Game Gear Sonic Games: The Best and the Worst

[A Black Falcon]

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.

It was on SMS too in Europe, it's not really exclusive... checking it in emulation though the SMS version seems identical, the GG version is just as good as it.

... Really, the game does have problems -- ball physics are a bit wonky sometimes (though the fact that you can slightly control where you're going by pressing right or left on the pad helps), the default controls are terrible (the default option uses I and II for the paddles... what? Change it! Option B uses II and Down... much, MUCH better!), it is somewhat short and annoying at times (particularly in the last level, I bounced around for quite a while before getting all the crystals)... I don't know how good it is. It's just actually possible, unlike the Genesis game, and thus I enjoyed it. It's alright, probably worth a try.

I was impressed that on this Majesco Game Gear, there was no blurring at all while Sonic was bouncing around, whatever the speed... I'll guess that this is not the case on the Sega ones?

[zetastrike]

Am I the only person in the world who actually liked Sonic Blast? Sonic 1 was good, Chaos' levels are way too short for their own good, Triple Trouble was pretty great. Drift 2 was kind of bleh. It was no Mario Kart. If they made it for the Sega CD, it could have been great.

[Earthworm_Jim_Fan]

Looks like someones porting Sonic Triple Trouble to the Master System.

http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Triple_Trouble_SMS

Far from done, but good to know it's still being worked on.

[kool kitty89]

Am I the only person in the world who actually liked Sonic Blast?

Did you miss this post?

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....

Drift 2 was kind of bleh. It was no Mario Kart. If they made it for the Sega CD, it could have been great.

Yeah, I made a thread about that a while back, even a Genesis version of Drift (with some added features) could have been good, Street Racer on the Genesis shows a decent cart game in that style. (granted it's quite different than that game on the SNES, not to mention Saturn of PSX, and the battle/soccer portions are poor, but the racing is fun and it looks great) Nothing like BC Racers on CD (or 32x) graphically, which both beat the original Mario cart. (smoothe sprite scaling)

http://sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7309

[Obviously]

Necro bumping this thread because why make a new one to discuss the same thing.

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Probably my favorite of the bunch, especially the Master System version.

It was only the second Sonic game ever so it didn't have a big frame of reference for what a Sonic game should be. It focused more on being a good platformer than a Sonic title and largely succeeded. It's somewhat of an oddball for the Sonic series with a forced scrolling level in the Bridge Zone and in the Master System version the second act of the Jungle Zone doesn't scroll downward, borrowing ideas from other 8-bit platformers like Mario 3 and Kid Icarus respectively.

It's more about tricky jumps than raw speed and that's fine. The difficulty is tough but fair. It manages to be its own unique thing while still remaining close enough to the principles of Sonic on the Genesis. Some of the tunes from Yuzo Koshiro are quite good. The game also gives us Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik's first airship ever!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2:

This one improves a few things while messing up others. You can pick up dropped rings again which is great and the music is still pretty good. It's clear they wanted to get the feeling of speed closer to the Genesis games and the result is mixed.

The Game Gear version is pretty maniacal but the Master System one is better balanced thanks in-part to having more screen real estate. The level design is all over the place honestly and it breaks tradition with one of the most unexpected first levels of any Sonic game.

I really didn't like this one initially because the first two zones are pretty weak. Some elements seem really unpolished like the clouds in Sky High, I hate not knowing what I can or can't stand on in platformers. Some people really hate the hang glider in that zone but it's an alright gimmick once you know how to control it. The game started getting me back in Aqua Lake and had me totally in Green Hills with its loops and chip-tune rendition of "Toot Toot Sonic Warrior."

One of the weirdest things in the game is Tails, who is kidnapped at the start of the game and rescued if you manage to get the emeralds and gain access to Crystal Egg Zone. Even though he's gone we see him tagging along with Sonic in the intro picture to each stage. I think it's clear that Tails was meant to be a playable character but either they didn't have the time to implement him or because this game came out before the Genesis game, Sega may have wanted the playable debut of Tails to happen there. Whatever the reason they decided to keep the confusing intro pictures. I guess they thought they were too nice to waste.

