No, this was the limit. It had been three years since the first attempt to bring this blue maniac to the Game Gear. From the beginning it was clear that to imitate the older brothers wasn't just technically unfeasible, but also foolish. Imitation is a losing battle. Self-innovation is another story.

Triple Trouble compartmentalized all that had been learned and fought for in the last three years, and blows them all up to the extreme that the Game Gear could handle. You can tell. The performance of the game is a sign of that, but the reward is tasty. Levels were no longer 40-50 seconds, but now 4-5 minutes. Levels were now beginning to square up to the ambition and scope that had bejeweled the home-console Sonic releases. But this game wasn't just Sonic 3, it was its own work of art. It had even innovated on the Sonic formula in ways that the home console games weren't doing. The Special Stages in Triple Trouble are the most impressive the series had seen up to that point.

They finally had cracked the code. It is still a Game Gear game, but it is the Game Gear game that Sonic fans and SEGA were waiting three great years for. It's these three years that set the stage for most future handheld Sonic releases. In 1994, a dream came true.