albeit a short amount of time due to battery life)
Man I remember walking by the GameGear at KB Toys, Toys R Us and every other store and just begging my parents to buy it! It was “to expensive” and this is still one of the only gaming devices I have never personally owned! I know the batteries died quick but I was such a Sega fanboy I didn’t care lol
I had the power cable so that wasn't really even a problem for me.
Sylvan Tale is my favourite GG title, glad you acknowledged it. Absolutely stunning game!
Late to the party but you were talking about the hardware and I wanted to chime in with a little tidbit. Yes, the specs were more along the lines of the MasterSystem. They both had the Zilog Z80 as their main CPU clocking in at 3.5Mhz.
The interesting thing is the color palette. The Master had a paltry 64 colors in its palette. Granted, that was a bit more than the 50ish the NES had. But the GameGear had 4000 colors it could pull from. Only 32 on screen, again same as the MasterSystem but far more shades to choose from.
To give you an idea of how insane that 4000 number is, the Genesis only had a palette of 512. So, yeah, it could definitely throw some beautiful colors on screen. Which was the big selling point over the GameBoy's black and green colors.
Wow, you’re being VERY generous with those screen images. The Game Gear is the only portable console I ever owned back in the day, even though from the early 80’s to today I’ve had about 10 home consoles. When the Nintendo Gameboy came out in ‘89, I can remember being blown away at just the concept of being able to take cartridge games with me and play them like at home on my NES. But frankly, very disappointed with the pea green, non-backlit screen. So I never really made much effort to get one. But even though I was MUCH more into Nintendo (although I did have a Genesis too), the color backlit screen, horizontal shape, and even some accessories like the TV tuner we’re just too much for me to resist. I honestly only ever had about 4 or 5 games for my Game Gear the entire run that I had it. And you couldn’t rent games for it by me either like home consoles. I also never did get the TV tuner accessory, and the movement on the screen was SO blurry. But at the time, it still looked a whole lot better than the Gameboy to me. In the end, it ended up being more of a novelty for me. I never really got into any of the games or was hooked. But it’s still a fun memory for me, during the 7-8 years that I was THE most into video games from the late 80’s until the late 90’s.
Dude you are just killing it with the uploads these days. Don't think we haven't noticed the increasing output.
Master or Darkness!
Someone needs to make a sequel and make it 16 bit.
Which one
great video! I'd love to see a spotlight on all the cool accessories and add ons the Game Gear got over it's lifespan
Sega Lord X Enjoy Your Weekend Thanks For Everything You Do For SEGA
Modded my system recently and I have another one I'm fixing up hopefully everything goes well as I sense it's a little bit more than the capacitors but at least the thing is coming together!
Also I know you mentioned in the past video but Batman returns on game gear was rather fun. It was a game that I would play with friends at school and see how far we can get
During the end of peak 8-bit and first year of 16-bit, my portable was an Atari Lynx. Sure, the library was dwarfed by GB and GG, but the Lynx had some titles - Blue Lightning, Roadblasters - with outstanding 3D scrolling/scaling effects that you wouldn't even see in most 16-bit console titles.
And somehow I had a circle of friends who also convinced parents to get them a Lynx. We had some truly fun local multiplayer get togethers, like 6-player Slime World and 4-player Gauntlet (played in vertical screen orientation! Raiden too).
The Lynx simply felt very unique at the time. In retrospect, the truth is that it only had about 9 or 10 honest-to-goodness bangers. A bit like the situation on Atari Jaguar, which I also owned a few years later. Another system with some slick hardware tricks that bested the competition, but poor library support and eventually failure.
I always had every possible current generation of Sega home console hardware, and on the side these more exotic handhelds and niche consoles like Lynx, Jaguar and 3DO.
It kept things feeling fresh and experimental.
Weirdly i preferred first GG shinobi... great game!
Good and understandable choices. I have fond memories of my game gear. One game that never seems to come up in these lists is the game gear version of Lemmings as I spent ages playing that....all 120 levels with many Sega special ones and it was probably extra tricky because of the tiny screen and game gear controls. Not sure I'd do so well with 40-odd year old eyes and reactions though ☺
My memories on GameGear from the 90s is about Star Wars. Finding Han Solo with his big gun and cutting enemies with the laser-sword into pieces was great with that BOOM-sound.
