Sega Game Gear : Prelude to RetroBy David Rasmussen
24th Feb 08
 To be honest I was always a Nintendo (then Sony when Nintendo began to burn me in terms of title content and lack of good RPGs) man, so I never jumped in on the whole Sega Game Gear thing… too bad, I might have actually liked it while it lasted. Because of this I know next to nothing about the Sega Game Gear.
Thankfully Wikipedia knows more than me, which is the basis of this, your first look at my upcoming retro reviews for the Sega Game Gear. Thanks to Wikipedia for the info, and thanks to the people of GameTZ (from which I performed the trades which began to fill my review stocks with Game Gear games to review!) First off though, Sega Game Gear 101. Sega Game Gear
Launched in 1990 in Japan
1991 in the Americas, Europe and Brazil.
1992 in Australia
Original price - $150.
Today’s price - $30 at Amazon.com (according to GameTZ).
Gen span - Became last gen tech in 1997.
NOTE - The Game Gear was Sega’s response to the Nintendo Game Boy, and was the third commercially available color handheld after the Atari Lynx and Turbo Express (and no, I don’t plan to review those since it’s hard enough to get people to give up their Sega Game Gear games, let alone an actual Game Gear or Battery Pack). Schematics
According to Wikipedia, the Game Gear was “basically a portable Master System with a lower resolution screen (with a trade off of having a large color pallate to draw from for color in the games, which wouldn’t be seen again until the DS and the PSP most likely). Using headphones it could produce stereo sound (it won’t be until the PSP that system makers would find a way to attach actual stereo accessories onto the system, though it’s only for home use as I don’t think the bulky stereo attachment makes for portable use on the road), as opposed to it’s Master System counterpart which only had monaural output. Sadly while the Game Gear had the capacity for stereo, Sega underutilized this by having too few games for the system that could use this. Also the controls for the GameGear was unique for it’s time, held in a “landscape” (to the sides of the screen) position. Of course by now you’ve seen this emulated in the GameBoy Advance (original) and the PSP so it’s not new anymore, but back then it was innovation. (And yes, both systems have Sega to thank for the inspiration for the control set up for both GBA and PSP). According to Wikipedia, because of the similarities between the Master System and the Game Gear, it was fairly easy for Master System games to be ported to the Game Gear carts… only not so anymore as you’ll need the entire setup and BOTH systems to do this, which of course would take far too much work to get ahold of (unless you had both systems to begin with). Also, as a personal note to Sony, why is it you can emulate the control set up but have yet to innovate the ability to download games onto the PSP? (From the PS2 of course since, as you noticed on certain cross console titles like Pirates of the Caribbean : At World’s End and Spider-Man 3, the games are the exact same game on each system with only minor tweaks -- so really, how hard would it be to download my favorite PS2 game to the PSP so I can play it on the road?! If a system from the 90‘s innovated that years ago why can‘t the latest gen of handhelds do likewise?!?). Yeah, the Game Gear seems to still be cutting edge in some respects over the “next gen” handhelds it seems.  Variants
What is harder than getting a GameTZ member to relinquish his/her grip on their GameGear? Finding one who’ll admit to have owned (or presently own) the harder to come by Blue Game Gear (Sports Edition) variant!
According to Wikipedia this one was basically the same as the standard Game Gear except in body color, and the fact it came with World Series Baseball (presently not on my list of first review games though I’ll have an eye out for it on future trades).
There was also a red Coca-Cola version in Japanese markets in 1994 with a game called Coca-Cola Kid, but either people never heard of it or it’s impossible to find as while I have seen people looking for the Blue Game Gear at GameTZ I don’t remember seeing a posting for people looking for the Coca-Cola Red Game Game. Of course there was a White Game Gear (the PSP recently had a white version of it’s system come out if you remember your PSP history), and a child friendly Kids Gear with packaging in a different color case (two more variants nobody seems particularly interested in having). Games for the Game Gear
Oh blessed me! I could write a book or five on just Game Gear reviews!
