I loved my Sega Game Gear was so awesome to have at the time though battery life was not great, had a TV tuner for mine as well so could watch TV on it.
I had the TV tuner too .. The big telescoping metal antenna 🎮😊🏝📺 I could almost imagine Nintendo coming out of left field and releasing a similar product for the switch, although I would love a much more discreet antenna. I think I might even have to pick it up if they did. 🤔🏝😉 ... .. or they could just release a modern punch out with regular controller controls and I would totally be good with that also 🥊😁
6:21 I had Slider as a kid. I bought it with my birthday money in 1st grade from Toys R Us. I have NO IDEA why I bought that one, I really have no idea, I never heard of it before, I guess I thought it "looked cool" or something, it was so long ago I basically just remember buying it, and I played it A LOT after I got it, it turned out to be one of my favorite games for the Game Gear! I think I played Sonic Chaos, Sonic 1, and Slider the most. I found out years later that Slider is actually part of a little mini game franchise called "Sqweek" or "Super Sqweek" that was released for some Atari systems and some earlier PCs, like Amiga, and the creator HATED that they renamed it to "Slider" for the Game Gear installment released in North America. 99 total levels in that fun pick-up-and-play game, with a password feature! It you get 4 of the different colored teddy bears, you get 5 extra lives and skip to the next level. Some pretty cool puzzle mechanics in some of the levels. At the end there's a screen where it shows that you rescued a girl Slider character (same sprite as Slider, but with a pink bow on her head)....of course! Early 1990s video games in all their glory.
This handheld was very memorable for me. The first and only handheld I've ever had, my father saved up an entire month of his paycheck to buy it, and I would get 1 game on every birthday (or on occasion find one at a thrift store for $5-10) But man, 6 AA batteries to power it for only around 3 hours (less if the volume is too high) it goes through regular batteries too quickly and rechargeable were quite expensive back then. Also, the AC adapter didn't have a built-in voltage transformer like most adapters do today, so when I brought it with me to visit relatives in China I plugged into the 220V outlet, and it promptly fried the adaptor. Even after getting a replacement (still fairly rare and expensive by China's standard at the time) I still had no way of playing it, until my grandfather found this antique transformer they had lying around the house. The transformer was bulky, had to lug it around everywhere, but at least it allowed the handheld to run without issues The games I had were Sonic 2/Chaos/Triple trouble, Ninja Gaiden, Super Columns, Chakan, and the only RPG I got, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
This was the system that introduced me to gaming! I remember playing Sonic the Hegehog 1 on this the night my parents gave it to me, I was in the back seat at night and we were stuck in traffic over the bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, it was an unforgettable memory.
The GG was my first handheld system. That was the best Christmas ever. I myself did the same thing, plugged it into the wall and played that beast for hours. Loved it.
I bought the Game Gear even after owning an Atari Lynx. My findings was that the Game Gear to be more simplistic games compared to the Lynx scaling and rotation. My Lynx just had more power and the amount of things going on screen was far more than I ever seen on my Game Gear but I played and enjoyed it just the same and both ate batteries like they were candy. Both are great handhelds especially since getting both modded with McWill screens, makes all the games way more playable and fresh too
I had one growing up, got the Game Gear Sports Pack as a young kid & I absolutely LOVED it! I played my Game Gear just as much as I did my Game Boy. Thank god I also got one of the Battery Dildo's to help save on batteries!
I kind of wish Sega would release a new modern handheld device. Just something simple and not expensive that can play the Sega library of games. I can't help but feel it could sell relatively well. Maybe I'm weird but I would buy it.
What killed the Game Gear was it’s battery life; well the Game Gear was a full block head V8 engine equipped Chevy Camaro that sucks gas while the Game Boy was a Volkswagen Bug that is cheap on Gas that is why Game Gear was number 2 yet Atari have it’s Lynx so even Atari had a portable game console.
I owned a Gameboy back in the day. My first game played on Game Gear was Lucky Dime Caper. I was so excited seeing color screen!! Thank God today I have the full European set of the games and I love it❤❤
As a kid, one of my friends let me borrow his Game Gear and games for a weekend. I had never played the system before, but I was extremely impressed! I spent hours playing Columns, Sonic 1, Lucky Dime Caper and Castle of Illusion. My only disappointment was the battery life, so I only really played it with the power adaptor. My parents weren't thrilled with me draining 6 AA batteries every few hours (this was slightly before rechargeable AA batteries were more readily available for consumer use). It was an underrated portable system and very impressive technology-wise for its time. However, I still prefer the GameBoy mainly due to its library of games.
Ahh SLX, amazing video - as a heavy Sega MD/Genesis person my bro and i still had our Gameboy for the odd Tetris session. The GG was OD expensive and ATE batteries.
I got my game gear years after it was release, I had the following games: .chess master, dr robotnik's mean bean machine, dynamite heady, fatal fury, krusty's fun house, lion king, mickey mouse land of illusion, mighty morphin power rangers, Sonic 2, Sonic triple trouble surf ninjas, and wwf raw.
My little brother had the GG (with battery pack add-on) while I had the Nomad (which also ate AA's like ammo at the range). I didn't play many GG games, but Tails Adventure deserves attention. Gameplay was very different from the Sonic games and it was very memorable for me. Luckily we were always able to plug in our portables on long car trips.
Great video. I definitely agree that many people have likely overlooked the Game Gear for a long time. I remember the original TV commercial shown here which is what introduced me to the Game Gear. I didn't get one until Christmas of 1993 when it was sold at Best Buy in a deluxe package with World Series Baseball and a soft sided carrying case with space for 12 games and other accessories. I bought the AC adapter soon afterwards, but didn't have the money at the time for the TV tuner, (which was a wonderful add on for Sega to make). I only have about 8 games for it today, but still play it on occasion. I am instantly a kid again when I slide that red power switch on. Missing those "care free kid" days a lot lately! I have a US Gold Star Wars game for it and it's pretty fun to play as you can use all three characters (Luke, Han and Leia). It's too bad that the US Gold Indiana Jones game you highlighted here was so awful. I also hate seeing what we think will be a great game from the box art and popular title characters, that ends up playing like total crap. 😐 Just curious if you have played Super Battle Tank on the Game Gear before and if so, what you thought about it? I liked it as it's based on the Gulf War at the time and is a fun game with a variety of day and nightime battle scenes. Sorry for the super long comment, but thanks for making this cool video about the early days of Game Gear! 👍
the game gear one of my favorite hand-helds. I own almost every Sonic game released North America. I also own Mega Man Game Gear, Pacman, Mortal Kombat II, and Columns.
