In this month's Console of the Month, we'll be talking about the Game Gear, Sega's answer to the original Nintendo Game Boy. Released in the Spring of 1991 in North America, the Game Gear was unable to topple Nintendo's hold on the portable market, and though it had a long run only sold 11 million units worldwide.
The Game Gear library was filled with a healthy amount of Master System ports, in addition to some excellent original games like The G.G. Shinobi games or ports of SMS games not released in N.America like Master of Darkness, Dragon Crystal, and Deep Duck Trouble. With the optional Master Gear adapter the Game Gear also had access to the SMS cartridge library, making classics like Rastan, Phantasy Star, Zillion, and Golvellius playable while on the go. Additionally, the Game Gear is region free, making access to games that didn't make it to your region of choice relatively simple.
Though the Game Gear was unable to tackle the venerable Game Boy (more than likely due to poor batter life), it was the second full color handheld released in the N.American market and I believe the first backlit system. The Game Gear also enjoyed a pretty long run, even seeing a re-release in 2000 from Majesco. The Game Gear never received any major revisions, but it did receive a few special editions released in various colors.
Lets discuss the Game Gear this month - what are your favorite games for the system? What was your first experience with the system? Lets get to it.