Overall it feels a little more like a Sonic game than the first one but it also feels more unpolished as a result. If you find the GG version too frustrating, give the Master System one a go. It's still harder than the first game however. Oddly enough there are no special stages of any kind and I'm fine with that.

Sonic Chaos:

Sonic Chaos really tries too hard to emulate the Genesis games while sacrificing level design and difficulty for speed and loops. If you want a Sonic game to beat while drunk and half asleep, this is your game.

It's technically impressive and adds some neat new power-ups like the rocket shoes and the portable spring-thingy but other than that I find the game to be quick and boring. The spin dash is finally introduced to the 8-bit games as well as Sonic CD's peel out. You're finally given rings in the boss levels but the bosses haven't really been made harder to compensate. Even worse, collecting 100 rings sends you to a special stage that awards extra lives like candy. The music is still fine but maybe a little more forgettable this time. It still might be worth playing through once to form your own opinion since it won't take you very long.

They rubber-banded from the difficult Sonic 2 to this game which is brainlessly straightforward by comparison. It's smooth and fast and feels Sonicy but what does it matter if the end result is a game you'll likely beat in under a half hour on your first try?

Sonic Triple Trouble:

The Game Gear exclusive Sonic (excepting the unofficial modern port), and probably the most ambitious 8-bit Sonic. This game comes the closest to being a Genesis Sonic in its look and feel. It's the direct sequel to Sonic Chaos as part of the "Sonic & Tails" series and it improves upon it pretty well. The levels are much larger with a lot more to explore. A lot of the bosses, though once again super easy easy, are pretty cool. The graphics are the best out of the bunch with varied and interesting zones that you'll thankfully spend more time in than Sonic Chaos.

It manages to capture the "epic adventure" feel of Sonic 3 & Knuckles pretty respectably on the small screen though the gameplay can be a little choppy. Again the music is nothing memorable though definitely not bad. I also really hate the special stages, most are annoying to get through and even managing to get to them can be a bit of a chore. Other than that the game isn't much harder than Sonic Chaos (You don't even drop all of your rings when you get hit!), just bigger. An experienced Sonic fan will get through it in one sitting but will probably feel more satisfied than with its precursor.

This seems to be the favorite of a lot of people around the Internet and I can see why. Despite sacrifices it comes the closest to delivering the 16-bit experience. I prefer the platforming of the first two 8-bit games myself but I do really enjoy this game.

Sonic Blast:

It's ugly and it has worse level design than Sonic Chaos. It's the only one that lets you play as Knuckles I guess but that doesn't make it worth playing. Don't feel bad avoiding this one.

[retrospiel]

Sonic Blast could very well be the best Sonic game ever made, I couldn't care less because it's just so fucking ugly.

[Obviously]

I played through all of them again recently which is why I posted my impressions. Blast just bored me to death.

[midnightrider]

I played about halfway through the Master System version of the 1st one recently. I liked it, just haven't gotten serious about playing it through yet.

[Guntz]

My favorite one was Sonic 1, the Game Gear version. It had good levels, nice music, just the right size of graphics and it was quite fun too. In fact, I'd say Sonic 1 GG had better levels than the Genesis version.

Also, am I the only one who liked Tails' Sky Patrol? I don't get why it's so hated, I thought it was a pretty fun game.

[Obviously]

I haven't played the Tails games yet. I'll get around to it eventually.

[Modelboard4]

I played sonic on the game gear back when I was 11 in 1991 on a friends, it was a very good game but no where near the MD, sonic was really and truly a 16 bit game....sorry im not trying to demean the good work sega did but I don't think games work well designed for inferior systems, the master system had alex kidd

[Kamahl]

Sonic 1 is pretty good. Just an overall competent game, nothing outstanding but very fun.

Sonic 2 is... all over the place, the reduced view on the GG makes it just unpleasant to play (and that ridiculous boss...).

Sonic Chaos is fun but too short and too easy, it also feels kinda wonky to play, more than the previous 2.

Sonic Triple Trouble is the best and most ambitious of the Sonic GG games, basically fixes Sonic Chaos. Still feels a bit wonky.

