When I was a little kid Santa Clause brought me a game gear with a battery pack & a tv adapter. Man it was one of my favorite christmases ever. I really loved that game gear. My parents rocked Christmas that year. Now that I’m older I have a whole new appreciation for what my parents did. They didn’t have a lot of money, but they still made the sacrifices to get me cool stuff for Christmas. This video brought back some memories for me.
Seriously bro, now that I'm 33 and have my own son, I realize how hard it is to get a child the latest and greatest. Shout out to our parents for getting us game gears!
no1 Jack I remember getting Super Nintendo plus Mario , Mario kart and street fighter 2.best Christmas ever. I’m in my 30’s now and while I do enjoy gaming, the love has deff faded.
The first time I saw a game gear, I must have been only a few years old, and while on a flight, some older kids (must have been teenagers themselves) in the next aisle saw me staring at their game gear in awe... and they let me play Sonic on it for quite some time. I’ll never forget that experience and the kind gesture from random strangers!
2019 here.. We are at the point that retro gamers in youtube have become part of the nostalgia.. Having the angry video game nerd, gamesack, metaljesus and of course the gaming historian are just a blessing. My 90s was awesome and having these guys in my midlife was also great.... I hope when I become a senior citizen we will still have the systems and reviewers around... More power Norman!!
I had a Game Gear back in 1995 when I was in the Navy. That thing saved my life when it came to needing something to do while out at sea. Just had to stock up on batteries before heading out. Spent many hours playing Shining Force and Shinobi.
I understand that. It was the GameBoy Advance that kept me sane my two tours in the Army. I still have it and it was cool to see a lot of my games I still have become collectible.
I'm from morocco and i buy a Sega Game Gear one year ago for nothing (5$) no sound and no image just the lightscreen, but i just change all the capacitors that I take from old remote controlers, and it works very good, there are so many tutorials about that in the internet, just go on and make all thos dead game gears back to life
Sega Game Gear was an absolute joy in the 90's. So much so, when I first started working properly in 2008, I purchased one on ebay after I got my first paycheck. Still play it to this day.
I remember wanting this so bad, I had dreams about wanting it. Seriously, my dreams were about it just being out of reach of actually owning it, or actually holding it, just to have a slideshow of Sonic the Hedgehog play on the screen. All I wanted was a portable version of Sonic the Hedgehog just like on the Sega Genesis.
My mother won one of those in France when she was a junior in College (back during the 1993-94 school year). She still has it and it still works to this day.
The crappy electrolyic capacitors mentioned in this video are, fortunately, pretty easy to replace when they fail. In addition, removing the florescent tube backlight and its ballast, and replacing it with white LEDs about doubles the GG's battery life. There are a bunch of UA-cam videos that walk you through both replacing the caps and the backlight.
By far the best mod is a Nintendo DSXL display as backlight as it brightens the screen evenly. But you need to solder in a current transformer due to higher voltage and actually making the brightness regulator work requires some knowledge of electronics and potentiometers. Most LED mods involve a LED diode in place of where the tube is and due to the higher brightness it will introduce a line of higher intensity light at the center of the screen, unevenly lighting the screen edges. The transistors also need to be swapped soon after they pop, except for the ones that are needed for sound if you wait too long the acid will eat through your contacts. Still easy to repair since the traces are not that miniscule as today's electronics
Every gamboy fantard like i was back then,secretly wanted a Game Gear. I guarantee it. Basically nothing has changed today for Nintendo exclusive gamers lol
I remember getting one of these for my birthday. I had accidentally stumbled upon the games for it tucked away in a cabinet. Needless to say that I couldn't wait until my birthday, and I had to act surprised when I opened my presents up, lol.
I still have no idea what my mom did with my game gear. It was light years ahead of the game boy. I even eventually got the tv tuner for it which was MIND blowing at the time. I had my own mini tv to watch my cartoons on lol
A few of my friends had the Game Boy but none of us had even heard about the Game Gear. Then my cousin who lived in another city got one and I got to play it. It totally blew my mind. My friends didn't believe it was real when I told them about it :D
I honestly feel like Segas biggest mistake, across the board, was their attempt at offering so many peripherals, in every system. Rather than focusing on making a quality, high-performance console with innovative qualities that came in the box, they seemed to always try and sell extra components that were just, well, crap.
Yeah kind of the more I think about it. Between the Power Converter, the TV Antenna, the Sega CD, the Sega 32x, the Sega Nomad, the Sega Mega Jet, the Sega 6 Button, the Sega 3D Control Pad, the Sega Channel, the Sega Online thing for the Saturn, the cancelled Sega VR, & the ridiculous amounts of accessories for the Dreamcast, they couldn't help themselves to accessories. Developing all of it probably took a large chunk out of their funds.
My folks took one look at the charge life of mine and got me a third party battery pack that you could insert into the place where each of the batteries went. It actually really helped, and I could plug it into the wall to charge it when I wasn't using it
I had a Lynx model II, it was freakin' incredible. Very underrated. Shame it didn't get the recognition it deserved. My buddy had a game gear. Many an afternoon were spent swapping systems and trying out new games.
Clearest memory I have of my brother and his Game Gear was him constantly swapping batteries. Mom and dad picked him up eighteen Rayovac AA batteries and chargers. He’d burn through all three sets every day. There wasn’t a moment at least one set was charging in our home for a couple yeqrs
The Game Gear, and later, a series of Game Boys, was an essential ingredient of my “entertain yourself quietly for hours” trick that my mom loved. I don’t know how many times I beat Power Rangers on Game Gear, but I killed a lot of batteries on that thing. And I had the Mega Wide Screen! So ridiculous but loved it at the time.
You ever notice how naming schemes with video game systems and cars are similar? So back in the day, there were creative names that sounded cool. like Jaguar, Genesis, or El Dorado. Now, a lot of people use names that are just numbers, or if you're lucky, some letters thrown in. Like 360, 4, or model 3.
I own a Game Gear console in fine shape with the original box. Box is in great shape and has Columns and all parts/papers. Picture and sound are perfect on the system. It even still has the battery covers! I used to fly through batteries when I had a different one in the mid 90's.
The car adaptor on road trips was the best. Our old van even had a rear passenger cigarette lighter so I got could sit in the back and play games the whole time. Too bad the games I had sucked lol
I never had the pleasure of owning a game boy or game gear growing up but I did have access to both, many friends owned gameboys and my uncle owned a gamegear, he was the only person I knew that owned one, I considered it much better and it seemed like it was some rare system since I had only seen the one and it was a color back lit screen compared to the game boy. I grew up in a rural area in the extremely rural province of pei Canada. We seemed to be behind the rest of the planet by a few years until the Internet became a staple. Anyways... This channel brings back so many memories and nostalgia. Thanks
As a kid I remember we had a Gamegear. I think my mom hid it from me one time, and forgot to get it before we moved. Having a handmedown Game Boy, Gamegear blew me away.
+sludge_fudge I am. While not a bad idea on paper, the product was universally panned in the trailer, and even I think there's so much room for improvement. I even started a petition on Change.org to get Sega to improve it. If you'd like to sign it, here's the link. www.change.org/p/sega-get-sega-to-improve-the-game-gear-micro
I seem to have stumbled across yet another fantastic, underrated channel here on UA-cam. Keep up the outstanding work, sir! You've earned yourself another sub.
About 15 years ago my best friend and I got his brother's hand me down Game Gear after he got a PS2. I remember us saving up for and buying a 128 pack of AA batteries and eating through them in a month. But it took us months of saving to buy those batteries. Should have just bought the ac adapter.
I asked for the game gear for Christmas the year it came out and my parents instead got it for my younger brother who didn’t ask for it. I’m 37 years old and still pissed off about that.
@Brian Chernoble Genisis model 2 ac adapters, and Master system ac adapters are the exact model that were sold for the Game Gear. Also, Super Famicom ac adapters are a match, But not Super Nintendo.
I remember my cousin having a Game Gear. When he stayed with us one summer, I was playing it all the time. All I remember playing was Batman Returns. I felt it was much better than the Game Boy. I remember playing it before going to bed, in this little "fort" that I made. So the backlight was useful in the dark. And I had it plugged in, so the batteries were not a problem.
Game Gear's COLUMNS was the first game my mom ever played on a portable. She really enjoyed playing that. NOW:, she's addicted to CANDY CRUSH on her iPhone I gave her (iPhone 12 Pro Max) . Basically the same game.
