SEGA Game Gear Frequently Asked Questions Updated April 21, 1994 by: Tony Clark e-mail: tony_clark@mentorg.com
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TC ================================================================================ Section I: Unanswered Questions [ This section will contain various questions which have not been answered. ] [ If you can provide an answer to any of these questions please send e-mail ] [ to the author. ] ================================================================================ Q: In Indiana Jones, are there any items (like a shield) in the wall/whip scene? Is it possible to get through the Zepplin with just one I.J. life? After getting time at the top and getting the sheild is there another time piece or a short cut to the plane?
Q: In Defender of Oasis, in the castle where you rescue the Princess, how can you get through the door that leads to the double force fields? Also, in the temple of spirits (can't recall the corerct name - the one you get inside using the hammer), I'm unable to get to several of the chests on the elevated icy floor. There's a staircase in the middle of all the chests that's clearly connected to another below this level, but this lower stairway is enclosed in a walled area and inaccessable from the outside. There is another staircase that leads up into the walled area, but I can't find any stairs below this that lead into the walled section. I explored the temple to the point where I can get through random encounters without much damage, but I still haven't found a way through this.
Q: What are the level passwords to "Predator II" for Game Gear? I keep getting killed just before the end of the first level and I'm inclined to cheat. ================================================================================ Section II: Game Hints and Spoilers Note: Games which are followed by "(European)" may not work on US Game Gears or Master Systems. ================================================================================ @@@@@ NBA JAM
Q: What are the Power-Up codes for NBA JAM?
All codes done at the Tonight's Matchup screen. Working codes will go to a new screen before the tip-off saying "Power Up ______". DEFENSE: hit 2 five times, hold on fifth time. SHOT PERCENTAGE: hit 2, then hold 2 and down. DUNKS: rotate pad 360 clockwise, then hit 2 thirteen times. FIRE (!): hit 2 seven times, then hold 2 and up. INTERCEPT: rotate pad 360 clockwise, then hit 1 fifteen times. JUICE MODE: hit 1 thirteen times, then press and hold 1 & 2. Juice mode when made active stays for all matches. eg) if in your next game you went for the dunks code, you'd see "Power Up Dunks Juice Mode". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Sonic Chaos
Q: Do you have any info on Sonic Chaos?
Special Stage One: Break the Sonic monitor and fly right. At first, stay on the line where the small rings appear, because you can clear two lines of the large rings with one pass, and these are usually the lines with the highest ring density (there's more rings on these lines).
Special Stage Two: Go to the right, jump on the rightmost plartform. Board the spring, and look for the side which has the highest platform to the side of it. If you move to the extreme right and left with your spring, you will see platforms above you to the right and/or left. When Sonic is at the highest point of the spring jump, jump up and to the side you're on and you'll end up on the next platform. Keep repeating this, until you're on the platform with the emerald. If you need time, there is at least one clock monitor which halts the time left clock for a few seconds near the top of this stage.
Special Stage 3: Go into the tube to your right by breaking the invincibility monitor. If you press up for the rest of the stage, you'll go into the room with the emerald. Explanation: you go through the same thing several times, with the crisscross tubes, and then after several of these, you'll notice the pattern changes. If you look to your right before the tube goes upward, you'll see the emerald for a split second. The tube then curves to the left, and you'll come up on an intersection where you can continue to the left or go up. You want to go up.
Special Stage 4: This one doesn't leave much time to spare. The emerald is on a high platform which you can't jump onto at the rightmost point on the stage. One way to do it is to run and jump as fast as you can to the right. Jump as far as you can, avoiding the recesses , ending up on a point about as high as you are. Try running or using the combination down+1 to get some speed, and then jump at the end of the platform. At one point you'll reach a downward sloping towards the right platform, followed by a high sheer platform. You have two options. Either you can do a down+1 then jump to get on the platform, and use the rocket shoes monitor there to fly right, or you can break through this hill. When you can't break any more walls, jump and you'll break the one below you, then break the walls to your right again, repeat. At this point you can run right and pick up a clock monitor to stop time. You'll want to either continue right and then back up and pick up some rocket shoes, or backtrack and pick up an earlier pair. From here, rocket shoes are pretty much required to save time. You will go from shoes to running & jumping for short periods of time several times. Usually you have to back up and get a pair. If you end up running on a row of tiles at the bottom of the screen whichcrumble from under your feet, you've gone too far, and need to back up for the final set of shoes. These are the only way I know of to reach the platform with the emerald on it. This is one big-@ss level, sorry I can't give a more detailed explanation. Some tips: if your reach an area where there's a diagonal line of the stationary plunger thingys to you're right, you want to scale this hill, by jumping just to the left the plunger on the level you want to land on. If you reach an area where there's one plunger on the lower left, one on the lower right, and one on the upper right, I THINK you want to backtrack.
Special Stage 5: Last one, and it's a nastier version of the third. You can pick up a bunch of time monitors on this level by diverting from the default path (straight) at intersections. This one isn't as bad as Stage 4. Sorry, no direct set of moves here. Suggestion: pause the game every so often to look at the area around you when you're in the tubes. Take the side paths. The 5th emerald is in a room which is hard to locate, because it's so small. The room is on the left side of the level, and is approachable from the inside of the level. Look for an intersection where one of you're options is a tube that leads into a room with a plunger which is ready to shoot you back where you came from. If you look, you'll see that there's a clear path just above the plunger thing. Jump and use the D button to avoid being thrown back out, and take the path above it. The emerald is down this path.
Robotnik & Level 3 Electric Egg Zone: On level 3, run to your right down the slope, and jump to the other side. Then jump back onto the platform to your left, and use it to launch yourself intothe tube above. Press down when you do this, so you can go into a side tube and get the 10 ring monitor. Immediately press right to continue towards robotnik. Ride the elevator platform you land on, and go to the right. Best way to kill robotnik #1: stay on the right side of the screen and attack robotnik to the left, flying back to the right after bouncing off him. This way when you get shot, you can get the ring back without robotnik standing on it. For robo #2, stay low. When the ship appears, and then goes off one side of the screen, sonic shoot yourself to the opposite side of the screen so he doesn't kill you when he reappears. After a few times of this, you can see his pattern and then jump on top of him once to kill him.
Q: In Sonic Chaos when you continue a game, do you still have all of the emeralds you picked up? I won by continues, and there wasn't a real ending sequence, I just chased robotnik for a few seconds, and that was it. If you let him go for awhile, do you get something other than the ending sequence?
When you continue, you still keep all the emeralds you had before. The only difference with sonic real ending and the one without the credits is that without the chaos emeralds Sonic falls on his face. The real ending shows: Sonic chasing Robotnik for the rings. Robotnik drops the rings. Sonic gets the rings and next thing you see sonic is inside the Chaos Emerald running a 360 and then the credits roll. Nothing really spectacular of course. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@ Alien 3 (European)
Enter your name as CHEAT on the high-score table to get tons more ammo when you start the next game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Axe Battler (European)
Use the "Pray for Rain" play against Minnesota - they'll always fall for it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Krusty's Fun House (European)
All doors chest: If you enter the code TRACY, you'll open all the doors to all the levels. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Pengo (European)
Level select: Hold down buttons 1 and 2, press Up on the pad and then press Start twice. A level select screen should now appear. You can also change your number of starting lives with this cheat. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Putt 'N' Putter (European)
Go to options and then to sound test. Play sound 11 and then press 1 and 2 together, you can now turn the damage on or off or select you starting level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Super Kick Off (European)
If you're bored with the English team names, switch the language to access other European teams. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Wimbledon (European)
To get max speed/power and skill without having to play for hours: IKM JKI POC. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Wolfchild (European)
A password of J8TPR takes you to a level select screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ren Hoek & Stimpy: Quest for the Shaven Yak
Using these codes gives you 3 Rens and 3 Stimpys, each with 6 hitpoints (three bottle pictures), and puts you at the start of the level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic I
Q: How do I get the 50,000 special bonus at the end of the game?
You may get 50,000 special bonus at the end of the game for each of the following:
- Collecting all chaos emeralds - Reaching all 8 special zones - Completing every special zone in time - Finding all sonic monitors (did you know, that there is a sonic monitor in every zone/act - except specials?)
Q: In Sonic 1, where are the 3rd, 4th and 5th gems? Any clues on how to get to the sixth gem? (On the blimp.)
3rd gem: In Act 1 go to the second waterfall. Go to the platform underneath you. The third gem is reached by jumping on a log to the left.
4th gem: It's to the left when you are almost done with Act 2.
