EmeraldNova
Pluto Supporter
The game of the month of August, 2024 is Tails Adventure for the SEGA Game Gear.
Note, this is not Tails' Adventure, nor is it my dream hypothetical Sonic the Hedgehog RPG, Tales of Tails. The grammatical implications of the title indicate it is not an adventure that Miles Prower the Fox undertakes, but rather some adventure that primarily concerns Miles' two tails. Moving on.
Tails adventure is a leisurely, dare I say comfy, metroidvania staring mutant fox boy genius, Tails. This game released in 1995, when the Sonic brand was still going strong and Pokemon had not yet redefined what handheld consoles meant to young children. Tails Adventure is the rare Game Gear game that is not A) a worse version of the previously existing Genesis game, B) also a Master System game, or C) objectively painful to control or look at.
The gameplay largely consists of traversing levels nonlinearly to find more items and equipment, expanding your traversal options. Rings as always serve as a health mechanic, though this time more rings actually translates into being able to take more hits. The game is very nice to look at for a Game Gear game, uses its hardware effectively with good palettes and sprite work. Music and sound effects are leagues above those...other Sonic Game Gear games.
The story is a bare bones one-off bad guy messes with character you already like plot line typical of Gaiden Games of this era. This time you are taking on the Battle Kukku Empire on Cocoa Island, where Tails makes his home and has a workshop for all his gadgets. The details aren't very important. This is also probably the first time SEGA decided to give Tails a self-determination/independence storyline away from Sonic before immediately backpedaling, though it is far from the last. It's also an early instance of Tails being a tech genius and gadget user, though the Archie comics may have beaten Aspect to the punch on that aspect of his character. More importantly, you get a RC robot.
It's beatable in roughly an hour or so if you know what you're doing, which is probably just barely too long for the Game Gear's batteries, so you may wish to use the password system. I discovered this game as an unlockable on Sonic Adventure DX, and is arguably the best feature of that particular port. You can also find it in Sonic Gems Collection.
For the record, Neither Miles Prower nor the local government of Cocoa Island are signatories on the Geneva Conventions.
Note, this is not Tails' Adventure, nor is it my dream hypothetical Sonic the Hedgehog RPG, Tales of Tails. The grammatical implications of the title indicate it is not an adventure that Miles Prower the Fox undertakes, but rather some adventure that primarily concerns Miles' two tails. Moving on.
Tails adventure is a leisurely, dare I say comfy, metroidvania staring mutant fox boy genius, Tails. This game released in 1995, when the Sonic brand was still going strong and Pokemon had not yet redefined what handheld consoles meant to young children. Tails Adventure is the rare Game Gear game that is not A) a worse version of the previously existing Genesis game, B) also a Master System game, or C) objectively painful to control or look at.
The gameplay largely consists of traversing levels nonlinearly to find more items and equipment, expanding your traversal options. Rings as always serve as a health mechanic, though this time more rings actually translates into being able to take more hits. The game is very nice to look at for a Game Gear game, uses its hardware effectively with good palettes and sprite work. Music and sound effects are leagues above those...other Sonic Game Gear games.
The story is a bare bones one-off bad guy messes with character you already like plot line typical of Gaiden Games of this era. This time you are taking on the Battle Kukku Empire on Cocoa Island, where Tails makes his home and has a workshop for all his gadgets. The details aren't very important. This is also probably the first time SEGA decided to give Tails a self-determination/independence storyline away from Sonic before immediately backpedaling, though it is far from the last. It's also an early instance of Tails being a tech genius and gadget user, though the Archie comics may have beaten Aspect to the punch on that aspect of his character. More importantly, you get a RC robot.
It's beatable in roughly an hour or so if you know what you're doing, which is probably just barely too long for the Game Gear's batteries, so you may wish to use the password system. I discovered this game as an unlockable on Sonic Adventure DX, and is arguably the best feature of that particular port. You can also find it in Sonic Gems Collection.
For the record, Neither Miles Prower nor the local government of Cocoa Island are signatories on the Geneva Conventions.
