Game Review: James Bond 007: The Duel

James Bond 007: The Duel

• Publisher: Domark / Tengen (NA) 
• Developer: Domark 
• Release: Sega Genesis/Game Gear, 1993 
• Genre: 2D Action 
• Players: 1 
• Save: None 

Previously on the SDP, I reviewed 007 Legends, which apparently performed so badly in retail that it killed off Activision's license to kill -- I mean, make James Bond video games. So my dreams of the second coming of GoldenEye were killed off -- until I brought up the Google Play store one day, and chanced upon the latest 007-licensed "game" called James Bond: World of Espionage (not worth linking), and my dreams of the second coming of GoldenEye were killed off once again. Glu Mobile, whomever they are, have turned this once-mighty brand into naught but a Clash of Clans clone. Let me guess, does it trade off actual gameplay in favour of micro-transactions? Well, pardon my French, but [verb] that [noun]! ...Oh sorry, I did that wrong.

But as bad as times may seem now, you know what time really sucked for James Bond fans? The early 1990s. The film series was in the midst of a record six-year hiatus, due to a legal battle which I touched upon in my Licence to Kill review. As for what we did get during that time period, well, it wasn't pretty. There was that awful cartoon show James Bond Jr., and the subject of today's article: the video game James Bond 007: The Duel for Sega Genesis. Released in 1993, The Duel is not tied into any one James Bond film or novel, despite the likeness of Timothy Dalton on the box art. Oh, but he does also show up in the title screen below, except...

Dear goodness, Timmy, what have they done to you!? ...Anyway, title screen abominations aside, Mr. Bond's in-game sprite lacks sufficient detail to specifically resemble Timothy Dalton or any of the other actors. For all you know... hold on, let me think of somebody random... got it! For all you know, you could be playing as Andrew Lloyd Webber in this game. But on the subject of graphics, I do appreciate the animations in this game. For example, you can make a little dance out of the animation of Bond passing his gun from one hand to the other (by tapping left or right on the D-pad). The music's kind of cool, too, in a Jan Hammer Miami Vice kind of way. The title screens and pre-game demo use a Genesis-friendly rendition of the James Bond theme, but thankfully it isn't recycled by the rest of the soundtrack, as is the case with GoldenEye, for example. The sound effects do not reach the same high notes, pardon the pun. The most annoying examples are the loud and hollow footfalls and Bond's grunting, which reminds me of the Frankenstein monster grunt Master P makes in his song "I Miss My Homies".

So graphics are one thing, but what is the gameplay like? Well, The Duel is a side-scrolling shooter/platformer. Mechanically, The Duel reminds me most of Rolling Thunder, an arcade side-scrolling shooter made by Namco in 1986. You walk, jump, shoot, and duck to avoid enemy shots. They even share a mechanic where you can hide in doorways, in the (vain) hope of letting an enemy forget about you and pass by. But while Rolling Thunder's control was far too stiff, The Duel goes a bit too far in the opposite direction. It's a little hard to describe, but there are lots of little things that feel off about the controls. Bond has only one jump height, and the horizontal distance is often either too short or too long for the precision platforming you need at the moment. As for walking speed, he's slow for about half a second when you press and hold a direction, but fairly zippy afterwards. And here I thought the Genesis's "blast processing" was just a meaningless marketing boast, but what do I know? Seriously, folks, if you're used to better physics engines like in Super Mario Bros. or Sonic the Hedgehog, you're going to have a bad time.

Gameplay revolves around rescuing hostages.

Your objective in The Duel is to explore each map searching for hostages to free, who all take the form of blonde ladies in little blue dresses. And feminism marches on... without them. Once you've found them all, you're not done yet. You have to find a time bomb, set it, and reach the exit before time runs out. Along the way, you are hounded by guards who will respawn if you take so much as a few steps away after killing them. With the high speed of the gameplay, it can get annoying to be walking along and keep taking damage from enemies you don't have the time to react to. In order to stay alive, you'll most likely take to firing blindly every few steps, which renders the flow of play as smooth as a rollercoaster on the fritz. While you do have limited ammunition, the game is very generous with it, at least. Enemies will always drop spare magazines until you're maxed out, and although there's no indicator of how many rounds you have left in your gun, each mag can last you quite a while.

As it turns out, there are only four levels to this game, not including the final boss arena: a ship, a jungle, a volcano, and a rocket launch site. In other words, the settings of a generic "spy" adventure. If I were feeling generous I would say they are rather sprawling levels for a 16-bit platformer, but either way it's still bloody short by any reasonable standards. And just as you're getting the hang of things on your journey across the island of Dr. No-One In Particular, the third level presents you with a wall of difficulty. For starters, getting around much of the place revolves around waiting for elevator platforms, side-to-side moving platforms, and side-to-side moving platforms that you hang from, which all take so long to get from one end to the other that you may very well assume you've reached a dead end at some point. Some of these platforms add irregularly-timed flame jets which are virtually impossible to avoid, and you have to go through at least one of these gauntlets in order to find all the hostages! And of course, this being a volcano-themed level, most of those scrolling platforms hover over magma pools, which of course results in instant death upon contact by 00 agents. But the third level aside, this game is still unforgiving. You get five lives and five hit points per life, but only one continue. And even those life points can leave you quickly due to the aforementioned steady stream of soldiers. Enemy shots can knock you quite far back, and there's falling damage to deal with, too; even a couple of stories down results in, you guessed it, an instant death. Also, mercy invincibility apparently was one luxury which slipped the programmer's mind. The lack thereof ruined Milon's Secret Castle before, and it ruins The Duel in turn.

Most bosses have a spot you can stand in where they won't hit you.

Every so often you'll come across a level boss plucked from one of James Bond's earlier adventures, like Jaws, Baron Samedi, Mayday, etc. because "Canon? What canon?". There are two problems with these bosses, however. One: they are optional, as it turns out. For example, you can easily skip Baron Samedi in the second level by going through the base instead of over it. And two: with one exception, each and every one of these bosses can be bested without breaking a sweat, by standing in a certain spot where they won't bother to reach you. For example, in the first level you fight Jaws, but if you stand on the left-side stairway in just the right spot, he'll just turn around as if you weren't there. Even the final boss (it's Jaws again) can be conquered in such a manner.

I should mention that there is a Game Gear port of The Duel out there as well, so I will. I don't feel it's worth devoting another full review to, however, so I'll describe it in brief. It's longer than the Genesis version, both in the sense that it has more levels (that's good), but also that the action runs incredibly slowly (that's bad). And for some reason, you can choose to have either music or sound effects play in-game but not both. What? I've played a bundle of Game Gear titles in my days and never once before has being able to play both music and sound effects been an issue! So yeah, don't bother with this version unless you consider yourself a man or woman of patience.

As for the Genesis version, you might need just as much patience to make it through this one. It's got that old-school difficulty schema where they instead of making more levels, they just made it harder to get through them. Still, it's the kind of difficulty where you can still conquer it once you've had practice, and you know where to find the hostages, and where to encounter enemies as they respawn ad nauseum. But still, four levels is still anemic for a 16-bit video game. And I did praise the animations and music a few paragraphs ago, but they do just about nothing to build up the context of being James Bond. As it stands, it's just another licenced hack-job of the side-scroller age, and one best left ignored.

