Sega Game Gear

The Sega Game Gear (ゲームギア Gēmu Gia?) was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress. Work began on the console in 1989 under the codename "Project Mercury", following Sega's policy at the time of codenaming their systems after planets. The system was released in Japan on October 6, 1990, North America, Europe and Brazil in 1991,[1] and Australia in 1992. The launch price was $150.[1] Sega dropped support for the Game Gear in early 1997.

Features

[edit]Design The Game Gear was a portable version of the Master System with a lower resolution screen, but allowed for a larger color palette. In addition, it could also produce stereo sound (through headphones) as opposed to the Master System's monaural output, though very few games made use of the stereo capabilities. Unlike the original Game Boy, the system was held in a "landscape" position, with the controls at the sides, making it less cramped to hold. Because of the similarities between the Master System and the Game Gear, it was fairly easy for Master System games to be ported to Game Gear cartridges. Alternately, the Master Gear Converter was released during the system's lifetime which allowed original Master System games to be played on the Game Gear.

Variations

The blue Game Gear sports edition, identical to the standard Game Gear, except in body color, was released in 1993, with the game World Series Baseball. Another specialty edition was a red Coca-Cola themed Game Gear unit, released to the Japanese market in 1994, which came with a game entitled Coca-Cola Kid[2]. Another limited edition released in Japan only was the white Game Gear, with only 10,000 units sold.[3] Sega also introduced Kids Gear, a packaging of the Game Gear system in a different color case. Another limited edition Game Gear was the red Magic Knight Rayearth and light blue Ninku Blue version, featuring the game and a small miniature of one of the game's characters. Software advertised for Kids Gear focused more on children's game titles. Kids Gear was also only released in Japan. Majesco released their own version as a budget model in a jet black shell.

Games

Approximately 390 official titles were released for the Game Gear,[4] although at the time of the console's launch there were only six software titles available (seven with the pack-in game, Columns). Sega made sure that a wide variety of video game genres were represented on the system, in order to give it a broad appeal. Prices for game cartridges initially ranged from $24.99 to $29.99 each.[citation needed] They were molded black plastic with a rounded front for convenient removal. The original Game Gear pack-in title was Columns, which was similar to the Tetris cartridge that Nintendo had included when it launched the Game Boy. Popular titles included Sega's own series, notably Sonic the Hedgehog; Disney movie extensions, such as The Lion King; and 3rd-party developer games like Mortal Kombat. In an unusual step for Sega (but also practiced by rival Nintendo on their Game Boy handhelds), Sega decided not to region encode Game Gear cartridges, meaning that any system could play any games regardless of the country they were released in. This practice helped to make the console popular among import gamers.

Sales and competition

The Game Gear was not very popular in Japan, where it was released to a generally apathetic audience[citation needed], with build quality issues plaguing earlier revisions of the unit in its service life. Another problem was battery life; while better than earlier color backlit systems, its 5 hour battery life (6 hours on later models) using 6 alkaline batteries was still not as good as the Game Boy's 10–14 hours of four-AA battery lifespan (due to that system's monochrome screen, lack of a backlight, and less powerful hardware). Battery life was a much bigger issue before handheld systems had built-in rechargeable batteries; gamers needed either a constant supply of six AA batteries, or a rechargeable Ni-Cd battery pack that was sold separately and added significant weight. Lead-acid batteries (e.g. car batteries) were also rechargeable and could supply more hours of run time for less money but were were generally constrained to stationary and vehicular applications. The Game Gear was more expensive than the Game Boy ($149.99,[5] versus $89.99 for the Game Boy). The significantly larger price tag contributed to driving away potential Game Gear buyers. When first launched in America, a TV advertising campaign was used to promote the system as superior to the Game Boy. One advertisement was shown in dreary black and white, with players milling about aimlessly in a dark void, playing Game Boys—almost like slaves. A lone rebel appears in the light with a Game Gear, cuing the narrator's comment of "The Sega Game Gear: Separates the men from the boys." The "slave players" see the light and all give back the Game Boys in masses—which cause slavery.[6] Another showed a gamer, played by future actor Ethan Suplee, hitting himself in the head with a rigid, dead squirrel in order to see color on his bland monocramatic Game Boy.[7] When the Game Boy began to appear in different colors for the case, Sega's ad ridiculed it by showing the Game Boy disguised in loaves of bread. Another ad from that era featured a professor explaining that though the Game Boy now was available in bright colors, the graphics were still monochrome, and therefore Game Gear was still superior. Yet another memorable ad showed a dog who was colorblind and unsure which—there was no comparison the Game Boy's "creamed spinach color" to Game Gear's "BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL COLOR". "And if it's all the same to you, you have an I.Q. less than 12 and drink out of the toilet." Although its color backlit screen and ergonomic design made it arguably superior to the Game Boy, the Game Gear managed just a moderate share of the market. Sega's biggest problem was that it failed to enlist as many key software developers as Nintendo, so the Game Gear was perceived as lacking many games. Although it was a decent success, the Game Gear did not manage to achieve the runaway commercial success that Game Boy did, in that when it went off the market it was not replaced by an immediate successor. The Game Gear, however, did better than all other portable systems that tried to compete with the Game Boy, such as the preceding Atari Lynx. The Game Gear did suffer from some of the same key problems that plagued the similar Lynx, though Sega did somewhat better than Atari due to more titles and a stronger marketing campaign, as well as fixing many of the durability and build quality issues. In the end, the Game Gear gained most of its sales by pushing the Lynx out of the market rather than eating into the Game Boy's dominant share.

