Tails' Skypatrol

Gameplay involves shooting enemies, collecting power-ups, and defeating bosses. Skypatrol was developed by Japan System House with assistance from SIMS, a part-owned subsidiary of Sega at the time. It was in development as an educational game for a cancelled handheld system, before being moved to the Game Gear. It did not feature the Sonic branding until it was presented to Sega, which requested the main character be replaced with Tails. Skypatrol received mixed reviews, with critics focusing specifically on its high difficulty and poor controls. It has been re-released through Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2003), Sonic Gems Collection (2005), and Sonic Origins Plus (2023).

• Title — Tails' Skypatrol • Developer — * Japan System House • SIMS • Publisher — Sega • Composer — Chikayo Fukuda • Released — April 28, 1995 • Platform — Game Gear • Genre — Scrolling shooter • Series — Sonic the Hedgehog

• Illustration — Tails flying past a rotating spike obstacle Tails' Skypatrol is a horizontal-scrolling shooter set within the Sonic the Hedgehog universe. Its plot involves Sonic's sidekick, Miles "Tails" Prower, traveling to a tropical island to stop the villainous Witchcart, who has turned its inhabitants into crystals. Tails flies by spinning his two tails, is always flying, and can be maneuvered up and down to avoid obstacles and left and right to slow down or speed up. Collecting mint candies replenishes Tails' constantly-depleting flight meter. If Tails is hit by an enemy, he falls toward the ground and the player must recover. Touching a level's environment will cost the player a life. Tails uses a gold ring as a weapon that can be thrown to defeat enemies, bypass traps, and retrieve items. There are five scrolling levels to traverse, which vary in difficulty and take place in locations such as forests and castles. Levels conclude with a boss fight against one of Witchcart's henchmen. The player has unlimited continues and will begin at the start of that particular stage after losing all of their lives.

• Illustration — Tails' Skypatrol was originally in production for an unreleased handheld before it was moved to the Game Gear (pictured above). Tails' Skypatrol was developed by Japan System House (JSH), a company known for its work on 8-bit conversions of Sega games throughout the early 1990s, with assistance from part-owned Sega subsidiary SIMS. JSH initially developed the game not as part of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The game was originally intended as a launch title for an unreleased handheld console, which used original characters and had a more educational focus. When the system was cancelled, the company chose to remake the game for the Game Gear, a handheld that posed similar hardware specifications and the same screen resolution. Upon completion, it was presented to Sega, which requested that the main character be replaced with Tails. Along with Tails Adventure, it is one of two Sonic the Hedgehog games on the Game Gear to star Tails. Tails' Skypatrol was released in Japan on April 28, 1995. It is included as an unlockable extra in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut (2003), alongside eleven other Sonic Game Gear games, which also marks the game's first release outside Japan. The 2005 compilation Sonic Gems Collection includes Tails' Skypatrol and several other Sonic and Sega games. It was also part of the 2023 compilation Sonic Origins Plus. Japan System House, who had by then renamed themselves Biox, later sought to port the game to Game Boy Color while replacing all Sonic elements with original characters. While the port was completed, under the name Boon Boon Kabun, it was ultimately cancelled due to unspecified contractual reasons.