I had a friend who had one and it looked amazing! Just like a real console attached to a TV, and indeed it was basically a portable Sega Master System in design. I only had a gray-scale GameBoy so the display on the Game Gear was incredible by comparison.
I do remember my joy, when finding out that instead of feeding it with batteries, I could even use the power adapter of the master system to play with the Gamegear. 😄
I had one as a kid. That thing went through batteries so fast, I messed mine up because of it. I had a battery pack for an RC car, and it looked like a bunch of AA batteries in series, so I took it apart. It worked in my game gear for a little bit until I smelled burning plastic. It melted a part of the battery compartment and my game gear wouldn’t take batteries after that, only running off AC power.
My first RPG was on game gear, Dragon Crystal. That was the one where you have a dragon egg following behind you and you had to push your body against the trees to reveal the maze-like path. I don’t know if there was an end to that game, but I barely made it to hatching the dragon.
I loved the Sonic games, Castle of Illusion, Columns, the Streets of Rage series.
I had the adapter so I could play my master system games.
I lusted after these when I was a kid, and eventually blew all my saved up Christmas/Birthday money on one.
The battery thing really sucked, but still had a lot of fun with it. Must of played that first level of Sonic 2 a thousand times.
My white whale was the TV tuner, I thought the idea was so cool as a kid.
I had a friend who brought their Game Gear with the TV tuner to the playground in elementary school, and it was a moment of absolute future shock. It didn’t matter that we could barely tell what was happening on the screen, because I couldn’t believe that it was even possible!
I saw a kid hook up the TV tuner in the back of the bus and was insanely jealous.
the boss levels on sonic 2 game gear were SAVAGE, my god
There was demonstration one in our local Kmart in the electronics section. It had sonic the hedgehog on it. Everytime my mom would take us to the mall, I would beeline for the Game Gear and Gameboy they had and play until she got me.
My cousin had one, but due to the battery drain, could only play it plugged into the wall. He only had one or two games for it, and we eventually would play with the ac adapter more than the game gear itself. It was a “universal” ac adaptor that had a lot of different plugs on it, and we would touch stuff together to make sparks fly. In retrospect this was all probably incredibly dangerous, but we were just dumb kids.
I had one growing up and I actually just got it back the other day! I’m building a Sanni card reader sometime next week and I’m gonna dump all my games (if the saves still exist…which I doubt.)
My cousin had one. I had a GameBoy. I was jealous at first, but I realized I had Zelda and the batteries would last an entire car trip. Being into retrogames, I’d love one, but I feel like as a Kid I got the better deal TBH.
It’s a shame that such good pice of hardware does not have software at the same level.
Mine still works. I still play Sonic and Simpsons every once in a while.
Wished I had one as a kid, as an adult with emulators it honestly just isn’t a big part of my gaming. Columns is great though.
A relative had one in the 90s, I would occasionally play it. They had Sonic and a few other side scrollers. I thought the colour graphics were cool compared to my Game Boy. But the Game Gear was always had to be plugged in due to the battery drain so it seemed a bit pointless as a handheld, especially when the same relative also had a Mega Drive. 🤷
It’s a handheld I’d like to revisit some day if I come across one cheap.
I was walking home from school one day, and I saw that my neighbors had thrown out a box for a game gear with their recycling. In retrospect, I probably should’ve grabbed it for the sake of collecting video game memorabilia, especially since the box was in pretty good condition.
Oh, and I unlocked the Game Gear Sonic the Hedgehog in Sonic Adventure DX Director’s Cut on the Game Cube
Quick edit: I saw it in their recycling in like 2007
Never knew anyone with one, but I always wanted one when I was a kid. Magazine coverage made them look awesome. Now I’m old and still want one! But it seems they’re a bit high maintenance…
Had one, mostly played it plugged into the wall. I was a big fan of Defenders of the Oasis and the Streets of Rage 2 conversion (it’s not great, but good enough for 9 year old me). The Ristar port was pretty solid if memory serves me well.
They mod well these days and have replacement screens that have the correct ratio, which wasn’t always the case. If you put a good screen into one of these things, they really pop.
Wished they weren’t so prone to failing. I’ve got one that will not power on, sitting in it’s box on my couch. Haven’t made it around to opening it up.
The sooner, the better. Failed caps can leak and cause much more severe damage.
