The Game Gear is a handheld game console created and sold by Sega. It was first sold in Japan on October 6, 1990, and later in North America and Europe in April 1991, and in Australia in 1992. The Game Gear was Sega’s first handheld console and competed with Nintendo’s Game Boy, Atari’s Lynx, and NEC’s TurboExpress during the fourth generation of video game consoles.
Sega quickly released the 8-bit Game Gear to compete with the Game Boy. It uses similar parts to the Master System and can play Master System games with an adapter. Its hardware is better than the Game Boy’s, featuring a color screen with a light and a Z80 processor. However, it had shorter battery life, lasting three to five hours on six AA batteries. Sega designed the Game Gear to look like the Sega Genesis controller and aimed to make it a more grown-up and appealing choice compared to the Game Boy.
The Game Gear was praised for its strong hardware but criticized for its short battery life, large size, and limited support from Sega. Its collection of games, which included many versions of Master System games, and its price gave it an advantage over the Atari Lynx and TurboExpress. However, it could not compete well with the Game Boy. Sega stopped planning a 16-bit version of the Game Gear and reduced support for it to focus on its home consoles. The Game Gear sold about 14 million units over its lifetime. Between 2000 and 2002, Majesco Entertainment sold the Game Gear at a lower price under a license from Sega.
History
The Game Gear was named "Project Mercury" during its development. It was released in Japan on October 6, 1990, in North America and Europe in 1991, and in Australia in 1992. The original prices were ¥19,800 in Japan, US$149.99 (about $400 in 2025) in North America, and £99.99 in the United Kingdom. Sega created the Game Gear to compete with the Game Boy, which Nintendo had released in 1989. Sega’s CEO, Hayao Nakayama, decided to make a handheld console, and the name was chosen by Michael Katz, who became Sega of America’s CEO. Sega’s chairman, Isao Okawa, and cofounder, David Rosen, approved the name. The Game Gear was designed as a portable version of the Master System, with more powerful features than the Game Boy, such as a full-color screen instead of a black-and-white one. Hideki Sato, a former Sega hardware developer, said Sega saw the Game Boy’s black-and-white screen as a challenge to create a color handheld system.
To improve its design, Sega made the Game Gear resemble the Genesis controller, with curved surfaces and a longer shape for better comfort. The console’s weight was carefully planned to be between the Game Boy and the Atari Lynx, another full-color handheld competitor. The Game Gear could use the Master Gear adaptor to play games from the Master System. The first game included with the Game Gear was Columns, similar to Tetris, which was bundled with the Game Boy.
Sega entered the handheld market late, so it rushed to release the Game Gear quickly. It used the Master System’s hardware but added a much larger color palette of 4,096 colors compared to the Master System’s 64 colors. This made it easier to convert Master System games for the Game Gear. However, the Game Gear’s stronger hardware reduced battery life, lasting 3 to 5 hours on six AA batteries, while the Game Boy lasted over 30 hours on four AA batteries. The Game Gear sold 40,000 units in its first two days in Japan, 90,000 within a month, and had over 600,000 pre-orders. Sega of America’s marketing director, Robert Botch, said, “There is clearly a need for a quality portable system that provides features other systems have failed to deliver. This means easy-to-view, full-color graphics and exciting quality games that appeal to all ages.”
Before the Game Gear’s launch, Sega marketed the 16-bit Genesis as a “more mature” option for players, a message repeated against the Game Boy. In Japan, Sega used ads featuring Japanese women with the handheld, but globally, it promoted the Game Gear as the “cooler” alternative to the Game Boy.
In North America, ads compared the Game Boy to people who were “obese and uneducated.” These ads often included the “Sega Scream,” with someone yelling the name. One 1994 ad showed a dog looking between the two consoles and said, “If you were color blind and had an IQ of less than 12, then you wouldn’t mind which portable you had.” This caused Nintendo to criticize Sega for insulting people with disabilities. Sega of America’s president, Tom Kalinske, responded by saying Nintendo should focus on improving its products and marketing instead of “behind-the-scenes coercive activities.” These ads had little effect on sales.
Europe and Australia were the last regions to get the Game Gear. Some importers paid up to £200 per system due to delays. In Europe, Virgin Mastertronic set the price at £99.99, positioning it as more expensive than the Game Boy but cheaper than the Atari Lynx. In the United Kingdom, the Game Gear had a 16% share of the handheld market in January 1992, rising to 40% by December 1992.
Sega shifted focus to home consoles, supporting the Genesis with peripherals like the Sega CD and 32X. The 32-bit Saturn console was released in 1994. The Game Gear sold 10.62 million units by March 1996 but never matched the Game Boy’s sales, which were ten times higher. Sales also dropped after Nintendo released the smaller Game Boy Pocket, which used two AAA batteries.
Plans for a 16-bit successor to the Game Gear were canceled, leaving the Genesis Nomad, a portable Genesis version, as its only direct successor. The Nomad was meant to support the Game Gear, not replace it. Sega did not officially stop supporting the Game Gear until 1996 in Japan and 1997 worldwide.
The Game Gear was discontinued in 1997, but in 2000, Majesco Entertainment released a version of the Game Gear for $30 (about $60 in 2025) with $15 games under Sega’s license. New games, like Super Battletank, were released. The system was compatible with all previous Game Gear games but not with the TV Tuner or some Master System adaptors. It was sold until 2001. In 2011, Nintendo added Game Gear games to its 3DS Virtual Console service on the Nintendo eShop.
