Today I’ve decided to write about the best Sega Game Gear hidden gems. Problem is, wouldn’t everything on that system technically be a hidden gem? I mean the Game Gear didn’t exactly sell super well. It’s almost like the Sega Game Gear is a hidden gem console itself. Most of its library has not been played, or discovered.
Regardless, today I’m highlighting the games that aren’t as well known even among Game Gear enthusiasts. You’ll find some big name franchises here, but rarely will you hear these specific titles come up in discussions. Furthermore we’re going to exclude import titles here. All of these were released in North America. It would feel wrong to rank these in any way so we’ll just discuss them in alphabetical order. Okay enough explanation. Let’s get started with some hidden gems!
Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe
Sega has always been thrown some shade for copying some of Nintendo’s ideas throughout their history. This is one of those cases. Now I’ve never been a fan of the Golden Axe series. These beat ’em ups are as bland as they come. Thankfully Ax Battler is a spin-off. For this particular game Sega took a look at Zelda II: The Adventures of Link, and copied that basic formula. You explore a world map from an overhead perspective, but the action sequences are all side view. Gameplay is surprisingly smooth for the platform, and battling enemies is pretty fun. My big complaint here is that the AI and enemy patterns can be really cheap and difficult to deal with. Other than that it’s all good here. Not only is this a great hidden gem but it’s also one of the best Game Gear games of all time!
Baku Baku
The success of Tetris showed Sega that they needed to have a big puzzle title for their own platform. This is how Columns was born. That’s not really a hidden gem however. We’re talking about a later effort from Sega called Baku Baku. This was an early arcade port on the Sega Saturn, and they saw it fit to also make a Game Gear version. Rather than dealing with simple falling blocks this time we have falling food, and animal icons. Your goal is to line up identical foods, and then target them with a block with the icon of the animal that eats them. One example is bananas. Those are consumed by monkeys. When you line up enough and hit them with a monkey all banana blocks touching each other are eliminated. It’s a decent concept, and an interesting twist to the puzzle format.
Crystal Warriors
Crystal Warriors is one of the few games for the platform not from an already established series. It’s also a one-off. The game kind of reminds me of a combination of both Shining Force and Fire Emblem. This means that Crystal Warriors is a strategy RPG with a grid based battle system. You take turns with the enemy forces moving your characters across the battlefield and attacking enemy squads. All this is wrapped up in a really cutesy chibi graphical style that I actually liked. The game is really charming, and although your goal is typically just to occupy the enemy castle there’s a lot of strategy in this. Plus, the fight sequences are really cute. Honestly I’m sad that this one didn’t become a full fledged series because it’s a lot of fun.
Defenders of Oasis
If you know me then you know I love RPGs. I’m going to gravitate to those on every platform. Defenders of Oasis is a fairly interesting one in most regards. It’s extremely traditional, and again, not based on any series (despite sharing themes and part of its name with Beyond Oasis). While most RPGs of the time were based off of medieval settings this instead took an Arabian one. It’s actually based off the old Middle Eastern folktale One Thousand and One Nights. Despite it’s unusual foundation this is as traditional an RPG as they come. It has a decent story, solid battle system, and a fun world to explore. What’s also nice is that you can amass a party of up to three different characters, and each has their own strengths and weaknesses. It’s a pretty basic, but ultimately solid role playing game in my opinion.
Dynamite Headdy
One of the best things about the Game Gear is all of the Sega Genesis ports it had. Dynamite Headdy wasn’t exactly a hidden gem on that platform, but almost no one has ever heard of the Game Gear version. Sure a lot of fidelity had to be lost in translation when moving this one from a 16-bit console to an 8-bit handheld, but I was ultimately surprised at how solid a conversion this one is. Most of the content is completely intact for example. In this game you play as a puppet that can throw its head. You can find power-ups to change the character’s noggin and provide new abilities. It’s a Treasure game so of course the level designs are absolutely insane. Honestly I’m surprised they were able to recreate the experience so well on the small screen.
Devilish
Devilish is a twist off the age old game Breakout. Some may also know it as Arkanoid. In the original you guided a paddle back and forth on the bottom of the side view screen to prevent a ball from reaching the bottom while also eliminating blocks at the top. Although Devilish has the same basic premise it adds some huge changes to the formula. For one thing you’ve got multiple paddles now. The top one defeats enemies and destroys block, while the bottom two are just there to knock the ball back up top. The game is divided into levels and your ultimate goal is to reach the top. Once you’ve eliminated all of the blocks and enemies you move up to the next area. The twists here set this one apart from the rest of the pack and make Devilish well worth playing.
GP Rider
Boring name, I know. This is a motorcycle racer that’s actually based on the Hang-On series. Why didn’t they just call this Hang-On you might ask? Who knows. Regardless it’s a really solid racer. GP Rider uses scrolling to simulate movement in 3D space. Generally the Game Gear isn’t up to this task but here they got it down pretty well. Gameplay is surprisingly smooth. The sacrifice made is in the terrain. Everything is just flat ground with the occasional obstacle off to the side. Other racers populate the field, and I was impressed that their presence doesn’t make things overly choppy upon approach. In my opinion this is one of the best racing games for the Sega Game Gear. As such it was an obvious choice for a hidden gems list.