I thought the game gear looked awesome back when I learned of it. I had two SEGA VHS tapes that showcased many Genesis/CD and Game Gear titles and it made me wish I owned one to show off to my friends who had Game Boy's. But like so many other things at the time. It was nothing more than a dream.
There was a "Master Gear Converter"? I heard about the SEGA Aztec, which played Genesis games portably, but not of a converter for the Game Gear! Dang!
Thank goodness for sites like handle held legend. I was able to buy all the parts I needed to build a rep yellow game gear with a mcwill screen! I loved the GG back in the day. Having Mortal Kombat on the go in color was amazballs!
I love SLX anyways but you knocked it out of the park with this one. I'm a random commenter on UA-cam, thank you guys for reading, and I WILL catch you next time.
Loved my Game Gear - it was the first games console i owned. Played most of the games in this video, some proper classics and if people are not playing the disney games then let them miss out! Putt and Putter was actually one i spent a lot of time with - popils was also a unique GG gear in the fact it had battery save and custom level designs. I do think a large majority of GG games are not of great quality though and i got pretty bored and moved onto the sega megadrive several months later.
I had the misfortune of picking out drek like Beavis and Butt-head and X-Men GamesMaster's Legacy back when I first got one. Only much later did I score winners like Shining Force: Sword of Hayja.
When will you do a deep dive look into double dragon for the Sega Game Gear? I feels it's underrated beat em up while not as good as others but I feel it deserves recognition imo.
I still play my game gear my dad got me Christmas the year it released. Loved/Hated relationship with the Zelda 2 clone Ax Battler though finally beating it was rewarding years before Dark Souls was a thought. Road Rash, Aladdin, Psychic World, Power Rangers, Sonic Triple Trouble, Mega Man & GG Shinobi will always be my favs for the system
It's 1994 and I remember my aunt had just purchased a Game Gear with Sonic. Being a 6 year old with an Original Game Boy, I was blown away by what this thing could do. Too bad she returned it shortly after realizing it was an impulse buy and that was the last time I saw one until 2005, lol.
I had the GB growing up, and my brother got a game gear later on. For portability on trips, I simply liked the GB better. The backlight was, frankly, the best feature...
I wonder if someone could make a Game Gear using modern (LCD, Li-on, etc.) Replacements and, more importantly, could it be better than the OG GG from 32 years ago.
Yeah, there are lots of lcd/ips screen mods out there. Improved sound boards, usb-c charging power boards with LiPo batteries too. You can also consolize it by adding in a controller port for Genesis, and a VGA or composite out mod. I've done all of the above to mine and it really makes it worth playing again. Literally the only original part of it now is a portion of the motherboard, lol.
I just spent wayyyy too much money on getting my original GG upgraded with new capacitors and McWill screen. What a difference. I’m back to playing it all the time like 30 years ago 😂
I played game gear games like Columns at Target back in the day, but never got one because I already had an Atari Lynx. Once I went to a cousins house and we compared his gg to my lynx and it was fun, and we both agreed sega had a great library but lynx had better graphics. Nowadays gamegears are hard to find in working condition. Sadly the caps they used are all bad, so it's easier to just emulate gg on a psp.
Love the program, your Columns video is actually tetris. The Columns game came with the Game gear I bought , and it was more of a gems thing. Have a great day!
I’ll keep it 100% I definitely think it was the whole batteries thing that really killed the game gear to a lot of people. We really take for granted how cheap available and reliable rechargeable batteries are nowadays. Back in those times it was pretty much NiCad and those were awful and expensive for the most part. It’s great to be able to take something like this and update it so that it’s actually a fun and reliable thing to play nowadays but back then going through 4 AAA‘s in a couple hours got real expensive real fast. And it was either that or stay plugged in (which I guess a lot of people did). That doesn’t take away from the quality of the games it’s just more about the console itself and how unfortunately Nintendo did reign supreme simply because batteries were expensive.
This is a damn good showpiece for the Game gear. I'm shocked at how crisp and clean the graphics are. It's amazing that the Gameboy was able to beat this out with the huge graphical advantage the game gear has. Nintendo has shown us all these years that graphics aren't everything.
I chose the Atari Lynx, later trading it for a Game Gear, and I was disappointed with that decision. I'll take Ms. Pac-Man, Klax, Batman Returns, Kung Food, Pit Fighter on the Lynx any day over the Game Gear and its sub-par versions of 16-bit games, any day, with maybe the exception of Home Alone.
I loved my Lynx. Had most of the better games. Still have it, in fact. But the Lynx had nothing even close to the caliber of Castle of Illusion, GG Shinobi 1&2, Lucky Dime Caper, or Sonic, none of which were based on the 16-bit versions.
my entry into handheld gaming was the Atari lynx and wow.. i loved it with stun runner and APB being my favs but my neighbor asked to borrow it and i never got it back :(... I for me I didnt get back into hand held gaming till the wonderswan then DS shortly after
I never knew anyone who has a Game Gear growing up. We all had Game Boys because they were cheap. I finally picked one up in high school. Found it in a box of Dreamcast games at a yard sale for three dollars, and made a huge profit because the box also had Project Justice. I've still got the Game Gear, and my son loves playing it.
I had a gameboy and my older brother had a game gear. I was jealous for the first 6months until it was obvious that the longer battery life and superior games actually made gameboy the better system even though the game gear was clearly more badass.
@@skins4thewin yea, neither one of us had the entire library of games obviously but Tetris, super Mario land 1 and 2, metriod 2, Zelda, and final fantasy were all awesome games I had and he had sonic , columns, ninja gaiden and others and they didn’t have the same longevity for us. He ended up getting a gameboy
@@AustinSincrow Yeah the Gameboy was amazing no question. If only it were back-lit. Still can't believe we didn't get the Gameboy Light here, no clue why.
I only remember one of my friends having a game gear in the 90s. He was so much greedier with it than people would be with their game boys due to the short battery life. One life on Shinobi was all you’d get off him if he liked you.
