Game Gear (1992)
The Game Gear is basically a portable version of the Sega Master System, the only difference being that the Game Gear supports a much wider colour palette than the Master System. The Game Gear could produce stereo sound but only through the use of headphones. Unlike the original Game Boy the Game Gear was held in a landscape position unlike the Game Boys portrait position. The Game Gear was nowhere near as successful as the Game Boy and didn’t take up much share of the market. Sega released a variety of ads claiming that the Game Gear was superior to the Game Boy since it had a colour backlit screen and the Game Boy only had a monochrome display and no backlight. Even with the ads the Game Gear didn’t get any more popular and failed to take a reasonable market share from the Game Boy. The Game Gears battery didn’t last very long and that made the Game Gear less popular due to it taking 6 AA batteries and running out very quickly. Overall the Game Gear was quite a good console but failed to take a reasonable market share from Nintendo with their Game Boy.
Technical Specs
CPU- Zilog Z80 (8-bit) running at 3.58 MHz
Resolution- 160 x 144 pixels
Colours available- 4,096
Colours on Screen- 32
Maximum Sprites- 64
Sprite size- 8x8 or 8x16
Screen size- 3.2 inches (81mm)
RAM- 8KB
Video RAM- 16KB
Power- 6 AA batteries
Accessories
Game Gear TV Tuner
The Game Gear TV Tuner allows you to watch TV on your Game Gear.
Super Wide Gear
The Super Wide Gear is a magnifying glass that magnifies the screen.
Car Gear Adapter
The Car Gear Adapter is a power adapter for use in the car.
MasterGear Converter
The MasterGear Converter allows you to use Master System Cartridges on your Game Gear system.
Gear to Gear Cable
The Gear-to-Gear cable allows you to link up with another Game Gear for multiplayer gaming.
PowerBack
The PowerBack allows the Game Gear to have a longer battery life.
Also compatible with: