The battery-chugging handheld is 25, and while it failed to match the sales of the Game Boy, it remains a special piece of SEGA history.

I’d love to stand here before you today and tell you I was on the right side of history. But the truth is, I wasn’t. I was Betamax. I was HD-DVD. I was that boy band that went up against Girls Aloud in Popstars: The Rivals.

I was, to be precise, the kid at school who had a Game Gear instead of a Game Boy.

October 2015 marks 25 years since SEGA released the Game Gear in Japan. It was a hastily cobbled together thing—basically a Master System CPU crowbarred into a black box—but you would have been hard-pushed to know that simply by looking at it. A sleek if not particularly svelte machine, the Game Gear was the epitome of early 1990s SEGA cool. With a backlit screen capable of displaying 4,096 colors (that’s, like, all the colors), Sega’s technicolor dreamboat seemed well poised to challenge the dominance of Nintendo’s primitive by comparison Game Boy system, with its monochromatic screen that could only display four shades of baby sick.

As we now know, SEGA’s portable didn’t put up much of a fight. With 11 million units sold worldwide, the Game Gear was far from a failure, but handheld consoles are judged by a different standard, aren’t they? And the standard of the time just happened to be the Game Boy’s 118 million worldwide sales.

The reasons the Game Gear took such a shellacking are well documented. Firstly, it had a thirst for power that even the Lannisters would think was a bit much, slurping through six AA batteries in just four hours. The Game Boy could squeeze around ten times that amount of playtime out of just four.

Secondly, Nintendo garnished the Game Boy with a typically strong first-party lineup. You might have been forced to play Super Mario Land and Tetris via vom-o-vision, but it was the Gear’s underwhelming launch titles, such as Super Monaco GP and dull-as-Downton Abbey_-ditchwater match-three puzzler _Columns, that looked sickly in comparison.

All of which placed the Game Gear in a marketing no-man’s land. It didn’t have either the mainstream or the hardcore kudos of the Nintendo alternative, and it wasn’t even the hipster’s handheld—the impossibly exotic back-end of CVG magazine’s reviews section was reserved for the games of ultra-niche formats such as the PC Engine and the Atari Lynx.

But the Gear’s saving grace, as mentioned, was that it was able to absorb some of that SEGA coolness by osmosis. Advertising campaigns compared the Game Boy’s bile-hued screen unfavorably with the Gear’s, and that, coupled with a reasonable $149.99 price point, managed to hook in a few million suckers with more money than sense.

SEGA’s advertising didn’t mess about when it came to trashing the competition

And those suckers included me. In April 1992, I was the fresh benefactor of a burglary payout. The insurance company sourced me a replacement Amiga, but in those days you could only find games by mail order or by chance encounters in stores, and they really couldn’t be arsed to trawl every Tandy in the land in the hope of finding a tatty copy of Chuck Rock.

So I received a lump sum for my software collection instead (fitting, as I always felt I was entitled to monetary compensation for playing through Rick Dangerous II), which I decided to invest in a handheld console. And given that 1992 saw Sonic at the peak of his popularity, my eyes hungrily looked past the Game Boy’s rich library and towards the blue hedgehog instead, naked as the day he was born but for his gloves, sneakers, and enough attitude to bring down a government.

I couldn’t plead ignorance as an excuse for my own personal #gamegeargate: magazines, the shop clerk, even my own mother tried to dissuade me from doing the dirty deed. And, naturally, everyone else was proved right, as the Game Gear’s comically short battery life rendered it unfit for purpose. Long-haul flights required a master class in restraint and forward planning, and when playing it at home, the Gear’s battery lust meant I was tethered to the wall via the AC adapter as if the star of a E L James novel.

But wait, because this isn’t a tale of regret. Far from it. I was happier with my purchase than the Game Boy could ever have made me. As a games writer, friends often come for advice, asking things like, “Everyone says I should get a PS4, but I really want to play Forza 6.” And I always tell them to go with the console they want to buy deep down in their gut, because whatever its flaws, you’ll make it work because you want to make it work.

And so it was with me and my Game Gear. And if you wanted to work with, rather than against the system, then the console’s internal similarities with the Master System meant there was a much wider range of software to choose from than common perception dictates. In its early life, the Game Gear was blessed with numerous Master System ports, adapted slightly for life on the small screen—which was no bad thing, as this was an era when Sega was lavishing as much attention on their 8bit systems as it was the 16bit Mega Drive/Genesis.

Ports of contemporary games such as Streets of Rage II, Road Rash, and Gunstar Heroes squeezed an incredible amount of juice out of the Game Gear’s aging processors, while other series were given more drastic makeovers. The handheld Sonic as an example is almost unrecognizable from 16bit Sonic, but is arguably the better game, with more focus on precision platforming than the speed-obsessed Mega Drive game. Plus, having to search out Chaos Emeralds in the wild, rather than having them awarded through special stages, added a level of exploration that just isn’t there in the “proper” version.

Genuinely great Game Gear exclusives were thin on the ground, but they did exist. I have a particular soft spot for SEGA’s unique portable version of Shinobi, an action-platformer with an open-ended structure that was clearly inspired by the Mega Man series, and was so tough you could knock out a rhino with it.

I still have my Game Gear; it sits in a quiet corner of my spare bedroom, and I whip it out for a quick blast every now and then. It’s a miracle it still works apparently, as Game Gear innards are prone to corrosion, although the console needs to be held at an angle, otherwise the AC adapter loses connection and the system powers down. It makes for the most tense and exciting game of Ax Battler I’ve ever played, I’ll give it that much.

I’ll probably never get rid of it, even when its insides do eventually succumb to the ravages of fresh air, because the Game Gear represents a small, relatively obscure corner of gaming history packed full of hidden, underrated treats that’s uniquely mine. Everyone and their dog knows about Tetris, but the Game Gear library? That’s something only I, and a few million others, a mere handful by commercial measures, got to savor.

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Composer Michael Kamen carved out a niche for himself as a premiere action composer in the late ’80s, launching the musical franchises for both the Lethal Weapon and Die Hard series. His punchy action and ominous string suspense writing brought a unique sound to the budding over-the-top action genre. Composed the same year as Lethal Weapon, his score for the 1987 Touchstone Pictures film Adventures in Babysitting is a bit deceptive on screen — during postproduction, several cues were dropped and many others truncated, reducing the amount of score in the finished film by a significant amount. In actuality, it is a a substantial work running roughly 70 minutes—with sessions for large orchestra held in both New York and Los Angeles. The score proper favors compact motivic gestures over drawn-out melodies. Its principal idea is a short theme associated with the heroine Chris (Elizabeth Shue), highlighting a falling-and-rising motif, while other recurring ideas include a breezy, pop-inflected line, a brassy flourish inspired by the mighty Thor, and a collection of motifs used to highlight moments of excitement, danger and distress.

This premiere release of the score features all of the cues Kamen recorded for the picture in their original full-length versions, plus a wealth of never-before-heard music. Four songs important to the soundtrack appear as well, including the famous hit “Then He Kissed Me” and the show-stopping “Babysitting Blues,” in which the cast members attempting to elude their dangerous pursuers suddenly find themselves smack in the middle of a blues concert—on center stage no less. The orchestral sessions were recorded on 2″ 24-track tape and preserved in that format in pristine condition in the Walt Disney vaults.

In the film, Chris agrees to a last-minute babysitting job in the Chicago suburbs. Her main responsibility is to look after Sara (Maia Brewton), a precocious 10-year-old who is obsessed with the Marvel Comics hero Thor. In the bargain, she has to deal with the clumsy advances of Sara’s love-struck older brother, Brad (Keith Coogan), and his horndog friend, Daryl (Anthony Rapp). What promises to be a relatively uneventful evening is interrupted by a desperate phone call from Chris’ best friend, Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller), who has run away from home and been stranded at a sinister downtown bus station. Chris piles the kids into the car to pick up Brenda, and the rescue attempt is derailed in short order by a series of improbable events, leading to a carjacking by an amiable young thief and their capture by the unsavory criminals behind a chopshop operation.

Despite his opposition to the globalists, it seems he’s one of them now.

There I was, sixteen years old and my first real paycheck in hand. Of course I was going to spend the whole thing on video games, because why not? That’s when I saw Suikoden II on the shelf. I didn’t play the original but had heard good things. Plus, the game was only thirty bucks! I brought it home and was met with instant disappointment. The game was… well weird.

It sat on a shelf for a few years when my brother finally tried it out. The slow start that stopped me from playing further gave way to an epic and grand quest. Suikoden II quickly became one of my favorite role playing games of all time. Today I’m here to tell you about it.

Suikoden II is a direct follow up to the story of the original, but it’s removed just enough that even newcomers can get into it. You play as a young boy named Riou who, with his sister Nanami and best friend Jowy live in the war ravished country of Highland in this fantasy medieval world. Their lives are turned upside down when their squad on the Highland Army Youth Brigade is ambushed by the enemy army from the City States of Jowston. They discover this to be a mere ploy by Highland so that they can invade.

Riou and Jowy escape and find themselves face to face with an ancient magic in the form of a true rune. It splits in half and gives them both its power. Riou joins, and eventually leads a band of rebels against Highland to put an end to the war.

The story may seem cliche and well traveled but it’s extremely rich in history and lore. The world of Suikoden is interlocked and this is but one mere self contained portion of the bigger story. Suikoden II excels because it plays upon this; introducing us to characters and plot points that were important in both the last one and future games as well. Suikoden II is a political and militaristic story but with the trappings of fantasy. It’s an absolutely incredible story that’ll make you laugh and cry. It even has multiple endings.

Suikoden II is a fairly traditional role playing game. You travel a world map containing cities, dungeons, and eventually your own rebel base. Battles occur at random and take place on a separate three dimensional battlefield. You input commands for each of your party members and then trade blows with the enemies. When victorious in combat you’re awarded experience points which make your party stronger and money that can be used to sharpen weapons and buy items. It’s pretty basic stuff but there’s more to it than meets the eye.

First of all there are a whopping 108 characters that join you along the way. Most are met with revelations in the story but many are hidden and require specific pre-requisites to join. You can try to find them all on your own but because many can be missed I highly recommend following a guide online. Not all but most can be used in your party and have different stats and abilities some of which are completely exclusive to them. Taking things a step further many have special combine attacks that can only be used in conjunction with another specific party member. Most of the time you’re given free choice with who you want to use, and given the huge party size of six there are a lot of options.

In addition to the traditional battles you’ll occasionally participate in one-on-one fights in the story. These are played like a game of rock, paper scissors wherein one attack is good against another. Enemies usually give a quick dialogue blurb before each round which gives you a hint as to what they’ll do. These are fun but sometimes feel more like games of chance.

Then there are army battles. These skirmishes play out like a strategy RPG wherein you move units across a grid map. There are different types of units such as foot soldiers, cavalry, archers and mages. When a unit encounters the enemy you’re whisked to a separate screen depicting a miniature real-time battle where the enemy army and yours attack each other head on. When you lose half your men the unit gets a sword through it, and when they lose them all the unit is removed from the battle. Usually they have specific criteria to win such as defeating an enemy, reaching a position, or simply lasting a set number of turns. They could have made an entire game based off of these army battles and I would have been okay with it. They’re an absolute treat.

One of the most interesting aspects of this game is the base building mechanic. What begins as a humble and raggedy abode eventually transforms into a grand palace as you recruit more characters and advance the story. There aren’t really any customization options to be found but it does feel like your army is becoming stronger the more this base is built up. You can eventually recruit a blacksmith who will do the sharpening of you weapons as well as a rune salesman, and item merchant. These transform your base into a town which is helpful because you’ll be spending a lot of time there. It’s actually interesting to just wander around and interact with the characters to learn more about the world’s lore.

Suikoden II uses a pretty interesting graphical style. Outside of battle the action is entirely two dimensional with everything drawn from sprites. In towns it looks amazing with loads of detail and lots of animation on absolutely everything. The world map features tiny characters and a camera that’s way zoomed out. The scenery is sparse and there’s not a lot of detail here. The vast view does help establish the size of the world. The continent is quite expansive and it adds to the air of adventure. Standard battles are the only instances of the game that use 3D graphics. The backgrounds are fully polygonal while the characters are sprites once again. This is a pretty common tactic from this era but here it looks incredible.

The soundtrack here is among the best in any RPG this side of Nobuo Uematsu. It leans more heavily toward its Asian roots (the story is based off of the classic Chinese tale Water Margin after all) and it sounds absolutely wonderful. There’s a lot of pleasant instrumentation with heavy use of flutes and guitars. Each piece of music is full of detail and had a lot of love and care go into it. Absolutely the only issue I have here is that the battle theme is kind of weird and doesn’t necessarily fit. It’s pleasant to listen to so it’s hard to complain too much about it.

Suikoden II is easily the best RPG of the 32-bit generation. Considering that was the time frame in which Final Fantasy VII and Panzer Dragoon Saga were released that’s saying a lot. It’s a bit humble but the huge and overarching story (complete with one of the most sad moments in any video game ever) is incredible. It also helps that the battle system is fun, and there’s a big diversity in gameplay styles. It all comes together to make this an absolutely legendary game. I still can’t believe I paid just $29.99 for it!