Talk:Game Gear

U2 Music video

"...the singer Bono Vox appears playing a Game Gear inside of Dublin Subway."

Erm, there's no underground rail system in Dublin. I haven't seen this video, so don't know what is meant by this. Do you mean a pedestrian tunnel, or a DART station, or was it just not in Dublin? --Zilog Jones 16:19, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Actually there's a boy playing. In a bus. The bus should be in Berlin, Germany - near the Brandenburg Gate. --32X 01:24, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

That's interesting.

White Gamegear?

I've seen pics of one on google. Was this real? Plus, I've seen a red (coca-cola) edition floateing around the web. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.235.13.240 (talk) 21:45, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

I don't know where this should go

The Game Gear was also released for a limited time in blue. This blue color, I believe, was only available if you bought the sports pack. (It also came with a little carrying case and either Madden or world series baseball...)

added

I added a bit on it, in the Rivalry with Game Boy section and updated the heading to Sales History and Game Boy Rivalry. That's odd.

Game Gears in stores

Are game gears still able to be found in stores. 64.192.107.242 03:33, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Only in second hand or retro stores. You also find them on ebay and flea markets. --32X 00:18, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

TV tuner

I've reverted this [1] edit since my GG's serial begins with a "B" and works pretty well with the tv tuner. --32X 08:35, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, I've just found that information: "if the model number of your GameGear starts with a letter, the tuner might not work." [2] --32X 09:56, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Does anyone have info backing up the claim that Tuner support was removed due to a lawsuit? or even that it was removed at all? i tried google with all the obvious search combinations and found nothing. something like that we need to either find a source or remove--Lehk 05:07, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

From the Digital Press Technical Knowledge Base: "Somewhere in the middle of the Game Gear's lifespan, Sega decided to change the materials used in the making of the Game Gear's screen from glass to plastic. However, in doing this, the plastic screens became incompatible with the TV Tuner. To check to see if your Game Gear has a glass or plastic screen, simply turn the Game Gear over. If your Game Gear's serial number starts with a number, then the screen is made of glass and should work with the TV Tuner. However, if the serial number begins with a letter, it is made of plastic and will not work with the TV Tuner." The article doesn't mention anything about a lawsuit, however, I'll go back and do some more searching. It seems the lawsuit could possibly be related to the screen itself; as the site I found mentioned, the screen went from glass to plastic; could that be related to the lawsuit? (i.e. could people have cut themselves on the shattered screen on a dropped Game Gear?) -Chrono 05:14, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

With that information I've changed the text to "(if the system's serial number begins with a letter [...] the TV Tuner will probably not function with that particular unit)". It shouldn't be more than a temporary solution.

Hey, my Game Gear's serial begins with a B too! Do You think it might work 32X? -- 02:43 (UTC), 13 July 2006 71.107.186.4

I've moved this question a bit to keep the discussion readable. Read Talk:Sega Game Gear#Model numbers. and provide some additional information. --32X 11:42, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

My friend had a TV tuner on his Game Gear and I always thought you had hotwire it or buy a kit,I believe you could also buy it at a goodwill or more rarely a salvation army

I have three different Game Gears from different times. Only the ones during the first year or two are compatible with the Tuner. I have an early Sega, a late Sega, and a Majesco. Only my early Sega Game Gear is fully compatible . The other two will output the sound, but not the video.

Specs?

I know some people don't like it but I like seeing the technical specs of older consoles. Maybe another link?

Model numbers.

I think the problem here is with people confusing the SERIAL number with the MODEL number.

I have 2 Game Gears, both of which have serial numbers that start with a letter.

My older one, that I've owned from the early ninties, has a serial number that starts with the letter K, and the TV tuner works fine. The MODEL number on this unit is 2110-50.

My newer GG has a serial number that starts with AG, and the TV won't work on this one. The model number on this one is 2110G.