I really don't understand why this was an issue to so many people. Pretty much everywhere I went had an electricity socket for me to plug a power supply to. And maybe it was because I was a child/young teenager, but people just didn't dare to say no, so I never needed to play on batteries. I would have it stolen from me if I was seen playing it on the bus or bus stop to/from school anyway.
with an LCD mod and modern Ni-MH AA batteries, you can easily boost game time to 6 hours and more. I've modded mine and STILL have to discharge my new rechargeables through more than 6 hours of non-continuous gameplay.
@@waltercomunello121 does it work just fine with the rechargeables? It's apparently built for 4.5v from two sets parallel sets of three 1.5v in series. But rechargeables are 1.2v, right? So it's only getting 3.6v?
When i was a kid, i didnt think that GG gamez had endings. The batteries gave out in hours, if that, and the adapter would overheat. I just thought the games were supposed to be incomplete, because i never got to finish them.
I loved my gamegear! I got one when they first released. My parents got fed up w/ buying batteries so they got that bulky battery pack. It looks like a big long oblong dildo. It lasted a while, and it saved on battery life. My gamegear still works perfectly. I just turned it on, it has the power rangers game in lol!
I think the American version has better capacitors, here in Europe all the Game Gear now days have problems with the sound or/and the image, unless you have changed the capacitors
I remember waking up Christmas morning and opening up my game gear with the game sonic 2!! I was made up and played on that for about 2 hours before opening any other presents
As a child, the gameboys non-color, non-light screen was a deal breaker for me. How anyone could enjoy playing a game in black and white was beyond me. My brother got the gamegear and it was fun to play. We had a duck tails game that was awesome with great music. We got the tv turner and I remember secretly watching a steven segal movie in bed way past my bedtime, which was a cool thing for a kid. Battery life? We played it plugged into the wall, so this wasn't a big issue.
+TheTundraTerror The reason I enjoy handhelds isn't mainly because it's portable, but because it's comfortable. With a console, you're controller is hooked up and you have to stand in one place. It's difficult to play well while laying back and lounging around. Since the TV is generally on the other side of the room (not held right up in front of your face), you have to sit up and look at it from the right angle, otherwise it just doesn't feel right and can throw you off. With a handheld, the screen is right up close to you. You can lay however and be more comfortable, and you're not going to feel penalized for it. Handhelds are generally more convenient and comfortable when you want to lounge. It's the reason why sometimes I prefer to browse the internet with my smartphone instead of with my laptop.
+Ronan Dee When I got an Atari Lynx 2 I was blown away at how much more advanced it was. It was my favourite Handheld and I sold my Gameboy to get one, never looked back.
@Evangelos Killer mike It's not because they lost the competition that they always have been a failure. For nearly a decade, they have been the main competitor against Nintendo, something no other company was able to do. The only fact here is that you don't know shit about the history of video games.
@@solarbubble703 Also Sony playing dirty was what ultimately led to Sega's Dreamcast demise. Dreamcast was great console with lots or great games and when it was release it was much more powerful than PS1. But Sony with its much better ties/influence with the media spreading lies such as the PS2 was just around the corner (it wasn't) to stale for time and spreading lies/rumours about the PS2 being something like 10 times the power of the final product that eventually got released. Lots of people held-off buying Dreamcast and Sega lost lots of potential sales as a result of that.
The Game Gear was in color, and backlit. That alone made it over Game Boy for me, but the wider design to be like a console controller was good too. Although it was a battery drainer, possibly worse than the SNES Super Scope. Regardless, I liked the Game Gear a lot.
+C. Dawg Knight I owned one, too. The LCD display was blurry and a bit washed out. Games were "ok" but nothing particularly special. 7/10. Meh. I didn't expect to say it but the Game Boy, with some of the better titles, delivered a better value and much more enjoyable playing experience overall.
I have never owned a handheld console myself. As a kid, though, I had friends that had Game Boys and Game Gears, so I played both of them. Discounting all other factors (cost, battery life, etc., etc.) and only taking into account the experience of playing the game while I was holding it in my hands, I thought the Game Gear was far superior. I considered buying a Game Gear at one point (never actually did it). I never even considered buying a Game Boy.
It kind of annoys me that so many people think that the Game Gear was a failure just because it didn't sell as many units as the Gameboy. Sega discontinued the Game Gear when they believed 8 bit handhelds were obsolete, and right after that the Gameboy got a second wind from the release of Pokemon, which made the aging Gameboy more popular than it had ever been before, at a time where its only real competition had already been discontinued. At its peak the Game Gear was actually outselling the Gameboy in the United States, even if that victory was somewhat short lived and fell far short of where the Gameboy would go with Pokemon.
If a system doesn't meet any of the sales goals expected by the company that produced it AND if they were selling them at a loss (the GG, like most console, probably cost more to make then what the we're selling for) AND the total sales barely even made a dent in the market then calling said console a dud/failure is appropriate.
Joe Digger How do you know what Sega's sales goals were with the Game Gear? How do you know they failed to meet them? In North America, the sales far exceeded Sega of Japan's expectations, at least according to the book Console Wars. What happened is that when the dust settled, Nintendo fans started moving the goal post and retroactively declared that the Game Gear had failed, which is a misconception that has stuck even though it's not true. The Game Gear had an average lifespan for a piece of gaming hardware while the Gameboy had an exceptionally long one. Contrary to popular belief there are silver medals in these supposed video game races.
I agree completely with your statement that Pokemon made the Gameboy. It's common sense if you look back at it. Ask anyone what game they think of when they picture the Gameboy. Pokemon saved the Gameboy. That ugly yellow screen would have died a slow death if it didn't have a Pokemon life support system.
This was a very well done, and brought back wonderful memories of having a Game Gear in my pre-teens - the very first gaming system that belonged to me, rather than being shared by the family. I picked it over the Game Boy primarily because I was quite fond of the Master System in our living room, and also because buttons on each side plus a colour backlit screen was much more appealing. As mentioned in the video battery life was an issue, so I mostly played against a wall next to an outlet with the charger connected, or conserving power with the brightness down and sound off. Also, even after paying back my parents for purchasing it, I wasn't prepared for the high price of games on babysitting income & allowance. ($50 for something I didn't know if I'd enjoy or even be able to play??? My hamster needed more Habitrail tubes, dangit!) So I got pretty good at playing Sonic or Columns and occasionally met a fellow GG owner willing to lend from their collection. It was a fun way to pass the time, a valuable lesson in economics, and a treasured possession. Thanks for jogging the memories! ~ A.P.
According to M2, the Game Gear games on 3DS sold poorly and Sega quietly discontinued the series. Which is a shame, since the emulation is great. I just downloaded The G.G. Shinobi and it's a pretty rad game. And I'd loved to play the Game Gear Mega Man.
luisguillermojg That's a shame about that as I enjoyed the Game Gear Virtual Console games on the 3DS.The Mega Man game on Game Gear would've been great to have seen on the 3DS VC with it being very expensive to purchase.
It feels kind of strange playing Game Gear games on the 3ds. You can even blurr the screen as if you play on an actual Game Gear. I really loved the Sonic games back in the day and i feel bad that Sega screwed up so much. I hope Sonic Mania will make its comeback as the true Sonic 4. Every Sonic game after Sonic and Knuckles sucked big time. I hope that in the future there will be another Sega handheld because Sony just dropped it after the Vita. The PSP had great games but the Vita let everyone down on it. Damn shame Nintendo beats the handheld market everytime. Now we have the shitty @tgames sega handhelds but they are not worth it to buy. It's better to play them old games on the 3DS even though it feels silly. Nintendo beats it everytime. I wish Sega made better Sonic games after they sold out to every company in the gaming industry.
I bought one in the early 2000's brand new. I purchased 2 games along with it (Dragon A Bruce Lee Story and NHL Hockey). I still have it in its original box on my gaming shelf. I play it hear and there, however, I need to get some more games for it. I might get an emulator to check out some more games before buying them for the system. I would love to have a portable lithium battery that can be used with my Game Gear so I could get longer battery life.
I was a little kid when my older brother (+6 years) convinced my parents to get a Game Gear. Other than that, our house was all Nintendo - NES, SNES, N64, and a pair of GBCs for him and me. I never really appreciated it like I otherwise would have, being the only non-Nintendo thing we had, but I did admire its sheer power compared to the comparatively anemic performance of the Game Boy. Every once in a while I'd play it (exclusively plugged into the wall) and try whatever Sonic game we had (I wasn't very good) or Klax (I think it was called? It was like a Breakout-ish game with tiles that "rolled" down lanes). It was definitely quickly forgotten for the consoles proper but impress nonetheless.