Yeah I only ever saw other kids playing one....never had one handed to me like a Game Boy, which I had to wait all the way until 1995 to get one of my own
Well ye 6 batteries and if they were the dollar store kind ffs it didn't last long at all x.x 😂 luckily the Genesis 2 plug worked when you was at home lol. Those were the days haha
We had a game gear back in the day, always just used the ac adapter, it never had batteries in it
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I remember listening to an interview with Tom Kalinske about how frustrating it was that they couldn't fix the battery issue; it was, in my opinion, the best handheld of the 1990s; the backlight made it so easy to play games, and I loved it for what it was. A common misconception is that the Master System and Game Gear versions of the game were the same; this is not the case; Alien Syndrome and Predator 2 were not the same as their MS counterparts.
It's too bad they didn't do a Game Boy Pocket-style redesign in 1997 or 1998. I'm sure they could've updated its internals by that point to make it smaller and give it better battery life (especially if they made the display backlight toggleable like the GBA SP). It could've gone against the Game Boy Color for a few more years. It had a strong back catalogue, and some of the later Game Gear games were quite impressive graphically.
@@themadmadcow It would have been a non factor without Pokemon. The Gameboy went from near obsolete for a couple years to a huge seller again after they localized Pokemon.
I still remember when I got the GG for my bday. My parentss surprised me...I got a GG case (the suit case one where you could store like 10 games), a gg, ac adapter and like 5 games. I don't know how they pulled it off, and I honestly don't remember if I even asked for a GG.
I remember as a teenager some friends asking why I had so many “Kiddie games” because of Castle/World of Illusion and Quackshot for the Genesis. Because they were awesome, that’s why!
Still hear this as adults to which I respond is imagining you’re Lionel Messi in the latest FIFA or pretending to be a soldier in the latest CoD grown up then?
I remember listening to an interview with Tom Kalinske and how it was frustrating that they could not fix the battery issue, it was imo the best handheld of the 90s, the backlight made it so easy to play games and I loved it for what it was. A common misconception is that the Master system and Game Gear versions of the game was the same, it's not true. Alien Syndrome and Predator 2 were different to their MS counterparts.
It really is too bad the backlight tech just wasn't there yet. Gotta wonder how it could've been. I sure didn't play on mine much because of how many batteries it ate; an expensive system at the time with expensive battery use. Nowadays, I know it's a system worth owning.
I distinctly remember, as a very young kid, saving up allowance money - getting no toys or treats of my own volition - and saving up after a few months to get my very own Game Gear, it was the blue model that came with The Lion King, and I still remember how great it felt to walk into that store and buy a game system with my own money. Of course, adopting the console so late means I missed a lot of these titles, Lucky Dime Caper in particular has been on my radar for a while, and I still kick myself to this day for passing up Revenge of Drancon when seeing it at a thrift store a few years ago; at the time, from the name and title, I had no idea it was Wonder Boy!
In an electronics engineering class in high school we ran a PlayStation through the Game Gear TV Tuner. I still have mine. But there's a short in the AC input. I should try to fix it.
The Game Gear was the very first console I owned. It would have been perfect without the battery problem, cause my father refused at a point to buy some more of them! Sonic and Castle of Illusion were the first games I could finish. It was anyway a 90's device for me because I officially pronunced mine dead in 1999.
with a ~2 hour battery life, i never considered it portable. more like carriable... till the closest wall plug :P i still have my GG here, i think i only ever used it on batteries once
SO many memories. I had Columns, Monaco GP, Fantasy Zone, Psycho World, G-Loc, Land of Illusion, Wonder Boy and the SMS Adapter. Used it to play a LOT of Wonder Boy III, still one of my favourite games today.
I was the only Master System fan I knew due to growing up in the US. When the Game Gear was released, I just dismissed it thinking "that's more or less just a portable Master System which I have at home". Looking back, I should have paid more attention to the diverse catalog the Game Gear had over the master System.
It looks like the Game Gear had a really strong line-up in that first year in the US. Really happy to see GG Shinobi among all those great games. I've been working on my Mega Drive port of the game a fair bit recently and hope that I can do the original justice!
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP Yeah it's going to take a while :) Maybe if I was just doing that game alone instead of both it and SotN then it would get done much quicker, but I really enjoy switching between the two - it helps keep things fresh for me!
Awesome episode man! I love the game gear since it's my first portable console that I still own from my childhood. I'm currently going for a complete US collection, which there are apparently 233 games.
Holy crap! G-Loc! I think I had that game. The Game Gear was mind-blowing when it came out but I can't remember which games I had too well. I know I had GG Shinobi, Columns and Donald Duck Caper. I also still own my cartridge of Ax Battler but other than that I'm fuzzy.
Nothing was more amazing then getting a game gear for Christmas. I remember seeing the logo through the wrapping paper and not being able to sleep at night because I was so excited. I miss that feeling.
Love the game gear! One of the biggest parts of my collection, including about half the games and 25+ 2 player games with gear to gear cable. So many great titles!
Absolutely LOVED the Sega Game Gear. It's cultural impact, chiptune music among it's games, and tech were highly underrated even back then. I would have loved to see what a Game Gear 2 would have looked like
Knowing Nintendo prototyped a 32 bit handheld in 1995, the Game Boy Color came out in 1998 and the high resolution WonderSwan came out in 1999, if I were Sega around this time, I would've looked into getting a 16 bit Game Gear Ultra ready for 1997! It would've been slightly higher resolution than the Master System, used the same screen technology that later found its way into the Game Boy Color and its competitors, had sprite scaling capabilities (so Space Harrier and Galaxy Force would be able to turn out better on it than they did on the Mega Drive), have full Game Gear and (with adaptor) Master System compatibility and just be a handheld actually capable of competing with the Game Boy! I would even have looked into beating Nintendo to the idea of a 2 screen/touchscreen handheld shortly into the 2000s!
@@darrenwinn22 I would’ve held off a Game Gear 2 for a few years, knowing Nintendo prototyped a 32 bit handheld in 1995, I could’ve held off a Game Gear successor until 1997, using the same screen technology that later went into the Game Boy Color, but at slightly higher resolution than the Master System, I would’ve made it 16 bit (the WonderSwan came in 1999), added sprite scaling capabilities (so Space Harrier and Galaxy Force would be a lot more doable on the system) and just make sure the handheld is done right!
In retrospect, I think a Game Game 2 would be too expensive for the market at the that time to desire, considering what they'd have to do to top the 1st Game Gear. It probably would have been close to between $200-$250 back in the mid-90s
Excellent! You are one of the very few that provides content for the Game Gear. More of it please, would love to see category videos like you do for the Saturn
22:24 I was never a huge fan of the SMS/GG sound chip, but GG Shinobi definitely had one of the best soundtracks anyone managed to put together for it. Yuzo Koshiro does it again.
I wasn't born around the 80's or 90's, but since I grew up playing NES/Famicom games on a cheap knockoff Famiclone, I grew up enjoying retro gaming a whole lot. To be honest, the SMS/Game Gear had a lot of advantages over the NES. SMS games always feel faster for some reason, with vivid colors and better graphics. However the sound chip is absolutely awful. I try to like some tracks in some games, but I just can't. The best 8bit game console ever would be a Master System with an NES sound chip... And also Select and Start on the controller, like the NES!
Man, I remember my parents buying the Toys R Us set for me back in '92. It came with The Majors Pro Baseball, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, the two battery packs, a screen magnifier, a large hard case and a voucher to order the T.V. Tuner attachment. I took this thing on every summer vacation we went on for years. Damn, those were good days.
The Game Gear beats the Gameboy in nearly every respect, except for one MAJOR flaw: it sucked the juice out of batteries like there was no tomorrow. If it wasn't for this one thing the Game Gear probably would have won the handheld war, but this one thing is a MAJOR thing.
@@MarsofAritia Yes. But you have to consider why that was the case. People bought and played more games for it because of the decent battery life. So this is why it had more games.
I picked up a gamegear on a road trip to Seattle from Vancouver when it came out. I got Shinobi, Castle of illusion, and the pack in columns. It was such a killer system…except for the battery life. Shortly after a few months i managed to get the master gear converter, and Phantasy star became portable! Epic for the day!
It was a killer system alright... A battery killer that is. Yeah it was a cool system. While I didn't have one my friend did. The problem was always going to the store to buy batteries with left over change.
@@Gatorade69 DiD yOu NoT hAvE rEcHaRgAbLe BaTtErIeS?! Legit though, if you still have a Gamegear, rechargable batteries are a must. I use a pair of Energizers in my Neo Geo Pockets, and that system is already surprisingly good on battery life as it is.
@@nicksrandomreviews Oh I had rechargeable batteries. Radioshack branded ones that seemed to not last near as long as regular batteries though I had a Sega Nomad and I assume it goes through batteries just as quick as the Game Gear, maybe faster. Even later in life when I had energizer branded ones for my Xbox360 controller they still seem like they had half the charge of regular batteries.
@@maxxdahl6062 Hard to use an AC adaptor when you don't have any power sockets available to you. My friend would literally be locked outside of his house "to play" while his mom was gone. He had both a game gear and Game boy and even a virtual boy later on after he got in on super discount.
I used to LOVE Dragon Crystal! Spent so much time on that one back in the day! Also psychic world, slider, and Mickey! Now I gotta go play all these again! Great video.
I really wish there were more videos on the GameGear. I feel like it's really underrated and for the 350 games it had I barely know any of them. I've recently started building up a collection in anticipation of my Analogue pocket coming in though :)
I always was interested in new portables but GGear don't convinced me at the moment of release because to play for a regular time was needed to be plug and for that was better to sit in front of a TV. Yes GBoy screen was a Painful but, the "portability" was real. I'm 44 now and "teamNintendo" but its a joy to see how much love and care you put in your videos. That one is Amazing!
I really enjoyed the GG. I had a huge Master System library and the adapter was amazing option to have. Literally one of the earliest ways to play console games on a handheld. Between the GG, PSP & Vita, I’m still surprised that Nintendo owned the handheld market with (often vastly) inferior hardware.
Klax was amazing. Many memories of playing this, instead of doing a piece of work for my university course. The tagline "It is the 90s, and there is time for Klax" seems astoshingly appropriate at the time... :)
I remember taking our Game Gear to school once (maybe 1992), when there was a mandatory cross country run on for the girls and higher years. Me and friends stayed in a dormitory room and I played through Sonic the Hedgehog with everyone in the room watching, and was on the last level when a teacher came in and said we have to go outside to cheer people in at the end of the race, I protested but I never managed to show my friends the end of the game! Still a bit bitter about that 😂
I loved my Sega Game Gear was so awesome to have at the time though battery life was not great, had a TV tuner for mine as well so could watch TV on it.
I had the TV tuner too ..
The big telescoping metal antenna
🎮😊🏝📺
I could almost imagine Nintendo coming out of left field and releasing a similar product for the switch, although I would love a much more discreet antenna. I think I might even have to pick it up if they did. 🤔🏝😉 ... .. or they could just release a modern punch out with regular controller controls and I would totally be good with that also 🥊😁
6:21 I had Slider as a kid. I bought it with my birthday money in 1st grade from Toys R Us. I have NO IDEA why I bought that one, I really have no idea, I never heard of it before, I guess I thought it "looked cool" or something, it was so long ago I basically just remember buying it, and I played it A LOT after I got it, it turned out to be one of my favorite games for the Game Gear! I think I played Sonic Chaos, Sonic 1, and Slider the most. I found out years later that Slider is actually part of a little mini game franchise called "Sqweek" or "Super Sqweek" that was released for some Atari systems and some earlier PCs, like Amiga, and the creator HATED that they renamed it to "Slider" for the Game Gear installment released in North America. 99 total levels in that fun pick-up-and-play game, with a password feature! It you get 4 of the different colored teddy bears, you get 5 extra lives and skip to the next level. Some pretty cool puzzle mechanics in some of the levels. At the end there's a screen where it shows that you rescued a girl Slider character (same sprite as Slider, but with a pink bow on her head)....of course! Early 1990s video games in all their glory.
This handheld was very memorable for me. The first and only handheld I've ever had, my father saved up an entire month of his paycheck to buy it, and I would get 1 game on every birthday (or on occasion find one at a thrift store for $5-10)
But man, 6 AA batteries to power it for only around 3 hours (less if the volume is too high) it goes through regular batteries too quickly and rechargeable were quite expensive back then. Also, the AC adapter didn't have a built-in voltage transformer like most adapters do today, so when I brought it with me to visit relatives in China I plugged into the 220V outlet, and it promptly fried the adaptor. Even after getting a replacement (still fairly rare and expensive by China's standard at the time) I still had no way of playing it, until my grandfather found this antique transformer they had lying around the house. The transformer was bulky, had to lug it around everywhere, but at least it allowed the handheld to run without issues
The games I had were Sonic 2/Chaos/Triple trouble, Ninja Gaiden, Super Columns, Chakan, and the only RPG I got, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
This was the system that introduced me to gaming! I remember playing Sonic the Hegehog 1 on this the night my parents gave it to me, I was in the back seat at night and we were stuck in traffic over the bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, it was an unforgettable memory.