300 titles in total (probably not counting the strange rare variants like Coca-Cola Kid) saw the light of day when the Game Gear hit, though for now I only have 4 titles confirmed (and one still on negotiation as I write this article). Prices originally ranged from $25-$30, though now it’s all trade stuff (under $10 each except for a few titles) though sometimes the owners of the game are of the school of Charleton Heston NRA speech “You’ll have to pry this (name of game) out of my…” (and you know how that ends) when it comes to getting them to trade! While I couldn’t get a Sonic game (one of the popular titles of the system) for review, I do have a Disney review up first (and still trying to get the original Mortal Kombat for review). More on reviews shortly. Problems with Reviews
I won’t tell you how poor sales was for this system in Japan (present next gen systems from a certain company are just beginning to pull up their own lagging sales in the Japanese market so the present systems knows well the ills of not hitting it big in Japan), instead I’ll focus on the holy grail of the handheld market… battery life! It is the thing that makes the system “portable” to begin with, the ability to charge the system for x amount of hours and travel with it (without having to keep the battery charger or batteries in your pocket to extend gameplay). If there is so far abit of comparison already between the Sony PSP and the Sega Game Gear, there here’s another one to add to your list of comparisons, short battery life. Yes, like the Sony PSP, the Sega Game Gear also had trouble with battery life. While it was better than the two previous systems (I guess you could only play those at home or with a fistful of batteries in your pocket if you were traveling out) it’s 5 hour battery life (using the alkaline batteries of the time) still wasn’t as good as the original Gameboy (or the later Gameboy Advance SP which has, to date, the best charge capacity for a portable game using a battery pack in my opinion). Later versions it was 6 hours… and I am curious to see how long a Sega Game Gear will last on today’s longer lasting batteries, but you get the point on battery life in terms of the Sega Game Gear. Now according to Wikipedia, battery life was a much bigger issue before handheld systems had built in rechargeable batteries… though I don’t see it that way since, well, are YOU going to carry your recharge plug with you on the road to recharge your game? No? Didn’t think so. The game does have a rechargeable battery pack, yes, but I wonder how hard it’ll be to pry THAT accessory out of people’s hands!! (Damn.)
(Subsequently Game Gear reviews will be a little… slow… in coming once I start doing them, mostly from the need to constantly replace batteries until at such time I can successfully trade for a Battery pack charger -- or buy one from Amazon.com, which is probably the only way I‘ll get a Game Gear at this rate). The Game Gear was more expensive than the GameBoy, however (in a twist of fate), the Game Gear managed to hold onto it’s value far better than it’s one cheaper opponent (still holding onto a $30 price tag while the original GameBoy is now far less than that if you were going to buy it from, say, Amazon.com for instance). So, in the end, Sega managed to have the last laugh over Nintendo when it comes to the overall value of their rival handhelds. Not bad, Sega, not bad at all! Though, like a classic Game Gear commercial slamming on the Nintendo GameBoy, I may have to hit myself repeatedly with a… hmm… (scratch out squirrel and replace with mongoose -- there)… in order to get someone to trade me the necessary equipment I need (thank you, future actor Ethan Suplee, for harming yourself in that ad to give me the inspiration for a futile act I will never perform in an attempt to secure a Sega Game Gear). Hmmm… maybe I’ll skip the rechargeable battery after all. Read this.
(Wikipedia) “External and rechargeable battery packs were sold to extend the devices' battery life. At that time, rechargeable batteries had strict limitations (e.g. the batteries needed to be discharged before being recharged). Ni-Cd batteries were the mainstream type of rechargeable batteries during that era, and Ni-MH and Li-Ion batteries would not become mainstream until after the Game Gear was phased out.” …..you don’t say…. Ugh… on second thought forget I said I wanted a Battery Charger, sounds too draconian in complexity (and potential risks of explosion) to risk owning one. I’ll stick to sucking up a vast quantity of AA batteries, thanks. I have a feeling that (when it’s all said and done) the biggest problem with the Game Gear is the total lack of big content, and by that I don’t just mean the key software developers that Wikipedia marks as the Game Gear’s downfall, I mean simple things… like packing in enough RPGs to keep people happy. Let’s see… I know of the one RPG in my memory that I associate with the Game Gear, and lucky you I’m trading for it (so you get to see it reviewed)! Other than that… I can’t think of any other RPGs for the Game Gear (while I am sure if I racked my brain hard enough I could come up with a longer list of RPGs for the GameBoy and GameBoy Color if I thought hard enough). Oh, and don’t get me started on BANDAI’s handheld the Swan (WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color and SwanCrystal)… I’ll just ply my investment on the GameGear, thanks anyway.  Pointless Accessories I May Never Review
Let’s see, what is in the goody bag of Sega Game Gear add-ons I may never trade for.