5th gem: This one is reached by taking one of the tubes in the scrap brain.
6th gem: This one I actually remember quite well, as I had to go to Usenet to get the answer! At the start of Act 2, jump a little bit towards the left. You'll land on a platform and be on your way to the emerald.
Q: In Sonic 1, where are all the monitors?
Zone/Act Location
1/1 After the first pit, hidden in a palm tree (jump under it to knock it down) 1/2 Enter cave, go left to the bottom (Sonic stands 'knee-deep in water), jump left to enter a secret passage 1/3 Jump into the second pit, go right 2/1 Using the second balance jump onto the high cliff 2/2 Floating in water - you can't miss it ;-) 2/3 Just go left at start - suppress your urge to go right immediately ;-) 3/1 On top of the first waterfall (if you fall down to the log - you still can reach it by going to the second waterfall and back from there) 3/2 Approx. halfway through the level find a platform with 8 rings on the left of the waterfall. Jump right over the long spiked log, Jump right off the log. 3/3 Go right, jump into the water, it is at the bottom. 4/1 At the end of the level (when you are out of the water again, going up) switch on the left switches the monitor between 'rings' and 'Sonic'. 4/2 Fall down to to a place where air bubbles appear on a short platform jump into the left pit, go left to the end of the corridor, break the monitor by 'roll attack' (down) - don't try to jump! 4/3 Jump off the spring, enter corridor left, jump over spikes (careful!), it is at the end. 5/1 It is on the first transporter belt you encounter (be quick - otherwise it will fall down) 5/2 At the place where the corridor branches into 'upper' and 'lower' branch - take the 'lower' one, pass the door, go down, jump right into the deep pit, go left, use transporter. 5/3 When you are at the bottom of the level you see it behind closed door. To get there go up, left, up, left, up, right, up, right, dooooown. 6/1 On the second flying platform: jump off it before it reaches destination, go a few platforms down 6/2 At start go left, land on a flying platform, change to the second platform, then jump onto a ladder, go up the ladder. 6/3 If you found all 17 monitors described above - the 18-th one will be there just at your feet.
If you find and break all the 18 monitors you receive 50,000 extra bonus at the end of the game (plus bonus for lives left). Apart from the above, there are Sonic monitors in special zones #2, 4, 6 and 8. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic II
Q: How do you fly using the glider in Sonic 2 Game Gear?
Take the glider without jumping off the hill/cliff whatsoever. Go back (left), keeping the glider, then run to the right. This way, you'll get enough speed for a stable flight after getting off the ground. While flying, press [left] to gain height, and [right] to increase speed. Do not use left/right too often between your flight, because you'll lose speed by getting height and vice versa. The manual left out one little thing. They say push left to go up and right to go down, but they forgot to say 'Push the D-button up to keep your self afloat and slowly sail across the sky.'
Q: Has anyone found those two little yellow chicks in Scene 1 of Zone II? What purpose do they serve?
Yes! From the start - Run across the collapsing bridge the jump across the platforms to the first plunger platform (it has a ring monitor). There is an extra Sonic on a platform to the right of this which is optional. Take the plunger up to the next platform (with the bricked up tunnels). Through the tunnels knocking out the bricks (and the turtle). Now start climbing the "platforms in the sky" NOT the building ones. Get to the highest point which will almost take you off the screen and bounce LEFT. You'll arrive on a platform with two trees and an extra Sonic monitor. DO NOT break the monitor. Jump over it to the left, turn round and PUSH the monitor. The two chicks will appear. If you keep pushing more chicks will appear.
No idea what they do though.
Q: What is the Level Select sequence for Game Gear Sonic II?
1. Press the start button to get rid of the running scene 2. During the next screen, press and hold start, button 1, button 2, and press south-west on the directional button. Hold everything until you hear chimes. 3. Let go and press start to get the the level-select screen.
or try this...
1. Before the Portrait Screen comes up, hold south-west and buttons 1 and 2. 2. Tails will blink 3 times. When his eye is closed from the third blink, hit start (with everything else still held) and the level select screen will come up.
Q: How do I get unlimited lives in Sonic II?
This is a common feature of Sonic 2. There are two free Sonics monitors on Act 1! The big acts for free Sonics have to be Act 1 of level 4 and Act 1 of level 5. The original Sonic game let you obtain these monitors only once. Once you were killed, the monitors were gone forever.
In Act 2 of the first level of Sonic 2 on the Game Gear you can generate unlimited lives since there is a bug/feature which means that the extra life icon is available even if you have been killed on that act before. In act 2 of level 1 it is easy to get 100 rings so you get the extra life and collect 100 lives and kill yourself, and start over. Thus you gain two and lose one for each attempt.
In Level 6 the second round of this is another ideal place to restock on Sonics! There will be a plunger on a hill after you've passed the "Martians" and the right- left-up maze. Press down on the D-button to go into the super fast mode. There will be a free Sonic at the top. Go to the right. There are rings galore. I think there are a hundred rings here! Go back to the left. There is another free Sonic. Go down and to the right. There's a free Sonic here too.
Q: Where are the chaos Emeralds in Sonic II?
All of the emeralds will be found in the second act of the first 5 zones.
Zone I emerald: To get to the end of this round, you have to take a plunger to the right. Instead of doing that, take the plunger to the left. Go to the top of the hill, get the ring monitor, and push "down" on the D-button to make Sonic go really fast. Take the rail cart. Stay in the rail cart for a little bit past the end of the track. Jump off towards the upper right. The emerald is there.
Zone II emerald: This is one that I needed help to get. Towards the middle of the round, there will be a row in the clouds with rings. There will be one plunger next to it at a higher level, and another plunger a little bit past this one. Take the latter plunger at an angle towards the right. You'll be on an invisible platform in the clouds. Jump off the clouds past the last cloud. There will be an invisible plunger. Take this plunger towards the right (again, it helps if you are at an angle to the very right) and the emerald will be at the highest point.
Zone III emerald: There will be a maze towards the middle of the round (not the first maze!). Press the D-button left.
Zone IV emerald: When you get towards the end, you'll see some plungers with rings that you won't quite be able to reach. Go back to the plungers on the left. Use them to get to the right.
Zone V emerald: The last one! (I'm not counting the emerald that you get for defeating the Silver Sonic.) This one was tricky. Towards the beginning of the round, you'll see a diagonal area that has spikes coming down. There is a hidden room here. To access it, jump to the left while you are almost at the top. At the very left, there are flywheels (with two more secret hideouts to the left containing free Sonics!). Take the flywheels up. The emerald is towards your right.
Q: How do I kill the Bosses in Sonic II?
Zone I boss: Stay away from the balls. I thought at first the object was also to hit the lobster (or plant, or whatever) but all you have to do is stay away from that and the balls. Some of the balls require you to jump over them, while others need for you to go underneath them when they bounce.
Or try this: Another tactic is to jump over all the rocks, whether they be high bouncin' or low bouncin'. Stand near the ant-lion, and wait for the rock to get very close to me, then jump *towards* the antlion. In the air, *arch back* towards the center of the screen. (So you end up jumping a loop, starting and ending just in front of the ant-lion.) It takes a little practice to know when to jump for different rocks, but it does work.
Zone II boss: It helps to hit two of the small birds at once. You'll kill 4 birds on the top level, then 4 more birds will come down. After that, you'll drop to the next level. Kill the eggs so that they don't have any more birds coming out of them, so you can concentrate on the Mother Goose (as I like to call it).
Zone III boss: To kill this one, jump on him when he has a ball on his head. This is probably the easiest boss.
Zone IV boss: One of the worst! The boss himself is not ridiculously hard, but to get there is rather difficult, as it's all plungers and spikes! This boss is a hog that transforms himself into a golden sphere that moves across the screen. It's only safe to jump on him while he's a hog. Sometimes he'll go to one side, remain a sphere, and then go back, but usually, he transforms back into a hog as soon as he reaches the opposite side.
Zone V boss: It's only safe to jump on him when he does not have his spikes standing up. He will lose his spikes when he hits the wall. There will also be small white balls that fall from the sky. I found this round to be slightly easier if I didn't even try to jump on him the first time, and just stayed away from the balls. After that, I could position myself better. Also, it seems to help if the jumping is done quickly and flawlessly. I managed to do this once or twice, and it substantially cut down on the number of balls that fell from the sky.
Zone VI boss: The Silver Sonic! It's not really that difficult. The way to kill this one is by jumping on him when he's a regular Sonic, and not a ball. (Jumping on the ball doesn't hurt either, as long as you're on top.)
