Controversial Game Gear Topic

[Ed Oscuro]

In my opinion, two things make or break a handheld (not for the market so much as for my enjoyment; though I maintain these are still the biggest two issues as to any rating it should deserve).

Not the battery life (heck, I'll love a system even if it's tethered to a wall; that just cuts into the play time I can have with it).

Not its weight or size - grow some muscles on yer wrists and forearms, it's good exercise!

No, the game selection and the screen.

I must say, now I know why the Game Gear failed: The screen is horrible (the Super Wide Gear fixes this). Horrible horrible; it's like an RF connection that you can't fix. The Nomad - as I remember - was notably better, partially due to the higher resolution. The Game Boy Pocket's screen was great; even though it was grayscale you could see it with ease and that's worth more to me than some splotches of color.

As for the geme selection, ugh, all the Game Gear platformers I've played in real life were pretty bad reminders of why I'm glad this era is over. Scaled-down Lion King and a Simpsons (versus The World, I vaguely remember) game, as well as a pretty weak entry into the Mickey Mouse platformer selection with a flickscreen Land of Illusion. Actually, with the exception of the import title I bought a while back, I don't have any good games for the system and I have 7 unique ones :x

[AFGiant]

I own four gamegear games. Two of them I play, and are the reason I purchased my gamegear.
1. Sonic
2. Shining Force

I agree that the screen is annoying (mine came a bit scratched and it has proved a nuisance without proper lighting) but I still enjoy playing it. So, as long as I can enjoy it how I choose, its a fine system to me.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, let's see. Other games I've got are Sonic 2 (actually have two copies of this; my Goodwill likes package deals and so I got two Game Gears) - ugh, the worst Sonic I've played yet; just so bland and empty it is - Pac-Man, which is tough to control (as always), and G-Loc (ugh, awful, though a bit nostalgic).

I posted some more about the Gear over here; yes, there's a good number of decent games on it. I'd like to see the system's Golden Axe RPG (I think), for example.

Two systems, both have the bad screens. You have to tilt them to see what's going on, which is also bad. The illumination is never just right; it's only "too bright" or "not bright enough." Sometimes I like the GB for having an unlit screen; it's easy on the eyes if the room is well lit. The GG is *never* easy on the eyes :P

[NeoZeedeater]

The screen was certainly ass but so were the original GB and Lynx's. They're all pretty painful to look at today.

As for games, it didn't have a huge list of greats but it did have some of the best portable games of its time.

The GG Shinobi games were awesome and didn't have any real competition in the portable market(the closest would be Ninja Gaiden Shadow on GB). The multiple ninjas thing made them unique from the Genesis games too.

The GG Aleste games were amazing. Compile ruled that genre and I think they're still the best handheld shooters.

Forget Sonic 2. Sonic Chaos ruled.

[Sothy]

the fact that if you press the buttons too hard it does that lvd pressure distortion thing pisses me off.

Oh and the only game I have is T2.

Which is a magnificent game that follows the plot of the movie quite well down to the smallest details such as punching hundreds of random ninjas in parking lots for no reason and that climactic battle in the Biker Bar where Arnold must fight a 27 foot tall Mexican wrestler that can obliterate a terminator with two punches.

[nate1749]

m a r k e t i n g

I didn't even know about game gear until it was on it's way out - kids (and adults) want what they see & hear about and their friends have. In my elementary school I don't think anyone had a game gear, all gameboy.

Like at 7 years old we were really evaluating the screen contrast and button dynamics... come on.

Nate

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

Anyone ever play Taz?

One of the worst side scrollers of all time, excluding Action 52 and Color Dreams.


My brother bought a Game Gear cause it was color and 1337. He had Sonic 2, Streets of Rage 2, Sonic Spinball, and Taz.

Sonic 2 and Spinball were okay. A bit toned down in their GG editions. Nothing spectacular.

Streets of Rage 2 was awesome.




Big reason the GG failed, as well as the NGPC - 2 player games on a handheld require two handhelds. Middle class families aren't exactly eager to spend twice the amount on systems and games just so Billy and Jimmy can play Streets of Rage when they should be reading books outside and helping nuns cross the street.

For less than the cost of two Game Gears and copies of (insert game of choice here), a family could buy a Sega, or a Nintendo, or even a Super Nintendo. Two player enjoyment that both kids can play at once, no bickering, no hassles, no mess, no fuss.


