One Christmas my parents got my brother and I a game gear each. We loved them, but the main problem was the battery consumption. We ended up investing in rechargeable NiCd, AA batteries but those who remember those types of batteries will recall that they tended to age poorly and it wasn't long until their lifespan was much shorter than a normal AA battery would be. I distinctly remember that on a full charge, I could just barely beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 before the batteries died. If I got a game over at any point during my run, I basically just popped the batteries back in the charger and waited to play again later. Back then, the most feasible way to play the game gear was to hook it up to an AC adapter, but that defeated the whole point of having a portable device. If we had lithium ion batteries, like we do now, I think it would have actually been a big success.
8:36 What about different kind of Game Gear, such as the Game Gear Pocket and Game Gear Charge? One being a smaller Game Gear that uses less battery power and still runs the games normally while the other is identical to the Game Gear, but has lithium battery packs that can be charged via the Genesis AC adapter. Wouldn't those be more interesting new models for the Game Gear to keep it relevant in the early 90s?
They did, it was this 7" cylinder that was like 2.5" around. I had one and it worked great but it took as long to charge as it took to use, unlike with our Lithium Ion batteries now. The lithium ion battery and the flash card changed portable gaming forever. If the Game Gear came out ten years later then it did, batteries wouldn't be nearly as much an issue. See: the Game Boy Advance, the DS, the 3DS and the Switch. They'd still have to contend with not having Capcom, Konami, etc. or maybe not, since our consoles don't have this territorial bickering anymore. They figured out that they can make more money if they just let all the systems play their games.
@SuperGoku14 Yessir, you're right. Wish there was more! I wonder why the folks who made the Star Wars game for Game Gear left out Empire Strikes Back and went right to Return of the Jedi. The third party story for Game Gear must've been an interesting one.
People who say that the gamegear didn't have great games usually are the ones who don't own one and haven't played it a lot. People tend to also ignore that the vast majority of the Gameboys library was absolute trash: hundreds of licensed properties made into shovelware.
You know, just because the GG was a distant second place to the Gameboy, doesn't mean it was a failure. If you sell 11 million of anything, you are *not* a failure. Sega made a decent profit with the GG with it earning more $ for Sega in 1993 than what Nintendo earned with the Gameboy that year. Can we stop with the narrative where of you're not number 1 then you're a failure?
This was a great video. I'd love a similar video about the Atari Lynx. It sold 2-3 million units, so it's not completely implausible. Maybe I'm this alternate history Atari didn't release the Jag and instead focused exclusively on home computers and the Lynx? Maybe a further cost-reduced Lynx III without the ability to switch between left and right-handed modes?
The backlit display on the GameGear used a type of fluorescent tube, that drained a lot of power. The Gameboy Light had a backlit display but that used a technology that wasn't possible on non-monochrome screens hence why the Gameboy Color didn't have it.
One benchmark that I like to compare the Game Boy to the Game Gear is Mortal Kombat. They released all three Mortal Kombats on Game Boy, and all three of them were shameful money grabs. They were awful, all three. On Game Gear they only released the first two, but aside from missing two characters due to memory limitations (the Game Boy versions did the same) it works pretty close to their 16 bit versions. And they had a blood code. I guess the Game Boy didn't need a blood code for Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were so awful on Game Boy that I would've felt ripped off if I bought them.
heyy, i love it! but i think they chould do just a lighter model and than price it at 100. and i think if the game gear was succsesfull, it would get a succsesor.
Since most modern devices have battery saving options, perhaps it would be worth them adding a backlight switch or dial you could adjust it yourself. The colour feature, I can't think of a way to just easily turn off colour, but I'm sure it would be an option. If it would increase the cost to add a switch/dial, maybe a button combination on startup could do it (like setting colours for non-colour games on GBC) I feel like I enjoy more game gear games than gameboy at the moment, especially fan-translations like Phantasy Star Gaiden. It would be cool to have a real one.
I remember begging my parents to get a hotel room in our own town because Days Inn had free game gear units for kids to use. I knew I would never get the game gear at the price it was (I think $400?) but eventually our video store got some in for rental and it was fun but not as much as I had built it up to be.
Something you left out about securing third party titles would be Sega getting the license and making the games - that's how they were able to get games like ghouls n ghosts and strider
How Game Gear could be successful or at least save until the year 2000: 1. Ditch the backlit screen and only focus on color display, this will gove it 5 extra hours battery life on top of the 6 it already had. 2. Make the system a 16-Bit handheld instead of 8-Bit. 3. Make it required 4 double A batteries instead of 6. 4. Price it at around $100 5. Bundle it either a Sonic or Puyo Puyo game 6. Make the size a bit smaller so it's more portable. 7. Partner with Atlus and had them make Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children to compete with Nintendo's Pokemon.