Technical specifications
The Game Gear's internal parts are similar to those of the Master System, as the handheld was made to work with games from that system. It uses the same Zilog Z80 CPU, an 8-bit processor that runs at 3.5 million cycles per second, and the Texas Instruments SN76489 sound chip, which can create different sounds. This chip can produce stereo sound, but the device only has one speaker, so headphones are needed to hear both sides. The system has 8 KB of RAM and 16 KB of video RAM.
The Game Gear is 210 millimeters (8.3 inches) wide, 113 millimeters (4.4 inches) tall, and 38 millimeters (1.5 inches) deep. It was designed to be held horizontally. In the center is a color liquid-crystal display that is 3.2 inches (81 millimeters) diagonally. It can show up to 32 colors from a total of 4,096, with a screen refresh rate of about 60 Hz. The screen has 160 × 144 non-square pixels and uses a small cold cathode fluorescent lamp for backlighting in low light.
The Game Gear runs on six AA batteries, which last about 3 to 5 hours. This short battery life was criticized by reviewers. To address this, Sega released two types of rechargeable battery packs to extend playtime and lower costs.
Accessories included a TV Tuner with a whip antenna for the cartridge slot, allowing the device to act as a handheld television. Priced at £74.99 (about US$130), the add-on was expensive but popular among collectors. Other accessories include the Super Wide Gear, which enlarges the screen; the Car Gear adapter, which connects to a car's cigarette lighter for power; and the Gear to Gear Cable (called the VS Cable in Japan), which lets two Game Gears connect for multiplayer games. The Master Gear accessory allows the Game Gear to play Master System games.
Game Gear models came in different colors. A blue "sports" version was sold in North America with games like World Series Baseball '95 or The Lion King. A white version included a TV tuner. Other models included a red Coca-Cola-themed version with Coca-Cola Kid and a Kids Gear version made only in Japan for children.
Game library
Over 300 Game Gear games were released, with six available when the system first came out. Game cartridges originally cost between $24.99 and $29.99 in the United States. The cases are made of black plastic with rounded fronts to help users remove them easily. Some early games include Sonic the Hedgehog, The GG Shinobi, Space Harrier, and Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, which GamesRadar+ named the best game for the system. Later games included titles from series that began on the 16-bit Genesis console. Many Game Gear games were ports of Master System titles because the Game Gear’s screen orientation and hardware similarities to the Master System made it simple for developers to adapt games.
Nintendo’s dominance in the console market limited the number of third-party developers creating games for Sega systems, leading to more Master System ports. This helped the Game Gear stand out among handhelds, reducing sales of the Atari Lynx and NEC TurboExpress and strengthening the Game Gear’s market position. However, the Game Boy had a library of over 1,000 games. Some Game Gear games later appeared on the Nintendo 3DS’s Virtual Console service through the Nintendo eShop. The emulator for these games was created by M2.
Game Gear Micro
On June 3, 2020, as part of the company's 60th anniversary celebration, Sega introduced the Game Gear Micro, a special console. The Micro was sold in Japan on October 6, 2020, through stores in four versions. Each version had different colors and included four different Game Gear games. All units were the same size: 80 mm × 43 mm × 20 mm (3.15 in × 1.69 in × 0.79 in) with a 29 mm (1.1 in) screen. They used 2 AAA batteries or a USB charger for power and had a headphone jack. Preorders included a magnifying tool similar to the original system's Big Window accessory. A special version of the device, made by M2 and approved by Sega, was included with a limited edition of the Aleste Collection in December 2020. This version added a new Game Gear game, G.G. Aleste 3, along with four other Aleste titles.
Reception
The Game Gear performed better than the Atari Lynx and NEC TurboExpress but was much less successful than the Game Boy in the handheld gaming market. People today have mixed feelings about the Game Gear. In 2008, GamePro ranked the Game Gear as the 10th worst-selling handheld ever and pointed out problems with how its technology was used. However, the publication also noted that selling nearly 11 million units made the Game Gear a commercial success. GamePro reviewer Blake Snow said the Game Gear had advantages over the Game Boy, such as a larger size that made it easier to hold with both hands. Despite this, the Game Gear's heavy design, high cost, need for many AA batteries, and limited selection of games prevented Sega from creating a better version. In an interview with Famitsu DC in 1998, Sato mentioned that the Game Gear sold about 14 million units, which was a significant share of the market. However, he said Nintendo's Game Boy was so popular that even the Game Gear's success was seen as a failure, which he believed was unfair.
GamesRadar+ praised the Game Gear's features, including its 8-bit processor and colorful screen, which made it similar to the Sega Master System. The publication recalled how many batteries were used up playing games like Sonic, Madden, and Road Rash on the go or even in the dark. These activities were not possible with the Game Boy. In contrast, IGN reviewer Levi Buchanan criticized the Game Gear's game library, saying it had far fewer quality games than the Game Boy. He argued that even though the Game Gear was more powerful, its lack of good games and the Game Boy's strong selection of games made the Game Boy more successful. Buchanan also noted that some games based on the Sega Master System were enjoyable and remained popular over time. Retro Gamer acknowledged Sega's effort in competing with Nintendo's Game Boy, stating that the Game Gear lasted longer in the handheld market than most other systems. It was only outsold by the Sony PSP. For its fans, the Game Gear is remembered as a classic piece of gaming history that continues to be valued.