Sega Game Gear

[Fierce_LiNk]

I've been meaning to make this for a long time...

 

Who hear had one of these?

 

 

At the time, it seemed pretty sweet. It was basically a portable master system, colour handheld, which you held landscape wise - opposed to how you held the Game Boy at the time.

 

I just stole this off wikipedia, because I thought this was funny:

 

When first launched in America, a TV advertising campaign was used to promote the system as superior to the Game Boy. One commercial featured Creamed Spinach Color: Game Gear vs. Game Boy. An advertisement was shown in black and white, with players milling about aimlessly in a dark void, playing Game Boys. A lone rebel appears with a Game Gear, cuing the narrator's comment of "The Sega Game Gear: Separates the men from the boys."

 

Another showed a gamer, played by future actor Ethan Suplee, hitting himself in the head with a rigid, dead squirrel in order to see color on his Game Boy.[4]

 

When the Game Boy began to appear in different colors, Sega's ad ridiculed it by showing the Game Boy disguised in loaves of bread. Another ad from that era featured a professor explaining that though the Game Boy now was available in bright colors, the graphics were still monochrome, and therefore Game Gear was still superior.

 

Still another memorable ad compared the Game Boy's "creamed spinach color" to Game Gear's "BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL COLOR".

 

That last one had me in stitches.

 

What did you think of it? I had that Master Gear Converter, which allowed you to play Master System games on the handheld, which was pretty sweet at the time.

[flameboy]

Those adverts must be on the net somewhere...youtube is littered with the genesis does what nintendon't so wouldn't surprise me if game gear were there to.

[Ganepark32]

I had one of those beasts. It's in a box somewhere but it's scratched to hell and the battery covers are lost. I enjoyed playing it. Got it before I ever had a Gameboy and spent most of my time playing Streets of Rage which was awesome. That and the Lion King (why can't Disney make games like this anymore? They used to make fantastic licensed titles from their properties, thanks to Virgin Interactive, but now the vast majority of titles they out put are awful).

 

Apart from the terrible battery life, which I never really experienced seeing as I played it at home plugged into the wall, I enjoyed it. If mine wasn't in such poor condition I'd bring it out to play. Might buy another one at some point, mainly for collectors purposes.

[Shorty]

It always blew my mind that the superior console failed miserably behind the game boy. But it had a seriously terrible battery life (and took I think 6 - or was it 8?? - batteries) and the adapters tended to break a lot.

[tapedeck]

Still got mine...may take some pics at some point. Still have the TV tuner too which works

Loved it back in the day but it did need more power than Hitler to run for 10mins. One level of Sonic and it was back to the AC adapter.

Still..Sonic1 on the GG is still AMAZING. Shinobi is still astounding as well as Micro Machines (2 player on one system ftw)!

I've got a bunch of other great games there too but the GG will always just make me remember how powerful it seemed for a HHeld back in the day.

[flameboy]

Still got mine...may take some pics at some point. Still have the TV tuner too which works

Loved it back in the day but it did need more power than Hitler to run for 10mins. One level of Sonic and it was back to the AC adapter.

Still..Sonic1 on the GG is still AMAZING. Shinobi is still astounding as well as Micro Machines (2 player on one system ftw)!

I've got a bunch of other great games there too but the GG will always just make me remember how powerful it seemed for a HHeld back in the day.

 

Not once the digital switch over happens it won't

[lostmario]

I got both my gamegears out to test and one was dead with the other only viewable when holding flat.

 

So I will be selling both gamegears for someone to repair, magnifier, tv tuner and all games. Will take a photo of all the lot and post on my games clearout thread.

[Goafer]

Not once the digital switch over happens it won't

 

It does have a socket for an external input, so you could always plug stuff into it. Although you'd need an adaptor.

 

I have a Game Gear and the Tuner. Can't remember what games I have though, I don't play it enough.

 

I remember when I was younger and had my first Game Gear (I sold it ages ago and recently bought another one for my collection). I played it at break at school and the battery was knackered within about half hour. 8 AA batteries reduced emptied. Thats why the Game Boy won.

