Another obscure Sega IP, with its one and only entry being a late release for the Game Gear exclusive to Japan. Kind of a shame, as it's a solid Zelda-like for the platform. You venture through various dungeons, find items and powerups that let you get past certain obstacles and reach new areas, upgrade your health with oranges, and battle enemies and bosses. The plot is pretty minimal, just having your character track down six magic macguffins that can vanquish evil, but it's serviceable enough for a portable game. The game controls smoothly and plays well, has colorful visuals and smooth animation, and even has some pretty solid music for the hardware, and you can save your game at (almost) any time, which keeps the frustration factor to a minimum. Sylvan Tale is pretty fun little game while it lasts; maybe not worth the prices it goes for secondhand nowadays, but certainly one to check out emulated, especially since there's a fan translation available.
