People of a certain age will remember that the 80s and 90s had one of the biggest rivalries in history. Utd vs City? Pfft! Celtic Vs Rangers? Nothing on this! Star Trek Vs Star Wars? Not even worth talking about. I am, of course talking about the ultimate in competitors….

Sega Vs Nintendo!

There were several generations of competition, with Master System vs NES, Mega Drive Vs SNES and Saturn Vs N64. But for this we are looking at the handheld generation, we’re looking at:

Game Boy Vs Game Gear

Which one did you have? Which was your favourite? Did you own one but secretly covet the other? Let us know in the comments as always, as we look at games of the same genre that went head to head.

RPGs (Role Playing Games)

1. Game Gear – Crystal Warriors

A top-down RPG that tried to “out-Zelda” The Legend of Zelda. It certainly had its charms, but could it really stand up to the challenge of Nintendo and their heroic Link on one of his most epic quests?

2. Gameboy – The Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

It may have been monochrome, and on a very small screen, but this is widely considered one of the best in the series of The Legend of Zelda games, and almost certainly the best hand-held entry to date! Were you a fan?

Racing Games

3. Game Gear – Micro Machines

One of those absolute classics and being able to play 2 player on one Game Gear made this a sure-fire hit! As much fun to play today as it ever was!

4. Gameboy – Wave Race

Not quite up to the “sequel” to this game that hit the N64 in terms of graphical prowess or gameplay, but this was a challenging racer and certainly had its charms!

Platformers

5. Game Gear – Sonic Chaos

There were a few Sonic The Hedgehog platformers on the Game Gear but Sonic Chaos really seemed to nail it for the small screen, keeping all the charm and speed of its 16-bit brothers and providing a decent challenge to boot!

6. Gameboy – Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

The classic platform hero of the era, Mario and Sonic were at full strength when this game was released and Nintendo managed to show that the Gameboy was more than capable of providing a fantastic platorming challenge on a hand held!

Beat ’em Ups

7. Game Gear – Mortal Kombat 2

Mortal Kombat 2 really looked the business on Sega’s handheld with amazing graphics for the little machine and keeping all the blood and gore that made the arcade machine so popular!

8. Gameboy – Pit Fighter

Not up to the standards of Mortal Kombat and a different kind of beat ’em up. This wasn’t the best brawler around, but the graphics were good for the Gameboy and it had its charms.

Puzzle Games

9. Game Gear – Columns

This was Sega’s hopeful answer to the game that sold a million Gameboys! Columns was a great puzzler and really did have that “one more go” appeal, but could it ever rival the ultimate handheld game…

10. Tetris

This is the absolute pinnacle and very definition of a game being better by keeping things as simple as possible. Very limited graphics, a tune that still haunts me to this day, and the gameplay that saw anyone who played it deprived of sleep for a week!

So which was your console of choice? Were you all about Mario and Tetris, or was it all down to Columns and a certain blue hedgehog to keep you entertained?

Let us know your thoughts, and any games that really stood out for you in the comments as always!