Positives:
+ Fluid character animation.
+ Cool music.

Negatives:
- Generally unforgiving difficulty.
- Awkward motion physics.
- No story to speak of.
- Overly short length.

Control: 1 hostages out of 5

Design: 2 hostages out of 5

Graphics: 3 hostages out of 5

Audio: 4 hostages out of 5

Value: 1 hostage out of 5
The Call: 35% (F)

You might like instead: Rolling Thunder 2, Contra: Hard Corps, Vectorman

Game Review: Winter Olympic Games

Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer '94

• Publisher: US Gold 
• Developer: Tiertex 
• Release: Super NES/Sega Genesis/Sega Game Gear, 1994 
• Genre: Sports 
• Players: 1-4 Alternating 
• Save: N/A 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Super NES/Genesis: Common, US$5-10 
• Game Gear: Moderate, US $5-10 

The XVII Winter Olympic Games, held at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994, were a time of change for the festival's history. It was the first time that the Winter Olympics were staggered by 2 years to take place in between the Summer games, and the first time that the former Soviet republics competed as independent nations [1]. To date, Lillehammer was the northernmost site ever to hold a Winter Olympics, and these were the last Winter Olympics to date that were held in a "small town" of less than 50,000 people. Oh yeah, and Lillehammer will also host the 2016 Youth Winter Olympics, so look out for that. So what's the point of all that trivia? Because it also gave us the officially-licenced, multi-platform, aptly-titled video game Winter Olympic Games. Now, I've covered the Game Gear version of this multi-platform release before, in a Sticking Points special, and I've managed to take some of the other versions for a spin since. For the sake of officiality, this review will cover the versions for the Game Gear, Genesis, and Super NES. This review does not cover the version for the Sega Master System, but that wasn't sold outside of Europe, nor the Game Boy, whose events are substantially different to require a separate review.

Some of you readers, especially American readers, may remember the '94 Winter Olympics for the rivalry between American figure-skaters Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, where the former had the latter knee-capped only for the gold medal to go to Ukraine's Oksana Baiul. The video game doesn't give you a chance to re-create this little event, however; it boasts 10 events across 6 sports, none of them figure-skating. There are 4 skiing events (Downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom), 2 sledding events (Luge and Bobsleigh), plus Freestyle Skiing, Ski Jump, Biathalon, and Short Track Speed Skating. They are presented in three different modes: Full Olympics, where all 10 events are played in a set order; Mini Olympics, where you select which event(s) you wish to play; and Training, where you can practice an event as often as you need.

The way the skiing events are designed, it's too hard to react to the gates in time,
and the penalty is too steep if you miss one. (Genesis version shown.) [2]

It's unfortunate that there are so many skiing events, because they're a major headache. The trouble is the isometric perspective in which these events are displayed, which give you precious little time to react to upcoming gates. Holding a button to tuck for speed only gives you less reaction time, but unfortunately you have to do this to finish fast enough for a medal. The only guideline you have to go by are the contours of the snow, but these lines show up faintly against the snow itself, and don't indicate if a gate is centred or aligned to one side. If you miss even one gate, you'll be disqualified from the event, and yet you still get to keep going. Pray tell, game, if you're going to invalidate my results in medias res, what incentive do I have to waste time finishing the course? I might as well just crash into one of the many tree banks and end my run then and there. Oddly, I had an easier time of it on the Game Gear than on either of the console ports. Maybe it's just me, but your skiier and the flags are smaller in proportion to the screen size on the Game Gear unit, so you have more room to look ahead, but still, that's not much room for error.

The Moguls event is equally punishing in that it requires the most precise timing to land your jumps safely, but at least the round ends immediately if you do crash. It wouldn't be so bad, except there's very little indication of what will constitute a successful jump until it's too late. That's the same problem I had with the Ski Jump; of the many actions you must take in order to perform a high-scoring jump, there's little to no indication of what commands you have to input and when you have to do them. But not all the events are downers. My personal favourite might be the Biathalon, possibly because you're actually given a timing meter for you to gauge your strokes against. Plus you get to shoot targets! Okay, so they throw off your aim by simulating muscle fatigue, but at least the penalty for missing a target is relatively light -- just an extra 10 seconds added to your time. Now why couldn't they have just done something like that for the skiing!? The Luge and Bobsleigh events are also considerably more playable, since there's no opportunity to crash, but the track is so narrow and the turning controls so slippery that scraping along the walls and haemmoraghing speed is an inevitability at some point. And finally, there's Short-Track Speed Skating, which boils down to a functional but tiring button-mashing contest.

As with that other Olympic-like game I reviewed a long time ago, Winter Olympic Games is unforgiving in its difficulty. But it's not hard in all the same ways; there are no qualifying barriers you have to pass before you can continue. On the contrary: even if you do get disqualified from an event, the game just moves you on to the next event. Well, what if I want to try it again? Granted, that's how it works in the real-life Olympics; if you don't win, you just move on with the program and your life. But maybe I'm feeling a little ashamed of my performance and would like to save face. Why won't you give me that little quantum of solace, game?

For some reason, the Game Gear version (shown) is easier. [2]

I'll admit, once you get the hang of playing the events, there is more than just a quantum of fun to be had. Up to four players can take turns competing in the Full or Mini Olympics modes -- yes, even on the Game Gear; no additional controllers or consoles needed. But if you insist, the console versions also let you play some of the events head-to-head, but unfortunately it's limited to the dull stuff like Moguls and Speed Skating. You get to name your athletes as well as choose their nations, each with their own uniform colour scheme -- again, only in Full and Mini Olympics. The soundtrack is pretty rockin' too -- although the Game Gear's music is more tuneful than on the other games. And it supports eight languages for the in-game text -- I reckon that was unheard of for the time. But I'm pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel at this point in my efforts to justify this game's existence. If you desperately want to play Winter Olympic Games, be sure to A) stick to the Game Gear version, and B) ask yourself if you're a big enough Olympics nut for this game to be of any value to you.

Control: 2 medals out of 5
Design: 3 medals out of 5
Graphics: 3 medals out of 5
Audio: 3 medals out of 5 (SNES/Gen) / 5 medals out of 5 (GG)
The Call: 55% (D+) (SNES/Gen) / 60% (C-) (GG)

---

[1] The Soviet Union dissolved before the Winter (Albertville) and Summer Olympics (Barcelona) of 1992, but as the Soviet republics had already been training together, they competed as the Unified Team.

[2] "Winter Olympics: Lillehammer '94 (1994) screenshots". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/winter-olympics-lillehammer-94/screenshots.

Sticking Points: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Game Gear)

Sonic Month may be over, and the franchise may be settling into its third decade, but my adoration -- and coverage -- of the franchise will never end. (Let's hope.) With the wealth of material provided to us within these two decades so far, you may very well pretend that Sonic Month is still going on. So, allow me to let you celebrate for real, by giving you the knowledge to beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Game Gear and play it for all it's worth. For this new installment of Sticking Points, I'll turn my focus towards those two aspects which contribute the most to this game's difficulty: the Chaos Emerald locations and the bosses.