Mega Man
When I really started digging into the Sega Game Gear’s library one of the biggest surprises is that Mega Man made an appearance on the system. Even more unexpected is the fact that this is an exclusive title. Well, sort of. The content isn’t completely original here. Instead it’s based off of the stages, bosses, and weapons featured in Mega Man 4 and 5. This in my opinion was the most underrated age of the franchise. It was also developed by another developer. Regardless the content was still re-created fairly well. The game also looks and sounds like an 8-bit Mega Man title, and that’s a major plus in my book. Unfortunately the smaller screen size does cause some issues. It feels like there are a lot of blind jumps here. Still the effort is commendable, and Mega Man on the Game Gear is still very fun.
Psychic World
Here we have a really neat platformer that feels right at home on the Game Gear. This started out as a Sega Master System game but because of the similar hardware this handheld had no problems running the game. Basically this is a side scrolling action platformer wherein you play as an anime girl with ESP powers. The level designs are simply incredible. So much effort was put into keeping the action fresh with a variety of different obstacles. The different weapon mechanics are extremely interesting and all are useful at one point or another. I’ve never heard anyone actually talk about Psychic World, let alone the Game Gear version. That make sit a bonafide hidden gem.
Ristar
While there are a lot of ports from the Sega Genesis to the Game Gear Ristar is a different case entirely. Sega actually made an entirely original game here. While it doesn’t have enough new content to be considered a sequel exactly. The game uses the exact same concepts as the original. You play as a shooting star named Ristar that can grab on to things. You must use this to defeat enemies and also to climb obstacles. The level designs have that classic Sega magic to them. Even shrunk down the developers were able to make creative gameplay scenarios here. Honestly it still feels like Ristar, and while it’s not particularly groundbreaking I liked it. Ristar was basically a one-off so of course we the fans wanted more. This is exactly that. Ristar was a hidden gem on the Sega Genesis and it’s the same thing here.
Sonic Blast
Why did they call this one Sonic Blast? It’s because the game isn’t 3D. This was the companion title to Sonic 3D Blast. Because Sega couldn’t re-create that title on 8-bit hardware they decided to make this one a traditional side view platformer. What is interesting however is the fact that the game uses pre-rendered graphics like Donkey Kong Country. It looks beautiful in screenshots, but animates poorly. Regardless the game is a fairly fun romp and is one of the last traditional Sonic releases. Unfortunately this one came out really late in the platform’s life. At this point the Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Nintendo 64 were making headlines. The old Game Gear was all but forgotten at this point.
Sonic Drift 2
As I mentioned earlier Sega often copied winning formulas from Nintendo. It was always weird that Sega never released a racing game on the Genesis console with their mascot at the forefront. After all Super Mario Kart was absolutely huge. Little did I know at the time that they did so on the Sega Game Gear. The first Sonic Drift was a Japan only release, but its sequel came to our shores. This is where Sega got it right. They fine tuned the graphics engine so that the game could include more than just flat ground like its predecessor. Additionally the items are more interesting this time around, and have more significant effects on the races. It’s not as good as any of the Mario Kart releases but it’s still a pretty decent game. Sonic Drift 2 is clearly one of the best Sega Game Gear hidden gems.
Tempo Jr.
Tempo Jr was doomed from the start. For one thing the original Tempo was released exclusively on the Sega 32X. That console sold even worse than the Game Gear. Tempo Jr came out even after that, and after the world had completely forgotten about Sega’s handheld. This game is not exactly a sequel or even a port, rather, it’s more of a spin-off. Gameplay is largely the same but here we have a new set of levels as well as obstacles. Of course the graphics have also taken a hit. After all 8-bits is less than 32. Still the fact that they were able to scale everything down in this way is really impressive. The ‘feel’ of Tempo is perfectly preserved here. It’s not as good as the 32X version, but this is definitely one of the best Game Gear titles.
Virtua Fighter Animation
Virtua Fighter was a pretty big deal. It was available for almost everything Sega related, and that includes the Game Gear. Rather than trying to port the Genesis version of Virtua Fighter 2 over to the handheld Sega instead made a brand new game based off of the anime series at the time. This means there’s lots of dialogue sequences. The gameplay isn’t quite able to keep up with the deep mechanics the series is well known for, but the developers were able to make a competent 8-bit fighter here. It just doesn’t feel like Virtua Fighter. Your basic goal is to drain the opponents life bar to nil using a combination of punches, kicks and throws. It’s a bit barebones for a 2D fighter, but it’s evident that a lot of effort was put into this game.
Woody Pop
Yeah, I know. It’s a borderline inappropriate name. Adolescent jokes aside Woody Pop is a Breakout clone. What sets this one apart from the pack is the power-ups. Oh and the theming is pretty interesting as well. You play as a tree spirit in the form of a log. It’s your goal to make sure the ball never reaches the bottom of the screen. This is one of those rare clone games where one of the copycats is undeniably better than the source material. Woody Pop plays surprisingly well even on handheld hardware. As I already mentioned the power-ups are really what set this one apart. Though they mostly affect the ball these are significant enough to affect the entire match. Woody Pop may be a copycat, but it’s a really well made one.
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