Game Gear

I occasionally make really dumb decisions, like decide to play through an entire romset.  The notion struck me again a few months ago, to play through the entire Game Gear romset.  Back in college I had played through an entire Master System romset.  Now I have even more years of useless game knowledge and history to approach it with.

Note: I don't recall ever actually playing a Game Gear or an actual Master System.
Ads in games?

This was much more entertaining than the Lynx romset.  I still don't know what the actual capabilities of the system are.  The graphic fidelity was vastly different between titles. Somtimes it looked like a NES game, sometimes it was almost Genesis quality.  The Animation frequently surprised me.  Just check out the intro to either of the Star Trek games.  Speaking of which, a lot of the games it was completely baffling why they are were made.  A strategy cockpit space simulator for a handheld?  There were a lot of times where I felt the programmers were told to MAKE IT. 

The problem is I did play most of these games months ago so it's not fresh enough in my mind.  I did keep more of these games than I did for the Lynx.  I guess I'll have to revisit them.  There are several pretty damn good downgrade ports of Genesis games.  Gunstar Heroes GG is as impressive as ever.  Sometimes it's a port of a mediocre NES game (Terminator 2).  Or a really good port of Terminator 2:The Arcade Game.

Devilish is an bizarre Arkanoid clone.  Sidepocket is a terrible pool game but it has this:

Every boxing game for the system is amazing for one reason or another.  You have Evander Holyfield being a Kitty. Foreman for Real breaking it down.  There's even Riddick Bowe Boxing by Micronet!  Micronet is cool even if GG Aleste is kind of a snooze fest.  Power Strike II though, fuck yeah.  Which is apparently GG Aleste 2.  Huh!

Don't play the X-men games, but do enjoy that screenshot.  Also take comfort in an inexplicable volleyball game staring Japanese icon Popeye.  I think he is only known for the early early Nintendo game. 

I was also surprised how many sports games I actually enjoyed/saved.  Namco has Batter Up, which has to be a 1986 Famicom port.  Then Majors Pro Baseball looks lightyears better.  NHL All-Star Hockey is like moving a picture with your mouse.  World Cup Soccer?  Solid. And examining World Series Baseball '95 again, it's the same game as Majors Pro Baseball.

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Quick let's talk about platformers.  I honestly didn't like any of the Sonic games.  I had to agree it was 2012; I could play the Genesis Sonics.  Tails' Adventure isn't bad.  The use of items is kind of neat.

Nice colors in the Doraemon game.  There are about 5 different Disney games that all use about the same engine.  I've also now deleted dozens of different platformers for all sorts of licenses that all used the same engine and were probably turned out in a month.  The Disney games?  All together pretty pleasant.  They don't have anything remarkable, well then it pulls stuff like at 3:25.  Then you have to sit down and totally re-evaluate what the Game Gear can do. 

Coca-Cola Kid ain't bad.  The GG Shinobis are supposedly great but I have sat down to play through their 30 minutes ventures.  Similarly Crystal Warriors, The Shining Force games, and Defenders of Oasis seem like component SRPGs and RPG, but I couldn't possibly go for something that simple.  I'm sure anyone could find other games of the genre to play, I certainly can!

Yu Yu Hakusho:Subtitle has a translation and it's worth checking out.  It plays as an almost an FMV fighter with sprites.  It's worth your time for again making you completely unable to figure out what the Game Gear is and isn't capable of.

I don't remember a god damn thing about Wizard Pinball.  That is some great pixel work.  In the end, everyone play Ganbare Gorby.  Or I don't know, download Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown.  Stay away from those Wonderboy games though, I don't care what anyone says I don't like them.

Note to self: next time you play a romset don't wait 3 months to write about it idiot.