Under Ground Zone
Chaos Emerald: In both Acts 1 and 2 of this Zone, there are two parallel paths: an upper and lower path. You start out on the upper path at the beginning of both Acts, but if you fall to the lower level, there aren't any ways to get back up. Your reward for sticking to the top in Act 1 is an extra life item, and in Act 2 the first Chaos Emerald. Note that you'll encounter a mine cart on your way to the Chaos Emerald; to make the final jump, you'll have to bail out in mid-flight.

Boss: *sigh* ...We've hit our first sticking point in the first Zone already. Basically, this boss is a robot pincer which you cannot harm directly, but rather let a series of bouncing metal balls hit it. At least it could qualify it easy on the Master System version, where all the balls bounce low and are easily jumped over. But on the Game Gear, the balls have three patterns: two that bounce high and one that bounces low. and those high-bounce patterns are way tough to dodge. The best advice I can give you is to stand on the kink where the slope deepens, and react to the balls the best you can. Oh, and Robotnik will fly in on his jet-car to deliver the final blow; jump over him and you win. Good luck

Sky High Zone
Chaos Emerald: For the longest time, this was the hardest Chaos Emerald for me to find. Long story short, it's in midair at the top of the level's midpoint. Given the prevalence of hang gliders in Act 2, you would think this is the way to go, but believe me, it's all but impossible to get it this way, however there is a far more reliable, if roundabout, way to get the Emerald.

Along the middle of the entire level is a row of clouds. At some point, you can walk on these clouds. Jump off the right of this "platform" and onto a small cloud with a spring hidden on it. Go right off of this and you should land on another cloud platform. Jump off the left of this platform and try to land on another cloud spring (Hint: it's under the second-to-left column of a cloud). Bounce right off of this and you should hit the second Chaos Emerald.

Boss: You'll start out this fight by facing two waves of small robot enemies. Beat these and you'll fall through the clouds. There are four little yellow nubs which spawn more of these monsters; break these and boss itself will appear: a long-necked bird robot. Hit it anywhere, but avoid the fireballs it shoots, and if you fall behind it, don't let it crush you against the edge of the screen!

Aqua Lake Zone
Chaos Emerald: There are two pipe mazes in Act 2: one at the beginning and one in the middle. In the second pipe maze, just hold Left all the way. This will take you to a small room with the third Chaos Emerald. One of the easiest to find, really.

Boss: A robot seal which inflates and bounces balls on its nose, then attacks you with them. To deal damage, jump on one of these balls when it's blowing one up. Easy, if a little tedious.

Green Hill Zone
Chaos Emerald: In the middle of Act 2, you'll roll down a slope and land on a platform with springs on it, surrounded by a wide field of spikes. Hold Right and land on another platform of springs. After bouncing off of that, hold Right for about... yay, three seconds to land on a high-up platform with the fourth Chaos Emerald.

Boss: The trek to this boss, which involves a lot of springs and spikes, is harder than the boss itself, a sumo-wrestling pig robot. ...Yyyeeeah. This boss will curl up in a ball and move in one of three ways: jumping, directly sideways, or down along the valley in the arena. Jump over or run under the boss depending on how it moves - touching it even while curled up will kill Sonic - and attack it while it's upright. You don't have too much of a window of time to attack it, but just don't try anything daring and you'll do fine.

Gimmick Mountain Zone
Chaos Emerald: Early on in Act 2, you'll go up a slope. At the top, jump to the left and you'll go through a false wall. Follow this path up and over to get the fifth Chaos Emerald.

Boss: A robot pig with retractable spikes on its back. It will charge at you to attack; jump over it and it will hit the wall, causing its spikes to withdraw temporarily and some rocks to fall from the ceiling. Dodge these and hit the boss before its spikes come out again.

Scrambled Egg Zone
Boss/Chaos Emerald: The boss is named Silver Sonic, and I shouldn't have to describe this any further. It uses jumping spin attacks and dashes just like Sonic. Hit it when it's upright, real simple. If you have all five Chaos Emeralds before fighting Silver Sonic, it will give you the sixth Emerald upon its defeat, but if you don't, the game will end when you beat it, and you won't be able to experience the...

Crystal Egg Zone
Boss: Yup, it's Robotnik time. You fight him in a small room looped by a pipe. Robotnik's attacks include flower-shaped bullets that spiral out from the center of the room, lightning bolts that travel along the floor, and an electric flash which engulfs the entire room. Fortunately, you're invincible when traveling along the pipes, so just be patient and you can win and rescue Tails.

Sonic Month: Sonic Blast

Sonic Blast

• Publisher: Sega
• Developer: Aspect
• Release: Game Gear, November 1996
• Genre: 2D Action (Platformer)
• Rarity/Cost: Uncommon (US$10-30)

We're nearing the end of Sonic Month already, so for our final review I fittingly present to you the final Sonic entry for the Game Gear. With its late 1996 release date, it's not only one of the last games released for the handheld in America (that honour goes to The Lost World: Jurassic Park from the following year), but the American marketers sold it as a vague tie-in with Sonic 3D Blast for the Genesis. Don't be fooled - the two games have little in common: 3D Blast is a isometric maze game, while Blast for Game Gear is a platformer. If it helps any, in Japan the latter game is known as G-Sonic -- so quite frankly, I think we dodged a bullet here. Still, both these games use pre-rendered computer-generated graphics, and neither are what you'd call fun.

Environments look dull the way they're rendered.

No, rather than being an adaptation of 3D Blast, Sonic Blast is much closer to Sonic & Knuckles. As you may have guessed from that analogy, the two playable characters in Sonic Blast are Sonic and Knuckles the Echidna, who became a "friendly nemesis" of Sonic's since his first appearances in Sonic 3 and Triple Trouble. Like in the games where Sonic and Tails were playable, the two characters have abilities which set them apart. Sonic now has a double-jump (unlike in Sonic 3/Knuckles, he can use it at any time) while Knuckles can glide as well as climb up walls. While this praise is by no means exclusive to this game, playing as Knuckles has always been awesome (except when he's scrounging for treasures), with his climbing abilities taking you over obstacles that would stymie Sonic. In fact, the switches in some levels are specially designed for either Sonic or Knuckles to press.

So what do these uneasy allies have to do together? Well, in the vaguest of intro cutscenes so far, the Master Emerald broke off into five Chaos Emeralds, and the heroes need to prevent Dr. Robotnik from taking them and their power... ...Yeah, by this point either the story writers have run out of imagination, or we've seen everything that storytelling in 2D Sonic games can show us. In a quest that's shorter than the other Game Gear platformers, you'll venture over five cliched Zones, many of which are analogous to environs from Sonic & Knuckles (Green Hill = Mushroom Forest, Yellow Desert = Sandopolis, Red Mountain = Lava Reef). Each of the first and second Acts of each Zone have a Big Ring which you can enter to attempt one of the Special Stages. In this game, the Special Stages have you running down a slow-moving, pseudo-3D course, collecting enough rings before the end to win the prize. However, only Special Stages entered in an Act 2 give you Chaos Emeralds, whereas finishing one from an Act 1 will give you a 1-up instead. Oh, and if you fail to get your ring quota in a Special Stage, there's no way to try that particular one again. Yeah, you could practice in the Act 1 stages, but what if you can't find the Big Ring there?

