This list of the best SEGA Game Gear games was brought on by nostalgia. After all, when something from the past re-appears out of the blue, you tend to look into the other aspects of why you remembered it so well.
When the Game Gear Micro was announced recently, fans were overjoyed, although slightly confused that there were several models, each with different games on. But still, people were pleased that another ‘mini’ variant from SEGA was on its way.
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But many out there are now discovering that SEGA did in fact make a handheld, and even though it was short-lived, it was impressive for what it could do, even if it ran on six AA batteries for three hours.
With that, here’s a few games to get you started before the Micro launches in October... the very best that the Game Gear has to offer!
Sonic 2
If you thought that the Sonic games on Master System and Game Gear were the same games as their Mega Drive counterpart, you are fortunately mistaken. We say ‘fortunately’ because these versions are totally different, from the music, to the levels, to the bosses, and there’s no compromise in quality.
Some even prefer these versions to the Mega Drive ones, and even though we may disagree there for this entry, the original on Game Gear does seem to have more varied gameplay.
Featuring seven zones with three acts in each, the Chaos Emeralds are also hidden across these levels, making you want to replay them again and again. There’s no Super Sonic here, but you get to rescue Tails for the good ending, so there is that.
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Prince of Persia
A game that was everywhere and on every system available between 1989 and 1993, the game received a port to the GameGear, and it had the difference of being able to play it wherever you were, AA batteries permitting.
Released in October of 1992, it was a 1:1 port of the original game released on PC and Mega Drive, just with a lower resolution. You could traipse through 14 levels and resume your progress through passwords whenever you ran out of charge, really helping with that three-hour lifespan of the handheld.
Streets of Rage
A best-of list in a SEGA product always has to have a Streets of Rage game in it, otherwise there’s a great reason for why it isn’t.
Featuring five rounds instead of the original game’s eight, but it features link-cable support, so you could be in a co-op game with someone and have your screen all to yourself.
What makes this version still great, is that the music is still high-quality; still catchy, still the same notes as its Mega Drive counterpart, while the gameplay still works with the two buttons on the handheld.
It’s another example of where the colour screen wins out too, every pixel has been used well to tell enemies and objects apart, so you can easily lose an evening to completing this version.
READ MORE: Streets Of Rage 4 review!
Mortal Kombat 2
A fighting game with just two buttons should be considered a crime, but sometimes there’s exceptions to the rule we’ve suddenly created, and this game is one of them.
It’s the same game as the GameBoy port, but here it has a great colour palette, and even though the animations aren’t plentiful here, they still work well enough to perform all the special moves and fatalities that are unique to the nine characters available here.
Having blood was a big debate back when the first two Mortal Kombat games were released, especially on a Nintendo system, but with SEGA, the blood is here and with no special code to activate it. It’s where the colour screen really helped with the style of Mortal Kombat here, instead of the monochrome screen you got with the GameBoy, and it resulted in a better-than-expected version on a handheld back in 1992.
The G.G Shinobi
This may sound like an album title from the NWA or Dr Dre, but instead this is a completely original game based on ‘Shinobi’, released in 1991. What hits you right out of the shuriken is the music, just how much you’re tapping your leg to it; from the title screen to each level. You almost want to carry on just to hear the next music track.
The colour palette looks like a mix of the arcade original game, and the Mega Drive entry ‘Revenge of Shinobi’, with the main character, Joe Musashi looking just like his Mega Drive counterpart.
You get to play four stages, but you can pick and choose the order, trying to rescue four hostages scattered across these, while the fifth level is a very-challenging time, with bosses and all your skills tested.
A fantastic game, and one that we hope to see as a SEGA Ages release soon.
Bonus mention: Sonic Chaos
This is a Sonic entry that is totally unique to the Master System and Game Gear, but it’s one that should be re-released someday.
Featuring eight levels and seven special stages for the Chaos Emeralds, it features its own style of bosses and power-ups, such as rocket-shoes to fly across the level, while this entry on the 8Bit systems finally enables you to play and fly as Tails.
Released in November of 1993, just alongside Sonic CD on the Mega CD, it was a great go-between before the release of Sonic 3 the following year, and it had so much replayability, that you were spoilt for choice of playing this on a GameGear.
There were no compromises in quality taken, so you could have the same experience but on a smaller screen, and enjoy the varied levels, music and special stages.
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Holding out for a Micro Machine
These ‘Mini’, or in this case ‘Micro’ variants have been known to be easily exploitable, so there may well be a method of installing more than four games on the upcoming GG Micro, so hopefully we may be able to play Mortal Kombat 2 and Prince of Persia on them soon.
Just make sure you’ve got the magnifier peripheral.
READ MORE: Game Gear Micro vs Nintendo Switch
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