Sega Nerds

Review: PlayPal Portable

by Chris on December 8th, 2006

You may remember my unboxing of the PlayPal Portable a few weeks ago, and at first glance, the PlayPal Portable may seem too pricey - $50 for a handheld that has 20 Sega Game Gear and Master System games on it.

But before you pass any judgement, realize a lot of retro compilations on console run anywhere from $20-$40, and by spending just a little more, you get you’re very own portable system to play these old-school games on the go.

But is this handheld a $50 piece of crap that will wind up being a paper weight, or is it a blast from the past that shows you what real, original games are all about?

Read on to find out.

The hardware

By far the most impressive feature of the PlayPal Portable is the unit itself. The thing feels like a tank could run over it and it would come out just fine.

The unit’s size is perfect and is aptly named because fitting it in your pocket is a cinch - something that can’t be said about the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP.The case is very thick and the buttons, which are oval-shaped, all feel great. In addition to the regular, A and B buttons, there are also two volume buttons above the d-pad and a reset and start button opposite of the volume buttons.

A headphone jack input is located on the bottom of the unit, while an A/V output is positioned on the top, next to the power switch.

The Portable also features a bright 2.4 inch backlit screen to show off these portable games. But if you get tired of seeing It’s nice of PlayPal to include A/V cables inside the package, and the resolution held up well when I displayed it on the big screen.

Also, it uses three AA batteries, and after playing for good while, I haven’t had to change the batteries yet. Something I can’t say about the Game Gear. Zing!

The games

While PlayPal was smart to license Sega’s most popular old-school franchises like Sonic, Columns, Ecco, Alex Kidd and Altered Beast, there are, by far, way too many obscure games that I’ve never, ever heard of before. Out of the 20 titles, I’ve heard of played about eight of them.

Honestly, have you ever heard of Aztec Adventure, Assault City, Astro Warrior or Snail Maze? And while I could forgive the addition of these less than popular games if they were actually good, I can’t because these games just aren’t very good.

However, the PlayPal Pocket does run the games pretty decently, without any hint of slowdown or other emulator-related problems.

So who’s this for?

The biggest problem I see for the PlayPal Portable is who the target audience is. The package shows children playing it, so I assume they are the target audience, but how many of today’s youth even remember Columns, Ecco or Alex Kidd?

They won’t be able to appreciate what these games did for the industry when they were first released. Almost of them care about are the prettiest games available. And the unit’s price tag puts the PlayPal into the same price range as the Gameboy Advance.

I think older gamers who still have fond memories of playing these games 10-15 years ago are the likely demographic who will purchase the bulk of the units. And since that’s the reality, I really wish PlayPal would have added some better titles to the list like Shining Force or Phantasy Star. That very well could have given some Sega Nerds a wet dream!

The bottom line

When I think about the PlayPal Portable, I think of how awesome it could have been. If PlayPal would have spent a little more cash to license some of Sega’s better franchises and left out some of the filler games, I think it might have had a pretty succesful product.

As it stands now, I don’t think too many units will be flying off the shelves. I wouldn’t recommend the PlayPal Portable for a young gamer, but I think gamers who live for nostalgia will find some fun here.

The Portable is a decent rookie outing for PlayPal. They’ve delivered a handheld that surpasses most out there in terms of quality and durability, but in the end, the system is held back by lackluster games.

However, from what I’ve been told, PlayPal has plans to stay in the gaming scene for the long haul, and we should expect to see a lineup of 16-bit products sometime next year. Hopefully, PlayPal can deliver a list of games that we’re all familiar with and will enjoy.

Score 6/10

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