Accessories

Several accessories for the Game Gear were also produced by Sega:

A Game Gear with TV Tuner plugged in on top The Game Gear TV Tuner plugged into the system's cartridge slot, and allowed one to watch TV on the Game Gear's screen. However, later versions of the Game Gear and the cost-reduced Majesco Core Game Gear hardware (see below) is incompatible with the unit, as it lacks the video pass through. These units can output sound from the Tuner. The Super Wide Gear was an accessory that magnified the Game Gear screen to compensate for its relatively small size. The Car Gear adapter plugged into car cigarette lighters to power the system while traveling. An adapter called the MasterGear Converter allowed for Sega Master System cartridges to be plugged in and played on the Game Gear. Playing a Game Gear game on a Master System console was not possible due to the Game Gear's larger color palette. The Gear-to-Gear Cable was an accessory that established a data connection between two Game Gears using the same multi-player game and let users play against each other. The PowerBack enables the Game Gear to have a longer battery life, and is rechargeable with Sega's Genesis 2 power adapter.

Remakes and emulation

Support ended in 1997, but Majesco released a core version of the Game Gear in 2000 for a reduced price. The Majesco Core Game Gear differed slightly from the original Game Gear in that it was black and had a purple start button rather than dark grey and a blue start button, the logo on the front of the unit was no longer in color, and it did not support the television tuner accessory. Its screen had shorter response time than the original model. It also had a somewhat better speaker that did not get distorted as much when played loudly. It was part of Majesco's strategy of eking profits from products with margins too slim for the original manufacturer to pursue, and was accompanied by Majesco's licensed reissue of several classic Game Gear cartridges. Majesco-reissued cartridges are distinguished by having no plastic case, and a Majesco Sales logo on the label, as well as the current games ratings system, which differs slightly from the one formerly used by Sega. The Majesco logo was not prominent, and these were marketed under the Sega name. The Game Gear was reincarnated in a smaller handheld form factor in late 2006. This small handheld device was powered by 3 AAA batteries, had a brighter active matrix screen, and contained 20 Game Gear and Sega Master System games.[9] It was released under several brands including Coleco and PlayPal. As of 2006, software emulators for Game Gear have been made for a number of devices such as the GP2X, GP32, Dingoo A320, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, iPod, PC, Palm OS and the PlayStation Portable, many of which use less power, fewer batteries and come in smaller form factors than the Game Gear. Some emulators such as Kega Fusion can also play Game Gear ROMs. Though its sales success as a non-Nintendo handheld has been surpassed by the PlayStation Portable (PSP)[10], the Game Gear still stands as the longest supported handheld console not made by Nintendo[citation needed]. Furthermore, it was also the most successful competitor to the Game Boy, selling 11 million units.[11] In Japan, Game Gear games are available through the Wii's Virtual Console.[11] Several Sega Master System games have been added to the Wii's Virtual Console, many of which are games that had also been released on the Game Gear.[12]