So it would seem that if your model number ENDS with a numerical, it should work, but if it ends with a letter, it won't. Gamer-al 22:50, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Mine is a 2110-50 with the serial B10xxxxxx (where the x replace digits), European board, the screen (inside the Game Gear) is made of glass, the front cover is made of plastics. I have the feeling you're right with the model number. --32X 20:22, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Retail Price

Many game system entries need to have the launch price added. Also, much were games compared to Genesis game? --Navstar 23:12, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I've found two sources: [3], [4]. Both mention an initial price of 149$ in the U.S., the first one mentions game being sold for 25$ to 30$. --32X 01:26, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

Units sold

After a recent edit I start to wonder how many units were sold. I've found [5]: "In 1991 Sega sold over 500,000 units. In 1992 Sega sold 900,000 Game Gear consoles." That is pretty near the "over 1.5 million" units, which we have in the article's infobox. In the book Gameplan (English 1.5 version, @play-asia.com) the author wrote 3 million units (PDF). Both numbers suggest the 24.5 million being vandalism, but seriously: How many units were sold world wide? Both pages don't mention any sources, not to mention there are a lot of mistakes and wrong numbers in Gameplan. --32X 00:59, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

The number of 8 million units (see below) might be true: [6], [7]. Sadly there aren't any sources cited. I've changed it in the article now, since it sounds more reliable. --32X 02:22, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

number of sold units (edit war)

Here we go:
(diff) IP 69.150.41.38 changed it from 1.5 to 24.5 million units
(diff) User 32X (that's me) changed it from 24.5 to 1.5 million units
(diff) IP 67.190.40.19 changed it from 1.5 to 8 million units
(diff) User 32X (that's me) changed it from 8 to 1.5 million units

new change since I have found some sources (see topic above):

(diff) User 32X (that's me) changed it from "Over 1.5" to 8.65 million units --32X 02:26, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

pl:Sega Game Gear: "11 milionów"

Has anyone a reliable source at all? (Besides that, I've posted some information some days ago, just read the topic above.) --32X 01:09, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Some more information: IP IP 69.150.41.38 changed the number of sold units in Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast (rev without an edit war). Changes were made in Console wars too: [8], [9], [10].

IP 67.190.40.19 did Changes on the first three mentioned articles. --32X 01:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Batteries

I've used Energizer/Duracell in it. It's fine. 67.188.172.165 05:48, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Since the same user left a message at the Nomad talk page I've left him some thoughts. You might be interested in it, or may not. --32X 19:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)My friend had a Sega Nomad.I think they are mainly available thru

eBay.

Proposed move

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was Not moved. Aside from the logo, note that the naming conventions don't mean the most common name used colloquially among Sega gamers; for example, a magazine might refer to a "Game Boy", without the "Nintendo", as something people recognize standing alone whereas few people would recognize "Game Gear" standing alone except perhaps to think it refers to generic joysticks or video cards. —Centrx→talk • 04:15, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Sega Game Gear → Game Gear – Game Boy is at that title and not Nintendo Game Boy, despite Nintendo being part of the name of the system. This should similarly be at Game Gear, not Sega Game Gear, as Game Gear is clearly what most people will type in the search box. Voortle 14:17, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Survey

• Oppose, due to two facts: Game Gear is already a redirect to the article and Sega Game Gear gives you a bit more information ("ah, made by sega.") Compare Beetle with Volkswagen Beetle. --32X 21:54, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

• I'd tend to support this move. The rather nice "in a nutshell" summary on Wikipedia:Naming conventions states {see discussion) IMSoP 23:06, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

• Support follows the common name convention. also redirects have been changed into the artilce title on multiple occasions and I have never seen a name change rejected for that reason. --Edgelord 23:17, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

• Oppose because it's in the logo name [11], and naming conventions are for the logo name (i.e. PlayStation 3 vs. Nintendo GameCube Hbdragon88 17:48, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Discussion

"Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature."

Further down the page, one of the fundamental rules is:

"Use the most common name of a person or thing that does not conflict with the names of other people or things."

