This episode brings the Game Gear launch window, as it were, to a finish by wrapping up the final few Japanese releases of 1990. There are a few old favorites ("favorites") here, a compromised arcade port, and a first-of-its-kind release that admittedly hasn't aged especially well. An interesting combination of titles, though, and a pretty good conclusion for a well-rounded introduction for Sega's portable platform.

Special thanks to Stone Age Gamer for helping to make this series possible with their EverDrive-GG X7: https://stoneagegamer.com/everdrive-gg-x7-black.html

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (http://www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.

Wishing you a Meli Kalikimaka this week, despite my rage over a bad game about wood and water. Thankfully, we have Rare to infuse a little holiday gratitude into the season with a very good, very fun, and very inventive take on racing: R.C. Pro-Am. It doesn't erase the nothing of a game that is T&C Surf Designs: Wood & Water Rage from existence, but it does at least provide balance in the Force or whatever.

Also this week: The mysterious NES Max. What could it be??

Special thanks to Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation (https://gamehistory.org) for lending use of the game packaging, and to Numskull Designs for the seasonal apparel (http://www.numskull.com/products/street-fighter-ken-vs-ryu-christmas-jumper-sweater/).

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (http://www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.

The second entry in the Final Fantasy Legend series—or SaGa, if you prefer—amped up the features, narrative, mechanics, and overall design sensibilities of the groundbreaking first game. With new races, an elaborate cosmology, inventive dungeon design, an unconventional death mechanic, and all kinds of poorly explained gameplay systems to grapple with, Final Fantasy Legend II is in some respects a high point of the SaGa series. And with both a SaGa Game Boy compilation and remaster of SaGa Frontier for PlayStation due out in the near future, there's no better time to get acquainted with this sometimes-baffling role-playing series that is well and truly here to stay... whether you like it or not.

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (http://www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.

Konami knocks it out of the park yet again with one of the greatest arcade conversions ever to hit the NES: Cooperative platform shooter Contra. It's a rare example of a coin-op title being ported faithfully to NES and somehow improving on the source material. With its tight level design, inventive bosses, impressive weapons, and slightly combative gameplay, Contra is a true NES classic that continues to be a great time more than 30 years later.

Special thanks to Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation for letting me photograph his very shiny Contra box!

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! And be sure to check out the Retronauts podcast (http://www.retronauts.com), where I (and many others!) tackle a much wider array of classic gaming topics each week.