The GameGear...

The Core RPGC Main Forum
1

Does anyone remember the GameGear? I don’t really have much of a choice, since it’s sitting on my desk, but I still have fond memories of it.

When Nintendo released the GameBoy, and effectively took over the handheld market, many companies tried to release their own handheld systems. Nearly all of those systems tanked. Sega, however, decided to release one of their own, and in order to compete with their evil arch-nemesis (poetic license here), they upped the technology a bit and released the GameGear.

The technology part was simple: COLOR. This seems petty nowadays, but back then, when the GB was in black and white (and was for God knows how long), having color seemed monumentous. Also, the early ad campaigns quickly caught on with the preteen market, which was the biggest market of the day. In the first year, the system sold incredibly well.

Then things went downhill. The GG had a few nasty problems. First, it drained batteries like crazy; it required six AA batteries, and they were dried out in about six hours TOPS. This meant that, if you wanted to play for long periods of time, you had to get an AC adapter, which limited portability. Also, it was large and bulky, which screwed it over even more. And finally, the initial quality quickly dissapeared as Sega released nearly non-stop, tone-downed versions of Genesis games. Sales quickly dried up.

Still, the GG held on for several more years, until Sega realized that sales were starting to slack. They decided to axe the system, even though it still had a nice-sized following in the US, and replaced it with the Nomad, which could play Master System, GameGear, and Genesis games. That system tanked almost immediately. And thus, due to the idiocy of Sega, the problems with technology, and the dominance of Nintendo, the GG died.

I had about eight games, an AC adapter, and plenty of love for Sega before the system died off. They’re still in the handy travel pouch, which sits on my desk. Also, I noticed that the GBA looks a bit like a smaller version of the GG. (Just a bit of mindless trivia.)

Okay, that’s my rant. Now kill me if you will.

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kills d galloway

EDIT: Yea, i don’t own a game gear, but i used to play with my friend’s and i remember having to finish x-men in half-hour cause the gg’s transformer couldn’t be plugged for more time than that. Good ol’ days.

3

Hiei had a game gear. It seemed interesting at the time, but Sega games never seemed too interesting for some reason. We never played it much… What was the quality of the graphics? I don’t remember if it was even 16 bit.

The GBA only requires 2 batteries, the SP, none. mouahaha…My precious…@_@

4

I remember the gamegear, mainly because I have one sitting on the floor of my room right now.

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I haven’t even seen one. Stupid Norway.

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<img src=“http://cala.nulani.net/images/calacat.gif”>I have one of those. Good stuff. Sonic. :stuck_out_tongue:

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I remember the game gear too… Whenever I went to toys r us I used to play one of the Sonic games on it… I seem to remember the graphics being pretty decent. If sega hadn’t been so dumb, I think they really could’ve gotten a one-up on nintendo… I wonder what the story behind that is? They sacrificed quality for getting the games and technology out right away? When Sega CD came out, I remember wanting to get one… but that quickly died off too. Maybe Nintendo planted spies and that led to their downfall. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

8

The Game Gear has nice graphics, but it just ate up batteries like they were nothing. The size never bothered me much, but the battery usage is what got me to stop using it. Sonic Chaos on the GG was one of my favorite games, I felt that it was even better than the console ones.

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I absolutly LOVE the GG. It had pretty good graphics, and all the games I owned were VERY adictive.

10

Yeah, I remember the Gamegear too… never owned one, but borrowed a mate’s from time to time, it seemed to eat through batteries like there was no tomorrow :thud:

But the Nomad- now THERE was a handheld console :hahaha; had the opportunity to buy one the other day, but didn’t have a spare £75 on me… :too bad;

11

Well, at least people have heard of it.

Has anyone played Shining Force on it? The funny thing is that, we (the US) got only Shining Force Gaiden II (since Gaiden I was only released in Japan), and yet I understood the plot PERFECTLY. If there was a reference to Gaiden I (such as when Ruth shows up after battle 20, and Mayfair knows his name despite the fact he hadn’t shown up before), I imagined some plot thing from before the game there. Then I played SFCD, and found I was mostly right.

I may be psychic.

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The Game Gear also got Shining Force III: The Final Conflict. From what I can tell, it’s set before Shining Force II for the Genesis because the little ship you get in SFII to ride around on rocks was also in SFIII:TFC. I had a Game Gear. It was fun. I liked the Garfield game on it.

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I had one too. Don’t remember where it is, though.

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I’ve played a few of the Shining Force games on the Game Gear Emulator. Quite fun, actually.

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Game gear, eh? I have one of those … Trouble is, something in it broke, so it only runs with batteries, and if you try to plug it in it won’t turn on. I’ve got … lessee … Jurassic Park, Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Triple Trouble, Tails Adventure … and that’s about it.

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I only had Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.

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There was a time in which a lot of people here in Brazil had gamegears, so many that videogames magazines had some pages just for it.

I was gonna talk about the nomad but you said it all in the first post.

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I had one of those…had a few nifty games too.

I could spend hours playing Collumns. :slight_smile:

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Columns! i remember that, i had it on the megadrive, 'twas the only game i could play for hours with my dad, damn addictive!

I never liked the GG, my m8 had one and i played sonic on it and decided i didnt like it based solely on the fact that the crab-like enemies looked wierd. :stuck_out_tongue: