Sega Game Gear

Sega Game Gear, the pocket-sized oddity with color

The Sega Game Gear arrived as Sega’s first handheld console, built to take on the Game Boy with a full-color backlit screen and a shape borrowed from the Genesis controller. In our catalog it runs from 1990 to 1998, with 247 games to dig through. Expect a library that leans on arcade-style action, ports, and licensed tie-ins, all squeezed into a machine that was ambitious, slightly bulky, and never quite polite about battery life.

What the Sega Game Gear is

The Game Gear was developed and marketed by Sega and first released in Japan on October 6, 1990, then in North America and Europe in April 1991, and in Australia in 1992. It shared much of its hardware with the Master System and could play Master System games with an adapter. Sega pushed it as a more colorful, more grown-up alternative to Nintendo’s Game Boy, which is the sort of sales pitch that sounds bold until you remember the batteries.

What it is known for, and where to start

This system is known for a library that includes many Master System ports, along with action games, sports, racing, and licensed adaptations. Sega appears most often in our catalog, with Probe Entertainment, Aspect Co. Ltd., SIMS Co., Ltd., and Tiertex Design Studios also well represented. If you want a sense of the machine, start with Aerial Assault, Alien 3, Alien Syndrome, Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe, and Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II. For a wider sampler, add Adventures of Batman & Robin, Arch Rivals, Arcade Classics, Arena: Maze of Death, and Baku Baku.

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