Sega Nomad Buyer’s Guide
The Sega Nomad is the portable version of the Sega Genesis; it was releaed in June of 1995 at a cost of $179. A bit steep considering the sub-par battery life (about three hours on six batteries), and the bulkiness of the system. Sega made the mistake of releasing it when everyone went by the notion that the smaller the portable system, the better it was. Oh, how I wish the old saying “bigger is better” was used instead, it would have enabled so many more gamers to experience the sheer joy that is the Nomad. The Nomad is revered among many gamers for its innovative design, it has the most buttons of any portable system ever, it also has the deepest library of quality (that’s the keyword) games. Anyways, I hope this handy dandy little guide hopes to enlighten you as to what games to get, and which games to avoid on the Sega Nomad. I will be focusing on how these games translate to the Sega Nomad, there will be a little quip about the game in each description, but not much.
Must-haves are games that are great games overall, and they translate well to the Nomad.
First up, the must-haves. These games work very well on the Nomad.
Sonic (1,2,3, and Sonic & Knuckles)- These games are must-buys for the Nomad. They are the cream of the crop. The screen blurring that the system is known for does rear its ugly head, but not enough to disrupt the smooth gameplay in each of the games.
Sonic 3D Blast- There are no blurring problems at all with the game that affect gameplay. This surprised me. The only problem is the blurring that occurs during the CG intro. Which still looks amazing, but it’s a tad blurrier.
Sonic Spinball- The fast-paced action of this game is retained on the Nomad. There are virtually no blurring problems in the game, the only ones I noticed were extremey minor and didn’t affect gameplay one bit.
Vectorman (Series)- Vectorman has some of the best graphics ever seen on the Genesis, and that visual splendor is retained on the Nomad. The screen’s blurring does cause problems in the levels that are not platform-based, but not too much.
Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition & Super Street Fighter II- It’s a two-for-one sale! Each game has the same gameplay, so I’ll put both games here. The games’ super-tight gameplay is retained very well. There are minor issues with blurring, particularly when a fight gets really frantic, but the blurring is never enough to seriously hinder gameplay.
NHL Hockey 94- The ultimate hockey game is 100% intact on its trip to the Nomad. There are no blurring problems during gameplay. But there are some during menus, but I could care less about that. The same rules apply to the rest of the NHL series, but since 94 is the pinnacle of the series, I will use it as the example.
Columns- Sega’s answer to Tetris is a must-play on the Nomad. The blurring is kept to a minimuin in this game and never gets in the way of gameplay.
WWF Raw- This is the best wrestling game on the Genesis. Its greatness is continued on the Nomad. The game’s excellent graphics, sound, control and addictive gameplay are retained. The only blurring problem is the game’s intro, which is very blurry.
WWF Royal Rumble- Just like Raw, this game is ideal for the Nomad. The blurring causes some minor menu problems, but nothing major.
Super Hang-On- Yu Suzuki’s classic motorcycle game looks just as good on the Nomad as it does on a regular TV. Blurring causes absolutely no problems for the game, which surprised me to no end.
Theme Park- There are no major blurring problems in Theme Park. This is great news to anyone else who loves the game as much as I do. The only time that a blurring problem will occur is when you scroll the cursor quckly, other than that, there are none.
Next up, the good, but not great.
This section is made up of games that run well on the system, but that I, personally, would not recommend to be played on the Nomad if you have the actual Genesis console.
WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game- The blurring can obscure the action.
Virtua Fighter 2- The blurring can mess up your timing, a definite no-no in a fighting game.
Dynamite Headdy- The blurring can cause some problems when judging jumps and attacks. It’s not that bad though, you’ll learn to adapt quickly.
Streets of Rage (Series)- The blurriness can mess up your perception of where the enemy is, this isn’t all that extreme in this case, you can compensate for it rather quickly.
Golden Axe- Just like the Streets of Rage game, there are some problems, but none that will seriously harm the game.
Finally, the truly horrid.
Avoid playing these games on the Nomad at all.
Warsong- The small screen makes the small characters hard to make out and the text is hard to read.
World Series Baseball (Series)- The blurring really messes up your perception of where the ball is while batting, and while on the outfield.
Here’s a nice, concise guide for you, this will divide up the games by genre. This is an “In general” list.
Racing- Works pretty well, blurring can cause problems with turns.
Fighting- Works very well, there might be some problems when judging strike distances.
Sports- One of the worst genres for the Nomad. Hockey games can cause problems, stay away from football and baseball games. Basketball games are fine.
RPGs- The absolute worst genre for the Nomad. Remember folks, this guide is just evaluating their performance on the Nomad. RPGs and the Nomad go together like oil and water. The small text in most RPGs, you know, the stuff you need to see in order to know what is going on, is damn-near impossible to read thanks to the blurriness of the screen. Also, smaller characters can be made near-to-nigh impossible to view.
-Gamefan2K
