What happened to the Game Gear?
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posted06/30/2004 05:58 PM (UTC)by
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Jerrod
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11/04/2003 01:05 AM (UTC)
I remember when I first saw the Game Gear and the Game Boy, I compared them and thought "Wow, the Game Gear's going to be around for a long time".

Obviously, not only has that not happened, but the Game Boy has new versions of it that are even better than the original. What I don't understand is why the Game Gear, which initially had color, went extinct while the Game Boy, which had a black and green screen for a long time, prospered to what it is today?
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scorpion15152004
06/28/2004 03:01 PM (UTC)
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Maybe because of sales.
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UReiko
06/28/2004 03:04 PM (UTC)
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The damn things cost too much then. And Sega wasn't real big on popularity, they basically just had Sonic.
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FLSTYLE
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06/28/2004 03:08 PM (UTC)
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Yep, sales. Despite the fact that as you've said Game Gear was in colour and was favoured by just as many people as people who favoured the gameboy.

But due to the fact that the time it was released in a time when people liked child's games, they went for the games that were on the gameboy, it's simple presentation and child-like difficulty were more appealing to parents than a real miniture games console when it came to Christmas.

So the Game Gear sadly died and the Gameboy has evolved into the handheld giant it is today.

I think grin
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UReiko
06/28/2004 03:13 PM (UTC)
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Remember the Nomad?tongue
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LadyRaiden
06/28/2004 03:26 PM (UTC)
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Don't forget batteries...On the game gear you were lucky to get a few hours. While on the old gameboy you had much longer playing time. Better for long trips/waits and that's mainly what handhelds were for.
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FLSTYLE
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06/28/2004 03:53 PM (UTC)
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LadyRaiden Wrote:
Don't forget batteries...On the game gear you were lucky to get a few hours. While on the old gameboy you had much longer playing time. Better for long trips/waits and that's mainly what handhelds were for.


I gave up with batteries, and carrying it around for that matter, I just left it plugged into the wall and played it while sitting down, the only use of hands i did were the pressing of buttons tongue
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TheMkGeek
06/28/2004 09:17 PM (UTC)
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I love my Game Gear. Still works as good as the day My parents got it for me. Only got two games, Sonic 2 and Mortal Kombat 2. Also, to save money on batteries, I was smart and bought a rechargeable battery pack. I definately still think the GG is way superior to the GB, I even have a GBA and I still like my GG better
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Wanderer
06/28/2004 09:24 PM (UTC)
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Lack of sales.

It was really big, and when the Gameboy Pocket came out, it faded out of existence. I mean, you couldn't play Game Gear in class without getting caught :p
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foahchon
06/28/2004 09:25 PM (UTC)
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I think the battery issue and the higher price (I believe) of the GG contributed to the lack of sales, and therefore, the demise of the GG.

I used to have one when I was a kid too, but I lost it or sold it or something...it was super-duper-cool though...
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krsx66
06/28/2004 09:29 PM (UTC)
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I've got mine plugged in to the wall upstairs, it's the only version of MK1 I have! I think another factor that attributed to its lack of sales compared to the gameboy (besides the ones u guys have already said) was it's large size. It was quite a bit bigger than the first gameboy and wasnt as easy to carry around.
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The-One
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06/28/2004 10:02 PM (UTC)
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its gone to heaven along with the mega drive snes and saturn, and all the other consoles which i cant be arsed to list.
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NovaStarr
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06/28/2004 10:19 PM (UTC)
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I agree on that. We still have two GamerGears in our house with plenty of games. In my opinion, Nintendo just got to the level of the GameGear.

I think what killed the GameGear was:

1. Nintendo was already well known
2. GameBoy was cheaper
3. GameBoy had longer battery life
4. Bad marketing on Sega's part
5. Bigger size
6. Could only play it in the dark or at certain angles to see the screen.
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The-One
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06/28/2004 10:29 PM (UTC)
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i think the point that people are missing is that the gameboy just had a better library of games that where far better suited to portable gaming.hopefully someone at sony realises this or their psp is going to fail, even though its just a ps2 in a very tiny box, to the underdogs that are the nintendo ds(which i dont think is going to do well, how the hell are you meant to hold the thing and use the touch screen feature in the car on a train at the same time??) and the God that is handheld gaming the nintendo gameboy advance sp.
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TheMkGeek
06/29/2004 11:05 PM (UTC)
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NovaStarr Wrote:
I agree on that. We still have two GamerGears in our house with plenty of games. In my opinion, Nintendo just got to the level of the GameGear.

