10 Amazing Sega Game Gear Exclusives

[@retrojoe85]

I've always wanted one, but the huge battery drain was a great problem back in the day, so my dad gave me a Game Boy for Christmas (and I loved it like no one else)!

[@Kaii935]

theres cheap rechargeable battery packs though

[@aaronsnowden6311]

Got a game gear when I was a kiddo and I learned real fast, you better have a lot of batteries. 🤣 I did like the TV tuner option even if it hardly picked up any stations.

[@franmui1068]

Great video good work 👍

[@thelairdslair]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! 👍

[@shotgunl]

Excellent list of great GG exclusives, and they are all fun games. My favorite Game Gear exclusive is The GG Shinobi 2: it's one of my favorite handheld games of all time. I didn't buy my Game Gear until around 2000 after Majesco took over it here in the states and already had bought a Neo Geo Pocket Color even before the GG. But, I love the system, and I had played a lot of it at friend's houses, and a ton of my cousin's GG, but besides a couple of Sonic titles, columns, and The Berenstain Bears camping game, she almost exclusively bought fighting games ha. I'm with you on Galaga '91: I also really love Galaga '91 because Galaga '88 is one of my top-3 fixed-screen shooters along with Phoenix and Space Invaders '95, and the GG version is a lot of fun. Arena Maze of Death is a really cool game, and I was actually recommending it to another content creator a few weeks back. It's probably one of my favorite lesser-known games on the system. Although I do like most of the handheld's Sonic game, I'm also a big fan of Tails Adventure. It may not be Sonic fast, but has it's own charm. But, one other exclusive I'd like to mention is Ernie Els Golf, which sadly we didn't get here in the USA and was a European exclusive so didn't cross my radar back then. But, it's an absolutely amazing, realistic-style golf game for any 8-bit console. The Jack Nicklaus ports to the Turbografx and Game Boy and maybe the original PGA Tour on the Game Gear ('96 and PGA Tour 2 screen redraw speed hurt them too much for a handheld) are about the only ones worth pitting against it. Awesome Golf for the Lynx, Neo Turf Masters on the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and Mario Golf on the GBC are a lot of fun but are in the arcade-y golf camp (and Neo Turf Masters on NGPC is fun but not nearly as good as the Neo Geo original, which is one of the best arcade-style sports games ever, IMO). If you like late-80s--early-90s style video golf, Ernie Els Golf is a great entry given it's stuck on an 8-bit handheld.

[@thelairdslair]

Ernie Els is a great shout, I didn't consider that purely because there is also a Master System version, but it turns out that is just a prototype so the GG version definitely counts as an exclusive. FYI - Awesome Golf on the Lynx is my favourite ever golf game, Neo Turf Masters is a close second. I very nearly included Tails Adventure, it was a throw up between that and Sonic Triple Trouble. Ideally I wanted to put both in but couldn't decide on another game to leave out.

[@willrobinson7599]

The gamegear was a great little system , yes lots of direct master system games but as u shown plenty of exclusives .never heard of arena either but will be checking it out

[@truthxbl]

The lack of GG Shinobi 2 here is disheartening (it's immeasurably better than 1)

[@thelairdslair]

Makes more sense to have the second game in the second video!

[@truthxbl]

Fair enough!

[@grinbrothers]

The Game Gear's been on my mind (and tempting me) a lot lately due to a store with one for sale. The whole "faulty capacitor" issue makes me weary about purchasing one but perhaps I can sate my hunger with your in-depth video and the system and it's games here. 0:43 - True, I wouldn't imagine it having many exclusives, unless you count how many Master System games never reached Japan or the US. That said, it has just shy of 400 games so I'm sure it must have a decent chunk of exclusives. 3:16 - Cruel placement of that bomb there but a fantastic dodge. When the Game Gear does get brought up, as rare as that discussion seems to be, the two Shinobi games for it tend to get mentioned. They do seem very highly regarded, sometimes being considered as the best games overall for the Game Gear. 7:06 - Happy to hear of someone else who likes Columns. Delightful puzzle game and I believe it had 3 or 4 entries on the Game Gear, along with one of it's entries being the first pack-in game with the Game Gear. 8:07 - Love the sound of this magic spell mechanic and having multiple ways to effect the opponent. Usually these puzzle games stick to only a singular attack type as it were, so this sounds really cool. 12:12 - Yay; Dead or Alive got a mention. Didn't think I would see it get a mention in a Game Gear video but cool to hear. I'm surprised to hear this Ninja Gaiden isn't a variant of either the Master System, NES or Lynx versions. 14:53 - First off all, love the box art of Aleste here; very cute. Secondly, real nice that consideration for the smaller screen was made here. I guess it helps that it is a Game Gear exclusive rather than a port of a Master System entry. 19:05 - Getting a bit pricey with your games here, aren't we? This is my first time seeing Panzer Dragoon Mini in action and by gosh the bright visuals are stunning. I wonder what other Saturn games could of had Game Gear entries if Sega had kept the handheld going, either with a revision or successor. 24:40 - I love it when the playable characters have different potential routes. Sonic Triple Trouble seems to have gained some appreciation in the last couple of years, which is great.