Tails Adventures is very good. Can also be annoying at times, but it's the closest Sega ever got to a Metroid/Demon's Crest-ish game, more than Monster World.

Never played Sky Patrol, Spinball or Labyrinth.

I played blast about 1 second, it's beyond ugly.

[Obviously]

Sonic Triple Trouble is the best and most ambitious of the Sonic GG games, basically fixes Sonic Chaos. Still feels a bit wonky.

One of the things I really hate is the peel out. It's not really necessary and I don't know how many times I accidentally did it and sent myself flying into spikes.

I played sonic on the game gear back when I was 11 in 1991 on a friends, it was a very good game but no where near the MD, sonic was really and truly a 16 bit game....sorry im not trying to demean the good work sega did but I don't think games work well designed for inferior systems, the master system had alex kidd

I don't think anyone will disagree with you that Sonic = 16-bit.

I still find the 8-bit Sonics kind of fascinating in the greater context of the series evolution. They're oddball games with some unique elements to them and neat solutions in regards to their dated tech.

[Modelboard4]

One of the things I really hate is the peel out. It's not really necessary and I don't know how many times I accidentally did it and sent myself flying into spikes.



I don't think anyone will disagree with you that Sonic = 16-bit.

I still find the 8-bit Sonics kind of fascinating in the greater context of the series evolution. They're oddball games with some unique elements to them and neat solutions in regards to their dated tech.

I agree with you, moonwalker /super Monaco gp on the master system while not as good as the GEN version is so impressive compared to what the nes was doing, I love the master system such a shame companies didn't value it

[A Black Falcon]

Good (or at least above average) - ranked from best to worst
--
1. Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic 1 for the GG is a legitimately good platformer. Other than its one major unfortunate design decision to have no rings in boss levels, meaning one hit in a bossfight and it's back to the start of the stage, it's a good, fun game I quite liked playing through. This is one of the better games on the Game Gear. That's not saying all that much, considering how the Game Gear is one of my least favorite consoles of all the systems I own (and the Master System is right down there with it), but it's true. It's tragic that after this game Sega handed Sonic over to Aspect, who were rarely anything other than bad. This team should have stayed on handheld Sonic!

2. Tails' Sky Patrol - While this game is widely disliked, I actually think its good! I was quite surprised by how much more fun this was than I was expecting, when I got it earlier this year. It's kind of a platformer/shmup hybrid. Interesting concept and decent execution. Unfortunately this game was only released in Japan, but it's worth the import. Tails' Sky Patrol has good graphics and good gameplay as well.

3. Tails' Adventure - While this is an Aspect game, and I dislike almost all of Aspect's games, this one is one of their best games ever, and manages to actually be decent. I really dislike that Sega was so cheap with one of their headliner titles that they couldn't be bothered to put a battery in the cart (while stuff like World Series Baseball got one? Huh?) and instead you need 16-character passwords, but otherwise it's as good a game as you'll ever see running on Aspect's GG engine.

4. Sonic Spinball - Much easier and thus (for me) more fun than the Genesis game, Sonic Spinball was one of the first GG games I owned, and I liked it enough to play through and finish the game. It's simple fun. The physics have some issues, but it's a fun game to play despite that.

5. Sonic Drift 2 - This is another one which was better than I expected. Sonic Drift 2 isn't a great game, but it is an okay one, which honestly was more than I was thinking, considering how subpar this series' reputation is. It's not as good as Outrun or Monaco GP on the Game Gear, but it's a decent racing game. It's only too bad that Sega didn't make a Mario Kart or Power Drift-style Sega CD Sonic Drift game, it absolutely should have happened! Sonic Drift 2 is a somewhat average game, but it's on the good side of average.

Bad (or at least below average) - ranked from best to worst
--
1. Sonic Triple Trouble - Aspect's best traditional Sonic game, Triple Trouble is basically a clone of Sonic Chaos but with new levels and a slightly higher difficulty level. The added challenge makes this a little bit better than the last one (below), but otherwise this is a very bland, average, and unimpressive game. As usual from Aspect, the graphics are good, but the gameplay and level designs are not, and there's slowdown as usual in Aspect games. But really, "Sonic Chaos clone" describes this game best, and that is NOT a compliment. Triple Trouble is kind of bad.