Zone VII boss: This was hard. Basically, the pattern is as follows: Jump on Robotnik as soon as you leave the tube. Go back into the tube and go around and around. Get out of the tube after you see the lightning flash the second time. Jump on Robotnik. Go back in the tube. Go around and around, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic 2 (European)
Level select: At the sound test and play tracks 19, 65, 9, and 17. Hit START to exit. Wait for the screen where Sonic and Tails give you a thumbs up and hit 1 and START twice.
Q: How do I get the other chests and reach the stairs on the ice patch level of Defender of the Oasis.
Right next to the stair entrance (on its left), there is a chest. Now, on the strip of land (way at the bottom), walk to the column that if you skate up, you'll reach that chest. Now skate : U (you'll stop at the chest right next to the stairs) (open it and grab the goodies). R D L U L : there you are at the entrance of the stairs.
With these movements, you'll grab the chests that cannot be reached by skating directly.
Q: Is there a secret screen in DoD?
Yes, there is a secret screen in DoO. All you have to do is hold up & start at the title screen. What you will see is a sound test of all the music, sound effects and voices. To exit the sound test screen hit start, to listen to the music press either 1 or 2. There are only 3 voices, and about 40 sound effects. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ecco the Dolphin
Level Scene Code 1 Medusa Bay QMBRB 2 Undercaves AGCFU 3 Ridgewater VADJR 4 Open Ocean QYEKR 5 Cold Water IAFWN 6 Open Water 7 Deep Water YAHWV 8 The City of Forever #1 OKBKI 9 Origin Beach CCRIJ 10 Dark Water WGUKK 11 The City of Forever #2 MEMSK 12 The Tube GGWAO 13 The Machine KOWMP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Castle of Illusion with Mickey Mouse
Q: In Mickey Mouse Castle of Illusion Game Gear Version, how do you kill the Chocolate looking dude in the Candy world?
Each time he hits the wall four chocolate pieces fall, three disappear, one stays. Pick up the remaining one, jump and throw it at the guy when in mid-air (works ony when he is 'fully assembled', with face). Repeat four times. With some practice you can do it quickly. Throw it when he is hitting the wall, then the next piece will fall down and he will not disassemble, so you can throw again. You can finish him in <15 seconds this way.
Secret Treasures: To grab two secret treasure chests go to the very far right of the forest in Level 1. You'll discover two treasure chests in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Jump on the chest on the right and then jump up to the right side of the screen in one motion. Two treasure chests appear just above and to the right of the first two chests. Quickly jump onto them. They will break open and two coins will appear, each worth 2,000 points.
Another secret treasure in the same Level is towards the end: when you passed the cave and go down (to re-emerge in the forest) go left and attack jump - another 2 treasure chests with big coins appear.
Secret Life: In level 4 enter the coffee cup screen. Exit the coffee cup and jump across the three rotating platforms until you reach the first dancing Letter A. Climb the ladder to the left of the screen until you reach a room with two bugs, a button, and a barrel. Kill the bugs by throwing the barrel and the button. The button disappears but you can use the barrel to climb up the ladder on the right side of the screen. You'll enter a screen where there's another bug to the right. Kill the bug by jumping on it and continue to the right until you reach a second dancing Letter A. Pass the Letter A and keep going right. You'll come upon a tiny drop in the floor that looks like it was made out of wood. The drop is just big enough for Mickey to fit into. Jump up by pressing Button 2 twice so that Mickey comes down on his behind. This pops the floor and allows Mickey to enter a secret room with two treasure chests containing a coin and a free Mickey. There is one more secret life on the same level. When you finished the level and go to the boss room - you have to go down a ladder. Jump down the ladder (pressing 2) press left and keep it pressed. At some point Mickey will stop falling down and enter a secret passage, leading to a room with additional life chest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prince of Persia
General tips: The most important thing to remember about Lemmings is:DONT PANIC! If you feel that everything is moving too quickly, you can slow down the rate of lemmings, and that should give you a bit more time to think.
The first couple of times you play a level you're not sure of, turn the second lemming into a blocker - to hold back the rest of them - and just concentrate on the first one. This way you don't have to worry about 20 lemmings at once.
Very often any problem on a level is more obvious that it looks. Look at the amounts of the various characters that you've been allocated, and work it out from there.
Remember: you can select the characters (builder, digger etc.) while the game's in pause mode. This will help the more nervous players out there.
Shinobi 1
Q: In Shinobi 1, how do you get past the level in the final city that slowly fills up with water as you hop from platform to platform? (The platforms eventually lead underwater where you must drown...)
This one is nasty. You must use the Pink Ninja (Yellow cannot walk on this water). When you use a Ninjutsu, the water level goes down and starts filling again. Using the Pink Ninja jump up to the first platform and bomb the robot. Then jump up and get the Ninjutsu. Then jump over to the second block to the right and before touching it or the water, while in midair use your Ninjutsu. The water will then lower for awhile. Walk through that robot, jump up to the next one and bomb him. Get the Ninjutsu. You should still have just enough time to just jump towards the second block to the right and use your Ninjutsu in midair. Now before the water raises again, you'll have to jump and run/jump as fast as you can to the right and then just as the water touches your ankles you can enter the door.
Q: How do you get that Secret Bonus in Shinobi I for Game Gear?
Finish a round without grabbing any of the Ninjitsus and then you'll get the Secret Bonus of 3000 points. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobi (European)
Sound Test: Press 1, 2, and START at the title screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobi 2: The Silent Fury
Passwords: D09F9 - Yellow, Pink, Green, and Blue Ninja. 11817 - All Ninjas and Yellow Crystal. B9B12 - All Ninjas and the Yellow and Pink Crystals. DDE91 - All Ninjas and the Yellow, Pink, and Blue Crystals. 1FEDF - All items (Ready for last level).
Q: How do you get the secret bonus?
Just finish a round without opening up any boxes that contain bombs and you'll get a 3000-point bonus. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Q: How do you get the Cross in the first scene?
Start at the room where you see the cross. Move left and jump, walk across the bridge. Get the whip and kill guard Climb up the rope and jump to the ledge at the right. Jump to the second rope and climb up until you see another climber. Go down the rope and jump to the room to the right of the rope. Wait until the climber starts to climb up and then jump back to the rope. Climb up and jump to the first ledge at the left. Wait until the climber go down jump right to the rope and jump right again. Walk right until you reach to the ledge jump right, jump right again. By now you have extra time from the hourglass you picked up. Climb down the rope, move left until you reach to ledge and drop down.
Now you've collected the cross finish the scene. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Terminator
Q: In Terminator, how do you get past the first level?
>From the start run across the surface to the ladder. Ignore the attack "helicopters". Descend the ladder and run to the left, blasting the wall with three grenades. Run to the end of the walkway and jump down to the stairs and run to the right. Continue jumping and running to the right until you get to another wall, blast this with three grenades and run through the hole. At this point your energy gets reset to 100%. Run to the right until you get to a double wall, blast with grenades. Run to the right and up the stairs. The walkway above and to the left is where the bomb will appear later. Jump up to the right on to the platform formed by the pipework. Jump to the right on to the next platform, and then on to the next. An Uzi should be available to the right of the ladder.Collect the Uzi and go back to where the bomb will appear. It is possible to jump across the platforms. Start the bomb then go back to the ladder where the Uzi was. Climb the ladder then run to the left until a down ladder appears. Descend this ladder and run up the stairs to the left. At the top of the stairs jump across to the up ladder, and climb up. Then run across to the time-machine and in. That's all you need to do. Of course it's necessary to destroy any terminators as required! I think it's easier to try and outrun anything following you than to destroy them. It seems that speed is more important, especially when the bomb has been activated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Terminator (European)
Go to the main Terminator screen and hold down 2 and press 1. The screen will turn black for a few seconds. While the screen is black, do the following on the pad: Left, Left, Up, Up, Right, Right, Down, Down.
Two zeros should appear onscreen. You can now select the level by pressing Right and Left on the pad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slider LEVEL PASSWORDS
* Indicates difficult level. Best to look for an exit door. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spiderman
Q: In Spiderman, level 4 how do you get the key at the top of the screen at the end of the level? It is protected by a series of electric sparks.
