"Whoa... color!" - the official Game Gear thread!

[+jgkspsx]

@NeonSpaceBeagle If you just fried the power board, you can get a modern USB-C power board for like $20. It’s a drop in replacement, you just disconnect one connector and then reconnect it, no soldering required. Super easy.

 

I am slightly biased, but the Game Gear’s library’s average quality is higher than the Game Boy’s. However, there is still plenty of shovelware.
 

The best platformer experiences on the Game Gear (Tails Adventure, the Sonic games, Ristar, Dynamite Headdy) are comparable to or better than the best on Game Boy (Gargoyle’s Quest, Metroid II, the Mario games). The best USA RPGs on the Game Gear (Defenders of Oasis, Crystal Warriors, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya) are better than the Game Boy’s (Final Fantasy Adventures), and the JP ones are more than competitive.

 

The Game Boy dominates in puzzlers. The Game Gear’s best shmups are killer, and the Game Boy’s are interesting curiosities. The Game Gear doesn’t have Link’s Adventure, and Sylvan Tale isn’t quite up to going head to head. The Game Gear’s big racing games are a lot better than the Game Boy’s, but the Game Boy has more interesting oddities. Fighting games and beat em ups and run and guns are much better on the Game Gear.

 

The Game Boy just has SO MANY games that there are more of them worth playing than on the Game Gear, but the Game Gear has a lot more unknown gems.

[fiddlepaddle]

jgkspsx, that was a very good summary of the game library differences between GB and GG, in my opinion.

[Tanooki]

^Mostly, but I don't agree in the slightest on the whole GG beats GB on fighting games and run and gun, GB blows it away.  Just because GG has a couple watered down Streets of Rage copies doesn't mean much.  Don't agree on RPGs either...totally short changed on that comparison.

[+jgkspsx]

No run and gun on any Game Boy compares to Gunstar Heroes on the Game Gear until you get to Gunstar Super Heroes on the GBA

Admittedly, that is pricey and JP only and also a miracle. Operation C is pretty okay. I don’t know if you consider the Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden games run and guns, but they’re great on the Game Gear.

 

Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special on the Game Gear are favorites. I was really impressed by Buster Fight. I admittedly haven’t played much besides Street Fighter 2 on the Game Boy, but while that is an impressive if choppy port it is not a game I particularly like. (I know, I’m crazy.)

 

I will admit that beat em ups are not my favorite genre, but my impression was that Double Dragon, Battletoads, Captain America, Adventures of Batman and Robin, etc were better on the Game Gear and I do like the Streets of Rage ports. Most of the Game Boy beat em ups I have are awkward 2D beat em ups more like China Warrior or Vigilante, and they just aren’t very fun to me.

 

Are there many notable US Game Boy RPGs I’m forgetting? I guess the Sword of Hope games… I thought neither system got many translated RPGs, and both had strong JP libraries.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

thanks dragonstomper, i'll look into replacing that part. sounds like a fun little project.  I did love columns when I got the game gear as a kid.. unfortunately picked Psychic World as my second game.  i remember that being awful, and i tried replaying it again on an emulator and it was just as bad.  now i really want to fix one of these though.  does anyone here collect game gear games?  I think I have a few doubles of games, but i'm sure they are just commons.  i loved the design of the cartridges for game gear.

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

The GG does have a cheaper and easier to get Castlevania clone : Master of Darkness. Really played the heck out of that one on my GG in the early 90s. Other greats have been mentioned such as Gunstar Heroes, Ristar. Defenders of Oasis was the only RPG I had for it originally and I certainly enjoyed it quite a bit. I was already out of high school when I bought my GG but I was one of the few when I was in the service in AIT that could actually play his games pretty much anywhere and at anytime vs my buddies with small color TVs and their Genesis or SNES's shoved into their lockers.

 

[+jgkspsx]

I really like Psychic World… it’s primitive and in that early platformer mode of Wonder Boy and Alex Kidd, but if you like those it’s pretty good.

 

I would be amazed if anybody on here had a Game Gear collection to rival mine

 

Even so, I’m missing some moderately uncommon games like Robocop 3, Alien 3, The Lost World, and so on, and there are still some relatively affordable good JP exclusives I don’t have. And then there’s Panzer Dragoon Mini…

 

I love the shape of Game Gear cartridges, but I do not love how hard it is to open them to check authenticity without breaking the locking tabs. That is a great advantage of the Game Boy cart design.

[Tanooki]

14 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

No run and gun on any Game Boy compares to Gunstar Heroes on the Game Gear until you get to Gunstar Super Heroes on the GBA

Admittedly, that is pricey and JP only and also a miracle. Operation C is pretty okay. I don’t know if you consider the Shinobi and Ninja Gaiden games run and guns, but they’re great on the Game Gear.

 

Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special on the Game Gear are favorites. I was really impressed by Buster Fight. I admittedly haven’t played much besides Street Fighter 2 on the Game Boy, but while that is an impressive if choppy port it is not a game I particularly like. (I know, I’m crazy.)

