10 Sega Game Gear Games That You Need to Play
Overlooked. Overshadowed. Maybe even overpowered. These adjectives describe my feelings for the Sega Game Gear. Always living in the shadow of the wildly successful Nintendo Gameboy, the Game Gear had an uphill battle to compete. Essentially a portable Sega Master System, this powerful handheld had a full color and backlit screen. The cost: only about three hours of battery life if you were lucky. This monster handheld gobbled batteries. Six AA batteries were required to power the Game Gear. Let’s take a look at ten Game Gear games that you should play on this underrated gem of a handheld. These are in no particular order.
10. Sonic the Hedgehog
This should come as no surprise that the blue blur had a large presence on the Game Gear. His first outing on the handheld is probably his best of the bunch. This is a great port of the Master System original.
Unlike most Sonic games, this one plays a little bit slower with more of an emphasis on methodical platforming. The result is a satisfying platformer that has a bit more difficulty than most 2D Sonic titles.
9. Columns
If you’ve ever touched a Sega console, odds are that you’ve played Columns at some point. To combat Nintendo packing in Tetris with the Gameboy, Sega decided Columns was a perfect game to include with the purchase of the Game Gear.
Tetris is one of the greatest puzzle games of all time. Columns isn’t quite at that level, but it’s an excellent puzzle game nonetheless. Instead of clearing full lines like Tetris, the player must line up three of the same colored jewels either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The difficulty is higher than Tetris. Columns has become one of my go to games before bedtime.
8. The GG Shinobi
Sega’s favorite ninja made an appearance on the Game Gear. Fans of the Genesis classic Revenge of Shinobi will feel right at home here. I’ve always preferred this series to the 2D Ninja Gaiden games. With tight controls and expansive levels, this is one of the Game Gear’s best.
It’s worth noting the soundtrack. Sega fans know Yuzo Koshiro mostly for his work on most Shinobi games, as well as Streets of Rage. The soundtrack is simply exceptional.
7. Woody Pop
I love Breakout, as well as Breakout-style games like Arkanoid. Woody Pop is no exception. Don’t let the toy room aesthetic fool you: this is one tough game.
Guide your platform across the room, and bounce the ball as you acquire power-ups, smash blocks and destroy enemies. Branching paths are here as well. Puzzle fans will eat this up.
6. Vampire: Master of Darkness
Who doesn’t like Castlevania? There is no sugarcoating it: Vampire is a Castlevania clone through and through. Of course, that’s not a bad thing. Collect powerups and weapons as you vanquish ghostly and creepy foes. Taking place in England, many classic horror characters make an appearance, such as Jack the Ripper.
There’s even stairs in this game that function just the same as Castlevania. And in case you needed to know: this game is difficult.
Like, really difficult.
5. Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
To be blunt, the Game Gear didn’t have a lot of RPGs. The Shining series was popular on the Genesis, so a Game Gear entry was inevitable. This high quality strategy RPG plays similar to Fire Emblem, but without the permadeath.
The story is nothing special, but the gameplay stands out. The combat is quick and satisfying, with some great animation. It’s fulfilling to watch your characters level up and form relationships as you progress. There’s no reason to not play this wonderful title.
4. Bubble Bobble
What an arcade classic. The arcade and NES versions are most likely the most played, but the Game Gear port is exceptional. It is a port of the Master System version, which is the best port in my opinion. Avoid obstacles, lock your enemies in bubbles, and watch them bounce to their deaths.
Simply, it’s one of the best arcade games of all time, and the Game Gear port is miles ahead of the Gameboy port. One of the few Game Gear to have multiplayer too.
3. Road Rash
A good port of a racing classic, Road Rash needs little introduction to anyone growing up in the 90s. Race on bikes and try and damage enemies in your path. Even the police show up and try to stop you every so often. The racing action is fast, violent and challenging
This is one tough racing game in the later stages, but not insurmountable. It’s one of the best racing games of all time, and deserves to be in your collection.
2. Land of Illusion: Starring Mickey Mouse
In the 80s and 90s, Sega and Disney partnered together to create some stellar games. Castle of Illusion, Deep Duck Trouble and Lucky Dime Caper are a few examples. Land of Illusion is my personal favorite.
Land of Illusion has that classic Disney aesthetic that’s hard to not like. The levels are vibrant, the music is cheery and catchy, and the difficulty is well balanced overall. This is one of the finest 2D platforms for the time.
1. Gunstar Heroes
I’m still in awe that Treasure managed to get this game to run on a Game Gear. Arguably the best Genesis game, this Treasure game is one of the finest run and gun games around. The Game Gear version is shockingly good. It does have some sprite flicker and slowdown, and the visuals are obviously downgraded. But it’s Gunstar Heroes on the go!
It’s great to experiment with the weapon system by combining different guns. The enemy design is strange, with some truly memorable boss battles. It’s hard to go wrong with any Treasure game from the 90s, and this is no exception.