Ristar, Game Gear

Ristar on the Game Gear is a reduced-size version of the classic Megadrive/Genesis platform game by Sega. It was first released for Sega‘s handheld console in 1995.

The game is essentially the same as the original, but with lower-resolution graphics and a slightly different level progression. Both games have the same first level (Planet Flora), but instead of “Planet Undertow” for the second level and “Planet Scorch” for the third level the Game Gear version has “Planet Terra” for level two and “Planet Sonata” for level three.

Graphically, the Game Gear version is very good and stays fairly true to the original. Ristar‘s arms still extend out in different directions when his hands are thrown, but the connecting rods are a little visually disjointed. It doesn’t affect the gameplay negatively, though, which is still pretty solid.

Overall, Ristar on the Game Gear is a good conversion and a fun and playable game. There’s a password system for accessing levels, but it doesn’t appear that the Game Gear version has the bonus time attack levels of the Megadrive version, or the boss rush mode, which is a little disappointing. It does have a few small differences to the Megadrive version that help compensate, like being able to use dropped weapons from enemies, and star collection for points, so it’s not all bad.

More: Ristar on Wikipedia
Steam: Ristar on Steam