 

I will admit that beat em ups are not my favorite genre, but my impression was that Double Dragon, Battletoads, Captain America, Adventures of Batman and Robin, etc were better on the Game Gear and I do like the Streets of Rage ports. Most of the Game Boy beat em ups I have are awkward 2D beat em ups more like China Warrior or Vigilante, and they just aren’t very fun to me.

 

Are there many notable US Game Boy RPGs I’m forgetting? I guess the Sword of Hope games… I thought neither system got many translated RPGs, and both had strong JP libraries.

One single regional game doesn't I think cover it enough for the run and gun, and sure Operation C is great, so is Contra the Alien Wars but there are others.  Tastes aside at least trying to be objective, the GB has some solid stuff there.  And with SS+FF, sure, ok and you know I had them too. They look and sound nice, don't have the most fluid framerate and a bit testy to do moves consistently which is a problem in a fighter.  GB though got more from Takara from the SNK world -- SS1 and 3, 2 RB FF games and FF2, KOF 95 and 96, World Heroes 2 Jet and do they ever look and play great, sure they're chibi characters, the trade off is large rosters, fluid control and motion, moves work on point.  Also on that engine they did oddly Battle Arena Toshinden (and in Japan, Beast Wars Transformers too.)

 

Beat em ups, the double dragon trio are solid on the system too, others are less known in the US region but Kung Fu Master isn't bad.  Japan had the most good ones like a few Kunio brawler types, Hammerin' Harry(JP+UK) of which tehre were 2.

 

Gameboy RPGs sure -- Revelations the Demon Slayer (ie: Shin Megami Tensei - Last Bible),  Dragon Warrior 1+2 and Dragon Warrior 3, yes there is the 2 Sword of Hope games, also Namco's Great Greed which is excellent, Saga Frontier 1-3 (aka Final Fantasy Legend 1-3 in the states), Pokemon love it or hate it has to be included (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Silver, Gold, Crystal), Azure Dreams, both Rolan's Curse titles, Knight Quest, and there are others I imagine I'm forgetting.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

4 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I would be amazed if anybody on here had a Game Gear collection to rival mine

 

Do you have Jang Pung 2? (Street Fighter bootleg) That's one I'd love to get for my Game Gear considering how awesome the d-pad is.

[+jgkspsx]

I do not have that. Sounds interesting!

 

I’ll have to check out the SNK Game Boy games. Toshinden I am aware of and it cracked me up.

 

I kind of discounted Pokemon in the RPG category because the Game Gear was effectively dead before that came out. But certainly that is hard to argue with.

[+atari2600land]

How many GG games do you have, jgkspsx?

[+jgkspsx]

I think well over 200 now, not counting duplicates.

 

Tragically, something popped on my primary Game Gear this evening. It smelled skunky, so I expect a cap, but I don’t see any evidence. At least I can play on the MegaSG for now. I really need to work on the Game Gear graveyard…

[akator]

I also have a couple of recapped LED backlight Game Gears, 150+ original games, a Game Gear Everdrive, and a ton of original accessories.  I love the Game Gear but I don't have much tolerance for the aging LCDs, especially in comparison to modern quality.  I've looked at the McWill screens but I just haven't been able to convince myself that it's my perfect solution.

 

I make a point to play my original Game Gears a few times a year, but I've enjoyed playing Game Gear titles much more via emulation.  My old PSPs emulate Game Gear perfectly and the games look great on the PSP screens.  I've also got a GPD XD handheld, a Lakka RPi3 console with wireless XBox controllers connected to a HDTV, and some RPi handhelds running Lakka for yet more portable emulation with far superior screens to the original Game Gears.  And if I'm in the mood, I can play Game Gear with arcade controls at my i5 powered emulation rig.

 

There really are so many options to enjoy Game Gear games.  The Zega MAME Gear is a pretty cool option (although I don't have one... yet).

 

[+jgkspsx]

I love the size and shape of the Game Gear. I haven’t had my hands get achey playing it, which I can’t say even for the PSP 1000. And I love the d-pad.

 

I will probably put a BennVenn screen in one of them. I just wish there were an integer:1 modern screen instead of decimal ratios. I might be weird, but the shimmering effect bugs me more than the old screen does. I have a good screen… if it’s not dead ?

 

The MAME Gear is a cool project. It’s mostly oriented at playing things other than Game Gear games, though, is my impression. It of course renders the cartridge slot non-functional. With the RetroSix shells and all, no Game Gears have to be harmed in making one, so I will probably build one eventually.

[+Black_Tiger]

21 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Gameboy RPGs sure -- Revelations the Demon Slayer (ie: Shin Megami Tensei - Last Bible)

Yeah, about that...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something people need to keep in mind is that the difference of the experience between the same or similar Game Gear and Gameboy games is often essentially a generational gap in quality.

 

 

 

 

[+jgkspsx]

To be fair, there are also Game Boy games that blow away similar games on Game Gear:

 

 

Vs

 

(admittedly two years later, and a year after this insanity:

 

)

 

 

[Tanooki]

11 hours ago, Black_Tiger said:

Yeah, about that...