Go to the platform right below the first line of sparks. If you watch the sparks, you will notice that there is a pattern. The sparks will stop for about a second at regular intervals. When you see this opening, jump up, shoot your web and hang below the next line of sparks to wait for another opening. Eventually, you'll make it up to the top and grab the key. Then, as you fall down, shoot your web up and hang below the last line of sparks to wait for the screen to fade out. NOTE: there also is a pseudo-opening in the sparks. It will seem to have stopped, but the spark will flash realy quickly, knocking you down if you jumped. After you learn to distinguish the two, it should become quite easy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Spiderman (European)
For a hidden game of Pacman, with Spidey as the main man and Venom as the ghosts, start playing in Nightmare mode. Now, when you're on Electro's level - and you've just collected the key - drop down the left side of the screen. You'll see a small GG on your way down. Land on it and go back to Peter's room and you'll have the option to start the hidden game. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mortal Kombat
Press 2,1,2,Down,Up. The screen will display "Now Entering Kombat."
Q: What happens when a fighter does a fatality in Mortal Kombat? What happens when the fighter defeats Shang Tung?
Johnny Cage: Fatality: punches the head off of the opponent. What happens when he beats Shang Tsung: It says that he's learned the true spirit of competition and goes back to Hollywood to film Mortal Kombat the Movie and its many sequels. Hint on how to defeat Goro: keep on shadow kicking him (T,B,K) you can get a flawless if you duck the first second and then start hitting the buttons over and over again rhythmically.
Scorpion: Fatality: rips off his mask to reveal a skull and blows a stream of fire at opponent so he/she goes up in smoke. How to beat Shang Tsung: Wait til Shang transforms into one of the reg. characters and beat the crap out of him/ her. When he beats Shang Tsung because as you know Scorpion had a wife and child in a former life and when he becomes Supreme MK Warrior it says that he will live forever not knowing about his wife and child in his former life...
Liu Kang: Fatality: not too bloody; he just spins and knocks the opponent out. What happens when he beats Shang Tsung: he restores the tournament back to its rightful place (big whoop.) with the Shaolin monks.
Sonya: Fatality: she blows this small little fireball at the opponent that engulfs him in flames. What happens when she beats Shang: Her friends get released...
Rayden: Fatality: he zaps the head off of the opponent with his lightning. What happens when he defeats Shang: This by far is the funniest of all endings. It says that since he is immor- tal, winning the tourny was no big whoop to him and he gets bored playing with mortals so he calls upon other Gods in his own tournament. It says that the ensuing wars cause the ultimate destruction of the world as we know it. Then it says, "Have a nice day." :)
Q: Are there any Game Genie codes for MK on Game Gear?
Yes, they are:
003-488-F79 Player 1 is invincible 00B-40C-3BE Infinite Time 240-C5D-C4B Player 2 usually starts with 1/2 health.
Fun stuff to do with MK:
If you're using Sonya, after your opponent is defeated, do the flying punch. If you time it right, she'll do her victory pose while standing in mid-air, rather than on the ground. Funny-looking.
If you're using Sub-Zero and it says "Finish Him", you can freeze your opponent forever. Just wait for him to thaw out, then freeze again and you can do it over and over again and the game will never end.
A cheating way to kill Goro is to punch him a couple of times at the beginning of the round, then just jump up and down in the same spot until the round is over, and you'll win on energy level, since Goro will just stand there and do nothing to you.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fantasy Zone
Configuration Mode: At the title screen press: UP, RIGHT, DOWN, LEFT 1, 2, 1, 2, and START. Now you can change money, mode, stage, and sound test.
Invincibility: Enter the config mode as shown above, select "Mode" and press LEFT, 1 & 2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Fantasy Zone (European)
In the first 30 seconds of level one, the hamburgers that you shoot are worth a whopping 1,000 gold pieces. After you've collected at least 2,000 points the shop will appear. So collect as many of these hamburgers in the first 30 seconds as you possibly can, and then leg it to the shop. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psychic World
Level Select and Sound Test: During the title screen simultaneously press LEFT, UP, 1, and 2. Then push START. Press 1, and 2 while the screen reads ED and a number will appear on the last line which should read "Round NO 1." Press UP or DOWN to pick a level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenge of Drancon
Bonus Round: After you pass the sign with the number 2 on it, you'll come to a snail on the ground. Right above it is a banana in a tree. Kill the snail and jump high to get the banana. After you grab the banana a red bag appears where the banana was. Grab the bag and Ronnica will escort you to the bonus game. While you're in the bonus game don't grab the red bag unless you want to leave the bonus round. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Revenge of Drancon (European)
Level Select: On the title screen press Down and Start. A level start will come up. Now press Up to choose your starting round. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenge of Drancon (European)
Level select: Press DOWN, START, then UP at the title screen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Space Harrier
Difficulty Setting: When turning on your machine, hold down 1 to play in hard mode or 2 to play in easy mode. Space Harrier -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dragon Crystal
More Speed: At the beginning of Level 1, press START and hold it down to make the game move faster. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Dragon Crystal (European)
Bonus room: As soon as you switch on your Game Gear press Start as many times as you can (just before the game starts). You should find yourself in a room full of food and weapons. If not, switch off and try again.
Speedy dude: Hold down the Start Button during the game to move twice as fast.
Extra Continue: Smash your car into every oil barrel on the second level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Columns (European)
Different Ending: Play the game in flash mode with a height of nine and the normal difficulty setting. Quit the game when the flash mode demo ends and you'll be treated to a different ending. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Donald Duck and the Lucky Dime Caper (European)
Infinite lives: Kill Donald and when the continue screen appears press DOWN, and 1. You should restart that level with infinite lives. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Factory Panic (European)
1-Ups: Hang around until the time reaches 100 and you'll be rewarded with tons of 1-Ups.
Continue: When you die, press UP and START together to carry on from the spot where you died. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out Run (European)
Stop timer: At the title screen press LEFT, 1, 2, and START. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck Rock
Q: In Chuck Rock for Game Gear, how do you kill the wooly mamoth at the end of the 3rd level?
I managed this by taking the boulder then reapeatedly dropping this on the mammoth's head.
To be successful:-
1) You need to lob the boulder from a point on the rock plateau where it will just fall over the edge (ie. it is close for you to pick it back up) 2) You have to judge the time at which to throw it, as I recall it's somewhere near the middle of the screen as the mammoth returns right to left towards you. 3) Hopefully you smack him on the bonce (if not just get the boulder and try again). 4) Once the mammoth is returning left to right, jump down and grab the boulder throw it back up on to the plateau. 5) Quickly jump back up onto the plateau (you don't have much time which is why you must make sure you drop the boulder on him close enough for you to safely retrieve it). 6) Grab the boulder again and start from 1).
I can't rememer the exact number of hits you need but I guess it is around 8 - 10. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Chuck Rock (European)
Level Code 2 7G09M 3 NN6E3 4/5 84AKC ================================================================================ Section III: Master System Cheats, Hints and Spoilers [ Warning: This info has not been validated for the Game Gear. If you can ] [ verify any of this on a Game Gear, please let me know. -Editor ] ================================================================================ Afterburner
Continue 2 Times - When it says "game over" on the screen,press the DIRECTIONAL BUTTON UP and then press BUTTONS 1 and 2 at the same time. This function cannot be used after the 8th level.However ,there is a way to get beyond this.When you are in the title (before entering the demonstration screen),press the paues button 100 times and then start the game.You can continue to stage 17 without any restriction. You can not continue beyond stage 18. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Black Belt
Unlimited Men - Press BUTTON 1 ,see a red screen,then it goes black.While it's black press RESET (keep it down) until you see Riki at the top of the screen.Now you have unlimited men. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Choplifter
Select Level - In the title screen,move the DIRECTIONAL UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT then press BUTTON 1. Repeat the same sequence for the player 1/player 2 screen. you will see the words "select round 1". The numbers will rotate from 1 to 6. When the desired round number is displayed, press the START BUTTON to begin the game.
In Stage 2 - The last 8 hostages can be located in the submarine. Bomb the periscope as it sticks out of the water. This will cause the submarine to come out of the water, when it does the hostages will appear on the bridge. Land on the bridge to rescue them.
Special characters (Superman,Jaws, E.T.) - After the first prison is a rocket launcher. Shoot 10 rockets and Superman will appear. Shoot him to speed up the hostages. If Superman appears 3 times they get faster.
Stop Tank From Shooting - After you land to pickup the hostages hop up and down to stop the the tank from firing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Enduro Racer
Select Round - During the title screen move the DIRECTIONAL UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT. After completing this sequence, a small number will appear at the right portion of the title screen. The numbers range from 1-10. These are the rounds that appear in the game. Move your DIRECTIONAL UP to choose the desired round. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ghostbusters
Start With More Money - At the beginning of the game you are given the option to start or continue the game. Using the DIRECTIONAL, move the cursor to continue and press BUTTON 1. You need at least $10,000 to continue or you can use the initials AA and the ten-digit account number 1173468723 at the beginning of the game. This will start you with $1,975,800 instead of $10,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ninja
Scroll Locations:
Scroll 1: On Level 1 shoot the transforming ninja.