[@moobutt]

There’s plenty of places that do capacitor and screen upgrades now. Will last a lifetime. I just got my original updated with new capacitors and a McWill screen, and my Majesco GG re-capped

[@joesshows6793]

9:24 music is pretty sweet

[@williamcrowe2576]

I used to own a Sega Game Gear, and a game I particularly remember as an exclusive was Surf Ninjas. It was a game based on the New Line Cinema action comedy where you play as Johnny, one of the surviving princes of Patu San who must retake the throne from the evil Colonel Chi.

[@churchofthelambofsat]

Coca Cola Kid and Ninku Gaiden are great.

[@mrsejanoz523]

* Great video! Really glad that Popils made the list - it's as addictive as it is difficult! * Fun fact: the guy playing the Game Boy in the ad near the end of the video is none other than Ethan Suplee, arguably best known for his role as Randy Hickey on My Name Is Earl. * There definitely needs to be another video of Game Gear exclusives, and here's a few I can think of to get you started - Crystal Warriors, Factory Panic, Defenders of Oasis, Sega Game Pack 4 in 1, and Chicago Syndicate.

[@thelairdslair]

Yep, that's one of the main reasons I included that advert, I was a huge My Name is Earl fan :-) I originally had Chicago Syndicate in the video but swapped it out for something else because I had too many fighting type games.

[@rustymixer2886]

Jack black Atari 2600, Tobey Mcguire lynx, this guy gg, paul rudd snes, I mean it keeps going

[@kenwheeler3637]

The Game Gear is such an awesome little system that, unfortunately, got massively overshadowed by the Gameboy. Besides having the color backlit screen I've always felt that it was more comfortable to hold and utilize that the GB.

[@thelairdslair]

I prefer it to the Game Boy, but I prefer the Lynx to both.

[@thegreatshamalamadingdong9788]

​@@thelairdslairyea I remember lynx hitting the shelves in the UK. At the time I remember thinking how awesome the graphics looked compared to gamegear that I took as just a master system held held. Now if a mega drive handheld had have come out back then I reckon it would have been a smash hit.

[@adultmoshifan87]

I still think the Game Gear’s a great system today! However, from 2001-2004 I had a classmate who bullied me a lot and being a Nintendo fanboy, he REALLY dissed the Game Gear and Dreamcast! Oh well, the Game Gear now has a big modding community and even got a few new games released physically on it in recent years, so now who’s laughing?

[@rustymixer2886]

​​@@adultmoshifan87how can somebody with only 9 good games on bw system mock you? Tetris, smb2, castlevania2, t.m.n.t. , k.i., dkc, metriod2, link past, uhhh rtype or ninja gaiden, uhhh and double dragon or pokemon. I mean gg was better with better games !

[@johneygd]

I remember those commercials about the gamegear but in 1993,i was like ‘wow it’s portible and it’s in color, And with that said,am actually AMEZED that nintendo’s gameboycolor (wich came out 8 years later) just did sell like hot cakes,nobody was complaining about outdated technology and nobody was sating ‘i have already a gameboy why should i upgrade for a color version?’ No everybody bought the gameboycolor including happy families for their childrens, Yeah the gameboycolor was compatible with it’s previous B&W games but so was the gamegear with it’s sms adaptor to allow you to play sms games on the go,,i guess it was just a matter of luck among other factors to nintendo just to succeed and win ,from time to time once again.

[@kingstarscream3807]

The Game Boy Color sold like hot cakes because of Pokemon. The extra limited color was just a bonus.

[@Valkysas]

I can’t agree with calling Mega Man an “amazing” exclusive. The screen crunch is game-breaking, forcing you to die over and over to unseen pits, spikes, and enemies until you memorize every stage to get through it.

[@GR8FLMD3AD]

Hears Laird's Lair intro song: *MY BODY IS READY*

[@hoseinbmr3449]

to me the best game gear exclusive is Tails Adventure. most game gear sonic games try to be the same experience of sega genesis games on the go and ( in my opinion ) they fail because of the limitations of game gear. but Tails Adventure accepts the fact that it cannot be a great fast and energetic experience and instead tries to be a slow and relaxing experience and it succeeds in it.