I think what killed the GameGear was:

1. Nintendo was already well known
2. GameBoy was cheaper
3. GameBoy had longer battery life
4. Bad marketing on Sega's part
5. Bigger size
6. Could only play it in the dark or at certain angles to see the screen.


Only play it in the Dark?? Are you nuts? Shit I could play mine and still can in light or dark. Sure it was bigger than the GB, but that was what made it better. I never had trouble transporting mine around at all. I agree that the main reason that the GG failed was due to small library and poor marketing, and the release of the stupid Nomad. As far as all the other reasons given, that's just personal opinion. I loved and still love my Game Gear way more than my GBA, but I still like my GBA.
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supertim1
06/30/2004 01:57 PM (UTC)
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stupid question... what was the difference between the game gear and the nomad?
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Raining_Smoke
06/30/2004 01:59 PM (UTC)
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I have a Game Gear somewhere in my house with only like 5 games. But that thing eats up batteries....
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Nikodemus
06/30/2004 02:09 PM (UTC)
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If you ever tried to play the game gear outside in the sun you would understand what nova is saying. I had a game gear myself a while back. I used it when I went on a really long trips and mostly played it at night because when the sun was out shining on the screen you couldnt see anything. My cousin who was with me on a few of the trips had a gameboy and had no problems playing during the day...of course at night it was another story heh.
TheMkGeek Wrote:
NovaStarr Wrote:
I agree on that. We still have two GamerGears in our house with plenty of games. In my opinion, Nintendo just got to the level of the GameGear.

I think what killed the GameGear was:

1. Nintendo was already well known
2. GameBoy was cheaper
3. GameBoy had longer battery life
4. Bad marketing on Sega's part
5. Bigger size
6. Could only play it in the dark or at certain angles to see the screen.

Only play it in the Dark?? Are you nuts? Shit I could play mine and still can in light or dark. Sure it was bigger than the GB, but that was what made it better. I never had trouble transporting mine around at all. I agree that the main reason that the GG failed was due to small library and poor marketing, and the release of the stupid Nomad. As far as all the other reasons given, that's just personal opinion. I loved and still love my Game Gear way more than my GBA, but I still like my GBA.

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NeedlesKane
06/30/2004 04:31 PM (UTC)
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UREIKO Wrote:
Remember the Nomad?


Yeah buddy, my bro still owns his. It's basically a BIG pocket sized Genesis tongue. I have my Game Gear still, but I never saw the price since it was a gift *I was like 5 or 6?*? Exactly how expensive was it compared to the GameBoy?
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StonedSour
06/30/2004 05:04 PM (UTC)
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I smashed mine because I lost.
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TheMkGeek
06/30/2004 05:58 PM (UTC)
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NeedlesKane Wrote:

UREIKO Wrote:
Remember the Nomad?

Yeah buddy, my bro still owns his. It's basically a BIG pocket sized Genesis . I have my Game Gear still, but I never saw the price since it was a gift *I was like 5 or 6?*? Exactly how expensive was it compared to the GameBoy?


supertim1, the Nomad like UREIKO says is a portable that plays Genesis carts. Why in God's good name Sega ever made it is beyond me, it was 10 times worse than the GG.

UREIKO, the GG wasn't exactlly all the much more than the GB. Maybe $20 or so. It's been awhile, so I may be off. I know back in the day neither portable was exactlly cheap.

Nikodemus, I see where you and NovaStarr are coming from, but, and believe or not, I remember once I played my GG outside, and had no problems like the ones you mentioned, I could see the screen pretty good. Mostly though I played it inside. Remember the GG had a backlit screen making it possible to be seen in any lighting condition, where as the GB didn't and only got a backlit screen now that the GBA SP is out.
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