Who says the Game Gear wasn't a success? Sure, it wasn't to the same degree as the Nintendo Game Boy, but it did a lot better than other leading color handhelds like the Atari Lynx and the Turbo Express. While the Game Gear did take more batteries than the Game Boy and drain them quicker, it was more colorful than the Game Boy, had a brighter backlit screen, and it had its own line of Sega Games, including the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Disney games were also popular on the Game Gear, and while also not to the same degree as the Game Boy, the Game Gear did have better third-party support than the Atari Lynx or the Turbo Express. The Game Gear also lasted fairly long in the handheld console wars, from 1991 to 1997, and was even briefly brought back in 2000 by Majesco with some of its greatest hits.
Game gear battery life was even worse than 5 hours dude. I had a game gear. 6 brand new Duracell or Energizer batteries would get you maybe 2 hours of gameplay. You had to buy an aftermarket rechargeable battery pack for the game gear if you want to have any kind of play experience
They could at least add a button to turn off the backlight so the battery could last longer as a option,i dont know of is possible to do that with tye collor.....
It wouldn’t matter if the Game Gear managed to survive, remember Sega was basically falling apart around 2000 with the failed success of the Dreamcast. We would still see Sega retiring from the console market.
One Christmas my parents got my brother and I a game gear each. We loved them, but the main problem was the battery consumption. We ended up investing in rechargeable NiCd, AA batteries but those who remember those types of batteries will recall that they tended to age poorly and it wasn't long until their lifespan was much shorter than a normal AA battery would be. I distinctly remember that on a full charge, I could just barely beat Sonic the Hedgehog 2 before the batteries died. If I got a game over at any point during my run, I basically just popped the batteries back in the charger and waited to play again later. Back then, the most feasible way to play the game gear was to hook it up to an AC adapter, but that defeated the whole point of having a portable device. If we had lithium ion batteries, like we do now, I think it would have actually been a big success.
Video game alternate history? Love this
that would be such a power move if Sega started to make retro handheld emulators powerful enough to run Nintendo switch games
Alternate title, what if the game gear didnt drain its 6 AA batteries in a very short amount of time????
And had Super Mario Bros. and Zelda, lol.
The Game Gear was actually a success, just not as big a success as the Gameboy.
alternative history debates are fun
thank you
8:36 What about different kind of Game Gear, such as the Game Gear Pocket and Game Gear Charge? One being a smaller Game Gear that uses less battery power and still runs the games normally while the other is identical to the Game Gear, but has lithium battery packs that can be charged via the Genesis AC adapter. Wouldn't those be more interesting new models for the Game Gear to keep it relevant in the early 90s?
7:16 maybe they could have includrd some sort of rechargeable battery pack with the system?
They did, it was this 7" cylinder that was like 2.5" around. I had one and it worked great but it took as long to charge as it took to use, unlike with our Lithium Ion batteries now.
The lithium ion battery and the flash card changed portable gaming forever. If the Game Gear came out ten years later then it did, batteries wouldn't be nearly as much an issue. See: the Game Boy Advance, the DS, the 3DS and the Switch.
They'd still have to contend with not having Capcom, Konami, etc. or maybe not, since our consoles don't have this territorial bickering anymore. They figured out that they can make more money if they just let all the systems play their games.
@@alanfike Just a minor correction, there was a Mega Man game on the Game Gear, so Sega definitely had some degree of Capcom support.
@SuperGoku14 Yessir, you're right. Wish there was more! I wonder why the folks who made the Star Wars game for Game Gear left out Empire Strikes Back and went right to Return of the Jedi. The third party story for Game Gear must've been an interesting one.
People who say that the gamegear didn't have great games usually are the ones who don't own one and haven't played it a lot. People tend to also ignore that the vast majority of the Gameboys library was absolute trash: hundreds of licensed properties made into shovelware.
You know, just because the GG was a distant second place to the Gameboy, doesn't mean it was a failure. If you sell 11 million of anything, you are *not* a failure. Sega made a decent profit with the GG with it earning more $ for Sega in 1993 than what Nintendo earned with the Gameboy that year. Can we stop with the narrative where of you're not number 1 then you're a failure?
This was a great video. I'd love a similar video about the Atari Lynx. It sold 2-3 million units, so it's not completely implausible. Maybe I'm this alternate history Atari didn't release the Jag and instead focused exclusively on home computers and the Lynx? Maybe a further cost-reduced Lynx III without the ability to switch between left and right-handed modes?
The backlit display on the GameGear used a type of fluorescent tube, that drained a lot of power. The Gameboy Light had a backlit display but that used a technology that wasn't possible on non-monochrome screens hence why the Gameboy Color didn't have it.