I'm just getting started on the Game Gear. I actually got into Pocket games until the GameBoy Color with the big Pokémon hype, but my favorites are the Zelda and Castlevania; I didn't get much games for portables since I prefer Consoles and PC, but after getting a 3DS and browsing around the Virtual Consoles, I found myself getting only original GameBoy and Game Gear titles. Good thing my 3DS battery lasts a lot more XD
I had them both as a kid, and looking back and watching the stuff we watch now we all understand the faults of the game gear, but I loved it. I played it way more than my game boy. You could play it at night on long road trips, at night after bed time, and it had a ton of fun games. I even had the TV tuner!! I love the game gear. It doesn't work right anymore though. The sound doesn't work usually and sometimes it won't turn on. :(
I wanted a gmae boy but my mom saw all the commercials talking about how game gear had color and convinced me to get one.Sad times it was more expensive and I could never have enough batteries for it so I had to buy the charger pack.
I have 3 Game Gears. The first one i got in 2002, and it was a Majesco Re-Release, which still works to this day (the big plus to the Majesco Game Gear is that it has much better lasting capacitors), the 2nd one was given to me by a flea market vendor who wanted me to figure out what was wrong with it (turns out that the capacitors were about to crap out), and the 3rd one came with a carrying case which had a lot of games (unfortunately, it was another one with crapped out capacitors). The cool thing I loved about the Game Gear was that unlike the GB ports of Mortal Kombat 1 and 2, The GG ports were faster and as they had color, both of them featured blood (although MK1 required the code to unlock both the blood and OG fatalities). I still play the Majesco one to this day and even bring it with me to Universal and Disney which sure beats Heads Up any day.
In December of 1993 I got the Sega Game Gear and loved every minute of it. I'm not sure if the lack of 3rd party support was actually true or not because from what I seen the system had a pretty stellar library. There was no shortage of great titles to play in my opinion. If the game released for Sega Genesis, you were almost guaranteed to see a port of it come to the Game Gear.
Gamegear was actually amazing. The back light alone was just incredible. I can't play any game boys before the SP anymore because I am so spoiled by back lights. The problem with the Gamegear is it cost a fortune in batteries to keep running and it would quite often die in the middle of a game. This happened occasionally on gameboy, but not nearly as often. Every time you got far in a game you were at the mercy of the battery life, it sucked. Otherwise it was awesome. Great games, great graphics, great sound, and just overall great play-ability. Loved it. If only it was chargeable, that could have been another innovation to put it over the top.
Sega has announced that they are releasing a micro version of the Game Gear coming in October 6th in Japan, no word of a USA or European release at this time.
While I was staying with my aunt and uncle, they got me a Game Gear. It didn't come with any games, so I convinced my aunt to drive through a partially flooded road in order to get to the nearest mall so I could get one. I can attest to the fact that it drained batteries ridiculously fast.
@@goiabexp While I usually say that first party takes way too much credit in second party games, Pokemon is a big exception. GF only got off the ground due to loans and manpower by Nintendo.
I was born in 90 I had a game boy since I was 4. I remember seeing a kid at daycare with a gamegear. He was playing sonic in color and I was completely jealous. I asked my parents for them to buy me one but you know the classic parent response “you already have a game.” Cracka Buy me that shit.
The history of the game gear, reminds me a lot of that of the Ps vita and its competition with the 3ds. A much more powerful and premium handheld console, who despite being superior in almost every single aspect, couldn't compete against a console (gameboy), that although being inferior, was cheaper and had just an unrivaled games library
the PSVita also couldn't appeal all that much to the north american market, sure, it had a lot of handheld versions of home console games, i loved playing little big planet and uncharted on it, but most of the vita's library is composed of animesque games
Can you imagine if Sega had held on for another year or two? What if in 1998, with the world crazy with Pokemon fever, they decided to go for broke to get a piece of the action? Make a few sensible changes to the hardware to address some of the problems, and then come out with their own monster battler, either by themselves or maybe by working with Tecmo to make a portable version of Monster Rancher. Pokemon is what saved Nintendo. If Sega gave the genre a try, the gaming world might be very different today. Sega might still be in the hardware business, for one.
My parents have a VHS tape of recorded episodes of The Simpsons we all recorded during my toddlerdom in the early 90s. I watched it a lot, I think I've been the last one to watch it the last 64736278945 times. The tape is slowly degrading. I only bring this up because that Game Gear commercial in the beginning is on that tape, and sometimes I think about seeing how to port the tape to a DVD for the sake of them sweet sweet 90s commercials.
It's easy to do....just get a video capture d3vice, hook up vcr to it and use the included software to capture (most video capture devices come with the software)
I loved the hell out of my game gear, i liked it better than the game boy, just my preference. It was overlooked by most gamers and if more people had of tried one out it would have been alot more popular
3:48-3:50 The main reason for this is that the back light was basically a small florescent tube in a reflective box, and that tube was not nice to the battery life, to put it lightly. (Ha, puns.) This is why if you were to mod you Game Gear to have an LED back light, the battery life would go WAY up.
The Game Gear was also an actual portable, even if it had battery problems. The Nomad had that dreadful battery bulge that made it really hard to stow away, and even with 6 AA batteries it lasted about half as long as a Game Gear on a full charge.
I cannot help but feel a little irony in that, seeing that the Nomad was basically an ill-conceived portable version of the Genesis. And it fared even worse than most other portable consoles that were competing with the Game Boy. Both the Nomad and the 32X were terrible last gasps for Sega in the 16-bit era
I remember I saved up my allowance for weeks for one of these because I thought "hey this has color so it must be better than the Gameboy." This was the first and LAST time I bought a console based on graphics. Most of the games I had were either Sonic titles or smaller versions of Genesis games but it had a crappy battery life in the days before rechargeable devices. You could say it was the PSP of it's day (trololololol).
My friend actually has some sort of semi-portable rechargable battery, like a portable DVD player. That doesn't mean the Game Gear had a great battery life, I'm just saying that really helped.
WrongButtonGames Sega should have released refined versions of the GG, as Nintendo did with the Gameboy; later versions of the GG could have longer battery life and smaller form. This is the mistake Sega made, likely as a result of SoJ being obsessed with the Saturn.
I LOVED my Gamegear. I played it way, way more than my Gameboy. I also had the screen magnifyer. I vivedly remember being about 8 or 9 and walking home from my friends house down the street (while mom watched from the porch) in the dark while using my Gamegear's screen to light the sidewalk!!
I have gameboy too (pocket, gba, gba sp 101), but I just pay $7 for a Game Gear + 1 game from a marketplace in my country (not US), the seller said it was working before, he is just so fed up with the battery life and decided to sell it. I will update when I get the item.
Pshhh the Game Gear was discontinued because Sega, rightfully, suspected that 8bit handhelds were becoming obsolete. But head-to-head it DESTROYED the GameBoy. Color? Backlit? That's the one-two punch. And the game library was PLENTY large enough to keep anyone entertained. Honestly, I didn't feel it tore through batteries that bad either. The GameBoy wasn't exactly easy on it's 4 AAAs.
Game Gear's Price: $149 Gameboy's Price: $50 Difference: $99, in Gameboy's favor Game Gear's Average Battery Life: 3 hours out of 6 AA batteries Gameboy's Average Battery life: 12 hours out of 4 AA batteries Difference: 9 hours of play. *9 HOURS* out of *TWO THIRDS THE AMOUNT OF BATTERIES* (essentially three times what the Game Gear had to offer as *THE DIFFERENCE* , not even the total), again, in Gameboy's favor(I remark, this means *250% the battery efficiency* of the Game Gear) You have to outright LIE to yourself to pretend the competition wasn't a massacre in Gameboy's favor(you can swoon over how better the Game Gear was hardware wise all you want, but it just got fucked right up when it came to sales). It was just the more affordable console(in the short AND long run) with MUCH more games to it(Sega had mostly first party titles of variable quality, and some of the third party titles are outright incompetent. Seriously, you are comparing 250 games with a massive lack of decent RPGS and Adventure Games against *1,049* with those fields covered. Something yet again in Gameboy's favor. It wasn't the Atari Lynx bad but it just didn't compare). And 8 bit handhelds obsolete by 1994? Pokemon was released in 1996 for said 8 bit handheld and it took the market by storm. You're almost self patting in the back here, the Gameboy was just what the Game Gear wasn't: affordable, hence successful(this has kept Nintendo at the head of the handheld market for a long time, mind you)
Well, for starters, the Gameboy was $89.99 introductory, not $50. vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Launch_price And I conceded the Game Gear had an inferior battery life and game selection. But hell, there were still plenty of games to keep anyone entertained and they were more advanced than the Game Boy's shit green-colored stuff. Mortal Kombat on gameboy? LOL! And your argument is specifically the lack of RPGs? Who the fuck cares, you nerd. All in all, I was just pointing out that it wasn't a shit system for it's time. Nintendo was just first.