Poor collision detection makes it hard to pick up rings or hit enemies.

Sonic Blast's visual style uses CGI graphics pre-rendered into 2D sprites, a technique first popularized by Donkey Kong Country on the Super NES. It's... well, it's an acquired taste, let's just say that, but if you would be inclined to call it ugly, well, you wouldn't be alone. In theory, I can appreciate this ambitious decision, but it may be the reason that Blast runs slower than the likes of Chaos or Triple Trouble. Another point against its favour is that the scenery is awash in one hue for each Zone, which may be the curse of trying to do something like this on an 8-bit console. In a related matter, the collision radius for Sonic and Knuckles is a deal smaller than in any of the other games; you need to be more precise to get rings, or hit item boxes or enemies. As for the music, while I still find the Green Hill Zone (not the same level from Sonic 1) music catchy, everything else is bland and unpronounced. The Red Mountain Zone, in particular, not only has a faded purple colour scheme, but a sparse, lethargic music track which combine to make an especially dull experience. This world alone is representative of the game as a whole: an ugly, bland experience which, depending on how generous you're willing to be, doesn't fit in well with the spirit of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Control: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 1 Chaos Emerald out of 5
Audio: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 45% (D-)

Sonic Month: Sonic Labyrinth

Sonic Labyrinth

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Minato Giken 
• Platform: Game Gear 
• Release: November 1995 
• Genre: 2D Action
• Rarity/Cost: Moderate (US$10-30) 

Picture for a moment the Sonic title for Sega Genesis known in America as Sonic 3D Blast. This was a different animal than the 2D platformers the hedgehog is most famous for. Yes we still have our main man running around, but in an isometric camera angle to simulate three-dimensional movement, and with the tacked-on goal of finding five "Flickies", the little animals and birds that flew out of enemy robots when Sonic broke them in older games, in each section. Between the tacked-on fetch quest, the controls which are never as precise as you need them to be, and levels which all but prohibit you from breaking loose in the speed department, this has not been remembered fondly - even by yours truly, even if I was wowed by it when it first came out. Okay, now imagine that game, but without the ability to run or jump. Yeah, I just broke you. Don't bother putting yourself back together just yet, because Sonic Labyrinth for the Game Gear will just rip you a new one.

But wait, you say, what's Sonic doing without his trademark speed? Our excuse given is that in the backstory, Dr. Robotnik had one of his robot henchmen sneak into Sonic's place while he was sleeping, and replace his regular shoes with a pair of slow-down boots. Thus, when Sonic puts them on in the morning, he notices that he can't run or jump in them. What's worse, he can't take them off unless he finds and uses the power of the Chaos Emeralds (of which there are four in this game. Canon? What canon?). But Sonic still has one ace in the hole: his cursed footwear doesn't stop him from doing his standing Spin Dash, which will serve to be his only means of attack and fast travel in the adventure that lies ahead.

You need to find keys to move on.

Sonic Labyrinth takes place in four zones: the Labyrinths of the Sky, Sea, Factory, and Castle, each with four acts. The three main acts in each zone are mazes wherein three keys are laid about. Sonic must find all three of these keys in order to get through the goal gate and move on. Instead of rings, Sonic's survival is based on a timer. Collecting a key or time power-up adds time, and getting hit by an enemy takes time away (if you have any keys, they'll be dropped and scattered instead). I have to admit this is a novel concept, and would like to see it implemented as an optional feature in other games where movement is, ya' know, a more pleasurable experience. The fourth acts each have two parts to them: first you roll down a slope, almost too fast to collect the rings you'll need to survive the upcoming boss. Fortunately, these bosses fall on the easy side of the difficulty scale; even Robotnik, who serves as the final boss, is boring once you get a pattern down. You get a Chaos Emerald, which does nothing within gameplay, for each boss beaten.

Even though the locations of the keys don't change locations on separate play-throughs, it'll be an unhealthy challenge to find them on your first few runs. The level designs only impede matters, where some sections look the same but lead to completely different corners of the map. And then throughout the second half, there are a slew of levels that rely heavily on warp doors or tiles, some taking you to a different place than where you were if you backtrack through one of them. Of course Sonic's walking speed is way slow; I warned you about that. But when you take away all "justification" the backstory may attempt to apply, you're left with a mechanic that just makes ordinary movement painful. Of course, you still have the Spin Dash, but it's executed differently than in the platformer games. Instead of mashing Button 1 or 2 to charge it up, you hold one of the buttons, and a meter made of four triangles moves up and down on its own; this determines your speed. Depending on how much of a hurry you're in, you'll probably just throw level-one dashes all over the place, which just becomes counter-intuitive (for more reasons than you might think -- see below).

The Spin Dash mechanic breaks the flow of movement.

After coming off of the visual detail-rich Triple Trouble or even Chaos, Labyrinth's visual style is decidedly blah, hardly taking advantage of all those colors the Game Gear is famous for. The soundtrack is equally uninspiring, except for the pre-boss music used in the fourth acts, which I find energetic and rockin'. The sound effects, on the other hand, are even worse. In particular, the sounds of braking and taking off from a slow Spin Dash -- both things you'll be doing a lot -- are just grating (Enough for me to italicize that word. Think about it.). Don't worry; if you're good, you can blast through this game in just over half an hour. This, my friends, is one of the reasons why handheld games are viewed unfavorably when compared to their contemporary console peers. But when the console game this is similar to (which, ironically, came out a year later) wasn't that great to start out, well, forget about it.

Positives:
+ Pretty rockin' soundtrack, as always.

Negatives:
- Even if it weren't for the Sonic licence, this is slow gameplay.
- The later levels are confusing to get around.
- Annoying sound effects.

Control: 1 Chaos Emerald out of 5
Design: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Sound: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 45% (D-)

Sonic Month: Sonic Triple Trouble

Sonic Triple Trouble

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Aspect 
• Release: Game Gear, November 1994 
• Genre: 2D Action 
• Players: 1 
• Rarity/Cost: Common (US$5-10)

The day I write this review, 23 June 2011, luckily happens to be exactly 20 years after the first appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, in his self-titled game for Sega Genesis. (Also, it appears this site hit exactly 1,200 pageviews.) Now truth be told, I wasn't aware of that since I started writing this the day before. But since I confirmed that factoid today, it is with great pride that I share with you my review of the franchise's most ambitious and, opinion aside, best entry made for the Game Gear handheld. Ladies and gentlemen, blow out the candles and make a wish... to play Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble.

As with most other Game Gear Sonic titles, Sonic Triple Trouble (for short) can be seen as a loose adaptation of the stand-alone version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for Genesis. Sonic and Tails are playable characters, while Knuckles the Echidna shows up as a non-playable hench-villain. Some of the levels from Triple Trouble also evoke others from Sonic 3 (e.g. Great Turquoise = Angel Island, Robotnik Winter = Ice Cap, Tidal Plant = Hydrocity). As per the backstory, Dr. Robotnik has stolen all the Chaos Emeralds (it's about time!), only to lose all but one while testing a superweapon. This leads to a four-way chase between Sonic and Tails, Robotnik, Knuckles (falsely convinced by Robotnik that Sonic and Tails are the enemy), and Nack the Weasel (a treasure hunter driven only by profit).