 

 

one was dead with the other only viewable when holding flat.

 

Did you try adjusting the contrast?

[flameboy]

It does have a socket for an external input, so you could always plug stuff into it. Although you'd need an adaptor.

 

I have a Game Gear and the Tuner. Can't remember what games I have though, I don't play it enough.

 

I remember when I was younger and had my first Game Gear (I sold it ages ago and recently bought another one for my collection). I played it at break at school and the battery was knackered within about half hour. 8 AA batteries reduced emptied. Thats why the Game Boy won.

 

 

 

 

Did you try adjusting the contrast?

 

btw have you posted pics of your awesome retro collection on here?

[Goafer]

btw have you posted pics of your awesome retro collection on here?

 

I don't think so. I wouldn't know where to post it to be honest. I think I did post a few pictures in the post your room thread though.

[flameboy]

I don't think so. I wouldn't know where to post it to be honest. I think I did post a few pictures in the post your room thread though.

 

Just start a show off thread in the retro boards

[Happenstance]

I might have to get my GameGear out soon, havent played on it in ages and I used to have some good games.

[Daft]

It always blew my mind that the superior console failed miserably behind the game boy. But it had a seriously terrible battery life (and took I think 6 - or was it 8?? - batteries) and the adapters tended to break a lot.

 

Yeah, mine broke and I couldn't find a replacement.

 

Loved my Game Gear. I only had Sonic and some wood block game thing.

 

I wasn't any good at games back then so I got my sister to complete it so I could see Sonic play the guitar at the end credits.

[Happenstance]

I think ive got about 20 odd games, the tv tuner and the battery packs

[tapedeck]

so I could see Sonic play the guitar at the end credits.

 

Best sonic ending ever :p Although I'm 99% sure there's no guitar and he only sings into a mic. Still...amazing.

[Jav_NE]

I've got one at home in birmingham somewhere

 

I loved it. Was very heavy, and killed like 8 batteries was it?! But man, it looked good at the time. Loved playing Sonic on it. I even remember playing a Shinobi game on there too. Much preffered it to the original Game Boy. I needed the colour!

[Fierce_LiNk]

Yeeeah, glad to see there's some Game Gear love, baby.

 

It always blew my mind that the superior console failed miserably behind the game boy. But it had a seriously terrible battery life (and took I think 6 - or was it 8?? - batteries) and the adapters tended to break a lot.

 

At the time, I was really perplexed by the Game Gear. On the one hand, the hardware itself was pretty fantastic, I thought. It had a big screen, it was in colour and it generally felt like having home console games but on the move (at the time).

 

However, looking back, I rarely used it out of the house. Why? Because it was very big and heavy for one thing, meaning that I couldn't really take it anywhere. And, the batteries it took and the lifespan really, really sucked. I always had to sit near a plug socket, since it drained.

 

However, my proudest moment for owning the console was when I was shopping in Cardiff in 1998, and watching the World Cup Final between France and Brazil on the train home, using the TV Tuner. It was a great little piece, that was.

 

I really had to whore batteries in order to watch the whole game, but it was worth it.

[Kirkatronics]

I think i have 1 at my dads, my cousin gave me it when i was about 12ish i think.

[stallion]

I just picked one up from a car boot sale with a load of boxed games, TV adapter and car charger. But surprise surprise when I got home it didn't work "no sound".

This is always a problem that plagued the game gear luckily you can just replace a couple of the capacitors inside that will have burnt out and away you go again and luckily I have a box full of them. Out with the soldering iron again.

[lostmario]

How much for you to repair both my gamegears Stallion?

[stallion]

Hey Lost Mario unfortunately the only problem I've fixed so far is the "no sound issue." The problems you talk about "one was dead with the other only viewable when holding flat." I wouldn't really know where to start. Could be just a short and bad connection on the holding flat one but to be honest at the price of a second hand one I wouldn't pay postage and costs for someone to look at it.