Our article titles are not intended to provide information or advertisements for the article itself (we're not marketting a book), they are intended to aid discovery. More people will think of - and search for - a "Game Gear" than a "Sega Game Gear". And since there is nothing else in the world (AFAIK) called a Game Gear (unlike the "Beetle", which is either an apples-and-oranges comparison or a really badly chosen example) I see no reason why the redundant word "Sega" deserves a place in the title.

As for "Game Gear is already a redirect to the article", that's like saying "don't rename it, because it's already got a name" (OK, so it's marginally harder to perform renames over existing redirects, but not prohibitively so). - IMSoP 23:06, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

You're wrongly interpreting the naming convention. We name to according what it is. Sega Mega Drive is named like so because it's shown in the logo. This is why Nintendo GameCube is named like so. That's why Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is also named like so, and why there was contentious edit warring took place at Wii; there was a massive argument whether it was to be named the Nintendo Wii. It is not advertisment; it's the damn name. See the CVG discussion about the naming issue as well, where it was said that Nintendo and Sega usually had their company name in the console product. Hbdragon88 17:48, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Power

My Game Gear, an european model purchased at launch, is rated at 9v and the DCIN is center negative. I dunno if this is the same for all consoles/revisions, so I'll leave that for you to decide. unsigned comment from: 82.44.47.238 16:25, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Same goes for my Game Gear, even the wrapping of the adaptor for the Mega Drive mentioned something like "For use with Sega Mega Drive and Sega Game Gear." --32X 19:58, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

It is true Game Gear power input varies. Sega for unknown reasons, switched the Game Gear to center positive in North America. Most if not all Game Gears from USA or Canada use it. Theclaw1 (talk) 06:02, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

Centre pos is a far more logical (and safer) method of providing power, as it means that the contact providing the + power is sheathed and hard to make accidental contact. Should the power be provided by outer pos then it's just so much easier to accidentally make contact with an earthed surface - or even to short on the casing of an appliance itself. Although I grant you that the Game Gear being made of plastic is not likely to be guilty in that respect, but even so - cetnre pos is the better option.

My GG is up in the loft, but I know where. I'll go up later, and have a look to see what it's DC-in is. Chaheel Riens (talk) 07:39, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

I brought down my GG, and it doesn't have any power markings on it. Curious - how would one know whether it's a centre pos, or centre neg device? Does it have adequate protection if the wrong adapter is used, in the absence of knowing which it should be? Chaheel Riens (talk) 11:40, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Well the center pos USA version is extremely easy to identify. Its rear sticker says "Use 2103 AC adaptor only". I'm not sure about other regions. Theclaw1 (talk) 05:52, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Peripherals

I think this article could benefit from a section listing the peripherals available for the Game Gear. It would make the page more readable and provide a good deal of concise information. Paul Haymon 12:15, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the debate was No consensus again. Perhaps Game Gear (Sega)? Let's not just keeping making the same move request over and over lest it be viewed as a disruption. —Wknight94 (talk) 13:08, 17 September 2006 (UTC) I never knew Sega Game Gear was compatable with perihperals.

Proposed move

Sega Game Gear → Game Gear – Game Boy is at that title and not Nintendo Game Boy, despite Nintendo being part of the name of the system. This should similarly be at Game Gear, not Sega Game Gear, as Game Gear is clearly what most people will type in the search box. I'm relisting this as there was no good consensus last time, as few people actually voted. "Game Gear" also gets about 4 to 5 million more hits than "Sega Game Gear". Voortle 14:17, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

• Support. Clearly the most common name. Voortle 22:02, 9 September 2006 (UTC)
• Strong Oppose, because:

• the redirect is there (so you're able to refer to [[Game Gear]] or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Gear">Game Gear</a>),
• the logo mentions Sega in the title [12],

The logo for the Game Boy system mentions Nintendo. Should we thus move the Game Boy article to Nintendo Game Boy? Voortle 02:06, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

• the last request for a move was only 14 days ago (and was drawn some hours ago due to only 4 other voters, who voted draw),

• There were only four voters, which there was a tie in the support and oppose. Hence there was no consensus, and move requests can be relisted to gain consensus. Voortle 02:09, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

• you haven't even changed the reason for a proposed move,
• "Game Gear" also gets about 4 to 5 million more hits than "Sega Game Gear". - You haven't said where. I guess "Game" and "Gear" would each get even more hits.

