Wolfchild (Sega Genesis)
After finishing the Game Gear version I felt like I didn't really test myself enough, so I grabbed Wolfchild on Sega Genesis and decided to give it a try. Although I wouldn't call the Genesis version diffcult by old-school criteria, it still took me around a week to finish it. The game is not only harder, but it is also much better than it's Game Gear counterpart. It is not a masterpiece by any measure and it does fall short in comparison to old-school classics such as Castlevania or Mega Man, but it is a game I really enjoyed playing. The thing that drags down both the Game Gear version and the Genesis version are the boss fights which could have been slightly more difficult in my opinion.
Human and wolf form. I don't know why, but this gives me that 1980's feel!
Level design
Level design is very similar to the Game Gear version. In other words you start on an enemy ship, followed by the forest, then the temple, then the laboratory and in the end the inner core. All of the levels look like a carbon copy of the ones in the Game Gear version, but the difference is in the layout and the number of sub-levels. Namely Wolfchild on Game Gear features only 5 levels, whereas the Genesis version has additional sub-levels. Furthermore, the Genesis version features more enemy variation, as well as more power-ups such as the "shield" which makes you temporarily invulnerable to all damage. There is also some difference in the boss fights, but nothing too major, since both games delivered slightly underwhelming boss fights. Basically each boss has a weakness and once you learn what that weakness is, they will not pose any threat. This sounds similar to many old-school games, but the difference is that the weaknesses are either too obvious or too huge to make the fight a serious challenge. In fact some bosses are complete pushovers.
The boss fights definitely drag the Wolfchild games down
Graphical and other improvements
Not only does the Genesis version have better textures, more detail and smoother animations, but it also features better sound quality with constant background music which makes the game a much more enjoyable experience. In fact the music is awesome with some very memorable soundtracks, unlike the Game Gear version which tries to entertain you only with very basic and repetitive sound effects. However, the biggest improvement to Wolfchild on Genesis is the enemy AI. Namely, in the Game Gear version most enemies are either stuck in one spot or they move around in circles completely oblivious to your presence. For example, if you duck or just jump over your enemies, most of them will not turn around nor will they change their aim. Instead they will just stand there and shoot at the wall behind you. Luckily the Genesis version does not suffer from this problem and all enemies seem to react to your presence. There are still some enemies which are stuck in one place, but at least they turn around and time their attacks in order to hit you when you appear in their line of sight. Needless to say, this makes the Genesis version much more difficult and it explains why it took me a whole week to finish it.
What Game Gear does better
Despite all the improvements in the Genesis version, there are still some things that the Game Gear version does better in my opinion. Namely, in the Genesis version some weapon upgrades are completely useless, to the point where it is actually smarter to just ignore them. For example the Arc shot does the same damage as the Basic shot, but it reduces your range considerably, so there is absolutely no benefit in taking it as an upgrade. Boomer shot, which does deal above average damage has incredibly short range, to the point that it is almost useless against some targets. The same can be said about the Plazma ball, which is even worse because it moves in unpredictable zig-zag motion - somtimes jumping over the enemy only a few feet away. When your basic shot out-performs so many weapons, there must be something wrong with the design of these upgrades. The worst thing however is the fact that you cannot change the weapons until you spend all the ammunition or find a better upgrade. In the Game Gear version you can choose between different upgrades at any time, making each one very useful in different situations, so the weapon design goes to Wolfchild on the Game Gear.
The End
The ending is almost exactly the same as in the Game Gear version
