Game Gear Sonic Games: The Best and the Worst

[Jeckidy]

I've been playing these games lately on Sonic Gems and Sonic Mega Collection Plus. The problem with most of these games is that they tend to be buggy by having dodgy rings, springpads, and enemies, or jerky animations (just to name a few of the tehnical issues) and are bland. Anyways, I'll go over the ones I've played.

1. Tails Adventures
By far, the best of the Sonic GG games and also one of the best Game Gear games I've played so far. The unorthodox approach makes it fresh and exciting, as does the variety of items and locations -- not something you will just finish in one day. Also graphically well done for a GG game. Very carefully thought out without any serious bugs.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog
The original GG Sonic game is one of the better ones as it doesn't seem to have the bugs or jerky animations that plague many of the GG titles. Also fun, fairly challenging, and doesn't stray from the classic Sonic formula. I've always liked this one, and I give it more credit than some of the ones that followed.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails 2)
I also finished this one and thought it was decent. Often considered one of the best.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Decent, but not my favorite of the series.

5. Sonic Drift 1 & 2
These aren't the worst, but honestly I'm not really into these old Outrun/Rad Racer type of games. I haven't invested much time in them though.

6. Sonic Labyrinth and Sonic Chaos (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails)
I haven't played much of either, so I'll keep you updated when I get to them.

7. Sonic Spinball
Horrible and bland (to say the least) GG conversion of what I believe to be an underappreciated Genesis classic. 'Nuff said.

8. Sonic Blast/G-Sonic
This is one of the tackiest Sonic games I have ever played and looks like some sort of NES pirate with its psuedo 3D graphics and bland gameplay. Not as jerky or dodgy as some of the others, but it's still depressing to play and look at.


So give me your thoughts on the Sonic GG games, whichever you have played.

[Jeckidy]

Update time. I did play a little bit of Sonic Chaos, which I heard was the easiest Sonic game. The level design is very redundant, and the stages are short. Not too good so far.

[Baloo]

Sonic Chaos - My favorite of the bunch, good mechanics, good levels, has that Sonic feel put into Game Gear.

Sonic 2 - Underrated in my opinion, but very difficult, which turns off a LOT of people to the game.

Sonic 1 - Good game, but it's plagued with slowdown at parts, especially the bridges on the Bridge Level. No level select option also gets annoying after losing all lives and continues and you want to go back to a certain stage.

Sonic Drift 2 - Decent racer for the Game Gear. It's not too bad, but not too outstanding either.

Sonic Triple Trouble - Pretty good, but something seems a little off about the mechanics in this game. Sonic seems to go a little bit slower than in the other games. My least favorite of the series.

Sonic Spinball - Horrible game, stay far away.

Tails' Adventure - Really good Metroid-esque game starring Tails. One of the best games for Game Gear.

Never played Sonic Blast or Sonic Labyrinth, but I hear Sonic Labyrinth is really just awful.

[Jeckidy]

Sonic Chaos - My favorite of the bunch, good mechanics, good levels, has that Sonic feel put into Game Gear.

Well my experience with the first few levels felt like I was going in loops. I haven't played past Gigapolis, but I might need to play it a bit longer or finish it to make a final opinion on it.

And I've only played a little bit of Sonic Labyrinth. You don't jump in it, only spindash, and it's isometric. Generally, I like the isometric perspective, but it didn't seem that great when I tried it, though I'd have to get into it a little more to tell you what I think of it.

[Jesse813]

Chaos is probably Baloo's favorite since its the easiest one to beat

[TmEE]

I'm more fond of the SMS variants of those that have SMS variation

Sonic1 is my most fav, followed by Sonic 2 and Sonic Blast / G Sonic. I was not too fond of Tails' Adventure, but its not a bad game. Sonic Chaos felt a bit poor to me....

[Alianger]

My thoughts:

1. Tails Adventures
Even though I love Metroid, Monster World and the like I remember getting bored with this by the time I reached the submarine level. I think I missed an item or something and had to backtrack, so I put it on hold and then forgot about it. There's quite a bit of slowdown but I enjoyed the adventure aspect and some of the gadgets were pretty creative.

2. Sonic the Hedgehog
Yeah this one is pretty solid. I like how they changed the scrolling for the GG version so you have an easier time reacting to obstacles and enemies. There's more trial & error in this game compared to the MD version, but once you learn the levels it's a lot of fun.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails 2)
The graphics and music are top notch for the hardware, and from what I recall the level design was above average. Controls could've been better though, it feels a bit jerky to play.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Judging by the sms version: Very poor. The scrolling is choppy, the controls feel really unpolished and the level design is full of cheap hits and lame gimmicks like an uncontrollable hang glider.

5. Sonic Drift 1 & 2
They're OK I guess, I just find it hard to go back to these old racing games with their strange physics and boring courses.