Self liking isn't a strong point, you know. Also, the Gameboy was already lowered in price when the Game Gear came by(even if it wasn't, that's still $60 of difference). And sorry, but the lack of presence for AN ENTIRE GENRE of games IS a point against ANY console, specially since Gameboy's strongest title ever(which was nothing less of a CULTURAL PHENOMENON) IS an RPG(let alone I mentioned adventure games as well, because they weren't the forte of the console. That makes TWO genres the Game Gear isn't covering properly). Also, screen crunch. The Game Gear had multiple not optimally made conversions from the Master System to fill up space. Shit, Screen Crunch affected even original games for the system. It's Megaman game pales compared to the Gameboy ones because it's not designed with the screen size in mind(superior graphics be damned). Same goes for half it's Sonic games. And it wasn't shit, but it was unaffordable, which long term is the same. People simply didn't play it(it's like the PS Vita against the 3DS. The 3DS owned the thing in sales long term in America and Europe, as the Vita only appealed to Japanese players at most. You can't pretend the higher specs are always the better deal, because time and time again history has proven this is NOT a rule). You're playing a game of pretending the console was hotter shit than it was(like that statement about 8 bit handhelds going obsolete with at least other 6 good years of them having a good life in the market ahead of 1994. It just feels like patting one self in the back. They discontinued the handheld because it didn't have a strong enough hold on the market, that's it).
That's 4 AA's instead of 6 and it got more than twice the lifespan out of them. While indeed the GBA would almost triple that time with only 2 AA's it's still a significant step up. The GB was just about a crucial threshold where the battery life was deemed acceptable by players. The thing is Sega did not create a 16bit handheld while Nintendo did. Also I often used in on the taxi to school and there often with the sun shining backlighting didn't make it any better. If anything often backlit screens had more glare than non-lighted screens because the dark background of a non-lit system would absorb most of the excess light. It's also why I didn't replace my GBA with the SP when I bought a second one. I still play my DS and DS3 with the backlighting on it's lowest setting.
My parents bought me one for by birthday, I loved that thing. I remember I left my GameGear on my bed one morning, that evening we found out someone broke in our house and you guessed it.
@Diabeto Kills its because they exited the hardware business after the dreamcast thats why they dont make any console now do you even know about gaming
@Diabeto Kills Tbh not making consoles was the best move for Sega back in 2000, now that they're products and games could be on any hardware ,which is a win for many other gaming companies, (Including Nintendo) Now if they chose to make consoles after 2000, then we wouldn't have Sega at all Today.Its not like you're losing if you don't make consoles,you're losing if you do what's best for the future
When I was a little kid Santa Clause brought me a game gear with a battery pack & a tv adapter. Man it was one of my favorite christmases ever. I really loved that game gear. My parents rocked Christmas that year. Now that I’m older I have a whole new appreciation for what my parents did. They didn’t have a lot of money, but they still made the sacrifices to get me cool stuff for Christmas. This video brought back some memories for me.
Seriously bro, now that I'm 33 and have my own son, I realize how hard it is to get a child the latest and greatest. Shout out to our parents for getting us game gears!
no1 Jack I remember getting Super Nintendo plus Mario , Mario kart and street fighter 2.best Christmas ever. I’m in my 30’s now and while I do enjoy gaming, the love has deff faded.
Christian_theKools Vlogs are you sure? Because I see him on tv every Christmas. He’s usually in the Christmas Coca Cola ad.🤗
Christian_theKools Vlogs spoiler alert!
Christian_theKools Vlogs What kind of monster are you? Santa really is a real thing, & Saint Nicholas was a real person too.
The first time I saw a game gear, I must have been only a few years old, and while on a flight, some older kids (must have been teenagers themselves) in the next aisle saw me staring at their game gear in awe... and they let me play Sonic on it for quite some time. I’ll never forget that experience and the kind gesture from random strangers!
games are fun when shared!
@@深夜-l9ftrue that!!!
Battery manufacturers totally loved the Game Gear.
ronch550 data released in 1992 shows a major up tick in double A batteries.. no cap 🧢
I got a battery commercial before this video
haha yea. i had one when i was young and i had to buy rechargeable batteries. i loved the color display though.
@@mk17173n back then we mostly only had NiCd batteries though, which weren't that good. Newer NiMH batteries that came later were far better, IMHO.
Lol
2019 here.. We are at the point that retro gamers in youtube have become part of the nostalgia.. Having the angry video game nerd, gamesack, metaljesus and of course the gaming historian are just a blessing. My 90s was awesome and having these guys in my midlife was also great.... I hope when I become a senior citizen we will still have the systems and reviewers around... More power Norman!!
2023 here
I had a Game Gear back in 1995 when I was in the Navy. That thing saved my life when it came to needing something to do while out at sea. Just had to stock up on batteries before heading out. Spent many hours playing Shining Force and Shinobi.
Salute the troops
I understand that. It was the GameBoy Advance that kept me sane my two tours in the Army.
I still have it and it was cool to see a lot of my games I still have become collectible.
yo I literally just got mines fixed up, and have been playing Dynamite Headdy all day now
Thank you for your service Mr. Martin!
I'm from morocco and i buy a Sega Game Gear one year ago for nothing (5$) no sound and no image just the lightscreen, but i just change all the capacitors that I take from old remote controlers, and it works very good, there are so many tutorials about that in the internet, just go on and make all thos dead game gears back to life
+Hamza Britel Well done. Yep, revive them all! :D
That's awesome
Hamza Britel hope you’re still playing your gamegear!! A great little system!!
This is cool :D
@@joaogoncalves1149I'm gay too
Sega Game Gear was an absolute joy in the 90's. So much so, when I first started working properly in 2008, I purchased one on ebay after I got my first paycheck. Still play it to this day.
I remember wanting this so bad, I had dreams about wanting it. Seriously, my dreams were about it just being out of reach of actually owning it, or actually holding it, just to have a slideshow of Sonic the Hedgehog play on the screen. All I wanted was a portable version of Sonic the Hedgehog just like on the Sega Genesis.
and now here we are, where sonic is avaiable and anything and u can prolly emulate sonic on your phone. crazy how fast tech advances
My mother won one of those in France when she was a junior in College (back during the 1993-94 school year). She still has it and it still works to this day.
When I was a kid this blew my mind! I still have mine!
You are everywhere!
@@ssgp7297 That's what I'm saying!
The crappy electrolyic capacitors mentioned in this video are, fortunately, pretty easy to replace when they fail. In addition, removing the florescent tube backlight and its ballast, and replacing it with white LEDs about doubles the GG's battery life. There are a bunch of UA-cam videos that walk you through both replacing the caps and the backlight.
can you link me to a video that shows this?
By far the best mod is a Nintendo DSXL display as backlight as it brightens the screen evenly. But you need to solder in a current transformer due to higher voltage and actually making the brightness regulator work requires some knowledge of electronics and potentiometers. Most LED mods involve a LED diode in place of where the tube is and due to the higher brightness it will introduce a line of higher intensity light at the center of the screen, unevenly lighting the screen edges.
The transistors also need to be swapped soon after they pop, except for the ones that are needed for sound if you wait too long the acid will eat through your contacts. Still easy to repair since the traces are not that miniscule as today's electronics
God bless the Internet
I am doing my capacitors when I get them of the 15th, every single one has gone
Every gamboy fantard like i was back then,secretly wanted a Game Gear. I guarantee it. Basically nothing has changed today for Nintendo exclusive gamers lol
I remember thinking that the game gear was the coolest thing ever made.
mahchymk93 until it dies and you don’t have 6 batteries in you
@@dsause3194 lmao "in you" like up your ass or smt
Ooof
Cyka Idinahui you can even say smh lol
@@dsause3194 are you poor of something? Can't your parent afford batteries? Or rechargeables?
This show is hands down one of my favorite pieces of content from anything period.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsA96dTUOqEvs?si=8RbF87ab2x3p5gbQ
I remember getting one of these for my birthday. I had accidentally stumbled upon the games for it tucked away in a cabinet. Needless to say that I couldn't wait until my birthday, and I had to act surprised when I opened my presents up, lol.