There are more rides to jet around in.

Triple Trouble appears to be built off the same engine from Sonic Chaos, as Sonic and Tails retain their special abilities, such as the Strike Dash (Sonic) and flight (Tails). Adding onto the rocket boots from the last game, some levels play host to character-specific rides, such as a jet snowboard for Sonic and the Sea Fox submarine for Tails. The end-level panel, which in the Game Gear series sometimes gives out random bonuses, also ups the ante. It might give you lives or points depending on which character you're playing as, or start the next act with 50 rings so you're ready to go for the Special Stage. I'm not aware that this mechanic has shown up anywhere other than on the Game Gear, which is a shame, so enjoy it where you can. Interestingly, when you take damage, you don't lose all your rings, but just 30 (or 50 if you hit spikes); not many other games give you this luxury.

As in Chaos, the five Chaos Emeralds must be collected in separate Special Stages. You access these by collecting 50 rings and breaking open an item box with a Chaos Emerald icon, which are found once in every main act. This time around, unlike Chaos, Tails can join in on the fun as well as Sonic. Three of the Special Stages take place in separate, time-limited, platforming stages, which compared to the main game can get as hard as nails. ...Diamond nails. The other two are pseudo-3D challenges where you have to collect rings while flying a biplane. To top it all off, in most of the Special Stages, Nack the Weasel serves as a mini-boss who, while generally easier than the main bosses, could send you packing without an Emerald to show for your troubles if you lose.

The levels are large enough for checkpoints.

In Game Gear terms, this must have been an ambitious project for the good people at Aspect. The acts are longer than in Chaos -- no more 30-second speed runs for you! -- but still far shorter than the likes of its big brother Sonic 3. And then there are the graphics... I'll say this up front: Sonic Triple Trouble hosts the best graphics ever on an 8-bit system. The level of detail is above and beyond the call of duty for any console of its ilk. Too bad the frame rate still goes to pieces whenever water's involved. The music is also on the level of Chaos, if not better, in terms of catchiness and complexity. Special mention must go out to the BGM from Sunset Park Act 3, which is a remake of another song originally planned for but left out of Chaos (it can still be heard in that game if you run the Sound Test cheat), and is generally regarded by the fandom, myself included, to be awesome. On the flip side, though, the music for Tidal Plant and the Special Stages is oddly spooky and/or sad.

In the somewhat limited library of the Game Gear, allow me to suggest it as a must-buy for everyone who happens to own the handheld (unless it makes its scheduled appearance on the 3DS Virtual Console). The difficulty level hits a sweet spot between the harder Sonic 2 and the easier Sonic and Sonic Chaos, Special Stages notwithstanding. With all the form and function considered, this could very well have passed for a Genesis game. Now, when I was a younger gamer, I did have more of a taste for the cleaner look of Chaos compared to Triple Trouble in all its detail, but now that I've grown up I can so totally acknowledge the edges Triple Trouble has over the already-good Chaos. Here's hoping you do too.

Control: 5 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 5 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Sound: 5 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 90% (A-)

Sonic Month: Sonic Spinball

Sonic Spinball 

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Polygames / Sega interActive 
• Platforms/Release: 
• Game Gear: September 1994 
• Master System (Europe only): January 1995 
• Genre: Action 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Game Gear: Very common (US$1-5) 
• Master System: Rare (US$10-30) 

You remember Sonic Spinball, right? This title for the Sega Genesis was essentially a pinball simulator with Sonic as the ball. It was one of the franchise's first games that tapped into the character's extreme-to-the-max edge, if the HUD chatter is anything to go by. Call it personal, but I've never been too fond of pinball games, such as this, where you're expected to hit specific targets with the ball. After all, pinball relies more on luck than skill - either that or I'm not that good. So, imagine that experience, and beat the physics engine to within an inch of its life. That's what the Game Gear port of Sonic Spinball is like.

Chaos Emeralds control your progress.

As per the backstory, Sonic has invaded Dr. Robotnik's fortress and must progress through its four levels: Toxic Pools (sewer), Lava Powerhouse (power plant), The Machine (laboratory), and Showdown (spaceport). Hard to imagine a spaceport named "Showdown", but that's beside the point and, quite frankly, the least of our troubles. Each 'level' is made up of, to put it simply, a series of interconnected pinball tables. Access to the boss room in each map requires finding the multiple Chaos Emeralds strewn around, the number per level ranging from three to five (And they're all blue. Canon? What canon?). Falling through the gutters into the trap du jour causes Sonic to lose a life, although you can save yourself by triggering force fields between the flippers, which last long enough to almost be a game-breaker. Since Sonic can't get hurt by the traditional methods in his platformer games, bosses can come off as easy - and you'll be thankful for getting such a breather after the stressful navigation you're forced to endure beforehand. You also get another breather in the form of the platforming bonus stages in between every level... at least they were supposed to be less stressful than the main game, but I'll tell you why not later.

The pinball segments, which comprise 95% or more of the game, use buttons 1 and 2 for the flippers. Getting Sonic to where you need him to go doesn't rely entirely on luck or traditional pinball wizardry; you have the limited ability to steer Sonic in midair with the D-pad... in theory. In practise, the midair "controls" are a little floaty and, while better than what you'd expect an after-touch ability in regular pinball to be, don't always get Sonic to hit the target you wanted to. The real trouble lies in the general ball physics; sometimes Sonic will stick along walls when it seems he should've bounced off them, and on certain rare occasions you can even pass through solid objects.

On-foot controls are just horrible.

As less-than-passable as the pinball segments are, there are brief periods (albeit more prevalent than in the Genesis version) where Sonic can travel on foot, such as in the aformentioned bonus stages. In these, you progress through a series of three chambers, unlocking the next one by collecting enough rings. Item boxes (which you have to hit three times in a row) yield extra points, rings, lives, or continues, but since you start off with five lives and three continues on the hardest setting, you may not always need them. Good thing, too, because trying to get to them is a feat worthy of a pro acrobat. Sonic's floaty mid-air controls carry over to on-foot segments, making it nigh-impossible to land on the desired platforms, and the many bumpers littered around the bonus rooms only make matters worse. Much worse.

In the audio/visual department, Sonic Spinball does little to stand out, for better or worse. The graphics are par-for-the-course by Game Gear standards, although the smaller size of Sonic's sprite in this game is a blessing in disguise, since it gives you the illusion (?) of seeing farther ahead. The music is even more boring than the Genesis version's already non-catchy (albeit screechy) score. Speaking of which, as far as all the Sonic ports on Game Gear go, this one bears the greatest similarity to its big brother. Not only are all four stages shared between the two, but the map layouts themselves are rather similar, too. Of course, I can't really give any props to the developers for going the extra mile in that direction, not when the rest of the game is so flawed. It would be holding-your-hand easy if not for the atrocious physics and frustrating, luck-based navigation methods. For anyone wishing for pinball action on the go, you would be far, far better served by tracking down the real thing - by which, of course, I mean a real pinball machine.