Tengo que decirte que me encanta el canal. Si bien cuando yo era chico tenía consolas de Nintendo, jugaba mucho al SEGA en un videoclub de mí barrio. Creo que es el único canal de Sega que veo, se nota la pasión que te despierta Sega. Y no es para menos porque tenía excelentes juegos. Saludos desde Argentina ❤
I love this device it was my first portable,I got it with sonic and also got outrun and wonder boy a few months later.i used to play it at the shop where my mum worked,in the back room there plugged in with the AC adaptor.great days I miss very much 🙂
A great selection with good reasons, I can’t fault those choices - I’ll be seeking them out
I had Castle of Illusion, Lucky Dime Caper, Ecco the Dolphin, Columns, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragon Crystal, Shinobi, and Mortal Kombat for my Game Gear.
Great games on a great system.
I had a Gameboy but I use to borrow my friend's gamegear from time to time. It was amazing to see color on a portable system back then! But yes, it did eat batteries on a daily basis
I think you hit on all the bangers on the system. The biggest miss by Sega is not releasing a Game Gear adapter for the Genesis. They could've sold three times as many units. Luckily, we have things like the Mega SG and Pocket, now!
That would have been similar to the Super Gameboy, that allowed to play Gameboy games on a Super Nes. But i don´t think such adapter could have sold more Gamegears or Gamegear games, because most Gamegear games were ports from existing Master System Games so the motivation to play the smaller field of view Gamegear version on a TV vs playing the full field of view version Master System version was not goig to be that impactful. In Nintendo´s case most of the Gameboy games were original Gameboy versions that could not be played anywhere else, so there was some motivation in playing and watching those games on a big screen and with some color added too.
I got a preowned gamegear with the sega carry case from the pawnshop with Crystal Warriors, what a summer that was. My dad also got rechargeable batteries for me. When I wasn't playing on the go I was hold up next to the outlet by our front door with the AC adapter because those batteries went out so quick. I was blown away nearly 20 years later to find out there was a sequel to Crystal Warriors called Royal Stone and it was translated. GameGear looks nice and crispy on modern handheld emulators now these days.
I loved this video and wanted to see more. I know there were runner ups and hinorable mentions, but in a perfect world: i wish youd make a follow up with ALL your highly reccomended games. Like, a followup of just more honorable mentions / hidden gems, SLX level.
Well said about about Road Rash. I played the hell out of that game on my game gear.
I played castle of illusion on the Genesis and loved that game. Brings back so many memories
Another amazing video! Cheers for all your hard work
Streets of Rage II has some of the best 8-bit music I've ever heard. Recently installed as many GG games on my New 3DS XL as I can and have been having a blast.
I adored my game gear and enjoyed this video, quite a few titles I’ve not come across before
Man, Fatal Fury Special must have some kind of gift, given it also punched a bit above its weight on the SNES by having legit Dolby Surround audio!
I cannot BELIEVE the first game you showed was Madou monogatari! Legit respect, I thought that game would have flown under the radar on a video such as this, and as a major Madou / Puyo fan it made me super happy to see :)
I loved the game gear, especially shining force, but the fact it only lasted twelve seconds on 6 or however many fresh batteries was really what kept it from being bigger. You were forced to buy a battery pack if you weren't plugged into the wall at all times and it sucked having a bag with all the extra gear just for a short road trip, but man it was so cool and mind blowing back then.
Appreciate the work my good man. Thanks bro
Donald Duck Lucky Dime Caper for me. What a great game
Great video really enjoyed.
I remember playing some of these titles. On my game gear and Sega master system. I wish they would release some sort of mini console.
Always love your videos man. The sega game gear was my first system as a kid and i loved the power rangers games and sonic 2. 👍
I can't stress this enough : More Sega Please.
I loved my Gameboy by the game gear was special to me. I remember when the TV tuner came out i thought it was the coolest thing ever to watch tv under my covers.
Had the nomad (still do) years later, but will always love the game gear
This kind of video is full of nostalgia... Gotta love the 8 bit soundtracks....
My favorite Game Gear game was Defenders of Oasis.
But that's coming from someone who only played maybe 10 GG games total. My brother owned one, not me.
So glad I got the McWill mod on my GG! Got most of the games I wanted before 2020, though Popils has been on my short list for a while. Perhaps it’s time to pick it up!
This video is a great advertisement of what the Game Gear has to offer, with a good selection of games on display. Nice to see Battletoads get some airtime - the colours are a beauty over the NES version.