Sounds awesome bro!
Its true. I was the bridge.
The GG was my first handheld system. That was the best Christmas ever. I myself did the same thing, plugged it into the wall and played that beast for hours. Loved it.
My parents never bought me a genesis but I was able to get a Gamegear and a few games for making honor role all year and I loved that thing so much.
I bought the Game Gear even after owning an Atari Lynx. My findings was that the Game Gear to be more simplistic games compared to the Lynx scaling and rotation. My Lynx just had more power and the amount of things going on screen was far more than I ever seen on my Game Gear but I played and enjoyed it just the same and both ate batteries like they were candy. Both are great handhelds especially since getting both modded with McWill screens, makes all the games way more playable and fresh too
I had one growing up, got the Game Gear Sports Pack as a young kid & I absolutely LOVED it! I played my Game Gear just as much as I did my Game Boy. Thank god I also got one of the Battery Dildo's to help save on batteries!
I had both game gear and game boy as a kid and never shared my game gear with anybody. Still have and play it ever once in a while. Great memories.
I kind of wish Sega would release a new modern handheld device. Just something simple and not expensive that can play the Sega library of games. I can't help but feel it could sell relatively well. Maybe I'm weird but I would buy it.
What killed the Game Gear was it’s battery life; well the Game Gear was a full block head V8 engine equipped Chevy Camaro that sucks gas while the Game Boy was a Volkswagen Bug that is cheap on Gas that is why Game Gear was number 2 yet Atari have it’s Lynx so even Atari had a portable game console.
I owned a Gameboy back in the day. My first game played on Game Gear was Lucky Dime Caper. I was so excited seeing color screen!! Thank God today I have the full European set of the games and I love it❤❤
As a kid, one of my friends let me borrow his Game Gear and games for a weekend. I had never played the system before, but I was extremely impressed! I spent hours playing Columns, Sonic 1, Lucky Dime Caper and Castle of Illusion. My only disappointment was the battery life, so I only really played it with the power adaptor. My parents weren't thrilled with me draining 6 AA batteries every few hours (this was slightly before rechargeable AA batteries were more readily available for consumer use).
It was an underrated portable system and very impressive technology-wise for its time. However, I still prefer the GameBoy mainly due to its library of games.
I feel like it is important to mention that emulated GG games look 100x better because there is no motion blur which was a huge issue on the game gear
Ahh SLX, amazing video - as a heavy Sega MD/Genesis person my bro and i still had our Gameboy for the odd Tetris session. The GG was OD expensive and ATE batteries.
I got my game gear years after it was release, I had the following games: .chess master, dr robotnik's mean bean machine, dynamite heady, fatal fury, krusty's fun house, lion king, mickey mouse land of illusion, mighty morphin power rangers, Sonic 2, Sonic triple trouble surf ninjas, and wwf raw.
gamegear was my first video game console. Gosh, I love it so much during my childhood.
My little brother had the GG (with battery pack add-on) while I had the Nomad (which also ate AA's like ammo at the range). I didn't play many GG games, but Tails Adventure deserves attention. Gameplay was very different from the Sonic games and it was very memorable for me. Luckily we were always able to plug in our portables on long car trips.
Thanks for the Game Gear content SLX. I really enjoy the console and still play the games!
I wish Sega had released a slimmer version (using less batteries too) of the Game Gear, even Atari did it with the lynx.
Great video. I definitely agree that many people have likely overlooked the Game Gear for a long time.
I remember the original TV commercial shown here which is what introduced me to the Game Gear. I didn't get one until Christmas of 1993 when it was sold at Best Buy in a deluxe package with World Series Baseball and a soft sided carrying case with space for 12 games and other accessories.
I bought the AC adapter soon afterwards, but didn't have the money at the time for the TV tuner, (which was a wonderful add on for Sega to make).
I only have about 8 games for it today, but still play it on occasion. I am instantly a kid again when I slide that red power switch on. Missing those "care free kid" days a lot lately!
I have a US Gold Star Wars game for it and it's pretty fun to play as you can use all three characters (Luke, Han and Leia). It's too bad that the US Gold Indiana Jones game you highlighted here was so awful. I also hate seeing what we think will be a great game from the box art and popular title characters, that ends up playing like total crap. 😐
Just curious if you have played Super Battle Tank on the Game Gear before and if so, what you thought about it?
I liked it as it's based on the Gulf War at the time and is a fun game with a variety of day and nightime battle scenes.
Sorry for the super long comment, but thanks for making this cool video about the early days of Game Gear! 👍
Dragon Crystal and Psychial World were my main go-to's back in the day!
the game gear one of my favorite hand-helds. I own almost every Sonic game released North America. I also own Mega Man Game Gear, Pacman, Mortal Kombat II, and Columns.
I thought the game gear looked awesome back when I learned of it. I had two SEGA VHS tapes that showcased many Genesis/CD and Game Gear titles and it made me wish I owned one to show off to my friends who had Game Boy's. But like so many other things at the time. It was nothing more than a dream.
There was a "Master Gear Converter"? I heard about the SEGA Aztec, which played Genesis games portably, but not of a converter for the Game Gear! Dang!
Wow, thanks for showing me Dragon Crystal. Fatal Labyrinth is one of my favorite games!
"I Had rectal exams that were more fun" LOL I'm dead
Thank goodness for sites like handle held legend. I was able to buy all the parts I needed to build a rep yellow game gear with a mcwill screen! I loved the GG back in the day. Having Mortal Kombat on the go in color was amazballs!
god, i been looking for Halley wars for decades.
i tried search for every variation of "game gear vertical shmup" i could and never found it
I have the TV receiver for the game gear and I remember watch the Football world cup onto at 3rd year of high school
I love SLX anyways but you knocked it out of the park with this one. I'm a random commenter on UA-cam, thank you guys for reading, and I WILL catch you next time.