• Yeah, but "game" and "gear" refer to different things, whereas there is no difference between "Sega Game Gear" and "Game Gear". Voortle 02:12, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

• I can't find any of your edits in the edit history. Why?

• That's a reason to oppose moving? Voortle 02:10, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

• In case you want to bring up google, it's not a valid source for anything. <<personal attack removed>>

--32X 00:26, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

That was not a personal attack. I just showed you how worthless a google search is when it comes to rate or compare things too each other. Besides that, my edit history argument is only one of several. And I bring it up since such a RM eats quite some time which could be used to improve the article. Anyway, I'll once again bring up my arguments. Right now I've a magazine from 1995 in front of me where Disney Software and Virgin Interactive advertise the Lion King. Some of the mentioned systems are "Super Nintendo", "Game Boy", "Sega Master System" and "Sega Game Gear" (like on that logo). Even on the TV tuner there's written "Sega Game Gear" (logo). --32X 04:27, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Btw, I just don't get it. A guy who moved iPod to The iPod wants to move Sega Game Gear to Game Gear, even when he doesn't contribute to the article. It doesn't make any sense to me ... --32X 04:30, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Source

http://www.vgmuseum.com/systems/gg/

Region Free?

I never had one myself, but I've heard that the GG was region-free. Is that accurate? Kelvingreen 09:23, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I have a GG but no games from foreign markets. I heard/read the same but I cannot prove it. --32X 07:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, thats accurate. I have US games that work just fine on my UK Game Gear.

I also have Japanese cartrigdes and work fine with my European. Also a second Game Gear with japanese box (not Power supply) and all european cartrigdes work --Museo8bits (talk) 07:36, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

No known use of region lock. However we can assume it was possible to implement, the GG had an internal language setting. Some GG games show differences based on whether English or Japanese hardware is used to run them. Theclaw1 (talk) 05:58, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

New Gamegears

Hey what are they called? Can anyone post a link? And what company is still supporting the old Gamegear? --Elven6 00:11, 18 November 2006 (UTC) That's a myth.

Not quite. A company called Majesco manufactured the GG under license for a long time after Sega discontinued it. But you could be thinking of the Playpal Portable. It's one of those handheld units with 20 games built-in (mix of GG and MS games). Google it.

Sound Hardware

I used to have both the Game Boy and Game Gear, and the one thing that sticks in mind between the systems was the background music on Game Gear games was generally worse. Game Gear music was often harsh and distracting, the worst offender being X-Men (nails on chalkboard!). Is it just a difference of musical talent, or a real problem with what the hardware can deliver? 68.0.226.163 01:31, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Having parts of my cultural background in the demoscene, all I can say is that hardware doesn't matter that much. Of course there are good and bad limitations, but it mostly depends on taste (composer and listener) and musical talent. I for example like the YM music of an Atari ST, while a friend of mine can't stand it because he could (and even has) composoe better music on a SID of a C64.

It's possible to compare sound chips by what they have and what is missing, but there's still the wide field of taste.

Conclusion: While it's possible to do good music on really bad sound chips, it's also possible to do horrible music on high end hardware. I wouldn't rate one system over the other one. --32X 13:13, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Hear hear. I have myself heard lots of excellent Atari ST music and lots of terrible Amiga music, despite the latter allegedly being technically far superior ... and of course, the other way around. Some of my favourite themes are actually from the Game Gear, where the limitations of hardware and storage space seemed to challenge the writers to make the music as good as they possibly could within the minimalist confines, concentrating more on composition and clever use of available channels than just shoving in lots of whizzy effects, voices and samples.