[@rustymixer2886]

How did gb sell 50+ million? (Remember gb, gbc, gbbacklite, gba etc all count to 99 million sold) it only had like 9 good games on a bw Tetris, smb2, castlevania2, t.m.n.t. , k.i., dkc, metriod2, link past, uhhh rtype or ninja gaiden, uhhh and double dragon or pokemon. I mean gg was better with better games and sold like eleven million without variants !

[@IsaacKuo]

I picked up a Game Gear for Virtua Fighter - a unique and bizarre 2D Virtua Fighter game based on the (2D animation) TV series. It even had a good rendition of the TV series opening animation/song. However, the game is not very good. I can only recommend it to hardcore Virtua Fighter completionists and/or people who are really really really into 90s anime.

[@thelairdslair]

Yeah, it's a really horrible game, but kinda cool at the same time.

[@davidmylchreest3306]

Popils was so cute it would make you puke

[@matthewbain21]

I really liked Ax Battler, Crystal Warriors and a side scrolling xmen game I cant remember the name of.

[@ultramaximusreviews]

Although I never had one I always thought the Game Gear was better than the Gameboy technology-wise

[@Retro-cabin]

The lynx got the ninja gaiden arcade game, it’s a great game. I still absolutely love the nes version though 👍🏻😎🍺.

[@thelairdslair]

I hate the NES game, LOVE the Lynx version however.

[@popixel]

Heard of super columns I am so going to need to see if I can find that one

[@tigheklory]

I want to give some positive criticism here. In Shinobi if you play past the first level you will find out that you rescue other Ninja's with other abilities which makes it a truly unique Shinobi game. Please try and play past the first level of any game before reviewing it. At least read the manual most manuals are on Sega Retro. Galaga '91 it would be nice if you showed getting getting 2 items and opening the warp. Lastly, Ninja Gaiden for the GG does not play like the PC Engine/TurboGraphics version (That version is a port of the NES version). GG Ninja Gaiden was original game made by Sega whereas the NES version was made by Tecmo (same people who made the arcade version) and PC Engine version was a direct port of the NES version with enhanced graphics by Hudson.

[@thelairdslair]

Firstly, I own a Game Gear and I own Shinobi, so I have played it many times over the years. I can't put every little detail in the review because I am limited for time. Ditto with regards to the footage, these are not long plays, they are just to get a flavour of the games to try out for yourself. The PC Engine version might be a port but doesn't play the same in my opinion, it's no where near as hard for a start, I looked at it in another video.

[@joesshows6793]

This was uploaded 8 days ago and has zero likes????

[@thelairdslair]

I don't know why you are seeing that, it has 165!

[@joesshows6793]

@@thelairdslairyep it now says the likes. Strange

[@Hamdad]

No Sylvan Tale? No Tails Sky Patrol or Tails Adventure?

[@thelairdslair]

Nope, I talked about the Tails games towards the end though. I'm sure at least one of them will make the follow up video.

[@tiagopereirasantossilva556]

No... jurassic park GG !! ...

[@thelairdslair]

Nope, because it's not an exclusive!

[@byronlaw6491]

there is one strange difference between it and the SMS version. You play as a mercenary in the GG but Dr Grant in the SMS.

[@tiagopereirasantossilva556]

@@thelairdslair no ... master System ???

[@thelairdslair]

Yep, it's also on the Master System.

[@tiagopereirasantossilva556]

@@thelairdslair ok...thanks and sorry

[@celebrategout1008]

Galaga '88 > Life

[@WeSombreGhosts]

I use to have a game gear back in the 90s but it got stolen !!

[@thelairdslair]

Aww bummer!

[@themadmoderator8465]

game gear was great apart from killing batteries non stop. but the hardware is red flag these days unless its had all capacitaors replced

[@EoR_2B4GOT10]

I disagree on the part where you say you could talk about all the sonic games for game gear. The reason for that is that this is supposed to be about amazing exclusives. Sonic 1, 2, Chaos and Blast also had SMS ports so they don't count. The drift games are average at best. And if you wanna call Labyrinth amazing I will start throwing stuff in your direction. (there is a reason this game was so cheap on the 3DS VC 2,99 instead of 3,99 or 4,99€) If you wanna do apart 2 you have to mention Tails Adventure. While it plays nothing like a Sonic game that doesn't mean it's bad. Just an alternative take on adventure plattforming.