One benchmark that I like to compare the Game Boy to the Game Gear is Mortal Kombat.
They released all three Mortal Kombats on Game Boy, and all three of them were shameful money grabs. They were awful, all three. On Game Gear they only released the first two, but aside from missing two characters due to memory limitations (the Game Boy versions did the same) it works pretty close to their 16 bit versions. And they had a blood code.
I guess the Game Boy didn't need a blood code for Mortal Kombat.
Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat were so awful on Game Boy that I would've felt ripped off if I bought them.
You have a great point of view
That's honestly what I think would happen in that scenario
heyy, i love it! but i think they chould do just a lighter model and than price it at 100. and i think if the game gear was succsesfull, it would get a succsesor.
Since most modern devices have battery saving options, perhaps it would be worth them adding a backlight switch or dial you could adjust it yourself. The colour feature, I can't think of a way to just easily turn off colour, but I'm sure it would be an option. If it would increase the cost to add a switch/dial, maybe a button combination on startup could do it (like setting colours for non-colour games on GBC)
I feel like I enjoy more game gear games than gameboy at the moment, especially fan-translations like Phantasy Star Gaiden. It would be cool to have a real one.
I remember begging my parents to get a hotel room in our own town because Days Inn had free game gear units for kids to use. I knew I would never get the game gear at the price it was (I think $400?) but eventually our video store got some in for rental and it was fun but not as much as I had built it up to be.
Love your channel
Be aware of how much do you repeat the same inffo, i stoped twice thinking i rewinded the vvideo by mistake
Yeah sorry about that, I’ll try my best to not repeat information
youre underrated, keep going!
Something you left out about securing third party titles would be Sega getting the license and making the games - that's how they were able to get games like ghouls n ghosts and strider
10.62 Million units, I'd say that's pretty successful.
How Game Gear could be successful or at least save until the year 2000:
1. Ditch the backlit screen and only focus on color display, this will gove it 5 extra hours battery life on top of the 6 it already had.
2. Make the system a 16-Bit handheld instead of 8-Bit.
3. Make it required 4 double A batteries instead of 6.
4. Price it at around $100
5. Bundle it either a Sonic or Puyo Puyo game
6. Make the size a bit smaller so it's more portable.
7. Partner with Atlus and had them make Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children to compete with Nintendo's Pokemon.
If Sega fix there battery life they can be the king of handhelds. They got some great games on the game gear, the games are short for a reason.
I always love what if’s like this
I mean.. you talk about the GameGear, you know what's gotta come next right? The Vita.
Who says the Game Gear wasn't a success? Sure, it wasn't to the same degree as the Nintendo Game Boy, but it did a lot better than other leading color handhelds like the Atari Lynx and the Turbo Express. While the Game Gear did take more batteries than the Game Boy and drain them quicker, it was more colorful than the Game Boy, had a brighter backlit screen, and it had its own line of Sega Games, including the Sonic the Hedgehog games. Disney games were also popular on the Game Gear, and while also not to the same degree as the Game Boy, the Game Gear did have better third-party support than the Atari Lynx or the Turbo Express. The Game Gear also lasted fairly long in the handheld console wars, from 1991 to 1997, and was even briefly brought back in 2000 by Majesco with some of its greatest hits.
Please do a What if the Atari Lynx was a success video.
Game gear battery life was even worse than 5 hours dude. I had a game gear. 6 brand new Duracell or Energizer batteries would get you maybe 2 hours of gameplay. You had to buy an aftermarket rechargeable battery pack for the game gear if you want to have any kind of play experience
What do you mean if... IF... ;-)
They could at least add a button to turn off the backlight so the battery could last longer as a option,i dont know of is possible to do that with tye collor.....
Wait if Sega Game Gear success what did that mean a announcement of Sega retiring from the hardware business?
It wouldn’t matter if the Game Gear managed to survive, remember Sega was basically falling apart around 2000 with the failed success of the Dreamcast. We would still see Sega retiring from the console market.
@@GameBoyss360 thanks for tell me.
@@GameBoyss360 by the way What if Sonic Triple Trouble has release?
But didn't Sonic Triple Trouble release in 1994?
@@GameBoyss360 I thought Sonic Triple Trouble has been cancelled?
If sega game gear was a success sega will do more handheld
Yes
@@GameBoyss360 can you do what if sega actually beat Nintendo or if sega saturn was a success instead of a failure
I have a list currently on What If? Scenerios. Who knows, maybe those ideas are already on the list
@@GameBoyss360You know!
@@GameBoyss360 what if the gamecube was a success? (Actually having a DVD drive)
Great idea but horribly executed. The story of the Sega GameGear and this video