Scroll 2: On Level 4 when you come to the lion statues on the road, shoot the left one 5 times.
Scroll 3: On Level 6 at the first house with a moat around it, go across the bridge and to the tree at the top right hand corner of the moat. Shoot left and the scroll should appear.
Scroll 4: On level 8 go through the entry way to the open field. Shoot at the last bush towards the back wall and the scroll will appear.
Scroll 5: On level 9 crawl up the wall and start fighting the main boss, but do not kill him. Leave him and go to the far right side of the screen. The scroll should appear. Then go back and kill the boss.
Stop The Rocks On Level 9 - On level 9 you can stop the rocks from falling by shooting the rock hole at the far right side 46 times.
Getting To The Maze Round - Level 10, walk along the middle of the stone grey walkway to the stairs. There will be round grey statues on your left. Go to the last grey statue and punch it 3 times, then disappear three times. A message will appear and you will move to the maze round. In the maze as you enter, turn left, then make the first right and continue to bear to the right until you run into the main boss. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maze Hunter 3-D
Select Level to Continue After Game Over - Wait until the screen reappears. Then press BUTTON 1 and 2 with the DIRECTIONAL pushed UP and to the LEFT. You will see 1 1 in the upper right corner.The number on the left is the area number. The right number is for the level. Use the DIRECTIONAL to select the level you were at then press BUTTON 1 or 2 to start the game. You can continue only as high as the highest level you have already played. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rambo: First Blood Part II
Continue - You can only continue if you are in two player mode and only through the 2nd level. When "game over" appears, manipulate the CONTROL PAD (push on the DIRECTIONAL PAD and BUTTONS 1 and 2) until the continue option appears. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R-Type
Extra Credits - To recieve extra credits (continues), rotate the DIRECTIONAL in a clockwise direction while in the continue screen (or maybe counter- clockwise). Up to 10 credits can be recieved this way.
Sound Test - Rotate the DIRECTIONAL in a clockwise (or maybe counterclockwise) while in the continue screen. From here you can play any of the 17 soundtracks. While in the continue screen, move to soundtrack 00. Press and hold BUTTON 2, and press the DIRECTIONAL LEFT. This will move you to soundtrack 95. Press BUTTON 1 and move LEFT, press BUTTON 1 and move LEFT,and continue this until you reach zero again. (Press BUTTON 1 from here and you'll exit the sound test). After you've exited, you may recieve extra credits, without the limit of 10.
Enter Super Stage - To enter the super stage at the end of round 4, back your ship into the first pillar on top of the giant wall of mechanical cells near the end of the round.
Invincible Mode - Before you turn on the system, hold the DIRECTIONAL on controller 1 in the DOWNRIGHT position and the DIRECTIONAL on controller 2 in the UPLEFT position. Also hold down BUTTON 1 on controller 2. Power on the system and hold all 3 BUTTONS until the words R-TYPE are in full view. You are now in invincible mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shinobi
Select Level- At the title screen push the DIRECTIONAL DOWN and BUTTON 2. You come to a black screen with the level numbers in the center Press the DIRECTIONAL to the LOWER LEFT and BUTTON 2 to select the desired level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Shinobi (European)
Sound Test: Press Up and Start at the title screen to hear all the tunes
Hidden Life: If you're running short of lives in the Woodland level, then you might be interested in this tip. On the second stage of the Woodland level, go up to the top of the tower (where the pole sticks up in the air). If you stand to the right of the aforementioned pole and press Up and fire an extra life will appear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wonder Boy III
Password: 3YGUPYZ ZY7K NRR -This let's you begin as Wonderboy with tons of money, maximum charm stones, a little bit of magic, and every single kind of sword, shield, and armor.
Secret Door: Stand in front of the door that's to the right of the Red Chest on thelower third level of the main tower. Jump and press UP on the control pad while you're at your highest point in the jump. The top half of the door will open, so you can enter and buy weapons. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Wonderboy (European)
Press down and start on the title screen for level select - press up to choose the level you want. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ Wonderboy (The dragon's trap) (European)
Mouseman G1X4 C17 EG43 LDF Piranhaman G1G4 W6P EGEZ 515 Lionman CLO5 5KF AHFA 87H Hawkman KDGC PT7 EJAN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Golvellius: The Valley of Doom
Q: I have searched everywhere in the Crawky Forest and the Heidi Forest for the boots that enable you to walk across rocks, trees, etc. Where do you find these?
The Ascend Boots can be found in the northwest corner of the Pine Forest. You'll get to a screen with rocks, trees, and one bush. Hit the rocks and the Deathlords that are floating around, and a hole will appear where you can buy the Ascend Boots for $70,000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Miracle Warriors
Q: I finally reached the point where all I need are the three keys. My characters are all maxed. I'm in the land of Areos, but I'm unable to enter all but one of the monuments. I've become bored with killing other characters, losing points, and regaining points. I'd really appreciate any hints that would help me obtain the keys and reach Terrind.
To get to Terrind start from the town of Tegea. Go 16 spaces south, hit the "Spell" button and enter the shrine. This shrine holds the first key. Next go 16 spaces west and enter the shrine. Here's where you find the second key. >From here head 10 spaces north. This shrine holds the third and final key. Once you grab that key, go 6 spaces west, and there's Terrind. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psycho Fox
Hidden Warp Zone: Head to to level 1-3's jumping platform's at the end of the stage. Next, jump up to the top of the screen. Near the top you'll find three jumping platforms in a triangular layout. Jump off the lower right platform and punch the air. The sky will begin to crack. Hit the same spot two or three more times and a black hole appears. If you jump into the black hole you'll enter the warp zone. Slide down the steel slide until you reach two pipes. The first one takes you to World 5-1 and the second one takes you to world 4-1.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phantasy Star
Q: How do I get to Lassic? Does it have anything to do with the Aeroprism and the Nuts? Where do I use them?
When you reach the outside of Baya Malay and see the screen with the blue sky go to the ITEM screen and USE PRISM. The sky changes colour and a different song begins to play. A castle appears in the upper part of the screen. Again go to the ITEM screen and USE LARMA NUTS. Mayu eats the nuts, goes through a transformation, and flies you up to the castle. After you beat the Guard Dragon enter the big house at the end of the road and you're on your way to defeat Lassic.
Tips: 1) Before journeying to defeat Lassic get rid of anything that is not necessary to kill him (old armor, weapons, etc.). You'll need to keep a TRANSFER which you use to excape after you beat Lassic, or you must have some speel points left and the Fly Spell. Then buy as many Burgers as possible in order to save magic points for curing people when they're really needed.
2) After the point where you no longer need to buy things (except Burgers) don't open treasure chests that were held by monsters unless you're sure they hold something important. Many of the treasure chests are actually traps. 3) When you've found all of the items avoid opening any treasure chests unless you need money desperately.
================================================================================ Section IV: Misc. Q&A [ This section contains game availability, recommendations, misc junk and ] [ heard-on-the-street rumours. ] ================================================================================
Q: What is the Master System Converter?
The Master Gear converter allows you to play Sega Master System games on the Game Gear. Some 2 player games will not work and games will not run at the correct speed if the game is from a country where TV uses PAL (i.e. Europe).
================================================================================ Section V: Reviews [ Reviews from the net and elsewhere, mileage may vary, no warrantees express ] [ or otherwise, for what it's worth, opposing opinions welcome..... ] ================================================================================ "Quest for the Shaven Yak starring Ren Hoek & Stimpy" Rating: 5/5
This is a standard platform game in which you can play either Ren or Stimpy or both on their quest to find the Shaven Yak in order to return his hooves and thereby save Yak Shaving Day. If you're a fan of the show then you'll love all of the show's elements in the game, otherwise you'll probably be confused about why anyone would make a game where one of the protagonists coughs up hairballs at his enemies, and after you unpause the game the other is caught picking his rear-end. There's lots of Ren & Stimpy style humor in the game like this. The graphics in this game are excellent, and even the enemies' graphics represent the style of the cartoon. There are also cartoon scenes at the start, between each level (which you'll miss if you use the passwords in this FAQ), when you lose all your lives, and a longer one when you win the game. It also includes music from the show, such as the Muddy Mudskipper theme song, and the "Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy" music. You can play either as Ren or Stimpy or both, alternating between the two between lives and levels. You start out with three Rens and three Stimpys, each with 6 hit points. You gain hit points by picking up different things, like bags of Gritty Kitty Cat Litter and various foodstuffs. If you can jump on the back of a Croc-O-Stimpy, you get an extra life. There are also other weapons you can pick up along the way, like toast and a remote control. The "Boss" levels are challenging, requiring somewhat complex patterns in order to avoid being hit. However, you can manage to scrape by without a pattern in all except the last one. The one thing about the game that I didn't particularly like was that the passwords for each level automatically give you three Rens and three Stimpys with 6 H.P. each, whether or not you completed the last one with more or less than this (most often less). So if you use the passwords, it makes the game easier to get through. If you want a real challenging game which will last a while, don't use them. This game is definitely a must for Ren & Stimpy fans. I hope they come up with a sequel.