Loved my Game Gear - it was the first games console i owned. Played most of the games in this video, some proper classics and if people are not playing the disney games then let them miss out! Putt and Putter was actually one i spent a lot of time with - popils was also a unique GG gear in the fact it had battery save and custom level designs. I do think a large majority of GG games are not of great quality though and i got pretty bored and moved onto the sega megadrive several months later.
I never owned a Game Gear, but i hope that there will be a Game Gear collection for modern consoles, so i can catch up with those games.
Cool that slider puzzle game looks cute
As a kid i always thought Slider was a handheld sequel to Zoom! which is my guilty pleasure game of the 16 bit era.
I had the misfortune of picking out drek like Beavis and Butt-head and X-Men GamesMaster's Legacy back when I first got one. Only much later did I score winners like Shining Force: Sword of Hayja.
When will you do a deep dive look into double dragon for the Sega Game Gear? I feels it's underrated beat em up while not as good as others but I feel it deserves recognition imo.
playing my game gear with Streets Of Rage 2 in it whole watching this!
Sadly the old tv tuner no longer works since they changed up the way tv is broadcasted.
I still play my game gear my dad got me Christmas the year it released. Loved/Hated relationship with the Zelda 2 clone Ax Battler though finally beating it was rewarding years before Dark Souls was a thought. Road Rash, Aladdin, Psychic World, Power Rangers, Sonic Triple Trouble, Mega Man & GG Shinobi will always be my favs for the system
Fantastic. Thanks
Yes I love the Sega game gear
So happy I still have my game gear :3
It's 1994 and I remember my aunt had just purchased a Game Gear with Sonic. Being a 6 year old with an Original Game Boy, I was blown away by what this thing could do. Too bad she returned it shortly after realizing it was an impulse buy and that was the last time I saw one until 2005, lol.
That kicked the nostalgic gear to eleven.
Thought Wonder Boy was Hudson's Adventure Island. They seem nearly identical with hammer and skateboard.
I had the GB growing up, and my brother got a game gear later on. For portability on trips, I simply liked the GB better. The backlight was, frankly, the best feature...
I'm Sega lord X and I WILL catch you next time
I wonder if someone could make a Game Gear using modern (LCD, Li-on, etc.) Replacements and, more importantly, could it be better than the OG GG from 32 years ago.
Yeah, there are lots of lcd/ips screen mods out there. Improved sound boards, usb-c charging power boards with LiPo batteries too. You can also consolize it by adding in a controller port for Genesis, and a VGA or composite out mod. I've done all of the above to mine and it really makes it worth playing again. Literally the only original part of it now is a portion of the motherboard, lol.
I just spent wayyyy too much money on getting my original GG upgraded with new capacitors and McWill screen. What a difference. I’m back to playing it all the time like 30 years ago 😂
Wonderful video! So many great games yet to discover! And now I do feel validated - G-Loc was so boring..! XD
I played game gear games like Columns at Target back in the day, but never got one because I already had an Atari Lynx. Once I went to a cousins house and we compared his gg to my lynx and it was fun, and we both agreed sega had a great library but lynx had better graphics. Nowadays gamegears are hard to find in working condition. Sadly the caps they used are all bad, so it's easier to just emulate gg on a psp.
Love the program, your Columns video is actually tetris. The Columns game came with the Game gear I bought , and it was more of a gems thing. Have a great day!
..Is it just me, or does the music for paperboy on the GameGear sound similar to Spider-Man and The X-Men for the GameBoy ?
I’ll keep it 100% I definitely think it was the whole batteries thing that really killed the game gear to a lot of people. We really take for granted how cheap available and reliable rechargeable batteries are nowadays. Back in those times it was pretty much NiCad and those were awful and expensive for the most part. It’s great to be able to take something like this and update it so that it’s actually a fun and reliable thing to play nowadays but back then going through 4 AAA‘s in a couple hours got real expensive real fast. And it was either that or stay plugged in (which I guess a lot of people did). That doesn’t take away from the quality of the games it’s just more about the console itself and how unfortunately Nintendo did reign supreme simply because batteries were expensive.
_'Woody Pop',_ huh? -They had to know. They _had_ to know.
I had a hand me down GAME GEAR b4 I got a hand me down Genesis.
What's the music that plays at the beginning of this episode?
I always wonder if SG-1000 games would work on the Game Gear.
This is a damn good showpiece for the Game gear. I'm shocked at how crisp and clean the graphics are. It's amazing that the Gameboy was able to beat this out with the huge graphical advantage the game gear has.
Nintendo has shown us all these years that graphics aren't everything.
handheld war was based on battery life not gameplay nor graphics.
@@maroon9273 as it should have been
Once again Sonic tops this list 😁
Revenge of Drancon is not Wonder Boy. That's Adventure Island with the protagonist being made blonde and no baseball cap.
Play these today.... on MiSTer FPGA!
I chose the Atari Lynx, later trading it for a Game Gear, and I was disappointed with that decision. I'll take Ms. Pac-Man, Klax, Batman Returns, Kung Food, Pit Fighter on the Lynx any day over the Game Gear and its sub-par versions of 16-bit games, any day, with maybe the exception of Home Alone.
I loved my Lynx. Had most of the better games. Still have it, in fact. But the Lynx had nothing even close to the caliber of Castle of Illusion, GG Shinobi 1&2, Lucky Dime Caper, or Sonic, none of which were based on the 16-bit versions.
Completely forgot I owned Slider
my entry into handheld gaming was the Atari lynx and wow.. i loved it with stun runner and APB being my favs but my neighbor asked to borrow it and i never got it back :(... I for me I didnt get back into hand held gaming till the wonderswan then DS shortly after
I never knew anyone who has a Game Gear growing up. We all had Game Boys because they were cheap. I finally picked one up in high school. Found it in a box of Dreamcast games at a yard sale for three dollars, and made a huge profit because the box also had Project Justice. I've still got the Game Gear, and my son loves playing it.
Am honestly surprised it still works! The vast majority of Game Gears now need to be recapped as the caps have gone bad.
I had a gameboy and my older brother had a game gear. I was jealous for the first 6months until it was obvious that the longer battery life and superior games actually made gameboy the better system even though the game gear was clearly more badass.
@@AustinSincrow I dunno bout that tho... Game Gear had a ton of great games as well!
