I actually posted this sometime last year, but it got lost in the shuffle while I was porting articles to the new database. It's not the best thing I've ever written, but reposting it is better than trying to come up with something new. Enjoy.

If you’ve been readin’ what I’ve been tweetin’, you’ll know that I’ve recently come to acquire my very own Sega Game Gear. My friend owned one while we were growing up and it’s actually the system that got me interested in games in the first place. I used to borrow it and play all manner of exciting and sophisticated jewels, like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Surf Ninjas.

Now that I have my hairy hands on a GG again for the first time in thirteen years I’ve been trying to rebuild my old experiences. I’ve managed to track down three of the seven games that my friend used to own: Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Adventures of Batman & Robin and Surf Ninjas. Now I just need to find the two Power Rangers games and Sonics Triple Trouble and Chaos and I'll finally be able to pretend that I'm ten years old again.

So far, though, Batman & Robin is the only game that I can play for serious and not just nostalgia. Surf Ninjas is pretty good for a two-button brawler, but it’s hard to imagine how we all got by twenty years ago with games that didn’t even have password saves. Having to either replay the first level over and over again or find a level select cheat is just stupid when we now have games that save for us without even asking. They’re just like, "Hey, you’re coming up to a pretty tough part where you’ll probably die a crazy amount of times. Let me back up your progress for you," and you're like, "Thanks autosave!"

Besides digging up Game Gear gold, I also recently found the Sega Classics Collection for PS2. While most of the games on the disk are crap not worthy of sitting in my bowels, there are a few sweet nuggets included. Phantasy Star IV, Ecco the Dolphin and the ubiquitous Sonic the Hedgehog games are all worth playing again if you can find them all for under ten dollars. However, I now own five separate copies of Sonic the Hedgehog 2—the Genesis and Game Gear originals, one port for the GameCube and two for the PS2—which is far too many to be acceptable in polite company.