Game Gear

Lore & Background

Developed under the codename 'Project Mercury', the Game Gear was conceived by Sega's CEO Hayao Nakayama, with the name chosen by newly appointed Sega of America CEO Michael Katz. Sega's chairman Isao Okawa and cofounder David Rosen approved the name. The console was designed as a portable version of the Master System, with more powerful features than the Game Boy, including a full-color screen. Sega modeled the Game Gear's landscape shape after the Sega Genesis controller, intending the curved surfaces and greater length to be more comfortable to hold than the Game Boy. The console's mass was carefully considered from the beginning, aiming for a total mass between that of the Game Boy and the Atari Lynx.

Sega rushed the Game Gear to market to compete with the Game Boy, which Nintendo had released in 1989. To simplify development, Sega based the Game Gear hardware on the Master System, with a much larger 4,096 color palette compared to the Master System's 64 colors. The Game Gear can play Master System games using the Master Gear adapter. Its stronger hardware impacted battery life, running for three to five hours on six AA batteries, falling short of the Game Boy's more than 30 hours on four AA batteries. The quick launch in Japan sold 40,000 units in its first two days, 90,000 within a month, and more than 600,000 back orders.

Marketing in North America positioned the Game Gear as the 'cooler' alternative to the Game Boy, including side-by-side comparisons that likened Game Boy players to the obese and uneducated. One Sega advertisement in early 1994 featured a dog looking between the two consoles and the quote, 'If you were color blind and had an IQ of less than 12, then you wouldn't mind which portable you had.' Such advertising drew criticism from Nintendo, who sought to have protests organized against Sega for insulting disabled people. Sega of America president Tom Kalinske responded that Nintendo 'should spend more time improving their products and marketing rather than working on behind-the-scenes coercive activities.' Ultimately, this debate had little impact on sales for the Game Gear.

Reader's Guide

The Game Gear received praise for its hardware, but criticism for its short battery life, large size, and weak support from Sega. Its game library—which includes many ports of Master System games—and price point gave it an edge over the Atari Lynx and TurboExpress, but it was unable to effectively compete with the Game Boy. Sega reduced support for the Game Gear in favor of home consoles, particularly the successful Genesis, which yielded two major peripherals, the Sega CD and the 32X, and the 32-bit Saturn console launched in 1994. Though selling 10.62 million units by March 1996 (including 1.78 million in Japan), the Game Gear was never able to match the success of its main rival, the Game Boy, with ten times the sales. Sales were further hurt by Nintendo's release of the smaller Game Boy Pocket, running on two AAA batteries.

Plans for a 16-bit fifth generation direct successor to the Game Gear were canceled, leaving only the Genesis Nomad, a portable version of the Genesis. The Nomad was intended to supplement the Game Gear rather than replace it; Sega representatives said the company was not discontinuing the Game Gear in favor of the Nomad, and that 'we believe the two can co-exist.' Though the Nomad was released in 1995, Sega did not officially end support for the Game Gear until 1996 in Japan, and 1997 worldwide.

After the system was originally discontinued in 1997, third-party publisher Majesco released a version of the Game Gear under license from Sega between 2000 and 2002, along with new games such as a port of Super Battletank. This machine was compatible with all previous Game Gear games, but incompatible with the TV Tuner and some Master System adaptors. Over ten years later, on March 2, 2011, Nintendo announced that its 3DS Virtual Console service on the Nintendo eShop would feature Game Gear games.

Did You Know?

• The Game Gear was developed under the codename 'Project Mercury'.
• Its screen is backlit using a small cold cathode fluorescent lamp tube.
• The original pack-in game was Columns, similar to Tetris which was bundled with the Game Boy.
• Majesco rereleased the Game Gear as a budget system between 2000 and 2002 under license from Sega.