The Game Gear TV Tuner
Plugged into the system’s cart slot, it allowed one to watch TV on the screen… not for long, however, if you live in the USA. I take it this “tuner” picks up analog TV signals, right? Well as of February 2009 there won’t be anymore analog TV signals (a “law” no doubt passed by the lobbyists for greedy Cable TV and Satellite TV companies switching everything over to digital as of February 17th 2009). Quick! Sega Game Gear owners unite and protect your ability to watch TV off of your old Game Gear… if such a thing is even possible now, which I won’t even bother trying as I am not going to trade something for a device that seems to only have one year left in it’s usefulness before truly becoming obsolete technology. Super Wide Gear
No, it’s not a new way to make gamers fat. This accessory is like the 101 gimmicks used on the GameBoy slash GameBoy Advance (SP) to magnify the screen image larger. No thanks, I think I’ll take the screen size as is. Car Gear Adapter
Yeah. I don’t use any of my other system’s car adapters so I won’t bother with this one. The MasterGear Converter
Yes, Sega Master System required. And no, you can’t reverse it and play Game Gear games over the Master System as it was woefully underpowered in the color dept. Gear-to-Gear Cable
Let’s see… do I plan to write multiplayer reviews? No. So I don’t need that. GameGear Past 1997
Let’s see… did the Game Gear have any “children” after it retired? According to Wikipedia, Majesco (who has been making some of my favorite games of late) released a core version of the Game Gear in 2000 (coming up on 8 years ago) for a reduced price, aka the Majesco Core Game Gear. It was different colors than the Game Gear, no longer supported the TV Tuner (which won’t be supported even by TV itself as of February 2009) and had a few changes to it’s internal make up in that the screen had a better “refresh” rate and it’s internal speakers were improved. Majesco reissued several classic GameGear carts (putting it’s logo on the carts and not providing the plastic case to protect the game, along with adding the current game rating sytem on the game itself). Recently the Game Gear was reincarnated in a smaller handheld form in late 2006, now powered by 3 AAA batteries (half the number and a smaller size than the 90’s Game Gear). It had a brighter active matrix screen, but only contained 20 Game Gear slash Sega Master Systems games (a far cry from the 300 in total released on the 90’s Game Gear). This remake was released under several brands like Coleco and PlayPal. At present software emulators for Game Gear have been made for a number of systems. Prominent amongst these is both the GP2X and GP32, as well as the GBA (no word if that includes the SP model), Nintendo DS, PSP and the PC, iPod and Palm OS as well as lesser known systems like the Symbian and Windows Mobile. (Wikipedia) “Though its sales success as a non-Nintendo handheld has been surpassed by the PSP, the Game Gear still stands as the longest supported handheld console not made by Nintendo” OK. Nuff history. Time to really dig into what we’re about to review and talk up games.
So here it is, you’ve seen me talk about it on the board but here it is… the first GameGear reviews!  Defenders of Oasis
Here’s the description of the game from MobyGames.
(MobyGames) “A long, long time ago, the legendary king Jamseed defeated the evil Ahriman, the spirit of darkness. But just before, Ahriman managed to send into the world his most horrifying servant: the dragon Zahhark. Years have passed, Zahhark was defeated by the descendants of Jamseed, but its own descendants continued menacing the kingdom of Shanadar. Many generations later, you, the young Prince of Shanadar, has to confront the evil. Zahhark's offsprings plan to destroy the kingdom, and the Prince must first seek aid in a neighboring country, accompanied by a beautiful Princess, by the Genie from a lamp, and other friends.
This is a traditional Japanese-style RPG. You control the Prince and his party members, visiting various locations, buying and finding items, and fighting random enemies and bosses in a turn-based combat viewed from first-person perspective.” It’s a game set in the Middle East. We haven’t seen a game like that since Shadazzar, and boy do I wish I could find that game again! Fond memories! Fond memories! Now don’t be afraid! But this review may get somebody (the President of Iran) in a tissy fit (he did throw a fit after 300 hit theaters after all)! Why is that? Well according to trivia on MobyGames, “The background story of "Defenders of Oasis" is based on ancient Iranian mythology.”
OH-KAY, so it’s a game based on old Iranian myth (before the nut jobs and psychos took over), not so bad… huh? Well then maybe this “trivia” will scare you. (MobyGames) “Unfortunately, some names are not spelled very precisely and suggest a slightly wrong pronunciation, for example Zahhark instead of Zahak and Jamseed instead of Jamshid. You can read about Ahriman, his servant, the dragon Zahak, the legendary king Jamshid and his descendant, the brave Faridun, in the famous epic poem Shahnameh by the great Iranian poet Ferdowsi.” OK. That wasn’t so frightening… unless you’re the President of Iran, then anything you can complain about is something to get your business suit wrinkled over. Iron Man/X-O Manowar
Do we really need an other Final Fight clone? I just played the original Final Fight (and close Captain Commando) in my PSP review of Capcom Classics Collection Remixed, so do I really need to review another game of that genre? I guess so, which is made more pertinent as we are about to be “graced“ with the first Iron Man movie starring real life addict (allegedly) Robert Downey Jr. (it is him starring in this movie, isn‘t it, not that Baldwin brother who was supposed to be in this movie). Play as either MARVEL hero Iron Man, or Valiant hero X-O Manowar and side scroll your way through this Final Fight style beat-em-up with a boss at the end of each level (just like Final Fight of any clone of Final Fight). Fight Absorbing Man, Armin Zola, Baron Zemo, The Cosmic Cube (weh?), Goliath, Mr. Hyde, the Melter, Mistress Crescendo, Titania, Vizier, Yellow jacket! Oh, and nobodies like the Dromak Gladiator and General Krytos. (I’d like to know what Iron Man is doing fighting characters like Zola, Zemo, and Yellowjacket though! What! Were Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, the Ghost (the technological thief in the funky cyber suit, not the hot female Dark Horse character) and the Mandarin not available?!?  (The) Lion King
Somebody just can‘t wait to be king… guess who!
