The One That Got Away

Sega’s handheld platform of the early Nineties, the Game Gear, shared most of its hardware and many of its Sonic games with the Master System. However, owing to its greater worldwide popularity, the Game Gear also had a number of exclusive titles – the two Sonic Drift racing titles, two spin-off titles starring Tails and Sonic Labyrinth, a slower-paced isometric adventure. None of these were a tremendous loss to Master System owners, but missing out on 1994’s Sonic The Hedgehog: Triple Trouble stung. The Aspect-developed platformer was a direct sequel to Sonic Chaos, and featured the 8-bit debut of Knuckles as well as a new character, Nack. While it received a mixed critical reception much like its predecessor, Master System owners envied Game Gear-owning friends. In recent years fans have produced their own conversion patch for the game, which converts the Game Gear game for the Master System. Colour entries are adjusted from the wider Game Gear format to the Master System’s small palette and the screen resolution is increased, moving the heads-up display to match. This allows the game to be played almost as if it were a native Master System game. However, it’s not quite perfect – there are various graphical issues throughout, with most being minor but noticeable issues of corruption and garbage data. Still, if you’re looking for a way to enjoy the game as it arguably should have been released, there’s no better way.