For runner-up fighter I would go for one of the Power Rangers games, Virtua Fighter Animation or even Buster Fight despite its odd controls - all of those titles show what 8-bit fighting games can offer with the sacrifice of small sprites.
The Dragon's Trap remake was SO good. Captured everything from the Master System while showing the absolute promise of a modern game. The graphics/music toggles were awesome.
Also Joe Montana football on Game Gear was pretty good, especially as it's the only football game I've ever really sunk time into XD
I still have mine with a few mods to keep it more usable. The game gear was a very good handheld for the time... i know the screen is terrible today, but for the 90's... a colour handheld? And with a tv tuner? That was something from the future for a kid my age at the time, the biggest problem for me was the battery life... i still enjoy playing with my game gear, but tbh, the only original thing left of it is the pcb, everything else got upgraded, including a rechargeable battery with a usb c module. Worth the time, money and effort i spent on it, and i hope it will keep going for many years to come. Great video, got some games for me to check out from it. Keep up the good work.
Game Gear only weakness honestly was its battery, a friend of mine owned one and I had the pleasure to play Shinobi and Lucky Dime Caper at the time! Wonderful games.
I loved my Game Gear and loved the TV tuner when i was out with friends ( i did have the battery pack ) my favorite game on long journeys was either Columns or the GG Shinobi
Love it. I never had one but they were always on the want list.
My friend did the translation for Sylvan Tales, awesome action RPG! I translated one of the GG's gundam game into English, which was a strategy game. Another strategy game I'd recommend is Royal Stone. Great graphics for the system.
I enjoy the picks you did an amazing job I like your picks and can't argue. Those were the best picks thanks for the videos your big fan Eric have great day Sega Lord X piece
Many great memories of my game gear as a kid .
The Game Gear adapter for my Analogue Pocket arrives today. Perfect timing.
Thanks for the nostalgia video man, this took me back. I remember the awesomeness of video games back in the day they held so much more hit than miss compared to now. I was thinking about it and man our parents must have loved us lol, games were like 70 bucks for some SNES games and almost all N64! And that’s in the 90’s! They also dropped $200-250 for systems too! Games also shipped as full games…for the most part but crap was rightfully scrutinized like a certain Superman game. I remember by the time PS2 came out when I was a sophomore in high school that it was a mind blowing system. I think I played X-Box once because my roommate in college had one and I played one game: Fable. I just wasn’t that impressed by the games on it and thought it was inferior to PS2 by miles.
Great stuff as always milord! Did you mention Alien 3? I always thought the 8-bit version of that game worked better than the Genesis one. And the art style is somehow perfect for the small GG screen.
I think outrun is the only title that is both for the Sega Master system and Game gear but were both developed by two different teams.
I think every other game that is released on The Game gear there's also found on the Master system are the same game or by the same team
I loved my master system but I agree, the music could be so high pitched it was almost painful!but I could definitely tell you a master system game from a nes game by the music! lol I love your videos!
GG Shinobi 1 music clip is basically "Long distance" from the Revenge of Shinobi OST. I'd also put the GG Shinobis at the top, followed by the GG Alestes. Road Rash, NHL and Ristar are pretty impressive Genesis ports.
The Game Gear was ahead of its time. If only we had reliable rechargeable batteries back then.
It took Game Boy like 10 years to get a backlit, colored screen and by that time we had rechargeable Lithium ION batteries.
Being ahead of your time does you no good, if you didn't think things through.
@@SomeOrangeCati think you're missing the point of this comment, something being ahead of it's time makes it easier and better to go back to also not Sega's fault, So i fail to see what point you're trying to make.
The game gear is my favorite handheld. Great list man!
Wow, some of these games look great for thr device its on... I'm impressed. Great topic!
Being a portable master system is a pretty good description and nothing to scoff at. You do kind of step over the lower screen size making some games appear cropped.
I had a game gear when it was new and got a game boy several years later. No regrets there!
Another stellar, deep-dive GG video! Top Notch!
Always fun to learn about older technology 😊
13.8.23
Traded my gameboy and collection of games as a kid for my pal's gamegear with Sonic, SoR2, RoadRash andColumns.
My dad wasnt pissed off because there was a TV tuner as well.
Good memories of camping and fishing burning through dozens of packets of cheap batteries so he could watch the football 😊
So great to see the Game Gear getting some well deserved respect =) I had quite a few of the games shown here in my collection or played them back then, so this was a nostalgia trip all the way =) And I gotta say, from the little I know from the GG's overall library, I couldn't agree more with each pick.