The Sega Guys have released a few videos about the differences between the Game Gear and Sega Master System Sonic The Hedgehog games. These were widely thought to be the same game with just some small changes to compensate for the smaller screen size and larger color palette of the GG. If you ever played these games and wondered if that was the truth, these videos are a must watch. The second video is at the bottom, but WARNING, spoilers after the *paid Amazon and eBay affiliate links:
Original SMS Sonic: https://ebay.us/3NDJbv
Original GG Sonic: https://ebay.us/fxZUQX
Sonic Origins: https://amzn.to/47zGX8G
*A quick note: eBay continuously threatens to shut down my affiliate account if I don’t annoyingly bombard the page with “warnings” that they’re affiliate links ;/ Oh and since we’re pausing for notes, here’s one more – The Sega Guys used software emulation for these comparisons and its my opinion that it was the perfect choice for these videos. Capturing footage from handheld consoles is difficult and often inaccurate. And the SMS itself is plagued with jailbars. These videos are about the games, not the hardware, so using quality software emulators was the better choice all around. And f-it, here’s a third note: I actually watched the above video right when it come out…and then forgot to post about it. Watching the second (below) reminded me of my error. Sorry!!! Anyway, onto the spoilers…
The first two levels are essentially the same on both, which is probably why so many of us missed it over the years. If you’re just firing up the game to do some basic comparisons, you might not have gotten far enough to see any difference other than the Sonic sprites, plus the aforementioned smaller screen size and larger color palette of the GG.
BUT, starting at bridge zone, act 2 the stage layout is completely different and the boss battle is much easier on the game gear. In fact, much of the first game is easier on the Game Gear, so maybe the developers thought more young kids would be playing the GG version? Or maybe they just knew the GG’s screen was so friggin hard to see, that the games needed to be easier!? ;p Also, the last stage is very different, as well as eight of the bonus stages.
Later stages actually look better on the Game Gear, which is most likely a result of the far greater color palette of the GG. Oddly enough, the expanded color palette is why we never got an official “Super Game Boy” type device for the SMS or Genesis and why the (awesome) homebrew one could never be perfect.
…oh and Sonic 2 is basically the same on both. But it was still a lot of fun watching the video and seeing the small differences, so please give that one a watch too:
