Taz-Mania (Game Gear)

Taz-Mania (or Taz-Mania The Search of the Lost Seabirds as it's shown on the title screen for the Sega Game Gear version) is a 2D side-scrolling platforming game based on the TV series of the same name. It was released for the Sega Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear all published by Sega. This page will cover the Game Gear version developed by NuFX.

Plot
Taz's father tells him and his siblings the story of the seabirds. They lay giant eggs that can feed tasmanians for over a year. Intrigued, Taz goes on the hunt to find an egg from seabirds throughout Tasmania.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) The music and sound effects are unbearable to listen to. They sound like Taz himself composed it.
 * 2) Unlike the Genesis and Master System versions, spinning into a tornado drains your health. This is a problem because spinning is necessary to jump further, go faster, and defeat certain enemies.
 * 3) The game runs extremely choppy which makes it a chore to play.
 * 4) Unlike the other versions, there is no cutscene that plays before you start the game. You would have to look at the manual in order to know the plot.
 * 5) The first level has Taz running away from a boulder. Touching the boulder means instant death. This gives you little time to get used to the controls. This is a bad way to start the game.
 * 6) You get no continues. Considering the difficulty of the game, this is a problem.
 * 7) Enemies are placed at parts in a level where you will take damage no matter how hard you try to avoid an enemy.
 * 8) When Taz touches an item, he will stay in place and consume it, which makes him vulnerable to getting hit by an enemy. In fact, some items are purposefully placed like this for this reason.
 * 9) The Abominable Iceman, the only boss in the game, is difficult to defeat without a guide. You need to spin near an icicle in order to have the steam vents below the monster shoot fire.
 * 10) There are times when you have to take a leap of faith to reach a platform due to the small screen of the Game Gear.
 * 11) You can beat this game in less than 20 minutes once you know how to beat each stage. (which like Sonic Labyrinth, can be a good thing because of the Game Gear's horrible battery life).

Reception
The game currently has a user score of 2.05 stars on GameFAQs. Doug Jackson of Sega-16 gave the game a 4 out of 10 stating that it's not as good as the Genesis version and doesn't break the trend of dumbed-down or poorer versions of popular Genesis and later Saturn games to the Game Gear.

Gameplay
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Review
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