6. Sonic Labyrinth
Worst idea for a sonic game ever and it plays like crap. Very poorly coded.

Sonic Chaos (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails)
This one isn't bad, but it is seriously lacking in difficulty and it's over way too soon. They should've put more effort into the other titles instead of making this one as overall it's just kind of meh.

7. Sonic Spinball
Haven't actually played it but going by the quality of the MD game, I don't think I want to.

8. Sonic Blast/G-Sonic
Pretty much agree here. The game is awful.

[jerry coeurl]

The best is Tails Adventure. The worst is Sonic Labyrinth. God, what an awful game that is.

[A Black Falcon]

Haven't actually played it but going by the quality of the MD game, I don't think I want to.

The GG one is actually MUCH easier than the Genesis game. I got a GG recently (a Majesco one, with the better, blur-free screen) and it came with this game and Pac-Man. I wasn't expecting much from Sonic Spinball, as I've had the Genesis game for some time and have never finished the first level because of how ridiculously hard the game is. With the GG one though, I surprisingly found myself having a lot of fun, and actually beat it the day after I got it, using only a couple of continues. So perhaps it's even too easy? Really though, it was just fun. There were a few frustrating parts, finding some of the later crystals, but with some experimentation and exploration I eventually found them all without having to use any guides or anything. So yeah, I actually liked it a lot... pretty fun game. About the only negative I'd mention is that the only difficulty levels are Normal and Easy and the default is Normal, so there isn't much reason to go back to it apart from playing it again, and as I said I beat it quickly. Still, it was definitely fun.

That got me to put in the Genesis one again... and yeah, still can't finish the first level. It's just too hard.


As for the rest of them I haven't played them nearly as much, but Tails Adventure always impressed me a lot, and Sonic 1, Chaos, and Triple Trouble seem good. Blast isn't awful, but is too slow and boring. Sonic 2... it's just too hard on the GG, you really need that better draw distance of the SMS version in order to be able to adequately play this game! Labyrinth is just terrible, and I liked Sonic 3D Blast on Genesis, so it's not just because it's isometric; it's just poor. Drift 1 or 2 are okay, but nothing special; I think Sega should have tried to see if they could do something like Mario Kart, that would have been more interesting...

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is alright, but the original version, Puyo Puyo, is better. (The original music is so much better...)

Oh, barely touched Tails' Sky Patrol, so I can't say much about that one.

[Alianger]

That got me to put in the Genesis one again... and yeah, still can't finish the first level. It's just too hard.

I remember playing the MD version at a classmates house in elementary school and even though we both hated it, none of us wanted to admit it at the time since we were both huge fans of the platform games. We just decided that a 2-player coop game would be more fun and put Sonic 3 back in
I'll give the GG version a go sometime, it's one of the few games for the system that I've never even booted up in an emulator and its library of good exclusives is relatively tiny.

[Baloo]

Chaos is probably Baloo's favorite since its the easiest one to beat

What the fuck does that mean? I also love Sonic 2 unlike most people, and that's damn tough.

[Jesse813]

ah Baloo you shouldn't take me so seriously, I'm only messing w/ you, can't you take a joke? and isn't it a sin for you catholics to curse & swear, and yes I'll be bothering you about sins forever since you went on a big rant in the politics thread about how: high, mighty, and holy you are.

[Baloo]

Use God's name in vain is a sin yes, cursing however, not necessarily. Depends on the context really.

And yeah, I kind of take things a little bit seriously.

[Jeckidy]

After finishing Tails Adventures, I've been playing through Skypatrol. Yes it is a bit difficult but it's not that bad so far. I actually kind of enjoy it because it's unique and could even be thought of as a semi-sh'mup. I'll keep you updated when I finish it.

[Phexar]

Sonic the Hedgehog- This was my first ever Sonic experience, and it was fantastic, though Labyrinth feels a bit slow. The first time I ever hunted down and collected all the Chaos Emeralds... yes, this is a special game for me. Looks great, sounds nice, and the controls feel good, too.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2- Somewhat tougher than the original, but still great when you work out how to play it right (though I got stuck on Sky High's hang-glider for years). I never played the Game Gear version so I haven't personally experienced the problematic first boss, though I've seen videos.

Sonic Chaos (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails)- I loved this one initially (play as Tails! + spindash!), but it's far too easy overall, even if everything about Sleeping Egg annoyed me. And Aqua Planet strangely has barely any water, despite it's name. I quite liked the final boss though.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble (a.k.a. Sonic & Tails 2)- Very fond of this one, though the controls are a little floaty feeling and I found myself missing the larger viewing area. I recently played a Master System version hack of this, and the increased screen size really helped it somewhat.

I haven't really played any of the others much to give an opinion on them, only enough to know how terrible Sonic Labyrinth is. I didn't like Tails Skypatrol much either.