Reviewer: Christopher Dubsky -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Defenders of Oasis
Developer: SEGA Cartridge Size: 4 Megabits Battery Backup Games: Yes Type of Game: RPG Retail Price: $29.99 Rating: 4/5
Defenders of Oasis is a new RPG for Game Gear. The graphics and combat/spell system are easy to use and understand. The game itself has a great depth of detail (despite having completed the quest, there are myriad items I have not found, or have not found how to use), and the various inhabitants are reasonably informative and amusing.
The game itself has only one drawback, the rate of random encounters is far too high, and indeed gets quite annoying when trying to solve the various puzzles. Despite this, DoA is an enjoyable game, with plenty of playtime, and even after having beaten the game, the notion of starting over to explore further is appealing.
Reviewer: Dave Weinstein
Defenders of Oasis (4MBit,3 Battery Backup Slots) compares well to other portable RPG's IMHO. I've completed it last weekend, and I was very pleased with the storyline (which pulled me in immediately), beautiful graphics and the nice music. DoO plays and feels much like the Final Fantasy Series games on the GB; you have to talk to some townspeople sometimes, get a few hints there, then journey through the land to find a specific location, enter the dungeon(s), retrieve some items, then return to the town and so on. All towns, maps and dungeons are shown in bird's eye view btw; fighting monsters is similar to FinalFantasy or Shining in the Darkness on MD. The only drawbacks are a relatively short selection of items/weapons in the game, and that you can not construct party members by yourself; certain persons enter your party automatically while the game progresses. This makes the game very straight-forward - you can't screw up by missing the storyline or lacking some necessary items. Anyways, if you are looking for a nice RPG on your 'Gear, give it a try.
I just bought this game. And I've only toyed with it for about an hour. My first impression is: Bleach. Two stars out of five. Spend your money elsewhere. Chakan is a platform action fantasy game. You play Chakan, a sword-weilding sorcerer who needs to defeat 6 bosses in 6 different planes. Chakan can move left and right, jump, roll, attack and use magic. (Sonic with a weapon.) It seems like it is probably the result of a quick-and-dirty port over to the GameGear from Genesis. The graphics are nice, but dark characters on a black background are hard to see on a GameGear. Chakan can overlap with the enemies, and takes a lot of damage in doing so. A Bad Thing (tm). The visual responses can be misleading and unintuitive. (After attacking a minotaur for a while, he seemed to be blowing up into a bunch of boulders. Attacking? Dying? No, evidently an avalanche.) There is too much unavoidable random damage you have to take during the game. Eg., Some stalactites *randomly* drip lava, damage you *have* to take. In the end, the game is too hard for my taste. This is coming from someone who cruised through Chuck Rock, found Ax Battler just right, and took about ten sonics to figure out a reliable way to kill the Ant Lion in Sonic II.
Reviewer: David Blume -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Simpson's: Bart vs the Space Mutants
Developer: Flying Edge Battery Backup Games: No Type of Game: Adventure Retail Price: $39.99 Rating: 2/5
First let me state that I am a big Simpson's fan. I was quite excited when I saw that this game was available for the Game Gear. I was quickly disapointed. The game is based on the very popular Simpson's TV show. The world is in danger of being taken over by Space Mutants. As Bart Simpson you must foil the alien's plans by collecting various items that the Mutants need to complete their Doom's Day machine. There are 5 separate levels that you must complete, with a "boss" at the end of each level. In order to complete a level you need to collect, destroy or change certain type of items. In the first level you have to spray paint or destroy any purple colored items. Bart can accquire and use bottle rockets, spray paint cans and cherry bombs. After trashing the required number of items Bart has to face the "boss" enemy, who is usually one of the many other characters from the Simpsons. If Bart gets enough "Proof" that there are aliens, one of the Simpsons family members will help Bart fight the Boss. Even though the game is based on a pretty good concept there are many problems. First, the levels tend to be "flat". You can walk from one end to the other but there is very little else to "explore". Only the last level, the Nuclear Power Plant , has multiple "floors" which are accessed via elevator. You can enter stores at the mall and on the street to buy things, but you always get the outside view. The controls were also poorly designed. To get Bart to jump really high, you have to hit both the 1 and 2 buttons together (rather than pushing up on the D pad while jumping). To select an item for use from the inventory you have to use the D pad to cycle through the list and press the 1 button while pressing down on the D pad. This makes it rather difficult to select items quickly. Many operations had to be performed in a very specific way. For example, to call out Grampa with the whistle, you have to be in the exact spot for it to work. You cannot be one step off in any direction. Finally, the one problem that really got to me was the bugs in the game. I found 3 bugs in the first level alone! The first bug is really stupid. You can buy a key that can be used to "warp" within a level. If you use the key in the wrong place the game crashes. My problem with this is that you don't know where to use the key except by experimentation, which means that you crash the game a lot. The next bug only happened once. While using the phone to make a crank call to Moe's Tavern the game just "bombed" out to the title screen. The third bug, which actually may be a feature, is that when you are fighting the "boss" at the end of the level you will never lose. You get killed, but it never subtracts from the number of lives you have so you can fight until you win (at least on the first level). All in all this is a very boring game. In fact it is the only game that I have ever returned because I though it was so poorly done. The graphics are uninspired and the music is moronic. Two of my friends, who are not video gamers both remarked at how annoying the music was. The only reason I gave it 2 out of 5, is because it seems to be a fairly faithful port of the NES and Genesis versions.
Reviewer: Tony Clark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prince of Persia
Developer: Domark/Tengen Battery Backup Games: Uses Passwords for level selects Type of Game: Action/Adventure Retail Price: $34.99 Rating: 3.5/5
The premise behind this game is that the Princess has been kidnapped by the King's evil second-in-command, Jafar. You have been thrown into the dungeon and the Princess has been given 1 hour to decide if she will marry Jafar. Your mission is to rescue the Princess before the 1 hour time limit expires. You have only your wits and agility to help you navigate through the maze of dungeons and eventually the castle. You can also use your sword, if you can find it, to fight off the King's guards. First, the things I liked about this game. The animation of the main character is superb. The body movements are very life like as you run, jump and slash you way through the dungeons. I also like the password system for level selects. There is nothing more irritating than having to fight your way through previously conquered levels every time you want to play a game. The game also provides for difficulty select by allowing you to vary the amount of strength your character posseses as well as being able to vary the time limit. The controls are layed out pretty well too, but it does take a little practice to get used to switching to the "en guard" or battle mode. The graphics look good, though some of the objects are a bit small to see clearly (must be my old age). Now for my dislikes. First the font used for passwords is way too small! I mean it's so small that sometimes it's impossible to determine what the characters are. I have had to experiment with many of the passwords in order to get them to work. At least it tells you that you have entered an invalid password and allows you to re-enter a new one. Also the manual is a bit "lite". They give you the basic controls and set-up for the game, but that's about it. There is no imformation about what potions you may find and what effect they might have on your character, you have to experiment a lot. And while the character animations are very well done, the background graphics tend to be too repetitive and somewhat boring. What can you expect from a dungeon?? This game emphasizes adventure and exploration over action. The "fight" sequences are fairly straightforward, you thrust and parry until you kill your attacker. There is also a lot of puzzle solving in that you have to figure out how to get out of the dungeon level you are currently on. Many times this involves triggering the proper switch to open the exit door or executing certain manuveurs in a limited amount of time. Sometimes it seems like there is too much emphasis on timing and accuracy versus "solving" the puzzle and the controls seem to be a bit slow at times. Still the game is fun to play. But with a little more attention to detail like varied enemies and a "boss" at the end of each level this game would be great instead of better than average.