2. Sonic Chaos - Aspect went from one extreme to the other! After the brokenly hard Sonic 2, Aspect made their next GG Sonic game laughably easy. Sonic 1 on the GG was a good challenge; 2 was broken-hard; and then this third game... won't challenge you one bit, particularly if you play as Tails. On that note, the best thing about this game, probably, is that Tails is playable. Sonic 2 GG has that "Sonic & Tails" subtitle on the game, but you can't actually play as Tails there, stupidly enough. This time you can. There are infinite continues this time too, making finishing the game even easier. And as usual for Sega GG platformers, the game is quite short; Sega never made a longer platformer like the kind Nintendo started making on the Game Boy by 1992-1993, they stuck with the simplistic, super-short games instead. Bad decision, in my opinion; compare stuff like Donkey Kong or Mario Land 2 to any of Sega's GG platformers and the vast disparity in budget and attention is clear. I know that on the Genesis Sega made a lot more platformers than Nintendo too, and there they also were usually shorter, but at least the best ones were really good! On the Game Gear that is much less true, and games like this are perfect examples of that. Sorry, but Sonic Chaos is not a very good game. It's short, easy, insubstantial, focuses on graphics above gameplay, doesn't have very good level designs (Aspect standard!), and more.

3. Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Sonic & Tails - As disappointing and mediocre as Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble are, this game is far, far worse. Sonic 2 was Aspect's first Sonic game, and it's a complete disaster, particularly on Game Gear; it's clear that they mostly designed it for Master System, and then shoved out a shoddy, broken port on the GG. It's quite sad for gamers that THIS was the Game Gear packin for a long time. Why would Sega actually subject people to this thing, instead of, say, giving them the much better first game? Sure, the worst thing about this game is the completely broke first boss -- because of the limited screen size, dodging the incoming obstacles is way too hard, and one hit and you start over, as in Sonic 1 -- but the game doesn't get much better after that. The game starts off with a pretty bland looking mine level, too. Why? Both thematically and in terms of gameplay this game is one of the worst Sonic games of the '90s.

Titles I Don't Own on Game Gear
--
I don't have Sonic Labyrinth, so I can't judge that one. From what little I've played of it in emulation it doesn't look that good, but might be okay, once you accept that it really has very little to do with Sonic -- no jumping, slow speeds, etc.

As for Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, I don't have that either, but I do have the Japanese Game Gear version of Puyo Puyo, which is the same game with different graphics. It's a good port of a great game, and I'm sure that the US Mean Bean Machine version is just as great. Many of the best handheld games are puzzle games, and that's no exception on the Game Gear; the Columns, Puyo Puyo, and Bust-A-Move games are all really good.

For Sonic Drift 1, I have that in a classic collection, but not on the actual Game Gear. It's very similar to the second game, but with slightly less content and probably slightly worse graphics. So yeah, it's okay, but too similar to the second game to really be worth getting unbless you really need all of the GG Sonic games, I think.

It's the same with Sonic Blast -- I only have that in a classic collection, and not on GG. This is Aspect's last Game Gear game, and I think that how bad it is compared to the previous three Aspect games is highly overstated -- I don't think this game is any worse than Triple Trouble or Chaos. It's just more of the same, except with a graphical overhaul to meet with the CG-characters style of the time. The level designs and gameplay are very similar to those previous two games, except this time it's Knuckles who is playable along with Sonic instead of Tails (who is absent here), and the game has even more slowdown thanks to its CG-rendered graphics. The worse slowdown is a definite problem, but otherwise this game is more of the same. I can't understand why many people seem to actually like those two games but dislike this one; they're the same basic thing, all three of them! Plus I like that you can play as Knuckles. I always have liked him more than Tails. At one point Sonic the Hedgehog 2 & Knuckles (ie S2 locked on to S&K) was maybe my favorite Sonic game... so yeah, slowdown aside, who knows, whenever I get this for GG maybe I'll find I like it MORE than Chaos or Triple Trouble... not sure at this point, but at worst it's only barely worse.