And why did Gameboy succeed? It was the first (well, there was Microvision, and if you want to be anal about it, Vectrex) handheld console that featured "real" games that weren't made up of pre-formed LCD sprites (a la Tiger). After it came out, the market was saturated. People had what they needed on the go, everyone knew someone with a Gameboy so the 2 player capabilities were already present and accounted for - no need to hassle everyone in my school to get a Game Gear so we can play Streets of Rage 2.

m a r k e t i n g

I didn't even know about game gear until it was on it's way out - kids (and adults) want what they see & hear about and their friends have. In my elementary school I don't think anyone had a game gear, all gameboy.

Maybe you just weren't reading the right magazines.

Like at 7 years old we were really evaluating the screen contrast and button dynamics... come on.

Nate

Depends on how much of a prog you are...

Even as a one year old, you're evaluating taste, flavor spectrum, and basically doing everything that a wine conessieur does, only not writing about it afterwards.

Ask any five year old to play an original X-Box and they'll all agree, the system sucks. Just because they can't elucidate on "why" doesn't mean they can't feel that the controller is way too big for their little puny hands. (other examples - INTV, 5200, even NES in this day and age of rounded, ergonamic controllers).

So, I must disagree with you on this.

[Ronfar]

I didn't care for the Game Gear much, mainly because of the games. The only two I enjoyed were Shining Force(The only game in the series I enjoyed.) and Shinobi.

Also the battery life. It seemed like it would barely last an hour.

[Ed Oscuro]

the fact that if you press the buttons too hard it does that lvd pressure distortion thing pisses me off.

Oh and the only game I have is T2.

Which is a magnificent game that follows the plot of the movie quite well down to the smallest details such as punching hundreds of random ninjas in parking lots for no reason and that climactic battle in the Biker Bar where Arnold must fight a 27 foot tall Mexican wrestler that can obliterate a terminator with two punches.

*sheds a tear* Man, that was beautiful, just beautiful.

@ NeoZeedeater: Wow, I just realized what your name is about. I feel silly, but many times I just memorize the first group of letters in a poster's name and don't actually READ it. Odd. Anyhow, that's why I was careful to say GB Pocket; I had a feeling the original Brick's screen was worse, though my faint memories of it don't indicate it being THAT terrible.

[Sosage]

I just picked a Game Gear up with four games (Well...I've actually had it for a while, but last week I sat down and gave it a test run). I have Sonic 1, Streets of Rage, X-Men and Outrun Europa. "Generic" is the only word I'll use. Except Sonic 1, which I'll just use an icon.

I know I can't judge a system off of four games...and damn am I hoping someone will drop a gem in my lap to prove me wrong...but if this is as good as it gets. Well. Then. Burn in hell GG! I spit on your grave!

I'm sorry GG fans. *spit* Really. I'm sure it has its good qualities. *spit* Really. *spit* Again. Sorry. *spit*

P.S. I completely agree about the screen.

[Push Upstairs]

I have a Game Gear as well and i hardly ever play it.

Other than the fact that i own 3 games for it (Outrun Europa, SOR2, & Sonic 2), there just isnt any desire to play it. Maybe i need a *GOOD* game to make me wanna fire it up (even SOR2 on there kinda sucks).

It's too bad there was never a converter to play GG games on a Nomad or something....that would have helped the screen issue alot.

[Bromhidrosis]

My GG gets very little playtime. I've got 12 games, and very few of them are any good. Super Columns is. I'd recommend this to anyone. Revenge of Dracon is. I'd recommend it to someone who likes the Wonderboy series since it's appearantly a port of one of them. The Lion King is. Sonic the Hedgehog is okay. The rest (X-Men, Aladdin, NBA Jam, Madden 96, Wimbledon Tennis, NHL All-Star Hockey, Ecco the Dolphin, and Sonic 2) are mediocre to terrible.

[Slimedog]

Big reason the GG failed, as well as the NGPC - 2 player games on a handheld require two handhelds. Middle class families aren't exactly eager to spend twice the amount on systems and games just so Billy and Jimmy can play Streets of Rage when they should be reading books outside and helping nuns cross the street.

Shouldn't Billy and Jimmy be playing Double Dragon instead of Streets of Rage?

[Sothy]

Well I guess that adaptor that lets you play master system games expands the library somewhat.... Cant think of any MS games Id want to play though.

[boatofcar]

One thing I disagree with about the original post is that while we "hardcore" gamers may not care about battery life and or being tethered to a wall, I think most consumers rank battery life very highly on the list of desirables in a portable console. I think gamers were lured in by a color screen in the beginning, but once word spread around the playground about the lack of battery life, the system slumped. In my opinion, both the gray brick GB and the GG had blurry screens, but the color screen of the Game Gear actually accentuated the problem.

