SEGA’S HANDHELD HARDWARE MAY NOT HAVE HIT THE HEIGHTS THE MEGA DRIVE DID, BUT IT OFFERED PLENTY OF FUN ON THE GO FOR PLAYERS IN THE EARLY NINETIES. WE TAKE A LOOK BACK AT SOME OF THE SYSTEM’S BEST EXCUSES TO BURN THROUGH A PACK OF BATTERIES

WORDS BY NICK THORPE

When Sega introduced the Game Gear to Japanese players in the autumn of 1990, it was the last entrant into the original handheld console war.

With a clear advantage over the greyscale display of Nintendo’s Game Boy and more developer support than Atari could muster for the Lynx, it seemed to have a solid chance of success. While it was a frighteningly power-hungry piece of kit and ultimately fell well short of the sales the Game

Boy would generate, the Game Gear still found an appreciative audience of millions of players thanks to its colour screen and recognisable games.

The Game Gear’s hardware is essentially based on that of the Master System, with some mild upgrades, while its market position meant that it received plenty of portable counterparts to Mega Drive games. Because of this, it can be easy to write Sega’s portable platform off as a target for conversions and little more. While it certainly does have its share of direct ports, there are plenty of games with interesting differences to their home-console counterparts and even some that only share their name. Of course it also has some very interesting exclusive games, especially when you look at import releases. With that in mind, we feel it’s high time to take a closer look at a library that perhaps doesn’t get the love it deserves, in order to highlight some of the best and most interesting games the Game Gear has to offer.

COLUMNS 1990

SEGA R&D 1

■ No doubt inspired by the success of Tetris on the Game Boy, Sega made this port of the popular arcade puzzler into a perennial Game Gear pack-in. It’s a good version of the game, with the standard arcade gameplay and link cable functionality, as well as a Flash mode that challenges players to clear a specific piece at the bottom of the stack.

PENGO 1990

SEGA

■ Although Pengo had been a moderate arcade success for Sega in the early Eighties, this was the first time the company converted the game to one of its own consoles. It’s visually simple but plays faithfully to the original, and the short game sessions prove to be perfect for the handheld platform. If you enjoy this, the Japanese release Ninku Gaiden: Hiroyuki Daikatsugeki develops significantly on Pengo’s core gameplay.

POPILS: THE BLOCKBUSTING CHALLENGE 1991

TENGEN

■ Bubble Bobble designer Fukio Mitsuji designed this fantastic puzzle game, which is exclusive to the Game Gear. You must break blocks and navigate ladders, portals and more to rescue the princess across 100 stages, with a battery backup to save your place. If you get bored after beating them, the map editor allows you to design and save up to 30 of your own stages.

FACTORY PANIC 1991

JAPAN SYSTEM HOUSE

■ The people need goods, and your job in this action-puzzle game is to direct the right things to the right people by manipulating the directions of conveyor belts. You’ll have to avoid the factory guards that constantly chase you, though. The Japanese version, Ganbare Gorby, stars Mikhail Gorbachev.