 

Something people need to keep in mind is that the difference of the experience between the same or similar Game Gear and Gameboy games is often essentially a generational gap in quality.

 

You've lost me entirely.  Are you making this comment on the ground one being on GG and the other GB, the color system is the better choice?  I don't see much of a gap otherwise.

 

jgk has a good example there too, system doesn't matter as much as what you go with it.  A sizeable list of stuff people could just debate to death wouldn't be that hard.  Problem is making a pro-Gameboy argument in a pit meant for Sega is just begging for problems.

[+jgkspsx]

26 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

You've lost me entirely.  Are you making this comment on the ground one being on GG and the other GB, the color system is the better choice?  I don't see much of a gap otherwise.

I mean, Last Bible on the Game Gear is a stunning dungeon crawler. I agree it looks a generation ahead. Did you watch the 3D parts?

 

But for an apples to apples comparison Faceball 2000 is a lot smoother in the Game Boy version that came out two years before the Game Gear version. Probably says more about the respective funding, but still.

 

 

[Tanooki]

Not really, but I'm not going to base the quality of a JRPG on a faux 3D dungeon scape.  Yeah apples to apples would be Faceball and I actually do own that one.  Maybe and maybe not on the funding.  Have you ever tried out Hard Drivin' on the Gameboy?  I recently got that one back (had it in the past) and while it's not some flowing smooth FPS game by any means, it shockingly works well, smooth enough I guess would be a fair statement given it's pushing flat polygons and a good number depending on which track, or where on a track along with the other 3D car models that pop up now and again.  I mean hell it's down there in the digits but still plays smoothly enough and fairly consistent even in the more polygon heavy spots, so it's not a turn a second before you need to turn bad like Stunt Race FX on SNES, yes it runs better than that badly optimized SNES FX chip game.   The hard part isn't even the FPS, it's trying to figure out the appropriate speeds for both turns and more so coming off ramps so you don't smash up on landing.  I definitely consider the $5 I dropped on this one more than worth it.

 

 

[King Atari]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:40 PM, jgkspsx said:

I will admit that beat em ups are not my favorite genre, but my impression was that Double Dragon, Battletoads, Captain America, Adventures of Batman and Robin, etc were better on the Game Gear and I do like the Streets of Rage ports. Most of the Game Boy beat em ups I have are awkward 2D beat em ups more like China Warrior or Vigilante, and they just aren’t very fun to me.

 

I can't really speak for those other titles, but there's a tremendous difference between the Game Boy and Gear Gear editions of Double Dragon, way beyond just black & white/color or gameplay aspects. Namely in that they're two totally different games. Double Dragon on the Game Boy is basically a diluted handheld version of the divisive NES game, itself more of an interpretation of the coin-op original than an outright port. Still, the object is to save your kidnapped girlfriend. As for the Game Gear version, it tends to be listed as a port of the coin-op due to it misleadingly presenting itself with that title and by-then-well-known box art, but it's actually an original, unique game. Some tripe about avenging the (supposed?) death of your brother Jimmy Lee, with all-new levels, enemies, etc. (The European release remedied this somewhat by including the subtitle The Revenge of Billy Lee on the cover.)

 

Aside from the fact they're both beat-'em-ups titled Double Dragon and starring protagonist Billy Lee, there's really not much in common between the two. The Game Boy version is a little sluggish but ultimately pretty fun, but my recollection of the Game Gear DD is that it's a choppy mess. Granted, I haven't played it in years, back when I used to emulate (it's been awhile), but even so, I remember it being pretty bad. It looks decent as static screenshots, but in action? Well... (In fact, aside from allowing that it's fine graphically, as stills anyway, I don't think I've ever really heard anything positive about the game.)

 

Oh, but one trait both versions definitely share: a lack of simultaneous two-player action! Okay, sure, the GB features a two-player one-on-one mode (just like the NES), but where the main, 'real' game is concerned, it's a solo flight on both the GB and the GG. So much for Double Dragon!

[+atari2600land]

Now you can play Game Gear on your Nintendo DS.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/274823930185

 

[+jgkspsx]

I have one of those. It’s not awful, but the resolution difference makes it look rather squashy.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

5 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I have one of those. It’s not awful, but the resolution difference makes it look rather squashy.

Can you take a pic of what it looks like!?!  I just went to that link and I want to buy one now.. Then I saw they have one for the PC Engine..  I can't find any reviews anywhere on these..  i hope you see this in time, i'm about to hit buy

[+jgkspsx]

@NeonSpaceBeagle I took the SD card out of mine and misplaced it. Oops. For the price, it’s worth it. Keep in mind it doesn’t work in a DSi or 3DS!

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

i think im gonna bite..  the same seller has the pc engine one and says it works on a 3ds.  im fine if it's just the regular ds though, as only the original ds phat is even remotely comfortable for me the hold.  the 3DS is the absolute WORST.