Ultimately, Sega promised a significantly better portable gaming experience at the expense of a higher price tag, and delivered a marginal at best improvement over the original Game Boy, one that was not worth the extra cost of the unit and the extra money spent on batteries and or an AC adapter.

[Naouruki]

In my opinion, two things make or break a handheld (not for the market so much as for my enjoyment; though I maintain these are still the biggest two issues as to any rating it should deserve).

Not the battery life (heck, I'll love a system even if it's tethered to a wall; that just cuts into the play time I can have with it).

Not its weight or size - grow some muscles on yer wrists and forearms, it's good exercise!

No, the game selection and the screen.

I must say, now I know why the Game Gear failed: The screen is horrible (the Super Wide Gear fixes this). Horrible horrible; it's like an RF connection that you can't fix. The Nomad - as I remember - was notably better, partially due to the higher resolution. The Game Boy Pocket's screen was great; even though it was grayscale you could see it with ease and that's worth more to me than some splotches of color.

As for the geme selection, ugh, all the Game Gear platformers I've played in real life were pretty bad reminders of why I'm glad this era is over. Scaled-down Lion King and a Simpsons (versus The World, I vaguely remember) game, as well as a pretty weak entry into the Mickey Mouse platformer selection with a flickscreen Land of Illusion. Actually, with the exception of the import title I bought a while back, I don't have any good games for the system and I have 7 unique ones :x

You're a moron for two reasons , and for the same reasons your post is pointless and as moronic as you are:

1. Fort he time, and for the demographic IT WAS BEING MARKETED AT (kids/teenagers, not videophile obessesve maniacs) , the screen was just fien and then some. The fact is was colour was enough and more. Comapring the GG to the GBC which say release nearly a decade later? Are you really that much the moron? For fuck's sake.

2. Selection of games is another area where people who are ignorant of the GGs library make the mentally retarded argument of a poor library based on the handful of games they have played - some of hese same morons being the same people who bash Jonny-on-the-street for bashing the Saturn for not having nay good games base don their limited to the nth degree experience/knowledge (apply same to DC, and GC at present) Anyone who is actually an involved and avid GG gamer, not even a collector, will know there is a wealth of excellent games on the GG, ones whose enjoyment is not hampered by a shit greyscale screen and shitty placed controls that cramp the fuck out of your hands like the overrated shit that was the GB - in every genre. Its superior tech specs in good games did not hurt either. So it a wealth of poor platformers - so the fuck what? What console in the 90s DIDN'T? Please answer that?

Battery life is such an ingorance-riddled issue. The Game Gear gave 6 hours of play on 6 AAs. That wasn't enough for the pkayground? Fuck yes it was, and I would know. Anyone other than a moron was going to buy a reachrgeable batteries for it just liek they did with the GB, for which kids weren't exactly buying new AAs every 10 hours of play. For fuck's sake, the same Nintendo ass-kissing bunch gave the PSP the same shit,as if batteries need to last forever (many of the same morons quite happy with their laptops' 3 hour charge).

Yet another pseudo-hardcore 'gamer' who obsesses over a particular console and is 'hardcore' about it; but when it comes to others, acts just like every other ignorant moron on the street who doesn't know shit about anything other than the console he drools over and thus bashes it.

Go back the third grade playground.

[JJNova]

You're a moron for two reasons , and for the same reasons your post is pointless and as moronic as you are....

1...Are you really that much the moron? For fuck's sake.

2.... - some of hese same morons being the same people who bash Jonny-on-the-street for bashing the Saturn for not having nay good games...Battery life is such an ingorance-riddled issue... (many of the same morons quite happy with their laptops' 3 hour charge)......acts just like every other ignorant moron (DOUBLE WHAMMY!)...

Go back the third grade playground.

Apparently, Ed, you are a moron for being a moron, a moron, ignorant, a moron, and an ignorant moron.

Congrats my friend![/i]

[CRV]

So it a wealth of poor platformers - so the fuck what? What console in the 90s DIDN'T? Please answer that?

I certainly wouldn't call Land of Illusion a poor platformer. Maybe you just have to play it on the SMS (or a GG emulator on Dreamcast or whatever) to appreciate it...

[classicb]

The Game Gear gave 6 hours of play on 6 AAs. That wasn't enough for the pkayground? Fuck yes it was, and I would know.

for fucks sake I never got 2 1/2 hrs out of my Game Gear for fucks sake let alone 6 hours for fucks sake

[boatofcar]

The Game Gear gave 6 hours of play on 6 AAs. That wasn't enough for the pkayground? Fuck yes it was, and I would know.

Oh boy, and you're calling Ed a Moron?

I think GameFAQ's needs you back, and quick!