There are two versions of Taito‘s classic arcade driving game, Chase HQ, available for the original Game Boy, and this is the first one – developed by British company Bits Studios and first released in 1990 in North America and 1991 in Japan.

The aim of the game – like in the arcade original – is to chase after a target criminal car and to ram it into submission. The viewpoint is third-person, seen from behind the car, and the road twists and turns and contains traffic that will get in your way and slow you down if you collide with any of it.

The first few target cars don’t take much effort to stop. The first car takes two or three bumps to make it stop. Subsequent vehicles take a few more bumps, so it does at least seem like the difficulty does increase, although stopping cars is nowhere near as difficult as it is in the arcade original.

The road movement isn’t particularly good (sometimes roadside objects appear to be moving backwards, instead of forwards), and the gameplay overall is somewhat lacking. The tunnel sections don’t appear to have any corners in them; the graphics and animation are basic, and the music is also the same on each level, which is another disappointment.

Overall: Chase HQ on the Game Boy is a missed opportunity and could have been better. A sequel – Super Chase HQ – was released for the Game Boy in 1994, and that one was developed in Japan.

More: Chase HQ on Wikipedia