Game Gear Handheld Console

Description

Game Gear Handheld Console

Game Gear is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Sega on October 6, 1990 in Japan, in April 1991 throughout North America and Europe, and during 1992 in Australia. It primarily competed with Nintendo’s Game Boy, the Atari Lynx, and NEC’s TurboExpress. It shares much of its hardware with the Master System, and can play Master System games by the use of an adapter. Sega positioned the Game Gear, which had a full-colour backlit screen with a landscape format, as a technologically superior handheld to the Game Boy.

Game Gear Handheld Console

Though the Game Gear was rushed to market, its unique game library and price point gave it an edge over the Atari Lynx and Turbo Express. However, due to its short battery life, lack of original games, and weak support from Sega, it was unable to surpass the Game Boy, selling 10.62 million units by March 1996. The Game Gear was discontinued on April 30, 1997. It was re-released as a budget system by Majesco Entertainment in 2000, under license from Sega.

Game Gear Handheld Console

Reception of the Game Gear was mixed, with praise for its full-colour backlit screen and processing power for its time, criticisms over its large size and short battery life, and questions over the quality of its game library. The Game Gear Micro, a retro console, was announced in June 2020 and released in October of the same year.