Sonic Drift is fine but forgettable. The racing is essentially just Master System Hang-On on a racing circuit with Sonic characters and there's not much depth of complexity to it. The racers aren't super well balanced and the game isn't really that challenging even on Hard, outside of some iffy collision detection causing the occasional unfair crash, but it's fun enough if only for five or ten minutes. The game is alo extremely short, able to beat all three cups in under half and hour with ease, and the music isn't unpleasant but also isn't anything special.

I was recently asked what I think the best Game Gear game is, and I really wasn't expecting a question like that to be so difficult to answer. It's not because the Game Gear has a rich library full of classics to narrow down, quite the opposite, in fact. This recent foray into the 8-bit Sonics has only helped me further build my appreciation for all the times I'm not playing the Game Gear, so trying to pick one as an example of what the system was truly capable of is a tall task.

Anyway, it might be Sonic Drift.

That may seem like an odd conclusion to reach given this game's (current) 1.8 average and my own 2.5 score, but my experience with the Game Gear has been so dire that I stand by it. Sonic Drift is a serviceable if by-the-numbers arcade racer and doesn't aspire to much beyond sprinkling in locations from Sonic the Hedgehog to spice up its otherwise dry gameplay. And hey, that's fine if you're like me and your neurons start popping at the sight of Labyrinth Zone.

The negative word of mouth on this game is so powerful that I just assumed I'd need to power through it as part of this series playthrough, and my own dismal experience with the Game Gear Sonics supported my assumption that this would be bad, too. So, on some level I'm glad that this isn't terrible, though I would stop short of calling it great or even good. It's just ok, neither deserving of the hate or worthy of praise. I imagine if I had this as a kid I would've been perfectly happy with it. I can totally picture myself in mom's Ford Aerostar hunched over a Game Gear that is nearly half my body mass, a big magnifying screen attached, 16 AA batteries hanging on for dear life (I've been playing for 20 minutes.) It's cool they let Amy race, too. She's like, 5-years-old and doesn't have a license but it's nice to be included.

There's probably better stuff out there, and I have no doubt the actual answer to "what is the best Game Gear game?" is not Sonic Drift, so feel free to drop any recommendations for Game Gear games you think are genuinely great in the comments. If any of you jokers say "Timecop" you will be placed in the contraption

I hate the idea that chucklefuck Nintendo Youtubers applied to this game that it was supposed to be some sort of "Mario Kart Clone" when it's not even close to that.

This is an arcade Sega racer, you play this if you like Outrun or Hang-on, not Mario Kart, and in that context, it's more than perfectly fine! It's an incredibly competent arcade racer with Sonic characters!

Although, this one is very much out-shadowed by its sequel, there's just More in Drift 2

An extremely basic kart racer made for the Game Gear. Because of how big the screen is, Sega decided that there was too much to handle and had all the gameplay take place on the lower third of the map, with the background and map taking up the rest of the screen.

You drive through three cups, all of which have tracks based on the same six levels from Sonic 1 (16-bit version, not the one on Game Gear), with different layouts. They all feel exactly the same, though, with the background being the main thing different. The backgrounds do look very nice, though.

Dotted along the tracks are a few powerups, such as a spring jump and an invincibility that speeds you up and seems to last for almost an entire lap.

That’s about it for Sonic Drift, there’s not much interesting about it.

Played the Sonic Origins version

Sonic Drift is a Sonic racing spinoff in the veins of Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo, the idea is neat as we all love racing spinoffs when done well, plot twist, it isn't.

The gameplay is really basic and it's mostly just racing in this fake 3D circuit and avoiding the obstacles, though the controls are really primitive and the drifting is inexistent, whenever there are turns you will be fucked!

Don't have much else to say than it's not really good nowadays, but it's serviceable if you can handle the bullshit, it's also a game where Sonic races in a car... odd... I know we got plenty of other kart racers based on Sonic but it's still odd to see him in a car...

Oh, and Robotnik is playable, good.

Sega olhou pra Mario Kart e ficou com inveja, mas também ficaram com vergonha de lançar no Mega Drive e deixaram ele escondido no Game Gear.

Jogo é extremamente básico, usando apenas 4 personagens e pistas baseadas nas zonas do Sonic 1. Existem power-ups, mas são muito ocasionais e alguns bem específicos para cada personagem, tirando o turbo, não ajudam em quase nada.
A direção é dura e o efeito 3D que mostra a distância dos karts é bem fraca e confusa.

Você pode jogar ele e se divertir um pouco até com o desafio, mas não tem nada nele que prende o jogador de verdade, é trocado na primeira oportunidade.