Positives:
+ A faithful port of the Genesis version.
+ You're given a lot of lives and continues.

Negatives:
- Nigh-broken physics engine.
- It's tough to control Sonic to where you're supposed to.
- The soundtrack is not up to the series' catchy standard.

Control: 1 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Audio: 2 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 30% (F)

Sonic Month: Sonic Chaos

Sonic Chaos

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Aspect 
• Platforms/Release: 
• Master System (Europe/Brazil only): October 1993 
• Game Gear: November 1993 
• Genre: Action 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Game Gear: Very common (US$1-5) 
• Master System: Rare (US$10-30)

Forget that thing they put on Game Gear and named Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Its sequel, Sonic Chaos, is closer to the Genesis Sonic 2 than the real thing. As such, it's no suprise that Chaos was one of my favorite Sonic games growing up. It's the first entry in the Game Gear series to feature Tails the fox as a playable character, and interestingly, the first instance in the entire franchise where you could manually make him fly, a feature absent from his appearance in the 16-bit Sonic 2. There are more things that invoke that other game for me, but we'll get to that when we get to it.

A short cutscene that runs before the title screen portrays Sonic and Tails running after Dr. Robotnik, who has the red Chaos Emerald in the clutches of his jet-craft. As per the enclosed instruction book, the theft of this Emerald has shifted the other five (yeah, the GG series uses six total emeralds rather than the traditional seven) to a parallel dimension, and made their home of South Island start to sink into the ocean. I applaud the decision to give Robotnik a more specific method of taking over the world - of course - but it's not exactly alluded to in the game. Besides, anyone who's familiar with early Metal Gear knows better than to trust stories from the manual. However, the method of getting the Chaos Emeralds does tie into the story, if you think about it.

Sonic can use Rocket Shoes and enter Special Stages... (Game Gear version.)

It all starts out with whom you choose to play as: Sonic or Tails, because unlike in Genesis Sonic 2, this is more than a cosmetic choice. It's true that both of them have the same basic performance and, in a feature added since Game Gear Sonic 2, can do a Spin Dash while stopped (hold Down, press 1 or 2 repeatedly, release Down). However, they have separate abilities triggered by pressing Up and 1 or 2. Sonic can do a Strike Dash (an ability imported from Sonic CD), which is a lot like the Spin Dash, and Tails can fly for a few seconds. As always, collecting 100 rings will give your character of choice an extra life, but when Sonic does it, he also gets transported to one of the five Special Stages. Unlike the fancy faux-3D experiences from the Genesis series, the Special Stages here are platforming worlds (likely set in that parallel universe from the backstory -- in my 15 years of playing the game, I literally just made that connection while writing this review!) where you must pick up the Chaos Emerald within a one-minute time limit. On the other hand, with Tails, the Chaos Emerald side quest -- and any alternate endings -- are effectively ignored, so your choice of characters also serves as a difficulty selection.

Coming from its predecessors, the art style in Sonic Chaos takes a turn towards being more detailed and less cartoony. Aspect's experience gained from making their last Sonic title has given their programmers the experience to let Sonic and Tails run at faster speeds than in the other two games. The level designs are geared more towards intricate platforming than speed, but the inclusion of rocket shoes (exclusive to Sonic), pogo springs, and warp tubes let you break loose every once in a while. Curiously, Chaos is also the only Game Gear Sonic title with corkscrews to run through -- that must be a harder feat of programming than you might think. The levels bear a lot of similarity to those from the Genesis Sonic 2 as well (for example, Turquoise Hill = Emerald Hill, Gigapolis = Chemical Plant, and Mecha Green Hill = Oil Ocean). Sonic Chaos was also released for the Master System, in Europe and Brazil only. Unlike with the previous two games, differences between the versions are negligible.

...But Tails can fly.  (Master System version.)

For the first time, Sonic Chaos marks a conscious effort to evoke the speed and spirit of the Genesis trilogy, and I have to say they succeeded. Aspect's experience from their first attempt at a Sonic game have paid off. While Sonic Chaos is on the easy side, and many of the levels are short enough to finish in under a minute, it runs and plays smoothly. There is virtually no additional learning curve for those of you who have migrated from the Genesis trilogy, but that's not to say Chaos plagiarizes Sonic 2 or anything. It's a worthy experience not only for series newcomers, but any other Sonic fan who owns a Game Gear -- and yet there's one other Sonic game for said system which is even better... stay tuned!

Control: 5 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Audio: 5 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 85% (B+)

Sonic Month: Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear)

Sonic the Hedgehog

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Ancient 
• Release: 
• Master System: October 1991 
• Game Gear: December 1991 
• Genre: 2D Action (Platformer)
• Players: 1 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Game Gear: Very common (US$1-5) 
• Master System: Moderate (US$5-10)

The funny thing about handheld video games based on, but not direct ports of, console game is that the end result often turns out to be something almost, but not entirely, unlike the source title. Maybe I should explain better: I was thinking primarily of Super Mario Land for the Game Boy when I said that. It's a different game from Super Mario Bros., what with having completely different (and fewer) levels, but some of us treat it as a port of the latter. This practice was more commonplace -- and justified -- during the first wave of handheld game systems. The processors for those early handhelds didn't have the power to fully recreate a console-based title, nor did their downsized cartridges pack enough space to hold it all. Also following this trend is none other than Mario's rival: the first Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega Game Gear.

Although it is separate from its big brother, the developers of the Game Gear Sonic went the extra mile to include a couple of similarities. One, there are three environments present in both versions: Green Hill Zone, Labyrinth Zone, and Scrap Brain Zone. Even though the levels are completely different, that's more than can be said of other Game Gear Sonic titles. Two, this is one of the few Game Gear Sonics that have Shield power-ups, letting Sonic take a hit without losing any rings. The only other game that used it was Sonic Blast, and that sucked... but we'll get to that issue later. There are even Special Stages in this game, but you don't get Chaos Emeralds in them this time around (they are found in the main zones themselves, and unlike in the 8-bit Sonic 2, may show up in either Act 1 or 2 of each zone). Rather, the Special Stages in this game are just opportunities for you to stock up on rings, lives, and continues. There's a time limit on the Special Stages, but with all the bumpers and springs knocking you about, you may occasionally get stuck in a (seemingly) endless loop and want the time limit to take you out of there.

The aptly named... Bridge Zone.

It's a good thing the Game Gear port of Sonic the Hedgehog has that much in common, because it lacks much of the X-factor identified with its big brother; namely, the sense of speed. There are none of the franchise-famous loops, corkscrews, or speed power-ups to be found. Really, the most extreme you're going to get is rolling down a ski-slope and launching off with the momentum - although oddly, doing this can sometimes make you go too fast for the camera to keep up. Even taking this game out of context, some of the original worlds are awfully generic, for example the Jungle Zone and - I'm not kidding about this one - Bridge Zone. ...Yeah, Sonic Colors this is not. I must admit that I found the graphics to be rather well-drawn in this game, especially on the Game Gear, where its expanded color palette lets the game easily outclass its rivals on the NES in this regard. There's even animated rivers and waterfalls, plus transparency effects during underwater segments, although sadly these have a tendency to ruin the frame rate, especially if you have a shield on.

