Griffin Review

First released in 1991 for SEGA’s Game Gear, Griffin features a powerful battle tank that was developed as countermeasure against powerful neighbor countries looking to conquer various pieces of land. However, the designer was captured by the enemy country so it’s up to his grand-daughter to take control of the powerful moving weapon and save him.

Griffin is a top-down, vertical shoot’em up, or shmup, where players have to kill everything on their path (or trying to dodge them) and avoid any incoming projectiles. The tank can ride on the ground, but there’s also a level when it actually flies, and compared to the ground movement, flying is a bit faster.

The powerful near unstoppable vehicle can shoot default bullets, but you also have a limited amount of bombs you can use when you’re in a bind. The bombs will make the screen shake and clear everything you see on screen. Unlike most shmups, Griffin isn’t a one hit death type of game, you have a health bar on the right hand side of the screen. It does give players a bit chances to survive when it becomes incredibly chaotic, but you are limited in terms of lives. Game over means back to the beginning.

Along with you default weaponry, you’ll find extra power up for upgraded firepower, additional bombs or even items that will replenish your health; and boy you’ll need those. Most enemies do a reasonable amount of damage, but like they say, the bigger they are, the harder they hit. If you run into a boss, it’s one hit death. And the game also offers a rewind and save anywhere feature to help players surviving through this carnage.

The game looks great, even by today’s standard. Despite being originally available for the Game Gear, the visuals old up pretty amidst the waves of pixelated releases. The levels have slightly variations in terms of color palette, however there are certain circumstances where the environments mesh with the background; for example, in the first level trees look more like grass until you realize you can’t ride over it. The soundtrack is fair, although a bit ear-grating at times.

The game does have a few issues. First is the annoying shaking when the bombs are dropped. Among the power up pick ups, you can swap weapons in the game’s pause menu, but it’s absolutely not clear when you’re equipping an alternative weapon. It’s also incredibly short.

Griffin is a fun little shmup. Decent and limited diversity of weaponry, challenging bosses and overall well designed levels. It’s also a rare case of where a game from 1990s still holds up pretty in 2025. The control scheme is tight and responsive. The annoying bomb shake and unfriendly menu-ing won’t deter the overall experience. It’s incredibly short, but given it’s price, you can’t really fault it for it. If you’re looking for a simplistic and short experience, Griffin is worth the price of admission.