The world's premier resource for SEGA's arcade and console hardware legacy!
Evander Holyfield’s “Real Deal” Boxing on the Genesis was a fun title that advanced the genre on that console. Unfortunately, its Game Gear cousin ignores that progress and represents a significant step back. Messy presentation and dull gameplay put this one down for the count. Look elsewhere for your portable boxing fix.
Tired of playing Sonic or Shinobi? Here’s something different for your Game Gear. Sega released a Tarot reading game in Japan that does creates a pretty good 8-bit representation of fortune-telling with only two buttons. Is there a screen mod in your future? Perhaps a restored battery pack? You’ll have to play to see!
Sonic had some special outings on the Game Gear, and they rank all over the spectrum of quality. Sonic Chaos was one release that had potential but that got bogged down by high difficulty, and repetitive gameplay. It’s still worth playing, and being a common title makes it easy to acquire. It’s not Sonic’s best effort, but it isn’t his worst, either.
Virgin’s lovable caveman belly-flops his way onto the Game Gear, but he’s kind of devolved in the process. Instead of a Cro-Magnon hero, we instead got a Neanderthal who lumbers through dark and silent stages. While the core (no pun intended) of what made the Genesis game is intact, the presentation and gameplay have suffered.
If you haven’t played some version of Ecco the Dolphin yet, you’re definitely missing out on a unique and innovative take on action games. The Game Gear version is a great way to get started with the franchise, as it offers all the gameplay and charm of the original, with some nice details added. This is definitely one you’ll want in your game library.