@@skins4thewin yea, neither one of us had the entire library of games obviously but Tetris, super Mario land 1 and 2, metriod 2, Zelda, and final fantasy were all awesome games I had and he had sonic , columns, ninja gaiden and others and they didn’t have the same longevity for us. He ended up getting a gameboy
@@AustinSincrow Yeah the Gameboy was amazing no question. If only it were back-lit. Still can't believe we didn't get the Gameboy Light here, no clue why.
I loved my game gear so much an excellent handheld and had the master gear converter ❤️
That donald duck sprite is one of the most impressive sprites I've ever seen on 8 bit hardware.
I only remember one of my friends having a game gear in the 90s. He was so much greedier with it than people would be with their game boys due to the short battery life. One life on Shinobi was all you’d get off him if he liked you.
He was generous 🤣
Yeah I only ever saw other kids playing one....never had one handed to me like a Game Boy, which I had to wait all the way until 1995 to get one of my own
Well ye 6 batteries and if they were the dollar store kind ffs it didn't last long at all x.x 😂 luckily the Genesis 2 plug worked when you was at home lol. Those were the days haha
Imagine if battery life was better back then.
We had a game gear back in the day, always just used the ac adapter, it never had batteries in it
I remember listening to an interview with Tom Kalinske about how frustrating it was that they couldn't fix the battery issue; it was, in my opinion, the best handheld of the 1990s; the backlight made it so easy to play games, and I loved it for what it was. A common misconception is that the Master System and Game Gear versions of the game were the same; this is not the case; Alien Syndrome and Predator 2 were not the same as their MS counterparts.
It's too bad they didn't do a Game Boy Pocket-style redesign in 1997 or 1998. I'm sure they could've updated its internals by that point to make it smaller and give it better battery life (especially if they made the display backlight toggleable like the GBA SP). It could've gone against the Game Boy Color for a few more years. It had a strong back catalogue, and some of the later Game Gear games were quite impressive graphically.
@@themadmadcow even though it played pretty sluggish, sonic blast looks amazing, especially since it's a GG game
@@themadmadcow It would have been a non factor without Pokemon. The Gameboy went from near obsolete for a couple years to a huge seller again after they localized Pokemon.
At least wait until there are more comments than this, before stealing one.
Didn’t Sega license a re release to Majesco in 2000 though? Was the Majesco version the same hardware?
For me GameGear is the best portable between GameBoy and Lynx.
Best ergonomics, best size and good graphics
Best handheld of its time.
I still remember when I got the GG for my bday. My parentss surprised me...I got a GG case (the suit case one where you could store like 10 games), a gg, ac adapter and like 5 games. I don't know how they pulled it off, and I honestly don't remember if I even asked for a GG.
Damn your parents must have been rich!... all I got was a regular Gameboy 😥 lol
I loved my GG but yeah I definitely ended up playing it plugged in a lot, plugged into the car or wall. Batteries were expensive for a little kid!
I remember as a teenager some friends asking why I had so many “Kiddie games” because of Castle/World of Illusion and Quackshot for the Genesis. Because they were awesome, that’s why!
Still hear this as adults to which I respond is imagining you’re Lionel Messi in the latest FIFA or pretending to be a soldier in the latest CoD grown up then?
World of illusion is fun still holds up
The fact that the video was in GG resolution, looks neat on a phone, is nifty.
I remember listening to an interview with Tom Kalinske and how it was frustrating that they could not fix the battery issue, it was imo the best handheld of the 90s, the backlight made it so easy to play games and I loved it for what it was. A common misconception is that the Master system and Game Gear versions of the game was the same, it's not true. Alien Syndrome and Predator 2 were different to their MS counterparts.
It really is too bad the backlight tech just wasn't there yet. Gotta wonder how it could've been. I sure didn't play on mine much because of how many batteries it ate; an expensive system at the time with expensive battery use. Nowadays, I know it's a system worth owning.
I distinctly remember, as a very young kid, saving up allowance money - getting no toys or treats of my own volition - and saving up after a few months to get my very own Game Gear, it was the blue model that came with The Lion King, and I still remember how great it felt to walk into that store and buy a game system with my own money.
Of course, adopting the console so late means I missed a lot of these titles, Lucky Dime Caper in particular has been on my radar for a while, and I still kick myself to this day for passing up Revenge of Drancon when seeing it at a thrift store a few years ago; at the time, from the name and title, I had no idea it was Wonder Boy!
In an electronics engineering class in high school we ran a PlayStation through the Game Gear TV Tuner. I still have mine. But there's a short in the AC input. I should try to fix it.
After a complete viewing I think this is one of the best you have ever made.
The Game Gear was the very first console I owned. It would have been perfect without the battery problem, cause my father refused at a point to buy some more of them! Sonic and Castle of Illusion were the first games I could finish. It was anyway a 90's device for me because I officially pronunced mine dead in 1999.
why you dint just bought the AC adapter?
Or rechargables
@@khhnator You know it's a transportable device, right? I could play mostly when we moved anywhere.
@@ihreMaskeSitztNichtRichtig Ja, warum nicht? Weiß ich nicht, ich war nur ein Kind.
with a ~2 hour battery life, i never considered it portable. more like carriable... till the closest wall plug :P
i still have my GG here, i think i only ever used it on batteries once
SO many memories. I had Columns, Monaco GP, Fantasy Zone, Psycho World, G-Loc, Land of Illusion, Wonder Boy and the SMS Adapter. Used it to play a LOT of Wonder Boy III, still one of my favourite games today.
I was the only Master System fan I knew due to growing up in the US. When the Game Gear was released, I just dismissed it thinking "that's more or less just a portable Master System which I have at home". Looking back, I should have paid more attention to the diverse catalog the Game Gear had over the master System.
It looks like the Game Gear had a really strong line-up in that first year in the US. Really happy to see GG Shinobi among all those great games. I've been working on my Mega Drive port of the game a fair bit recently and hope that I can do the original justice!
Can't wait for that too drop.... I know its going to be time; but it will be worth it
Pigsy Retro Game Dev 👍👍👍👍
That's awesome.
Damn I was just going to mention that! Thank you for the awesome work.
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP Yeah it's going to take a while :) Maybe if I was just doing that game alone instead of both it and SotN then it would get done much quicker, but I really enjoy switching between the two - it helps keep things fresh for me!
Awesome episode man! I love the game gear since it's my first portable console that I still own from my childhood. I'm currently going for a complete US collection, which there are apparently 233 games.
Holy crap! G-Loc! I think I had that game.
