Game Gear

Sega Game Gear

Manufacturer	Sega
Type	Handheld game console
Generation	Third generation era
Lifespan	October 6, 1990
Units sold	Over 1.5 million
Media	Cartridge
CPU	Zilog Z80
Online services	None

The Sega Game Gear is a handheld game console and was Sega's response to Nintendo's Game Boy. It is the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the Turbo Express.

Work began on the console in 1989 under the codename "Project Mercury", and the system was released in Japan on October 6, 1990. It was released in North America and Europe in 1991 and in Australia in 1992. Support for the Game Gear was dropped in early 1997.

Design and technical features

The Game Gear was basically a portable Master System with a lower resolution screen, but allowed for a larger color palette, and therefore potentially better-looking graphics. In addition, it could also produce stereo sound (through headphones) as opposed to the Master System's monaural output, although very few games made use of the stereo capabilities. Unlike the original Game Boy, the system is held in a "landscape" position, with the controls at the sides, making it less cramped to hold, like a normal Game Boy Advance. One of the more famous and unusual peripherals for the Game Gear was the "TV Tuner Adapter", a device that plugged into the system's cartridge slot, and allowed one to watch TV on the Game Gear's screen. Other add-ons included a magnifying glass to compensate the relatively small size of the GG's screen.

Sega had taken a similar approach when developing the Mega Drive/Genesis, basing it on Sega's 16-bit arcade hardware. This enabled direct conversion of popular games. Likewise, because of the similarities between the Master System and the Game Gear, it was possible for Master System games to be written directly onto ROMs in Game Gear cartridges. Similarly, an adapter called the "Master Gear" allowed Master System cartridges to be plugged in and played on the Game Gear. The reverse (playing a Game Gear game on a Master System console) was impossible due to the Game Gear's aforementioned larger color palette.

The Game Gear was not very popular in Japan, where it was released to a generally apathetic audience, with build quality issues plaguing it early in its service life. Another problem was battery life; while better than earlier color backlit systems, its 5 hour battery life still wasn't as good as the Game Boy (due to that system's monochrome screen, lack of a backlight, and less powerful hardware).

As of 2006, emulators for Game Gear have been made for the GP2X which uses less power, fewer batteries and a smaller form factor along with emulation through software.

Sales history and Game Boy rivalry

When first launched in America, a memorable TV advertising campaign was used to promote the system as superior to the Game Boy. One commercial featured a dog looking back and forth at both portables, with a narrator saying, "If you were colorblind and had an IQ of less than twelve, then you wouldn't care which portable you had. Of course, you wouldn't care if you drank from the toilet, either."[1] An advertisement was shown in black and white, with players milling about aimlessly in a dark void, playing Game Boys. A lone rebel appears with a Game Gear, cueing the narrator's comment of "The Sega Game Gear: Separates the men from the boys." Another showed a gamer hitting himself in the head with a rigid, dead squirrel in order to see color on his Game Boy[2]. When the Game Boy began to appear in different colors, 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. Although Sega was rather proud of these original marketing campaigns, it may have backfired since many gamers - loyal to their existing Nintendo handhelds - saw the ads as offensive, condescending or even patronizing. Negative advertising may have also been detrimental since it implied that the Game Gear was in second place (as indeed it was). However, less offensive advertising included the phrase SEGA does what Nintendon't, but even that phrase didn't discourage Nintendo fans from buying the Game Boy instead.

Although its color backlit screen and ergonomic design made it technically superior to the Game Boy, the Game Gear did not manage to take over a significant share of the market. This can be blamed partly on the perception that it was too bulky, and on its somewhat low battery performance: the device required six AA batteries, and the backlit screen consumed these in five hours( six on the later versions), compared to 10-12 hours of four-AA battery lifespan for the Game Boy. External and rechargeable battery packs were sold to extend the devices' battery life. However, 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 as many games. Indeed, the Game Gear did suffer from some of the same key problems that plagued a similar handheld released earlier, the Atari Lynx. Back then, rechargeable batteries had strict limitations such as ones where the battery needed to be discharged before recharging it, since Ni-Cd batteries were the mainstream type of rechargeable batteries during that era, and that Ni-MH and Li-Ion batteries would not become mainstream until after the Game Gear phased out. Most gamers don't take extensive care of rechargeable since there wasn't much market for Ni-Cd batteries compared to the latter battery types.

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, which came with a game entitled Coca-Cola Kid.

Although it was a moderate success, the Game Gear did not manage to achieve the 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 other portable systems that tried to compete with the Game Boy, such as the preceding Atari Lynx. Support ended in 1997, but Majesco released a core version of the Game Gear in 2000 for a reduced price. A short-lived handheld console released later by Sega, the Genesis-based Sega Nomad, was even less successful, and was never released outside the USA, Canada and Brazil. Though its success has been arguably surpassed by the Sony PSP, the Game Gear is still the longest running handheld console not made by Nintendo.

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. It also had a somewhat better speaker that doesn't distort 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.

Pop trivia

• A Game Gear can be seen in the U2 video clip "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)".
• In the movie Wayne's World, the character Garth's desk includes a Game Gear, complete with the TV tuner accessory.
• A woman is seen playing a Game Gear in the movie Airheads.
• In the movie Surf Ninjas, one of the main characters plays with a Game Gear (screenshots from Shinobi are seen, and he even mentions the game: "Shinobi. I thought I was playing Shinobi."), and it even helps him in accomplishing certain tasks in the movie. A game based on this movie was also developed, which was also displayed in the movie.
• In the Jackie Chan movie Rumble in the Bronx, Chan's character gives a Game Gear as a present to a young boy. However, in an obvious blunder, in scenes where the boy supposedly plays with the console, it is clearly seen that there is no game cartridge inside.
• In the 1995 movie Man of the House, Jonathan Taylor Thomas's character plays a Game Gear.
• A Yellow Game Gear was also seen in "Home Alone 3" The unit was even (quite clearly) seen on the DVD/VHS Box cover on the main characters hip.
• In Child's Play 3, when Andy goes to the barber shop, Tyler can be seen playing a Game Gear.
• In MTVs Funkmaster Flex episode, Nick Cannon shows a parody of a "pimped out" car, showing Game Gear mounted on the back of divers' seat.
• In the Season 1 finale of the NBC drama, ER, Dr. Carter plays Mortal Kombat on a Game Gear with a patient of his.

Specifications

• Main processor: Zilog Z80 (8 bit)
• Processor speed: 3.58 MHz (same as NTSC dot clock)
• Resolution: 160 x 144 pixels
• Colors available: 4,096
• Colors on screen: 32
• Maximum sprites: 64
• Sprite size: 8x8 or 8x16
• Screen size: 3.2 inches (81 mm)
• Audio: 4 channel tone generator
• RAM: 24 KB

See also

• List of Game Gear games