I still have no idea what my mom did with my game gear.
It was light years ahead of the game boy. I even eventually got the tv tuner for it which was MIND blowing at the time.
I had my own mini tv to watch my cartoons on lol
If you have any siblings they probably stole it
Sold it for crack...
@@TheTriformationT 😂
A few of my friends had the Game Boy but none of us had even heard about the Game Gear. Then my cousin who lived in another city got one and I got to play it. It totally blew my mind. My friends didn't believe it was real when I told them about it :D
Lol same here
I honestly feel like Segas biggest mistake, across the board, was their attempt at offering so many peripherals, in every system. Rather than focusing on making a quality, high-performance console with innovative qualities that came in the box, they seemed to always try and sell extra components that were just, well, crap.
They also forgot about the most important thing a console needs, good, fun games. They seemed to think it was all about having the best graphics etc…
Are you trying to tell me the Activator was crap?
Game Gear had fun good games
@@b3yourself91...every Sega console has a plethora of good, fun games
Yeah kind of the more I think about it. Between the Power Converter, the TV Antenna, the Sega CD, the Sega 32x, the Sega Nomad, the Sega Mega Jet, the Sega 6 Button, the Sega 3D Control Pad, the Sega Channel, the Sega Online thing for the Saturn, the cancelled Sega VR, & the ridiculous amounts of accessories for the Dreamcast, they couldn't help themselves to accessories. Developing all of it probably took a large chunk out of their funds.
a reasonable 149 dollars, plus 500 in batteries
Rafael Q. Only 500? Nah, I ate atleast through 2000 in my youth, before buying an adaptor..
Took it to school every day.
My folks took one look at the charge life of mine and got me a third party battery pack that you could insert into the place where each of the batteries went. It actually really helped, and I could plug it into the wall to charge it when I wasn't using it
Two words: rechargeable batteries
... were a thing that didn't exist as such when this thing was new.
Nickel-Cadmium batteries were... interesting. But they would be wiped by the charge-discharge cycles of the Game Gear.
I can still remember the smell of both my old Game Gear and it's game cartridges...
_Ahh, memories..._
+Snypor I still have 2. One with capacitor problems though.
+Snypor I can remember the smells of mine, smelled like fish from a leaky capacitor inside. >.
@@retrogamelord3763 lol what did you dip the cartridges in
@@donkeycheese8098 No it's the smell the game gear makes when components are going bad inside lol
Mine still smells like shell fish at the local market 🎣
Brings me right on back to 2nd grade man....this was far and beyond the COOLEST effing thing ever.....ooooweee did I love this thing!!
I had a Lynx model II, it was freakin' incredible. Very underrated. Shame it didn't get the recognition it deserved. My buddy had a game gear. Many an afternoon were spent swapping systems and trying out new games.
Dude, your videos are awesome!!
Man, I love how SEGA started as Nintendo's biggest competition in the 90's and now their Game Gear is an emulator on the 3DS.
Rip sega
So sad :(. The game gear was like a 1000 times better than the gameboy back then lol.
@Kosorou Gaming Archives it was better than the switch’s batters
@Kosorou Gaming Archives yeah
And genesis was on the Wii virtual console Sega became a shadow of its former self
For some reason I came back here when Steam Deck was reveal .
Clearest memory I have of my brother and his Game Gear was him constantly swapping batteries. Mom and dad picked him up eighteen Rayovac AA batteries and chargers. He’d burn through all three sets every day. There wasn’t a moment at least one set was charging in our home for a couple yeqrs
The Game Gear, and later, a series of Game Boys, was an essential ingredient of my “entertain yourself quietly for hours” trick that my mom loved. I don’t know how many times I beat Power Rangers on Game Gear, but I killed a lot of batteries on that thing. And I had the Mega Wide Screen! So ridiculous but loved it at the time.
You ever notice how naming schemes with video game systems and cars are similar? So back in the day, there were creative names that sounded cool. like Jaguar, Genesis, or El Dorado. Now, a lot of people use names that are just numbers, or if you're lucky, some letters thrown in. Like 360, 4, or model 3.
I own a Game Gear console in fine shape with the original box. Box is in great shape and has Columns and all parts/papers. Picture and sound are perfect on the system. It even still has the battery covers! I used to fly through batteries when I had a different one in the mid 90's.
Do you use it?
Sometimes. Only have about 5 games currently.
tortuga388 Ok
The car adaptor on road trips was the best. Our old van even had a rear passenger cigarette lighter so I got could sit in the back and play games the whole time. Too bad the games I had sucked lol
I never had the pleasure of owning a game boy or game gear growing up but I did have access to both, many friends owned gameboys and my uncle owned a gamegear, he was the only person I knew that owned one, I considered it much better and it seemed like it was some rare system since I had only seen the one and it was a color back lit screen compared to the game boy. I grew up in a rural area in the extremely rural province of pei Canada. We seemed to be behind the rest of the planet by a few years until the Internet became a staple. Anyways... This channel brings back so many memories and nostalgia. Thanks
As a kid I remember we had a Gamegear. I think my mom hid it from me one time, and forgot to get it before we moved. Having a handmedown Game Boy, Gamegear blew me away.
Who’s here after the announcement for the game gear micro?
+sludge_fudge I am. While not a bad idea on paper, the product was universally panned in the trailer, and even I think there's so much room for improvement. I even started a petition on Change.org to get Sega to improve it. If you'd like to sign it, here's the link.
www.change.org/p/sega-get-sega-to-improve-the-game-gear-micro
Me toi
Me
I herd it’s being released early in southern Harlem for all the inner city Kids to try first :) ❤️
Funny thing, I recently bought a game gear, then heard about the game gear micro. Goddammit.
I seem to have stumbled across yet another fantastic, underrated channel here on UA-cam. Keep up the outstanding work, sir! You've earned yourself another sub.
About 15 years ago my best friend and I got his brother's hand me down Game Gear after he got a PS2. I remember us saving up for and buying a 128 pack of AA batteries and eating through them in a month. But it took us months of saving to buy those batteries. Should have just bought the ac adapter.
128 pack of AA batteries?! ....Damn I mean even 15 years ago ya'll could've just bought an ac adapter or rechargeable pack...
lmao
U coulda use the ac adaptor in ur cordless foneg 😥
markowalski or rechargeables
I asked for the game gear for Christmas the year it came out and my parents instead got it for my younger brother who didn’t ask for it. I’m 37 years old and still pissed off about that.
This video is a UA-cam classic. I remember watching this years ago
You could also use the sega genesis AC adapter to power it.
@Baron Will Cool good to know.
cyn_mis_nih nope they were completely different AC adaptors
@@youtubeadmin1588 Hmm, its been over a decade since I've last used it. Plus I had a Sega 3 back then too.
@Brian Chernoble
Genisis model 2 ac adapters, and Master system ac adapters are the exact model that were sold for the Game Gear.
Also, Super Famicom ac adapters are a match, But not Super Nintendo.
Model 3 Genisis had the same ac adapter as the Genisis model 2 and Master System, so it matched the Game Gear.
I remember my cousin having a Game Gear. When he stayed with us one summer, I was playing it all the time. All I remember playing was Batman Returns. I felt it was much better than the Game Boy. I remember playing it before going to bed, in this little "fort" that I made. So the backlight was useful in the dark. And I had it plugged in, so the batteries were not a problem.
Actually I used to hook up my headphones, pop in the TV tuner and watch TV long after I was supposed to be asleep!! Ideal for a 12 year old.
I remember playing my Game Gear even, when I had the GBC and GBA. That hand held was WAY AHEAD of it's time.
Game Gear's COLUMNS was the first game my mom ever played on a portable. She really enjoyed playing that.
NOW:, she's addicted to CANDY CRUSH on her iPhone I gave her (iPhone 12 Pro Max) . Basically the same game.
It's hard to overstate how relaxing your vids are whenever I'm stressing. Cool content. Chill delivery. Both interesting and calming.
Game Gear: "Do You Want To Drain 6 AA Batteries In Under An Hour" - The Toy.
I really don't understand why this was an issue to so many people. Pretty much everywhere I went had an electricity socket for me to plug a power supply to. And maybe it was because I was a child/young teenager, but people just didn't dare to say no, so I never needed to play on batteries. I would have it stolen from me if I was seen playing it on the bus or bus stop to/from school anyway.
with an LCD mod and modern Ni-MH AA batteries, you can easily boost game time to 6 hours and more. I've modded mine and STILL have to discharge my new rechargeables through more than 6 hours of non-continuous gameplay.