FWIW, one of my favourite ST composers also does a lot of work with the GameBoy (particularly via LSDj), and he makes it sound gooooooood. Somehow it's PSG creates much less grating tones than that of the NES... it seems to take a much more talented/committed artist to work around the older console's harsher output (despite, again, it being technically "better") and create something wonderful. It does happen, but not as often.

The strange thing with all that is that I can only point to maybe three GB games which have anything that even approaches decent music - and those that do, well, it's like a switch has been flipped and the system suddenly has an entirely different soundchip vs the rubbish that all the other games make do with. 193.63.174.211 (talk) 15:43, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

The sound chip on the Game Gear is equal to the sound chip on the Sega Master system, and slighty better than the NES sound chip. The Game Boy's sound chip is slightly below that of the NES, and is on par with the IBM PCjr's sound. However, the original Game Boy did have a better speaker than the Sega Game Gears( though the Majesco Game Gears have a much better speaker). The Game Boy also didn't play its speaker as loud, where the Game Gear pushes its speaker close to the limit of what a speaker that size can handle. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.162.169.88 (talk) 20:10, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Game Gear's battery life

Isn't 5 hours way too long? The Game Gear could chew through it's six alkaline AA batteries (using alkaline battery technology of the early 90s)in just 2 hours! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hellcat fighter (talk • contribs) 08:03, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, it depends on the batteries and how bright and loud it was set while playing. It's hard to prove that, since batteries from that time have lost their power and newer ones are way beyond them in terms of capacity. Five hours sound a bit hight to me too, but with a good setting it might be possible. --32X 11:00, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Thats a pretty poor battery life but my gameboy SP and DS always had poor battery life.

On cheap dollar store batteries, yes, 2 hours seems about right, but then the Game Boy would get 8 ( down from 12-14 hours) on those same batteries. 5 hours is what my early tuner compatible Game Gear will get on standard Energizer or Duracells. The Later Model Game Gear in my collection went nearly an hour longer. 72.162.169.88 (talk) 20:39, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Personal report (and therefore presumably not-allowed-because-of-unreproduceable-NOS-reasons): Even on the crappy Ni-Cad rechargeables of the time (typically 500 to 700mAh, 1.25v nominal), we could just about get enough playtime to end-to-end Sonic a couple times on a speedrun, or once when going for points and the good ending. Or in other words, what we measured as about 90 minutes. I know alkalines have improved a little over the years, but by as much as Ni-Cads becoming Ni-MHs, or in other words increasing from 600 to 2400mAh capacity? I'm not entirely sure I buy it. Maybe they've doubled over the last 20-ish years, but surely not quadrupled...

Either way up, we became way too familiar with that flashing warning light, and cursed the general lack of savepoints that didn't involve writing down some kind of code...

(We were never allowed to use non-rechargeables except in exceptional circumstances, though, so I can't directly speak for the time, and any contemporary alkaline AA from the time will have long since corroded to dust. Parents balked a little at the idea of spending £3 on a 6-pack of batteries only for them to be burnt out that same afternoon - whether it was 2 hours or 6 hours was neither here nor there, they probably would have demanded at least a 12-hour lifespan. Similar attitude when it came to remote controlled cars and the like, which were used in maybe 10-minute bursts before the batteries had to be charged up again... over about 16 hours... Thankfully we gradually bought a few extra sets ... to cover the times when we didn't just plug the AC adaptor into whatever nearby socket presented itself!) 193.63.174.211 (talk) 15:36, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

contradictory sentences on stereo/audio

I found two contradictory phrases in this article: In technical details: "In addition, it could also produce stereo sound (through headphones) as opposed to the Master System's monaural output, although very few games made use of the stereo capabilities."

In Sales history and Game Boy rivalry: "The Game Gear is capable of outputting only mono sound, compared with stereo sound on the Game Boy (via earphones)."

I removed the second one, since it seemed most out of place, but I'm not sure which one is correct. Perhaps I should have removed both... 213.22.44.33 16:41, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Using and comparing info from other Wikipedia articles(GameBoy & GameGear), I made the comparison between both handheld consoles' audio capabilities. The GameBoy can do stereo, but the GameGear only mono. Hellcat fighter 05:53, 16 March 2007 (UTC) Gameboy and DS take earphones and headphones available through kits or Nintendo Power.