Underwater areas ruin the frame rate.

Like its sequel which I had reviewed previously, Sonic the Hedgehog for Game Gear was developed separately from the Genesis title of the same name. It was also released on the Master System console, except this time, the latter port was released in North America (in fact, it was the console's last game sold in the region). The Game Gear version is readily available in cartridge form, and is also included in Sonic Adventure DX (GameCube, 2003) and Sonic Mega Collection Plus (PS2/XBox, 2004).  Changes between the Game Gear and Master System versions are merely graphical; since the Game Gear's screen resolution is smaller, Sonic's sprites were re-drawn to compensate for the loss of space, whereas his sprites on the Master System port were re-used for both 8-bit versions of the sequel, Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

I suppose I could give this tame experience a little benefit of the doubt. It may not have much of a Sonic feel to it, but if one were to ignore that possibly, this is a perfectly serviceable platformer. It's also on the easier side of Sonic games, except for the fact that there are no rings to protect you during boss stages, where you'll go down with one hit. But to be fair, this was among the first games made in the franchise, so the developers may not have known what to aim for just yet. It would be wrong of us to write this game off as a failure for not adhering to a formula that was unbuilt at the time, but that still doesn't make this game any more of an exciting ride.

Control: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Audio: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 60% (C-)

Sticking Points: Winter Olympic Games '94

The reason LordKaT started "Until We Win", his video series of walkthroughs for the most famously hard games of old, was to exorcise the demons of his childhood.  Now that he announced he was ending UWW (with a bang, if I say so myself: Comix Zone), my timing couldn't be better for launching my own series of text walkthroughs, dubbed "Sticking Points.  The first installment of Sticking Points is indeed something which gave me no end of trouble when I played it as a lad.  I'm talking about Winter Olympic Games: Lillehammer '94 for the Game Gear.  I have more to say about this game, like how I came across it in the first place, but that might be better suited for a traditional review.  Look for it soon.


It's odd that I'll have to start off with the first menu in the game, but there's no in-game indication as to what it does.  This is the language selection screen; the eight flags here represent eight possible languages you can set the menu text to.  By default, the cursor will hover on the United Kingdom flag; this refers to English.  Just press 1 or 2 and advance to the main menu.  From here you can select one of three modes, plus options.  Full Olympics takes you through all 10 of the game's events in a row, Mini Olympics lets you run a program of only the events you want, and Training is just that: practice an event as long as you wish.  Before starting either Olympics mode, you can set your name (press 1), gender (2), and nation (Left/Right).  Press Start once you're done making these changes.


This game has ten events across six different sports, which are listed below in the order they appear in Full Olympic mode:

1. Downhill (Alpine Skiing)
2. Luge (Sled)
3. Moguls (Freestyle Skiing)
4. Super-Giant Slalom (Alpine Skiing)
5. Ski Jump
6. Biathalon
7. Giant Slalom (Alpine Skiing)
8. Short Track (Speed Skating)
9. Bobsled (Sled)
10. Slalom (Alpine Skiing)

Since some of the events are so similar, I'll cover them grouped by sport instead of individual events.  The tips I present will cover all the events in a sport, but I will point out differences when they pop up.  While I'm at it, this game was ported to other consoles, including the Genesis and Super NES (hence my use of the Genesis box art at the top of this entry), but the content within all the ports are identical.  Button names refer to the Game Gear and (Europe-exclusive) Master System versions; I am not sure what their counterparts are on the other consoles.

Alpine Skiing
At the beginning of each skiing event, before starting down the slope you get to choose from one of three steering control setups.  The first two turn your skier clockwise or counterclockwise when you hold Left/Right, and the third aims him in whatever direction you press the D-Pad.  I prefer the first option, but try them all out for yourself, preferably in Training, until you find one you can get used to.  Holding the 1 Button makes your skier crouch for more speed, but you may have to let go if you can't react fast enough.  The 2 Button makes your skier hop, which is useful if you need to continue from an emergency stop and nothing else.  Regarding the actual skiing, the top-down, isometric perspective doesn't give you much time to react to the next gate you must pass through.  As a general rule, follow the contours of the snow, and don't be afraid to turn to a near-horizontal angle even if it will cut your speed.  Hitting a gate counts, but if you miss one gate, you'll be disqualified once you finish the run.  Should this happen, save yourself some time by crashing into a bank of trees and ending the run prematurely.


Out of the four events in alpine skiing, Downhill is the longest yet easiest, with the gates farthest apart compared to the Super G, Giant Slalom, and Slalom.  Regardless of your skills in the other courses, it would be worth slowing down part of the way in the Slalom (release the crouch button, or do a sharp turn) - the track is that tough.  In addition, the Giant Slalom and Slalom courses have to be raced twice in a row; skiers are based on the sum of their two run times.  Failing either run, whether by missing a gate or crashing, ends the event prematurely.  I'm not a fan of this setup, but we'll get into it more in the review.  Note that the Luge, Moguls, Ski Jump, and Bobsled also follow this setup.

Sledding
The two sledding events, Luge and Bobsled, use the same track.  The biggest difference lies in how fast they go.  To start up in both events, you have to mash buttons 1 and 2 until gravity starts pulling your craft.  Strangely, I couldn't get past this simple step in the Luge event - the second event in the Full Olympics.   Sounds like a silly thing to mess up, right?  Not if you're like me and didn't have the instructions.  See, whereas the Bobsled gets started with just one push of either button, the Luge does not.  So I would press the button once and get nowhere fast, thus rendering this event and the Full Olympics mode unplayable.  ...Yeah, I got better.  Once you get started, your only controls are Left and Right which steer your craft.  Keeping your speed up is everything in these events; in order to do that, you have to stay in the center of the track as long as possible.  In turns, this means hovering over the border of light and shadow whenever possible.

Moguls
This is a freestyle skiing event where you zigzag down a series of small hills, the titular "moguls".  During the run you are expected to not only make it to the bottom as quickly as possible, but jump off the bumps and perform tricks.  You ski down automatically, but have to press Left and Right in time with each turn point to move faster.  To jump, press 1 or 2 with any direction on the D-Pad whenever you're above any of the right-hand moguls.  You have to be exact with this timing, because if you're too late or early, your skier will take a smaller jump, crash, and be disqualified.  The contestant with the best total of speed, turn, and air points wins, so for best results, take a jump at every fifth or sixth jump point.  Playing this event in Training mode adds beeps whenever you hit a jump point so you can practice your timing.

Ski Jump
This is a complicated event, and I had to do a whole mess of experimenting in Training mode to find the winning formula.  First, you have to push yourself down the ramp manually (press 1 or 2).  The torch on-screen indicates wind speed, but since there's no direction indicator, start when the flame is at its shortest.  Second, press 1 or 2 again just before you take off from the ramp; and I do mean as late as possible before going airborne.  Third, while you're airborne, your skier will lose balance and shift left or right.  Press Left/Right to correct this and stay as balanced as possible.  This will build up your style points.  Fourth, about a second before landing, press 1 or 2 one more time to land safely.  Fail to do so and you'll crash; it's not an instant disqualification like in the other events, but you'll take a severe cut to your style points.