Reviewer: Tony Clark -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crystal Warriors
Developer: SEGA Battery Backup Games: Yes Type of Game: Strategy/RPG Retail Price: $29.99 Rating: 4/5
This cartridge combines elements of both role playing and combat strategy games, blending them into an enjoyable, though straightforward, adventure. In the game, you play a princess out to defeat an evil army ravaging her land. Four crystals were used for centuries to maintain the peace. Now three of these have fallen into the hands of the enemy, and it's your responsibility to regain them. Fail to do so, or die in the process, and your people are doomed. Gameplay centers around a set of 16 battles, each separated by a visit to a local town to rest, shop, gain information, and acquire new party members. Each battle is progressively more difficult, testing your strategy, use of terrain, and understanding of your party's abilities. You may choose to save your game in one of three slots during your visit to each town (at the completion of each battle). Several different classes of characters are represented, though they fall into the basic categories of fighter, mage, and priest. The game's combat system is governed by a relational system among four elements: earth, wind, fire, and water. Each fighter is aligned with an element, while spellcasters have access to spells grounded in each of the different elements. Fire is superior over wind, wind superior over water, and water superior over fire. Earth, the element of spellcasters, is equal to all other elements. An understanding of this system is critical to victory in the game. Both spellcasting and the distribution of items are simplistic. As you progress in levels, the available spells and items simply become more effective. Items are either armor or weapons, so selection is straightforward. Spellcasters may only hold four spells at a time, so care must be taken to choose the spells appropriate to your needs. Party composition is generally open-ended. You can choose to hire or decline any of the candidates you meet in town. Though your party can consist of a maximum of only nine characters during battle, you may hire as many as you can afford, specifying which nine of your party you wish to use at each battle. Another nice touch is the use of female as well as male characters. Over half of my party and nearly all of my strong fighters were women, a change from male-dominated games like Prince of Persia or Defenders of Oasis. Another element of interest is the use of tamed monsters. Throughout the game, chracters encounter monsters on the battlefield. If a fighter can defeat a monster, they'll tame it into service. This monster can then be used to fight in place of the master character. As monsters are all aligned with one of the four elements, strategic taming of certain elemental monsters by certain elemental characters can provide a significant strategic advantage. A two-player, gear-to-gear mode is supported, though I've never tried this. Strategy is certainly the best element of this game. There are no puzzles and no real character development (a la Defenders of Oasis). The graphics are clear, colorful, and reminiscent of Japanese Anime and Manga. The sound is excellent, and the different fight themes are catchy, though sometimes repetitive. Battles are more like individual games of chess than RPG combats - placement of key characters, use of tamed monsters, and strategic strikes by spellcasters can mean the difference between life and death. Overall, I've enjoyed this game to a large degree, as have both my 16 year old sister and my 23 year old girlfriend. A four out of five rating.
Reviewer: Jon Humphreys (jon@mcl.bdm.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marble Madness
Developer: ???? Battery Backup Games: No Type of Game: Strategy/Arcade Retail Price: $24.99 Rating: 3/5
Marble Madness is an adaptation of an older arcade game. In the game, you attempt to guide a marble through a series of levels, avoiding drops, sloped pathways, hammers, moving floors, and evil black marbles. In most respects, this is the same as the arcade game, with a little less control and more simplistic levels. The game provides 6 boards plus a trial board. For each board, you are provided with a timelimit. Extra time carries over to the next board. Losing your marble results in loss of time and hampered progress. The graphics are well done, as are the sounds. Colors are bright and shading is effective. Control can be a bit tricky without the arcade's trackball, though two methods of control are offered on the setup screen. Though nine levels of difficulty are provided, the game can be tricky at even the lower levels, proving frustrating to some. High scores are recorded but not saved beyond powerdown. Overall, a three out of five rating.
Reviewer: Jon Humphreys (jon@mcl.bdm.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dragon Crystal
Developer: ???? Battery Backup Games: No Type of Game: RPG Retail Price: $24.99 Rating: 1/5
Dragon Crystal is an attempt to port a nethack-like RPG to the Game Gear. In the game, you play an adventurer exploring a multilevel dungeon. Accompanied by your pet dragon (initially in an egg), you fight monsters, collect items, and descend dungeon levels. While this game provides attractive graphics and adequate sound, the play is shallow and appears unfinished. There are only a few items in the game, and the documentation describes none of them. Levels are always structured similarly, in the room/corridor fashion, with no distinguishing features on any of the levels. Gameplay is reminiscent of early Hack or Rouge type games, but with fewer items, fewer action choices, and less variety. Another gripe is the implementation of your pet dragon. Your pet begins in an egg, following you as you explore. At a certain level of experience, the egg hatches into a baby dragon, which grows with your experience level. Unfortunately, the dragon never does anything for you besides follow your footsteps. The critical drawback to Dragon Crystal is its inability to store a game. Because the dungeon is deep, you have to spend a long play session to get anywhere in the game, longer still to complete it. Critical design flaws like this are evident on multiple levels, making this a disappointing cartridge. A one out of five rating.
Developer: SEGA Battery Backup Games: No Type of Game: Strategy Retail Price: $24.99 Rating: 4/5
This is the original cartridge packaged with the Game Gear, previous to Sonic. It's an implementation of the columns arcade and PC game, with colorful graphics, nice sound, and good control. The object of the game is to eliminate falling 3x1 columns (a la Tetris) as they pile up in your playing field. To eliminate a column (or portion of one), three or more segments of a column must align with the same color. Though apparently similiar in nature to Tetris, the strategy for Columns is completely different, centered more on setting up chain-reaction eliminations than fitting pieces to form complete rows. The game allows you to configure the level of difficulty, beginning level of play (speed at which the columns fall), block type (gem, dice, card suit, colored block, or fruit), and background music. Besides the standard game of columns where you attempt to survive as long as possible (until the columns pile to the top of your playing area), you can choose to play a variation called Flash. Flash Columns differs from standard columns in that the object is to eliminate a specific flashing block buried beneath several layers of columns. Depending on the level of play, this can be exteremely tricky. Finally, Columns allows a two-player head-to-head mode using the gear-to-gear connector cable. I've never tried this, though it looks particularly fun as all blocks eliminated from your screen appear on your opponent's screen. This is a simple yet addicting game that will provide long-term playability. It's easy to understand and a good quick game. A four out of five.
Reviewer: Jon Humphreys -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slider
Developer: Infogrames Battery Backup: No/Password level select Type of Game: Strategy Retail Price: ?? Rating: 3/5
Slider is a strategy game where you must move you character "Slider" across the world of Rozen and turn all the tiles pink. Each of the 99 levels is more challenging than the previous. Some are simple if you just figure out the pattern you must move in. While you are trying to accomplish this goal, you are being pursued by all sorts of villans. Ghosts, menaces, slipsters, boppers, tentacles, crashers, and painters. It is a constant challenge to keep moving to avoid the monsters, while turning all the tiles pink by walking over them before the clock runs out. This is a very entertaining game, well worth it if bought used.
Reviewer: Nick R Reyes -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spiderman: Return of the Sinister Six
I bought that new Spider-Man - Return of the Sinister Six cartridge for Game Gear last week, and let me say that IT IS CRAP!!! The characters are all really small and funny-looking. The difficulty level is pretty average, and I was able to finish the game pretty quickly, after getting used to a couple of annoying things about it. One of these annoying things was that you have to be at an exact distance from the enemy in order to punch him. If you're too close, your punches go right through them (but the okay thing is that they can't punch you either), and if you're too far, you definitely can't hit them, although they CAN shoot at you. This can be irritating as hell! Another thing that bugged me was that when you press the punch/fire button, there's a slight delay before the punch/fire occurs. I guess this is because hitting the punch button once is a punch and hitting it twice is a kick, and the game has to differentiate between punches and kicks, even though the kicks are pretty unnecessary, anyway.
Reviewer: Terry Lung -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mortal Kombat
I'm not a big fan of the Game Gear. I bought one almost 2 years ago to add to my collection but have only bought one game since then (Devilish). Today, on an impulse (because it looked so good) I bought Mortal Kombat ($42.95 or so) for the Game Gear. All in all...it's a VERY impressive game. The graphics are SUPERB! The amination is choppy, and there is a fair bit of flicker, but really...what do you expect from a Game Gear? I've played all of the versions except the GameBoy one and I'll say... this is the most impressive. Why? Because what they've done with the hardware...this is an amazing representation of the arcade game. I haven't tried the blood code yet, but most of the moves are there, but Kano was taken out (most likely for memory reasons). The music is pretty good....considering the system.. and the gameplay is a tad easy (but gets hard on the later levels... the difficulty is adjustable, however.). You can play 2 player with the Gear to Gear cable as well.. Oh ya, Start blocks... and the 1/2 buttons do Punch and Kick (no high/low here..). This is great, a must have for all GG owners... this is to the GG what Blue Lightining is to the Lynx... the ultimate show-off game. Get it..!