So how come when I listen to mine through headphones, the sound is in stereo? Fail. 77.102.101.220 (talk) 20:03, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

The GameGear had stereo headphone output, but only a mono loudspeaker - which is pretty much what the original (5 year old!) statement said. Chaheel Riens (talk) 08:56, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Price of game gear games

How much did game gear games cost back then? Anyway with reliable info should contribute such price info to this article. Hellcat fighter 08:30, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I recall buying them for £30 in the UK. £29.99 to be precise.

And if you were impoverished but bored of your old titles, you could take your gaming life in your hands and go for some of the cheaper £19.99 games... generally turned out to be a mistake as you ended up with barely playable trash like Taz-Mania and would have to shell out a further £30 for something better anyway. 77.102.101.220 (talk) 20:05, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Link to TV Tuner somehow wrong

I just noticed that if you click on the "TV Tuner Adapter" link you're brought to a page that has nothing to do at all with the TV Tuner for the Game Gear, but is focused on TV Tuners for Personal Computers. There appears to be a redirect page, maybe a discrimination page can be used? Or, the "this page talks about the Game Gear tuner, if you were looking for other stuff click there" thing. Just an idea. Nineko 01:05, 15 July 2007 (UTC)

Top Selling Game

The top selling game had been listed as Sonic Chaos in the infobox. but an anon IP has now twice changed it to Sonic Blast. Since I couldnt find any sources to back up either, i blanked the "top game" line. If anyone has a source for which game is the top selling game for Game Gear, please add it back and cite it. heresthecasey | talk 20:36, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

some spelling

some spelling was wrong. corrected it. Gigakight (talk) 06:39, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Screenshot

The Sonic 1 title screen Game Gear screenshot is actually an edited screenshot of the SMS version, as the image is horizontally transformed and is not the true shape of the GG version's title screen. Please replace it with a screenshot of the Game Gear version's title screen. This also needs to be done for the Sonic The Hedgehog article under "Game Gear version" --Chykka207 (talk) 17:38, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I uploaded the screenshot in question. It has been edited because it was running under an emulator, and the Game Gear version of the game used appears in a small box in the centre of the screen. I am pretty sure I used the Game Gear rather than Master System version. If I get the chance I will re-run the emulator and check, submitting an alternative image if needed.

(edit) The screenshot is 160x144 pixels - others found on this page would seem to confirm this as the correct size for Game Gear screen. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 19:37, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

It's probably the correct resolution or close to it, but it may not be the right *aspect*. IE - were the GG's pixels square, or not? It seemed to have a somewhat wider display than most emulators give it (and what the gameboy had), I'd be quite willing to accept that the tech of the time meant that colour LCDs simply couldn't cram subpixels into a small enough width to give square full-pixels without also making the lines a bit taller, so they went for a compromise. No different than how most pre-HD TV standards and various other computer displays worked anyway.

Plus I was coming here to cast doubt on the "160x144, same as Gameboy" part anyhow. I know it's only a small pedantic difference, but up until now I'm pretty sure I'd seen it stated as 160x140, slightly smaller than the GB but making up for it with increased area, colour and backlighting. It never seemed absolutely clear in the vertical dimension anyhow, and a (possibly unreliable) source from elsewhere states it as "160x140 from 256x224", so I think something strange was going on, probably to do with the master system compatibility. Maybe internally 160x144 but slightly down-rezzed to 160x140 to fit on the LCD? Converted to NTSC composite video (with no colour artefacts thanks to the low resolution - the screen being too crude to show any chroma blurring or dot crawl) and sent to what may be essentially a portable TV jammed on the front, with the adaption between line numbers being carried out in an analogue fashion? That would make the SMS conversion a bit easier also... expand the rez, lower the colour depth, and change a couple of timing signals sent to the screen so it accepts a different number of lines with an altered scan rate to compensate... One thing is that current emulators may have 160x144 resolutions, but older ones were 160x140, i'm pretty sure of it (unless, of course, it was the older GAMEBOY ones?). Maybe it is able to render to that resolution, extending the backgrounds that far (multiple of 8 after all), but the top and bottom 2 lines are cut off for real-life display? 77.102.101.220 (talk) 20:16, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

POV?

