• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

LTTP: Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear)

B

Boogiepop

Member
To start, a link to my other Sonic R/LTTPs:
Shadow the Hedgehog
Sonic Heroes
Sonic 06
Sonic and the Black Knight
Sonic 2 Game Gear
Tails Adventure

So yeah, I played through the Game Gear version of the first Sonic, and it was... okay. I'm not really sure I have too much to say about it. It's a LOT more balanced of a game, and even though the boss stages still don't have any rings, it's nowhere near as frustrating as the Game Gear version of 2. I only found, like, half of the Chaos Emeralds, so I didn't get the "true" ending, but I can't say that really bugs me too much. Oh, and I pretty much blazed through the game, only took about an hour. Although I am REALLY glad I happened to make a few backup saves (playing the Mega Collection+), because for whatever reason, Labyrinth zone managed to lag the game so hard that it somehow reset 2 or 3 times. In fact that zone as a whole was pretty awful (but it's the worst in the Genesis version as well, so that's not much of a surprise).

So yeah, I guess overall an okay game but nothing particularly spectacular.
 
Man I played this SO much when it came out in the early 90s. Some parts were hard as shit though, the jumping didn't feel as tight as the Genesis version.
 
I was thinking of getting this on the Virtual Console. How hard is this game compared to GG Sonic 2? I owned Sonic 2 on the Game Gear when I was a child and managed to find all the Chaos Emeralds and get the good ending on my own. But now at my older age i don't think I would have the patience for that kind of difficulty curve again.
 
I think Sonic on GameGear was the first time I ever had buyers remorse.

Pretty sure my brain is still hard-wired to do the level select trick when Tails blinks in Sonic 2.
 
Dylan said:
I think Sonic on GameGear was the first time I ever had buyers remorse.

Pretty sure my brain is still hard-wired to do the level select trick when Tails blinks in Sonic 2.
Click to expand...

I wasted lots of Game Gear batteries just trying to figure out how to beat the first boss. I didn't know that you just had to dodge the metal balls.
 
I'm sorry, but fuck Game Gear Sonic 2. Hated that game back in the day. I don't even think I ever got past the first world.
 
All of the Sonic games on Game Gear are pretty terrible. Don't get me wrong, my younger self found it amazing to experience this kind of thing in color on a handheld back in the 90s but I see now just how terrible the games really were.

The most troubling issue with every Sonic GG game is the framerate. They aim for 60 but it drops constantly and results in a game that runs in slow motion half the time.

None of the portable platformers from that era really play all that well when you get right down to it. Even the superior Mario/Wario games on Gameboy feel like shit next to the console games.
 
dark10x said:
All of the Sonic games on Game Gear are pretty terrible. Don't get me wrong, my younger self found it amazing to experience this kind of thing in color on a handheld back in the 90s but I see now just how terrible the games really were.

The most troubling issue with every Sonic GG game is the framerate. They aim for 60 but it drops constantly and results in a game that runs in slow motion half the time.

None of the portable platformers from that era really play all that well when you get right down to it. Even the superior Mario/Wario games on Gameboy feel like shit next to the console games.
Click to expand...

The slowdown IMO was a blessing with the motion blur the games had. It would be hard to see enemys if the screen was too fast.
 
This is the only GG Sonic platformer i genuinely recommend playing.

dark10x said:
All of the Sonic games on Game Gear are pretty terrible. Don't get me wrong, my younger self found it amazing to experience this kind of thing in color on a handheld back in the 90s but I see now just how terrible the games really were.

The most troubling issue with every Sonic GG game is the framerate. They aim for 60 but it drops constantly and results in a game that runs in slow motion half the time.

None of the portable platformers from that era really play all that well when you get right down to it. Even the superior Mario/Wario games on Gameboy feel like shit next to the console games.
Click to expand...
The GG Sonic games are all nowhere remotely near the level of the Genesis games, but of the GG Sonics, the first one is most definitely the best, by far. It's the only one not by Aspect, and Aspect just was mediocre. At least this one tried to be good, even if it didn't entirely succeed.

So yeah, Sonic 1 GG is worth playing for sure. Don't pay too much for it, or expect a lot, and it's a few hours of fun. Though I do wish that they'd done something better than that horribly annoying level near the end where you have to play an entire stage with no rings... that there are no rings in boss fights is bad enough, but a whole level, with one hit kills? That was cruel. At least it made this pretty short game a little longer, though, and after some practice I got through it. Took some replays of the game, though; playing it on an actual GG, the fact that this game doesn't give you many continues can be an issue, particularly near the end there. Still though, okay game overall.
 
MIyj56E.jpg


run
 
This is actually the only Sonic game I really enjoyed in the 90's. I bought it on the eshop yesterday since my Gamegear has gone tits up an this is my only way to play it now. For some reason the only Sonic game I ever played on my Genesis was Sonic Spinball. The Gamegear titles were the only mainline Sonic games I played back in the day. And yes, Sonic 2 was unbelievably hard. I always hit a wall in that game and couldn't progress any further.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Sonic the Hedgehog - Official 35th Anniversary Trailer
Event Trailer 
18
664
Codes 208 replied
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 | Title Reveal (2027 Movie) - Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Kristen Bell
49
660
KungFucius replied
SEGA is heavily recruiting for Sonic Team
Game Dev  2
67
351
ResurrectedContrarian replied
Sonic Mania is £1.49 / $1.99 as part of the Sonic 35th Anniversary Steam Sale
34
127
DeVeAn replied
32 years since Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon premiered.
News Retro 
21
769
Fahdis replied
Top Bottom