The Game Gear was mind-blowing when it came out but I can't remember which games I had too well. I know I had GG Shinobi, Columns and Donald Duck Caper. I also still own my cartridge of Ax Battler but other than that I'm fuzzy.
Nothing was more amazing then getting a game gear for Christmas. I remember seeing the logo through the wrapping paper and not being able to sleep at night because I was so excited. I miss that feeling.
Love the game gear! One of the biggest parts of my collection, including about half the games and 25+ 2 player games with gear to gear cable. So many great titles!
Absolutely LOVED the Sega Game Gear. It's cultural impact, chiptune music among it's games, and tech were highly underrated even back then. I would have loved to see what a Game Gear 2 would have looked like
Knowing Nintendo prototyped a 32 bit handheld in 1995, the Game Boy Color came out in 1998 and the high resolution WonderSwan came out in 1999, if I were Sega around this time, I would've looked into getting a 16 bit Game Gear Ultra ready for 1997! It would've been slightly higher resolution than the Master System, used the same screen technology that later found its way into the Game Boy Color and its competitors, had sprite scaling capabilities (so Space Harrier and Galaxy Force would be able to turn out better on it than they did on the Mega Drive), have full Game Gear and (with adaptor) Master System compatibility and just be a handheld actually capable of competing with the Game Boy! I would even have looked into beating Nintendo to the idea of a 2 screen/touchscreen handheld shortly into the 2000s!
It probably would have looked a lot like a Sega Nomad...
@@darrenwinn22 I would’ve held off a Game Gear 2 for a few years, knowing Nintendo prototyped a 32 bit handheld in 1995, I could’ve held off a Game Gear successor until 1997, using the same screen technology that later went into the Game Boy Color, but at slightly higher resolution than the Master System, I would’ve made it 16 bit (the WonderSwan came in 1999), added sprite scaling capabilities (so Space Harrier and Galaxy Force would be a lot more doable on the system) and just make sure the handheld is done right!
In retrospect, I think a Game Game 2 would be too expensive for the market at the that time to desire, considering what they'd have to do to top the 1st Game Gear. It probably would have been close to between $200-$250 back in the mid-90s
Excellent! You are one of the very few that provides content for the Game Gear. More of it please, would love to see category videos like you do for the Saturn
22:24 I was never a huge fan of the SMS/GG sound chip, but GG Shinobi definitely had one of the best soundtracks anyone managed to put together for it. Yuzo Koshiro does it again.
I wasn't born around the 80's or 90's, but since I grew up playing NES/Famicom games on a cheap knockoff Famiclone, I grew up enjoying retro gaming a whole lot. To be honest, the SMS/Game Gear had a lot of advantages over the NES. SMS games always feel faster for some reason, with vivid colors and better graphics. However the sound chip is absolutely awful. I try to like some tracks in some games, but I just can't. The best 8bit game console ever would be a Master System with an NES sound chip... And also Select and Start on the controller, like the NES!
Man, I remember my parents buying the Toys R Us set for me back in '92. It came with The Majors Pro Baseball, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, the two battery packs, a screen magnifier, a large hard case and a voucher to order the T.V. Tuner attachment. I took this thing on every summer vacation we went on for years. Damn, those were good days.
The Game Gear beats the Gameboy in nearly every respect, except for one MAJOR flaw: it sucked the juice out of batteries like there was no tomorrow. If it wasn't for this one thing the Game Gear probably would have won the handheld war, but this one thing is a MAJOR thing.
@@MarsofAritia Yes. But you have to consider why that was the case. People bought and played more games for it because of the decent battery life. So this is why it had more games.
I picked up a gamegear on a road trip to Seattle from Vancouver when it came out. I got Shinobi, Castle of illusion, and the pack in columns. It was such a killer system…except for the battery life. Shortly after a few months i managed to get the master gear converter, and Phantasy star became portable! Epic for the day!
It was a killer system alright... A battery killer that is.
Yeah it was a cool system. While I didn't have one my friend did. The problem was always going to the store to buy batteries with left over change.
@@Gatorade69 Easy fix. Use an AC adapter. :P
@@Gatorade69 DiD yOu NoT hAvE rEcHaRgAbLe BaTtErIeS?!
Legit though, if you still have a Gamegear, rechargable batteries are a must. I use a pair of Energizers in my Neo Geo Pockets, and that system is already surprisingly good on battery life as it is.
@@nicksrandomreviews Oh I had rechargeable batteries. Radioshack branded ones that seemed to not last near as long as regular batteries though I had a Sega Nomad and I assume it goes through batteries just as quick as the Game Gear, maybe faster. Even later in life when I had energizer branded ones for my Xbox360 controller they still seem like they had half the charge of regular batteries.
@@maxxdahl6062 Hard to use an AC adaptor when you don't have any power sockets available to you. My friend would literally be locked outside of his house "to play" while his mom was gone. He had both a game gear and Game boy and even a virtual boy later on after he got in on super discount.
I used to LOVE Dragon Crystal! Spent so much time on that one back in the day! Also psychic world, slider, and Mickey! Now I gotta go play all these again! Great video.
I really wish there were more videos on the GameGear. I feel like it's really underrated and for the 350 games it had I barely know any of them. I've recently started building up a collection in anticipation of my Analogue pocket coming in though :)
I always was interested in new portables but GGear don't convinced me at the moment of release because to play for a regular time was needed to be plug and for that was better to sit in front of a TV. Yes GBoy screen was a Painful but, the "portability" was real.
I'm 44 now and "teamNintendo" but its a joy to see how much love and care you put in your videos. That one is Amazing!
I really enjoyed the GG. I had a huge Master System library and the adapter was amazing option to have. Literally one of the earliest ways to play console games on a handheld.
Between the GG, PSP & Vita, I’m still surprised that Nintendo owned the handheld market with (often vastly) inferior hardware.
Klax was amazing. Many memories of playing this, instead of doing a piece of work for my university course. The tagline "It is the 90s, and there is time for Klax" seems astoshingly appropriate at the time... :)
I remember taking our Game Gear to school once (maybe 1992), when there was a mandatory cross country run on for the girls and higher years. Me and friends stayed in a dormitory room and I played through Sonic the Hedgehog with everyone in the room watching, and was on the last level when a teacher came in and said we have to go outside to cheer people in at the end of the race, I protested but I never managed to show my friends the end of the game! Still a bit bitter about that 😂