[…] making it [the Game Gear] less cramped to hold [than the Game Boy].

This seems like it might be POV, criticizing the Game Boy’s design, but I dunno. Anyone else? —Frungi (talk) 02:08, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Try holding both systems. The Game Gear's wider design means your hands are further apart. The Game Boy and the Turbo Expess, your hands are closer together. of course, it does depend on the size of your hands as far as which one is more comfortable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.162.169.88 (talk) 20:16, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Screen is Passive Matrix not Active Matrix (TFT) ?

My Sega Game Gear (serial no. 151051279 with blue start button, and works with my Game Gear TV Tuner) has a screen which is terrible quality compared to my GameBoy Pocket and GameBoy Color, does the GG have a Passive Matrix screen ? As there is poor contrast (due to poor fill rate, i.e. there are relatively large gaps between the pixels allowing backlight to leak through, lowering contrast as a result) and there are noticeable streaks on the images when looking at single colour backgrounds. This needs to be mentioned in the article, as it's an important issue that alters the perceived quality of the unit compared to it's rivals GameBoy and etc. --Live Steam Mad (talk) 05:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

As it was first put together in about 1990, I'd say it's almost certain it's passive matrix, possibly dual-scan STN if they were being really fancy. TFT was a rare thing until the late 90s, with plenty of low-end laptops (however, massively more complex and expensive machines than the GG) still being sold with passive screens even then. I've got a ~1996 model somewhere around here that's one of the earliest mass market lappies (a once-shiny IBM) to sell with active matrix as standard, and the game gear was all but dropped by sega by that point. Mind you, with only 23k pixels to worry about, it doesn't suffer some of the worst ghosting and smearing artefacts found on SVGA passive panels... just niggling suggestions of them. I'd argue the backlight and full-colour sprites put it above the GBC, and having colour at all above the GBP, despite not having ultimate clarity (doesn't really matter much when you've only got 20x18 text cells)... though I ended up playing my Pocket a lot longer than the GG just because of the portability. And tetris... :D 77.102.101.220 (talk) 20:23, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

The screen is passive matrix. As far as to the quality, some Game Gears had better screens than the others. My later model Sega has a much better looking screen than the earlier model Sega. The Majesco has a noticeably better refresh rate, but its colors seem more washed out than the two Sega ones. It also my be that the screen on your Game Gear might not be as sharp as it used to be. You have to remember these things are older than most gamers are now. I've seen a lot of variation from unit to unit. You might need to look into replacing the backlight tube, or even having it converted to LED backlighting. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.162.169.88 (talk) 20:24, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

How exactly would an LCD end up being "less sharp" over time without actually just being broken? It's not like a miniature CRT where the beam can gradually go out of focus... The real difference is that, over the years, our standards have risen quite significantly (if rendered at 1:1 size on an iPhone retina display, the GG screen would take up about 12.5 x 11 mm, or less than 0.5" on a side), and what then was "just the way it is", verging on a "cool side effect" now instead just looks crude... or, if you prefer, nostalgic ;-)

(Now there's a thought - I wonder if the iPhone et al are now SO high-rez that they could in fact accurately emulate the "look" of a GameGear LCD, or that of an old-skool pocket TV (such as the one that was my first "own" set, and that I made a point of digging out and powering up for the last hour or so of analogue broadcasts in my area), much like some consoles offer a fake "CRT TV" mode for display on HDTVs, but more convincing? The overall density is probably 6x greater or more, and the physical size is greater, so you could make like it was being viewed through one of those clip-on magnifiers...) 193.63.174.211 (talk) 15:02, 16 April 2013 (UTC)

What's this supposed to mean?