@@waltercomunello121 does it work just fine with the rechargeables? It's apparently built for 4.5v from two sets parallel sets of three 1.5v in series.
But rechargeables are 1.2v, right? So it's only getting 3.6v?
Back in the day my father felt compelled to solder together a battery pack for a friend of mine bc battery drain was so bad.
When i was a kid, i didnt think that GG gamez had endings. The batteries gave out in hours, if that, and the adapter would overheat. I just thought the games were supposed to be incomplete, because i never got to finish them.
I loved my gamegear! I got one when they first released. My parents got fed up w/ buying batteries so they got that bulky battery pack. It looks like a big long oblong dildo. It lasted a while, and it saved on battery life. My gamegear still works perfectly. I just turned it on, it has the power rangers game in lol!
'It looks like a big long oblong dildo'' GOD DAMNNN hHHAHAHHA you made me fucking choke on my ginger ale :D
S Heuveldorp i.imgur(.)com/CtoYzfG.jpg
delete the ( and ) around the .
GravityZero jeez u should put a warning: nsfw on that lol
S Heuveldorp orgasm face is nothing more than a trend for attention whores. I see it all too often
I think the American version has better capacitors, here in Europe all the Game Gear now days have problems with the sound or/and the image, unless you have changed the capacitors
I remember waking up Christmas morning and opening up my game gear with the game sonic 2!! I was made up and played on that for about 2 hours before opening any other presents
Because your batteries ran out of juice.
2.2hrs was the average so that makes sense
I cannot get enough of your content, very solid coverage of the topics that give me those nostalgic feel goods
I have rewatched this episode more times than I can remember.
As a child, the gameboys non-color, non-light screen was a deal breaker for me. How anyone could enjoy playing a game in black and white was beyond me. My brother got the gamegear and it was fun to play. We had a duck tails game that was awesome with great music. We got the tv turner and I remember secretly watching a steven segal movie in bed way past my bedtime, which was a cool thing for a kid. Battery life? We played it plugged into the wall, so this wasn't a big issue.
+Ronan Dee Some people prefer playing a game for more than 2 hours at a time.
Michael Salter Oh, I forget that the point of a portable gaming system was to tether it to the wall.
+TheTundraTerror The reason I enjoy handhelds isn't mainly because it's portable, but because it's comfortable. With a console, you're controller is hooked up and you have to stand in one place. It's difficult to play well while laying back and lounging around. Since the TV is generally on the other side of the room (not held right up in front of your face), you have to sit up and look at it from the right angle, otherwise it just doesn't feel right and can throw you off. With a handheld, the screen is right up close to you. You can lay however and be more comfortable, and you're not going to feel penalized for it. Handhelds are generally more convenient and comfortable when you want to lounge. It's the reason why sometimes I prefer to browse the internet with my smartphone instead of with my laptop.
+Ronan Dee When I got an Atari Lynx 2 I was blown away at how much more advanced it was. It was my favourite Handheld and I sold my Gameboy to get one, never looked back.
+Ronan Dee yeah I just plugged it in and there was no problem I loved that device as a kid
I know exactly why this video was reccomended and I'd like to cry please
X x MEMEx MACHINE x X micro?
Story of Sega: Innovation, failure, innovation stolen by competition. rinse, wash, repeat
Hey don’t forget the geniesis
It's like comparing Microsoft to Apple and their mobile devices :)
Jay Hayche what do you mean
@Evangelos Killer mike It's not because they lost the competition that they always have been a failure. For nearly a decade, they have been the main competitor against Nintendo, something no other company was able to do. The only fact here is that you don't know shit about the history of video games.
@@solarbubble703 Also Sony playing dirty was what ultimately led to Sega's Dreamcast demise.
Dreamcast was great console with lots or great games and when it was release it was much more powerful than PS1. But Sony with its much better ties/influence with the media spreading lies such as the PS2 was just around the corner (it wasn't) to stale for time and spreading lies/rumours about the PS2 being something like 10 times the power of the final product that eventually got released. Lots of people held-off buying Dreamcast and Sega lost lots of potential sales as a result of that.
My uncles both worked late nights in Transit as Token Booths. They bought Game Gears and the TV tuners along with the NiCad Battery packs.
Watching this while my ROG Ally is on its way. Crazy how much we’ve advanced in tech.
The Game Gear was in color, and backlit. That alone made it over Game Boy for me, but the wider design to be like a console controller was good too. Although it was a battery drainer, possibly worse than the SNES Super Scope. Regardless, I liked the Game Gear a lot.
C. Dawg Knight someone had to like it.
I agree with you for sure
+C. Dawg Knight I owned one, too. The LCD display was blurry and a bit washed out. Games were "ok" but nothing particularly special. 7/10. Meh. I didn't expect to say it but the Game Boy, with some of the better titles, delivered a better value and much more enjoyable playing experience overall.
I have never owned a handheld console myself. As a kid, though, I had friends that had Game Boys and Game Gears, so I played both of them. Discounting all other factors (cost, battery life, etc., etc.) and only taking into account the experience of playing the game while I was holding it in my hands, I thought the Game Gear was far superior. I considered buying a Game Gear at one point (never actually did it). I never even considered buying a Game Boy.
It kind of annoys me that so many people think that the Game Gear was a failure just because it didn't sell as many units as the Gameboy. Sega discontinued the Game Gear when they believed 8 bit handhelds were obsolete, and right after that the Gameboy got a second wind from the release of Pokemon, which made the aging Gameboy more popular than it had ever been before, at a time where its only real competition had already been discontinued. At its peak the Game Gear was actually outselling the Gameboy in the United States, even if that victory was somewhat short lived and fell far short of where the Gameboy would go with Pokemon.
If a system doesn't meet any of the sales goals expected by the company that produced it AND if they were selling them at a loss (the GG, like most console, probably cost more to make then what the we're selling for) AND the total sales barely even made a dent in the market then calling said console a dud/failure is appropriate.
Joe Digger How do you know what Sega's sales goals were with the Game Gear? How do you know they failed to meet them? In North America, the sales far exceeded Sega of Japan's expectations, at least according to the book Console Wars.
What happened is that when the dust settled, Nintendo fans started moving the goal post and retroactively declared that the Game Gear had failed, which is a misconception that has stuck even though it's not true. The Game Gear had an average lifespan for a piece of gaming hardware while the Gameboy had an exceptionally long one. Contrary to popular belief there are silver medals in these supposed video game races.
It failed.
I agree completely with your statement that Pokemon made the Gameboy. It's common sense if you look back at it. Ask anyone what game they think of when they picture the Gameboy. Pokemon saved the Gameboy. That ugly yellow screen would have died a slow death if it didn't have a Pokemon life support system.
the GG was discontinued bc it couldnt keep up with Nintendo thats it! the designers made many mistakes
4:13 now I know why my friend's GameGear has almost non-existent video, thanks!
Playing it plugged in was the best option. I never owned one but a good buddy did, we'd take turns posted up around the same power outlet playing it.
This was a very well done, and brought back wonderful memories of having a Game Gear in my pre-teens - the very first gaming system that belonged to me, rather than being shared by the family. I picked it over the Game Boy primarily because I was quite fond of the Master System in our living room, and also because buttons on each side plus a colour backlit screen was much more appealing.
As mentioned in the video battery life was an issue, so I mostly played against a wall next to an outlet with the charger connected, or conserving power with the brightness down and sound off. Also, even after paying back my parents for purchasing it, I wasn't prepared for the high price of games on babysitting income & allowance. ($50 for something I didn't know if I'd enjoy or even be able to play??? My hamster needed more Habitrail tubes, dangit!) So I got pretty good at playing Sonic or Columns and occasionally met a fellow GG owner willing to lend from their collection.
It was a fun way to pass the time, a valuable lesson in economics, and a treasured possession. Thanks for jogging the memories!
~ A.P.
_"Game Gear titles have recently become available for download on the Nintendo 3DS."_
Dear SEGA,
STILL waiting for GG Shinobi II on 3DS VC!!
It would be great to see more Game Gear Virtual Console games on the 3DS.
According to M2, the Game Gear games on 3DS sold poorly and Sega quietly discontinued the series. Which is a shame, since the emulation is great. I just downloaded The G.G. Shinobi and it's a pretty rad game. And I'd loved to play the Game Gear Mega Man.
luisguillermojg That's a shame about that as I enjoyed the Game Gear Virtual Console games on the 3DS.The Mega Man game on Game Gear would've been great to have seen on the 3DS VC with it being very expensive to purchase.
