The Game Gear is one of the great underrated consoles in my opinion. Sure, it ate up batteries in 4 hours, certainly, it's support was severely lacking paired up against the Gameboy. But it was a powerful handheld, with a litup screen and a very better and more comfortable design than the Gameboy cube shape. Like many Sega systems, it could play converted systems, in this case the Master System which was very similar hardware.
One of the great things about the system, while it had many ports from the Master System, it has a few games like G.G. Shinobi which were exclusivity built for the platform. This used the hardware to full effect, took into account the smaller screen size and generally speaking, was a reason to own one, since you couldn't play it anywhere else.
Even when a game was an adaptation, such as Chakan, the changes were enough to justify playing the Game Gear version - it was recognizable, but distinct.
Here, with Streets of Rage, it's for all intents and purposes, a stripped down version.
The levels, the enemies, the title screen, the weapons, the power-ups and so on - the exact same, but visually downgraded. Certainly, for the platform it's on, it's a nice looking title, just as Streets Of Rage was for the Genesis. But it's a diet coke version with no benefits over the Genesis.
The most probabilistic aspect is the combat. Punches need not make clear contact with a enemy, likewise flying kicks can register 2-3 feet away, this also applies to enemies who remain strangely passive compared to the Genesis.
The best bet to win, is to simply spam suplex which feels almost automated, far too easy to abuse.
Interestingly, the Master System iteration is an adaptation, rather than a beat for beat replication, with different levels, enemies and visuals to the Game Gear version. This is in direct contrast to like Sonic or Master Of Darkness which were largely a 1v1 Master System/GG development.
Streets Of Rage on the Game Gear isn't a bad port, it's a respectable job. But I would rather it wasn't a port in the first place, but rather than adaptation or it's own separate entity ala G.G. Shinobi. If you owned a Genesis, or are running the game by other means, no reason to play this other than a curiosity item.
