Ristar (Game Gear)

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Ristar (Game Gear).

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Look for a better scan of the Weekly Famitsu page (it has to be online somewhere considering it's been shared online before).

Early Development#

Development of the Game Gear Ristar reportedly began when the Genesis version was called Feel and was only about one third of the way complete. This was likely around late 1993 or early 1994. The 8-bit version was requested by Sega of America with the plan to release it alongside the 16-bit iteration, meaning development could not wait until after the latter was done.

Japan System House, alongside Alice Kagamino (the project's lead programmer and director), were given freedom to expand on the game itself to have original content not found in the Genesis game, which resulted in the planets Fanturn/Terra and Timu/Freon being made exclusively for the Game Gear version. The staff of the two versions would also share builds with each other as they developed their respective games, giving feedback and being able to see how each was evolving. Japan System House would specifically copy everything they saw in the most recent 16-bit Ristar build available at eye level.

Ultimately, the Genesis version would wrap development first around August 1994, while the Game Gear version took until around November. Despite being able to compress the visuals by about 60-70% compared to the 16-bit version, it still resulted in one unspecified planet stage being cut from the game due to the 512KB ROM size compared to the 16-bit version's 2MB ROM.

Bug Reports and Localization Changes#

As Sega of America had initiated the project, they also had a pretty big influence when it came to localizing the game for the US market.

One tester made a bug report about the background in Awaueck's boss fight looking like "666". It was apparently noticed and adjusted, but the original look can apparently still be seen in the final. The background in the September 9 build simply has a slightly darker shade of green for one of the colors in its palette compared to the final, so the bug report might have been made prior to that build or it was just quite overexaggerated.

Most infamously, Sega of America wanted the first level of Planet Fanturn/Terra to be cut from the American release because of a hearing survey that said "Walking on clouds or rainbows is something American children can't understand." This also rendered its music track, a rendition of Ring Rink, unused.

Magazine Screenshots#

SaturnFan#

Includes a Round 1-1 screenshot that may be from the September 9, 1994 prototype, given different terrain/cloud placement and the lack of a hole in the wall.

Weekly Famitsu#

Another Round 1-1 screenshot, this one also potentially being from the September 9 build since the helmet uses a blue color palette.