Yes, despite the fact most Otaku think of this movie as a pale ripoff of Kimba the White Lion, you have to give the game to this movie cred for actually being interesting and fun to play (rarities like this and Aladdin were amongst the fun side scrolling games Disney made in the past, yet seem to ignore now as they have not yet tapped into retro gaming by making a collection of their best side scrollers available for purchase in a Greatest Hits slash Retro Collection format). Using your claws and roar attack, you follow the story of the movie from cub to Matthew Brodderick is doing the voiceover adulthood.
Young Simba? He just can‘t wait to be king. His father is the current King of the Savannah (former Dark Lord of the Sith, aka Mr. James Earl Jones). First the game is cutesy (frolic about jumping about and on top of the animals of the pride lands). Then, when King Jones… I mean Mufasa (Mr. James Earl Jones didn‘t just get trampled by wild animals! No he didn‘t!!) gets killed off by Scar, the game shifts as Simba is banished (teams up with Timon and Pumbaa (who will later have their own brief stint of a TV Series that nobody shows much of anymore) and grows up with fresh new attacks gearing up for his Rocky style battle with Scar. The innovation of this side scroller is that the game does not play the same between the cub Simba and the adult Simba. Each one has their own play style, and their own attacks unique to them. This, along with the bug catching mini game and the different levels make this game one of the few gems of the Disney side scrolling pantheon (something I‘m looking forward to reviewing once I get my hands on all that I need to review it). Star Wars
Sorry, it‘s not a port of the classic Death Star smashing Arcade classic. It‘s better.
From my understanding of this it‘s the classic Star Wars (which became Super Star Wars on the SNES), and according to one review the game is true to the movie as an action plat former of 8-bit greatness. Another game I am looking forward to reviewing, mostly because my first batch of reviews includes two movie based reviews that should get a nice solid score (a lot better than a lot of the modern day present movie to game translations which get lowball scores).  Pending trade approval reviews
Virtua Fighter Animation
Now I know next to nothing about the Virtua Fighter franchise, so I don’t know if I should be excited about this or not. But this game, a one-on-one 2D fighter based NOT on the Virtua Fighter games BUT the Virtua Fighter Anime Series (they had one of those?!?), features two game modes… story and versus. I’ll let MobyGames explain that to you.
“In the story mode, the player follows the anime's plot, with anime style cutscenes before and after each fight. The story is divided in acts, each one of them corresponding to one fight. The player starts controlling Akira Yuki, as as he beats his opponents, each one of them joins his party, so they can be chosen in the next fights. Besides Akira, the other characters which become available are Pai Chan, Jacky Bryant, Wolf Hawkfield, Kage-Maru, Sarah Bryant and Lau Chan. In the final act, the player must fight against Dural. The versus mode allows players to choose any of the seven available characters to fight against the CPU. In the two player versus game, Kage-Maru is removed from the character selection. The Game Gear version has 3 different viewing modes: Normal, Large and Real-Time. The Normal viewing mode shows the fighters from a more distant position (smaller sprites) than the Large mode (larger sprites). The Real-Time mode simulates the zooming camera effects from the other Virtua Fighter games, alternating between the Normal and Large modes. It also has an extended intro sequence, with anime style cutscenes.” Fighting is like any 2D fighter of the time. The Game Gear version does have a block function (Start Button) which is not available in the Master System version… not that it matters as I seldom remember to block when playing fighting games. Fights are the typical best of 3 rounds, and you lose if your 1) energy is depleted, 2) you fall out of the ring, or 3) you have less energy than your opponent when the time runs out. Otherwise let’s see how I fare playing a Game Gear fighter when I review it… or to be more precise when I find someone who’ll trade me for it (that is something I have yet to do, while there is a trade pending it is not set in stone -- I.e. I may have to look again and make an offer to a different person if this doesn’t work out).
Stay tuned, for progress on this (and other titles that might get added to the review list as trading continues ever onwards). Right now I have my eye on trying to trade for Sonic titles, Mortal Kombat, and Streets of Rage… when I can get them, however, remains to be seen. Otherwise that’s that! Stay tuned, because your first Game Gear reviews are coming… just as soon as I can get ahold of a Game Gear.
(To Be Continued).
-- David Rasmussen 24th Feb 08
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