It feels kind of strange playing Game Gear games on the 3ds. You can even blurr the screen as if you play on an actual Game Gear. I really loved the Sonic games back in the day and i feel bad that Sega screwed up so much. I hope Sonic Mania will make its comeback as the true Sonic 4. Every Sonic game after Sonic and Knuckles sucked big time. I hope that in the future there will be another Sega handheld because Sony just dropped it after the Vita. The PSP had great games but the Vita let everyone down on it. Damn shame Nintendo beats the handheld market everytime. Now we have the shitty @tgames sega handhelds but they are not worth it to buy. It's better to play them old games on the 3DS even though it feels silly. Nintendo beats it everytime. I wish Sega made better Sonic games after they sold out to every company in the gaming industry.
Shinobi is awesome
I bought one in the early 2000's brand new. I purchased 2 games along with it (Dragon A Bruce Lee Story and NHL Hockey). I still have it in its original box on my gaming shelf.
I play it hear and there, however, I need to get some more games for it. I might get an emulator to check out some more games before buying them for the system. I would love to have a portable lithium battery that can be used with my Game Gear so I could get longer battery life.
Game Gear's history sounds like PsVita's.
They both got crushed by Pokémon
Ragnar Ahlman Nintendo*
But however sony is still dominating the home console,while nintendo is portable
Nomads land
@@cbbblue8348 Not anymore
Amiga Amigo lol
I owned this thing and brought it to camp. It was so battery consuming because everyone wanted to play it. It was the future of portable gaming
I was a little kid when my older brother (+6 years) convinced my parents to get a Game Gear. Other than that, our house was all Nintendo - NES, SNES, N64, and a pair of GBCs for him and me. I never really appreciated it like I otherwise would have, being the only non-Nintendo thing we had, but I did admire its sheer power compared to the comparatively anemic performance of the Game Boy.
Every once in a while I'd play it (exclusively plugged into the wall) and try whatever Sonic game we had (I wasn't very good) or Klax (I think it was called? It was like a Breakout-ish game with tiles that "rolled" down lanes). It was definitely quickly forgotten for the consoles proper but impress nonetheless.
I'm just getting started on the Game Gear. I actually got into Pocket games until the GameBoy Color with the big Pokémon hype, but my favorites are the Zelda and Castlevania; I didn't get much games for portables since I prefer Consoles and PC, but after getting a 3DS and browsing around the Virtual Consoles, I found myself getting only original GameBoy and Game Gear titles.
Good thing my 3DS battery lasts a lot more XD
I had them both as a kid, and looking back and watching the stuff we watch now we all understand the faults of the game gear, but I loved it. I played it way more than my game boy. You could play it at night on long road trips, at night after bed time, and it had a ton of fun games. I even had the TV tuner!! I love the game gear. It doesn't work right anymore though. The sound doesn't work usually and sometimes it won't turn on. :(
YESS! I remember playing mine in the car at night when we were traveling!
I wanted a gmae boy but my mom saw all the commercials talking about how game gear had color and convinced me to get one.Sad times it was more expensive and I could never have enough batteries for it so I had to buy the charger pack.
I have 3 Game Gears. The first one i got in 2002, and it was a Majesco Re-Release, which still works to this day (the big plus to the Majesco Game Gear is that it has much better lasting capacitors), the 2nd one was given to me by a flea market vendor who wanted me to figure out what was wrong with it (turns out that the capacitors were about to crap out), and the 3rd one came with a carrying case which had a lot of games (unfortunately, it was another one with crapped out capacitors). The cool thing I loved about the Game Gear was that unlike the GB ports of Mortal Kombat 1 and 2, The GG ports were faster and as they had color, both of them featured blood (although MK1 required the code to unlock both the blood and OG fatalities). I still play the Majesco one to this day and even bring it with me to Universal and Disney which sure beats Heads Up any day.
I had the royal blue Game Gear, took it everywhere with me. Mortal Kombat on this thing was CLASSIC
In December of 1993 I got the Sega Game Gear and loved every minute of it. I'm not sure if the lack of 3rd party support was actually true or not because from what I seen the system had a pretty stellar library. There was no shortage of great titles to play in my opinion. If the game released for Sega Genesis, you were almost guaranteed to see a port of it come to the Game Gear.
Gamegear was actually amazing. The back light alone was just incredible. I can't play any game boys before the SP anymore because I am so spoiled by back lights. The problem with the Gamegear is it cost a fortune in batteries to keep running and it would quite often die in the middle of a game. This happened occasionally on gameboy, but not nearly as often. Every time you got far in a game you were at the mercy of the battery life, it sucked. Otherwise it was awesome. Great games, great graphics, great sound, and just overall great play-ability. Loved it. If only it was chargeable, that could have been another innovation to put it over the top.
Jack Bandit there was a ac adapter included on the pack.
Jack Bandit
Sega has announced that they are releasing a micro version of the Game Gear coming in October 6th in Japan, no word of a USA or European release at this time.
Good! Hopefully it will stay in Japan.
While I was staying with my aunt and uncle, they got me a Game Gear. It didn't come with any games, so I convinced my aunt to drive through a partially flooded road in order to get to the nearest mall so I could get one. I can attest to the fact that it drained batteries ridiculously fast.
When I was a kid in the early 90s seeing this thing with a colored screen was like looking at the future we all starting fighting over it.
5:32 Holy shit that's Ethan Suplee from My Name is Earl!!!
Yeeeessss I noticed him too!!! Hahahahah
the fat bully from boy meets world
it's Thumper from The Butterfly effect you peasants
It's the fat Neo-Nazi from American History X.
I wonder what life would have been like if Pokemon came out on Game Gear
+Thomas Reagan Pokemon was (C) Nintendo. And they're very restricted.
then gold and silver would have never been as good. casue that was all iwata.
@@thebravegallade731 R.I.P.
@@goiabexp
While I usually say that first party takes way too much credit in second party games, Pokemon is a big exception. GF only got off the ground due to loans and manpower by Nintendo.
2nd mortgages on batteries
It was a good thing to watch TV-shows late at night, when mother said "go sleep" or to watch the porn-channel in the hotel without paying for it.
ikr lol
Damn this video is old,
I did not find Gaming Historian till a year and a half ago and did not know that his channel was this old 0.0
I remember playing the game gear for hours upon hours with my cousin, we had a lot of fun on it playing a baseball game.
I was born in 90 I had a game boy since I was 4. I remember seeing a kid at daycare with a gamegear. He was playing sonic in color and I was completely jealous. I asked my parents for them to buy me one but you know the classic parent response “you already have a game.” Cracka Buy me that shit.
Nobody cares
@@1sonic687 why r u mad?.chill tf out
@@1sonic687 stfu
@@1sonic687 no one asked for you get tf away
@@1sonic687 shut up
that's why I had the ac adapter so it did'nt keep eating up my batteries
Me to
Michael Lake I owned 3 game gears
The history of the game gear, reminds me a lot of that of the Ps vita and its competition with the 3ds. A much more powerful and premium handheld console, who despite being superior in almost every single aspect, couldn't compete against a console (gameboy), that although being inferior, was cheaper and had just an unrivaled games library
the PSVita also couldn't appeal all that much to the north american market, sure, it had a lot of handheld versions of home console games, i loved playing little big planet and uncharted on it, but most of the vita's library is composed of animesque games
I won my gamegear in a candy bar selling contest. I loved columns
In 1993, the demo of Mortal Kombat for GG at KB toys sold me. It looked and played almost Genesis perfect.
Can you imagine if Sega had held on for another year or two?
What if in 1998, with the world crazy with Pokemon fever, they decided to go for broke to get a piece of the action? Make a few sensible changes to the hardware to address some of the problems, and then come out with their own monster battler, either by themselves or maybe by working with Tecmo to make a portable version of Monster Rancher.
Pokemon is what saved Nintendo. If Sega gave the genre a try, the gaming world might be very different today. Sega might still be in the hardware business, for one.
TBustah People already have Pokemon. Why would they switch to a Sega clone?
4/10 Not enough blast proccessing
My parents have a VHS tape of recorded episodes of The Simpsons we all recorded during my toddlerdom in the early 90s.
I watched it a lot, I think I've been the last one to watch it the last 64736278945 times. The tape is slowly degrading.
I only bring this up because that Game Gear commercial in the beginning is on that tape, and sometimes I think about seeing how to port the tape to a DVD for the sake of them sweet sweet 90s commercials.