Biathalon
If you don't know, the Biathalon combines cross-country skiing and target shooting events.  In this game's interpretation of the sport, there are five skiing and four shooting segments, with the types alternating between the two.  In the skiing sections, you'll see a bar on-screen with a slider moving back and forth between both ends.  To make your skier go faster, you have to manipulate the slider with Left/Right or 1/2.  If you can, get the slider to stop in the colored edges of the bar without hitting the end for best results.  In the shooting segments, you simply move the cursor with the D-Pad and press 1 to fire.  You have to hit all five targets, and you have only five shots to do so, but missing a target only adds one second onto your time.  The challenge lies in how the cursor moves slightly on its own, as if to simulate muscle fatigue.  It may seem unfair, but honestly without it, the shooting parts would be way too easy.  Note that in the final skiing segment, you have to mash 1/2 in order to move instead of using the other control scheme.

Speed Skating
The final sport, and second-to-final event, puts you on an ice rink against three other skaters with the goal of completing four and a half laps before everyone else.  Mashing 1/2 moves you forward , and since you'll spend a good 45 seconds straight doing this, find the best way to hold your Game Gear or controller and prepare for a little fatigue.  While turning corners, you'll drift to the outside, so you need to steer with Left/Right.  The trick is to avoid hitting other skaters and the inside wall, which will slow you down considerably.  It might even be worth letting yourself drift outside to avoid getting boxed in by other skaters.


And that's it for the events.  See you in four years!

Game Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Game Gear)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

• Publisher: Sega 
• Developer: Aspect 
• Platforms/Release: 
• Master System (Europe only): October 1992 
• Game Gear: November 1992
• Genre: Action 
• Rarity/Cost: 
• Game Gear: Very common (US$1-5) 
• Master System: Moderate (US$10-20)

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is not only the best-selling game for the Sega Genesis, at 6 million copies, but for me it's the most iconic Genesis game of all time. Yes, even more so than the first one, which I wasn't familiar with at first. Despite my equating the sights and sounds of that game with the system as a whole, I was never able to get through the Chemical Plant Zone, only the second zone out of about nine. Chalk that up to the fact that I never used to own a Genesis, and could only play it on the rare occasions when I visited someone who did. I did have a Game Gear, however, and they did release a version for that handheld. The experience, however, was nowhere near the same.

Right off the bat, there are two things that should tip you off that you're not playing the Genesis version. One, the new character, the orange fox Miles "Tails" Prower, is not a playable character. He was captured by Dr. Robotnik, as told by the opening cutscene. Instead, you must play as Sonic and make it through seven zones to reach Robotnik and, if you have all six Chaos Emeralds, free Tails. The second difference is that Sonic's standing spin dash ability from the Genesis version is missing. I'll explain why later, but what that means is if you have to break down a wall, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way: by getting a running start, rolling your thumb roll to Down, and rely purely on Sonic's momentum. If you're used to revving up from a standstill, then this will take practice, but if you weaned yourself on the first Sonic the Hedgehog, then more power to you.

Lava in the first level.  (Game Gear version.)

The seven worlds in this game are also quite unlike the itinerary the Genesis version makes you go through. For one, you don't start out in some variant of the Green Hill Zone, the first level of the first Sonic games. They have one of those (here called the Green Hills Zone... Lazy.) No, you start out in the Under Ground Zone, which has caves, mine carts, and lava. Yes, lava in the first level. I've got a bad feeling about this. On the other hand, the level design is much improved from the first Game Gear Sonic, which suffered from not having much of what made the Genesis series famous. For one, there are actually loops in this game! You'll also take on some rides: mine carts, hang gliders, giant bubbles, and sling wheels. I'm sorry if that has sent veterans of Shadow the Hedgehog into post-traumatic stress disorder, but they're tastefully executed here, albeit nothing memorable.

When I played this game as a kid, there were two spots that gave me serious trouble. First, there was the boss of the Under Ground Zone - the first one in the game. It's a pair of robotic crab pincers, but you can't hurt it by jumping or rolling into it. Instead, you have to let a series of metal balls bounce into it, until Robotnik crashes his craft into it to deliver the final blow. If any of these projectiles hits you, even if you're curled up, you die. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: like in the Game Gear's first Sonic title, there are no rings in the shorter levels where you fight bosses, so one hit of any kind will cost a life. Given how many rings you can find in the normal stages, it's easier to stock up on lives, but that's beside the point. Back on the point, what makes this boss hard is A) the ground is sloped down towards the boss, making it hard to move, B) the balls each follow one of three patterns that are selected randomly, and C) the Game Gear's low-resolution screen makes it hard to see the balls in time to react, especially when they bounce higher. Even to this day, I blow much of my existing stock of lives on this guy - and let me remind you, this is the first boss. Oh, and to rub salt in the wound, the Master System version not only has a larger screen resolution, letting you see farther, but all the balls follow the same, easy-to-jump-over pattern. Bite me.

If you can manage to survive this boss, then you've pretty much gotten past the hardest segment in the game, until the final two zones. The second sticking point I was leading up to is technically an optional objective: gathering the Chaos Emeralds. Like in the first Game Gear Sonic, you have to pick up the Emeralds in the action stages themselves instead of in Special Stages, although they're only found in the second acts of each zone this time. They are easy enough to find if you choose to follow directions online, except for the second one, in the Sky High Zone. Hint: it's really high up. Also note that without collecting all the Chaos Emeralds, not only do you get the "bad" ending, but you don't even get to play in the final zone! Considering how much trouble I, personally, went to find them, that's a real ripoff.

Left: Master System. Right: Game Gear. See the difference? [1]

Oddly, the Game Gear version was released days before its Genesis counterpart in America and Europe (same day in Japan). There was also a version released for the Master System in Europe (and possibly Brazil) even earlier than that, but since people elsewhere had moved on to the Genesis/Mega Drive, it was never released elsewhere. That's a shame, because the Master System version is superior. I had mentioned the screen resolution issue earlier, but being able to spot danger from farther away makes a world of difference. There's even a speed power-up that was taken out in the Game Gear version (yet left in its instruction book - again, laziness abounds)! You can always import it from Europe and play that, but it since it's synced to the PAL format's 50hz frame rate, the music may play faster on NTSC-format consoles.

The 8-bit versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 have the odd distinction of improving upon their predecessor, yet feeling completely dated next to not only the 16-bit but (most of) the later 8-bit Sonic games. If you were expecting an experience like what you knew from the Genesis, you may feel disappointed. And for those of you unable to get past the first boss, it's okay to feel cheated. It's not your fault; it was the developers. But if you can forgive them for this big problem and all the other little ones, it is a decent platformer you could do far worse with. Game Gear users, however, could do far better.

Control: 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Design: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
Graphics: 3 Chaos Emeralds out of 5 (GG) / 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5 (MS)
Sound: 4 Chaos Emeralds out of 5
The Call: 65% (C) (GG) / 70% (C+) (MS)

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[1] "Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992) Screenshots". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/sonic-the-hedgehog-2_/screenshots.