Reviewer: Ralph Barbagallo
I picked up Mortal Kombat for the Game Gear yesterday, Wow! The graphics are amazing and the control is excellent. It's not as easy as playing the arcade, but it plays very well and the fatalities are easy to pull off. There are some minor annoyances. Obviously, the sound isn't there, but they did a pretty good job with music considering what they had to work with. There are only two backgrounds, one being the pit. In the pit stage, you can't knock the guy off the ledge with an uppercut, I'll just have to settle for ripping his head and spine out of his body. Last but not least, Kano isn't there. It makes sense since it's difficult to do the 360 with the Game Gear's pad. I'm sure it wouldn't be worth the bother. I have to say, I've very impressed. If you have a Game Gear, go buy it! Also, if you get the Super Wide Gear to magnify the screen, it's that much better.
Reviewer: Palmer Chappelle -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Addams Family
I think the game Addams Family is only so-so. The Graphics are not very good, the levels are picky about positioning the character--for example, to go up the house stairs to the attic, you have to wiggle your character around to get it positioned +- 2 or 3 pixels to go up the plainly obvious stairs. This can take 30 seconds, but doesn't have any bearing on the game. If a precision jump is required, I can understand that. You can only play as Gomez. You have to listen to the addams theme incessantly--only if something really different is happening do you get any other music. The other sound effects are cheesy. Chirps and beeps only. I must like it some--I keep playing it (I got it 3 days ago) I like that you can choose where to go next--you don't get forced into level 1, level2, etc. You can wander thru the mansion and pick your fights as you wish. I would give it 2 stars, I guess.
Gregor_Harrison@atk.com
My first impression of the game is basically a simple platform game. You are Gomez and you try to find all the family members is the object of the game. Its a puzzle/adventure game. To kill monsters you have to jump on top of them like Super Mario. I personally didn't like the game because you have to jump around obstacles and platforms.
Keith Ng - "The coolest guy on the face of this world!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sonic Chaos
I've just recently purchased both Star Wars, and Sonic Chaos(and one of the "Super Wide Gear" Sega magnifiers). Both games are excellent. Sonic has a couple new moves, plus the use of rocket sneakers(go flying for about 5 seconds in the rocket shoes), and you can also play as Tails, who by spinning his tail will fly.
Darrell Spice Jr.
To put it as a simple summary, this game is similar to Sonic II from the Genesis version. The game is very,very simple with Tails, and its just as easy with Sonic. Points, xtra guys, and continues rack up very quickly. I used Tails with just 2 continues to finish the game. Very easy to finish the game. Graphics and sound are always good but, I find Sonic II for GG is more challenging.
Keith Ng - "The coolest guy on the face of this world!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Wars
Star Wars is extremely well done, and interlaced with little movie extracts between the levels. The levels follow the movie Star Wars. You start out as Princess Leia when Darth Vader and his group first get on her ship. You have to make your way to R2-D2 to give him the message to take to ObiWan. Then you play as Luke chasing after the run-away R2-D2, track down ObiWan, find Han Solo, get to the death star, ect. I'm up to the point of rescueing Princess Leia (on the "Cadet" level- haven't tried very far on the Jedi level yet. :-) ).
Darrell Spice Jr.
A pretty good adventure/action game by US Gold. This is a platform and shoot'em up type of game. Music is very good. This is a 4 Megabit game so it is very huge. You can play Luke, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. This is a fun game since you can pilot the Millenium Falcon into the Astroid Belt, and you can pilot the X-wing fighter into the Death Star. The only bad point in the game is that there is not password.
Keith Ng - "The coolest guy on the face of this world!"
Star Wars is very good. Difficult at first and then even more difficult on Jedi mode. It isn't totally true to the movie, but stays fairly close to the plot. It has great cinema scenes and involves you. It has good music, electronic versions of the real music. ****
Preston Crawford ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ecco the Dolphin This is a nicely done conversion of the genesis version. Even though it doesn't have as many levels, the storyline is same as the Genesis version. The graphics are good and so is the sound & music. Just listen to Ecco squeal at the title screen. This is a puzzle game, as Ecco you must find entrances to the next level. The controls are the following: 1- ram, 2-swim faster, start-shoot a ecco (hold start to show map). It has a password screen so you don't have to worry about starting from the beginning.
Keith Ng - "The coolest guy on the face of this world!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine (Review)
When I first saw the box, I thought this game was a boring Columns type a game. Then I played the game on the Genesis and I actually liked it and so I rented it on the Game Gear. Boy was I wrong, this has gotta be one of the best games I've played on the Game Gear. The story is very simple: Dr. Robotnik is converting all the beans of Mobius into his mechanized droids and you must stop it. There are several options you can play: Scenario, Gear-to-Gear, Puzzle. Scenario mode is you play the computer. Gear-to-Gear is you play against a fellow GG and puzzle is you have to figure out how to do the techniques of eliminating the beans given a certain problem.
The game: 2 beans fall at a time, you can rotate the beans clockwise or counter-clockwise. Press down to drop them down quickly. If you can join 4 or more beans stringed together of the same color it will disappear. The idea is to try to sink chains of beans with the same color. The more chains of beans you sink in Scenario mode the more beans you shove to the opponent. Its acutally a fun game if you can create chains of beans. I liked the game so I'd give it 5/5. The music and sounds are great!
Keith Ng - "The coolest guy on the face of this world!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jurassic Park
Jurrassic Park is pretty good. It is fun, but extremely easy to win. The graphics are good, but the sound is repetitious. ***
Preston Crawford ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PGA Golf Tour
PGA Tour Golf is one I definitely suggest. I think it has good courses, and I love the save method whereby you can play a whole tour. ****
Preston Crawford -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @@@@@ NBA JAM
NBA JAM is another great game from the folks at Acclaim. This game is fun to play and compares quite well to its 16 bit counterparts. Obviously the sampled voices are out and the music is a bit moronic, but the overall playability is quite good. The graphics are well done, especially for the small screen. There is the occasional "flicker" when too many sprites try to occupy the same spot on the screen. All of the power-ups from the arcade are included such as Power-Up Dunks, Power-Up Intercept, Shot Percentage, Power-Up Defense and Juice Mode. It is rumoured that the special players like Bill Clinton and Al Gore are there, but I have yet to be able to access them. While not a true basketball "simulation" (you only play 2 on 2), this is a fast paced fun game to play. Overall I would rate this 8 out of 10 with a high replayability factor.
Level Select: 00C2210X - Replace X with 0-2 for the round you want. 00C2200X - Replace X with 0-4 for the stage you want.
Full Damage to bad guys: 00C25380
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (European)
Infinite lives: 00D29803
Always keep 6 rings: 00D29905 - Turn off Replay at end of Act and back on at beginning of Act.
Level Select: 00D2950X - Replace X with 0-6 for the zone you want. 00D2960Y - Replace Y with 0-3 for the act you want. Note: Turn on Replay after first two title screens but before the level starts. After the level starts, turn it off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Burner II (European)
Initial Weapon: FFC31F00XX - Replace XX with: 04 - light ring 08 - morning star 10 - homing missle
Infinite continue: FFC321000F
Infinite lives: FFC3230004
Near Invincibility: FFC3240001 - Can still die by falling.
Size of Shot: FFDD0D000X - Replace X with size 0-4.
Super High Jump: FFDD1A0010
Score times 10,000: FFC312XXXX - Replace XXXX with 0000-9999 for score.
Score times 1: FFC314XXXX - Replace XXXX with 0000-9999 for score. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crude Busters (European)
Take no damage: 00A8CC4A6A -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crue Ball (European)
Score times 10,000: FF8432XXXX - Replace XXXX with 0000-9999 for score.
Score times 1: FF843XXXX - Replace XXXX with 0000-9999 for score.
Volume level select: FF8439000X - Replace X with level 0-9.
Score multiplier: FF843B000X - Replace X with 0-5.
Infinite balls: FF843D0001
No. of extra balls: FF843F000X - Replace X with 0-5.
No. of times 50K is shot: FF8443000X - Replace X with 0-3.