Just get an RCA-to-digital capture card.
It's easy to do....just get a video capture d3vice, hook up vcr to it and use the included software to capture (most video capture devices come with the software)
Do it because radiation interference will continue to degrade those tapes just from your environment. Discs are long term storage.
Working my way through all your older videos. Obviously a bit late, but great work 😆
My friend had a Gamegear TV tuner. Incredible for its time.
when i got my game gear, which still is in immaculate condition, it far trumped the gameboy and was not given enough credit
I loved the hell out of my game gear, i liked it better than the game boy, just my preference. It was overlooked by most gamers and if more people had of tried one out it would have been alot more popular
3:48-3:50 The main reason for this is that the back light was basically a small florescent tube in a reflective box, and that tube was not nice to the battery life, to put it lightly. (Ha, puns.)
This is why if you were to mod you Game Gear to have an LED back light, the battery life would go WAY up.
This channel gives me goosebumps! Thank you so much for these! My childhood!
I had one of these. It ate batteries like no tomorrow. That's really all I remember from it. My Gameboy (which I still have), got way more usage.
I’ve got one that needs to have the capacitors swapped out.
The Game Gear is better than the SEGA Nomad.
The Game Gear had its own library of games. The Nomad did not.
The Game Gear was also an actual portable, even if it had battery problems. The Nomad had that dreadful battery bulge that made it really hard to stow away, and even with 6 AA batteries it lasted about half as long as a Game Gear on a full charge.
I cannot help but feel a little irony in that, seeing that the Nomad was basically an ill-conceived portable version of the Genesis. And it fared even worse than most other portable consoles that were competing with the Game Boy. Both the Nomad and the 32X were terrible last gasps for Sega in the 16-bit era
I found a BUNCH of Sega stuff that my aunt Rita used to play
Game Gear>Game boy
jk
I remember I saved up my allowance for weeks for one of these because I thought "hey this has color so it must be better than the Gameboy." This was the first and LAST time I bought a console based on graphics. Most of the games I had were either Sonic titles or smaller versions of Genesis games but it had a crappy battery life in the days before rechargeable devices. You could say it was the PSP of it's day (trololololol).
The Game Gear was released in 1947? Wow Sega where really ahead of the curve.
Tuberuser187 No it was released in 1991, I think
My friend actually has some sort of semi-portable rechargable battery, like a portable DVD player. That doesn't mean the Game Gear had a great battery life, I'm just saying that really helped.
The pack I'm talking about is mentioned 5 minutes in.
WrongButtonGames Sega should have released refined versions of the GG, as Nintendo did with the Gameboy; later versions of the GG could have longer battery life and smaller form. This is the mistake Sega made, likely as a result of SoJ being obsessed with the Saturn.
I LOVED my Gamegear. I played it way, way more than my Gameboy. I also had the screen magnifyer.
I vivedly remember being about 8 or 9 and walking home from my friends house down the street (while mom watched from the porch) in the dark while using my Gamegear's screen to light the sidewalk!!
I have gameboy too (pocket, gba, gba sp 101), but I just pay $7 for a Game Gear + 1 game from a marketplace in my country (not US), the seller said it was working before, he is just so fed up with the battery life and decided to sell it. I will update when I get the item.
Game Boy had Pokemon. Contest is over because my personal opinion is correct.
The Game Gear had Shinobi and Shining Force. Your opinion is invalid.
LYNX!
Pshhh the Game Gear was discontinued because Sega, rightfully, suspected that 8bit handhelds were becoming obsolete. But head-to-head it DESTROYED the GameBoy. Color? Backlit? That's the one-two punch. And the game library was PLENTY large enough to keep anyone entertained. Honestly, I didn't feel it tore through batteries that bad either. The GameBoy wasn't exactly easy on it's 4 AAAs.
Game Gear's Price: $149
Gameboy's Price: $50
Difference: $99, in Gameboy's favor
Game Gear's Average Battery Life: 3 hours out of 6 AA batteries
Gameboy's Average Battery life: 12 hours out of 4 AA batteries
Difference: 9 hours of play. *9 HOURS* out of *TWO THIRDS THE AMOUNT OF BATTERIES* (essentially three times what the Game Gear had to offer as *THE DIFFERENCE* , not even the total), again, in Gameboy's favor(I remark, this means *250% the battery efficiency* of the Game Gear)
You have to outright LIE to yourself to pretend the competition wasn't a massacre in Gameboy's favor(you can swoon over how better the Game Gear was hardware wise all you want, but it just got fucked right up when it came to sales). It was just the more affordable console(in the short AND long run) with MUCH more games to it(Sega had mostly first party titles of variable quality, and some of the third party titles are outright incompetent. Seriously, you are comparing 250 games with a massive lack of decent RPGS and Adventure Games against *1,049* with those fields covered. Something yet again in Gameboy's favor. It wasn't the Atari Lynx bad but it just didn't compare).
And 8 bit handhelds obsolete by 1994? Pokemon was released in 1996 for said 8 bit handheld and it took the market by storm. You're almost self patting in the back here, the Gameboy was just what the Game Gear wasn't: affordable, hence successful(this has kept Nintendo at the head of the handheld market for a long time, mind you)
Well, for starters, the Gameboy was $89.99 introductory, not $50. vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Launch_price And I conceded the Game Gear had an inferior battery life and game selection. But hell, there were still plenty of games to keep anyone entertained and they were more advanced than the Game Boy's shit green-colored stuff. Mortal Kombat on gameboy? LOL! And your argument is specifically the lack of RPGs? Who the fuck cares, you nerd. All in all, I was just pointing out that it wasn't a shit system for it's time. Nintendo was just first.
Self liking isn't a strong point, you know.
Also, the Gameboy was already lowered in price when the Game Gear came by(even if it wasn't, that's still $60 of difference). And sorry, but the lack of presence for AN ENTIRE GENRE of games IS a point against ANY console, specially since Gameboy's strongest title ever(which was nothing less of a CULTURAL PHENOMENON) IS an RPG(let alone I mentioned adventure games as well, because they weren't the forte of the console. That makes TWO genres the Game Gear isn't covering properly).
Also, screen crunch. The Game Gear had multiple not optimally made conversions from the Master System to fill up space. Shit, Screen Crunch affected even original games for the system. It's Megaman game pales compared to the Gameboy ones because it's not designed with the screen size in mind(superior graphics be damned). Same goes for half it's Sonic games.
And it wasn't shit, but it was unaffordable, which long term is the same. People simply didn't play it(it's like the PS Vita against the 3DS. The 3DS owned the thing in sales long term in America and Europe, as the Vita only appealed to Japanese players at most. You can't pretend the higher specs are always the better deal, because time and time again history has proven this is NOT a rule).
You're playing a game of pretending the console was hotter shit than it was(like that statement about 8 bit handhelds going obsolete with at least other 6 good years of them having a good life in the market ahead of 1994. It just feels like patting one self in the back. They discontinued the handheld because it didn't have a strong enough hold on the market, that's it).
Color and backlit... and was bulky as fuck and ate though batteries at an astounding rate.
That's 4 AA's instead of 6 and it got more than twice the lifespan out of them. While indeed the GBA would almost triple that time with only 2 AA's it's still a significant step up. The GB was just about a crucial threshold where the battery life was deemed acceptable by players.
The thing is Sega did not create a 16bit handheld while Nintendo did.
Also I often used in on the taxi to school and there often with the sun shining backlighting didn't make it any better. If anything often backlit screens had more glare than non-lighted screens because the dark background of a non-lit system would absorb most of the excess light. It's also why I didn't replace my GBA with the SP when I bought a second one. I still play my DS and DS3 with the backlighting on it's lowest setting.
My parents bought me one for by birthday, I loved that thing. I remember I left my GameGear on my bed one morning, that evening we found out someone broke in our house and you guessed it.
I loved my game gear. I had the battery pack and the TV tuner. I thought I was so cool watching TV on my way to school.
"Sega discontinued the..."
And also virtually every Nintendo console and Playstation, and Xbox, every console gets discontinued at some point.
@Diabeto Kills its because they exited the hardware business after the dreamcast thats why they dont make any console now do you even know about gaming
@Diabeto Kills Tbh not making consoles was the best move for Sega back in 2000, now that they're products and games could be on any hardware ,which is a win for many other gaming companies, (Including Nintendo) Now if they chose to make consoles after 2000, then we wouldn't have Sega at all Today.Its not like you're losing if you don't make consoles,you're losing if you do what's best for the future