It's in the Variations section, first paragraph: "Today the Game gear console does not work anymore." That sentence is very vague, and I don't see how it can possibly be true. Obviously, some Game Gears will have stopped working, but surely not all of them? Avengah (talk) 21:32, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

I think the reference is probably meant for the TV Tuner that only received analog over the air TV broadcast signals. Since the changeover to digital over the air TV broadcast signals, televisions not hooked up to a digital box converter can receive TV broadcast signals. My Game Gears (I own 2) still work for playing games. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.9.88.75 (talk) 03:14, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Sega Game Gear/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: ChrisGualtieri (talk · contribs) 19:09, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

• I'll be taking this one. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 19:09, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

• Before I get into the actual review I have some concerns. Sega was juggling 7 incompatible consoles at the time, with Game Gear being just one of them. Also didn't Sega halt the Game Gear to push Nomad? Sources like, "Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry:

Avoiding the Performance Trap" should be consults for this, because while it had its own negative points, the Game Boy didn't really dominate because of any single factor and it was a big part of Nomad and the other constant incompatible hardware swapping did Sega in. We got some quotes from the industry to back it up, and I think missing this out is a bit "revisionist history". It has a distinct lack of coverage on marketing, release, sales history, and development phases. It is glossed over very briefly, providing little detail expected of a GA console article. This simply must be addressed in order to get a full review. I am placing it on hold for now until the lack of content can be addressed. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:28, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Surprisingly I found very little about the Game Gear in my research... which is odd for a handheld that sold over 11 million units and competed well with the Game Boy. What I have here is the best I could put together with the sources I had. I will look for more over the next week, but I ask that you do give me that time; I work an abrasive job that puts me at work over 12 hours a day, so I will need the time to complete more research. I'd like to see this source that you're mentioning as well, as they would be useful to the article. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 00:34, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

(update) I just found an issue of Retro Gamer that should serve as an excellent source to help in these fundamental weaknesses. D'oh, how did I miss that in my research? Retro Gamer's "Retroinspection" series is an excellent resource for these older console articles. Again, I'm sure I'll still need the time and anything you can throw at me, but that should make this patch job much easier. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 00:49, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Another note (and hopefully this should be the last one): Surprisingly, no, nothing I've found has shown that Sega halted the Game Gear to push Nomad; in fact, every source I've seen including the RetroGamer article and Allgame says that Sega supported the Game Gear until 1997, when the Nomad itself was also suspended. IGN's "History of Sega" article has indicated that there was a full successor planned, but Sega scrapped it, which left the Nomad as the only successor (and I'm planning to redo the Nomad article within a month or two). Just wanted to note that point because it was specifically mentioned, and each article I have found has pointed to one or two things as to where the Game Boy beat out the Game Gear; although there is no single thing, there are several small things such as the Game Gear's battery life and lack of software. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 01:05, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

• No worries, I will give you time. Though page 85 of the book source does mention about "retiring", but not cutting support for the console.[13] I dunno, the lack of information to meet the broad criteria is a problem, I cannot justify passing an article as a GA just because online sources have been exhausted in the process - I am positive the material exists in dozen of magazines and company releases from the era. This will also be lacking in English sources, fyi, Sega pulled this with the Mega CD as you know. Sorry if I seem tough. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:27, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

• I'm not worried about seeming tough; I'd prefer a tougher GA review that helps to fully exhaust an article's quality rather than one that skims by and does not provide help with the article. For some reason Game Gear just hasn't had the coverage out there for a major console, but I'm sure it's there. When I redid this, I formatted it similar to my works in the now-GA Sega 32X and the likely soon-to-be-GA Sega CD, but I think this one has proven to be more challenging than either of them. Finding era resources, though, is the tougher problem; much more common are the reliable retro review sources, like IGN and 1UP.com, and for whatever reason IGN's articles on Sega CD and Sega 32X are pretty in-depth but shallow on Game Gear, imo. Certainly I think I can expand this reasonably within the next few days, but it'll be up to you whether or not it's enough. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 02:33, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

• I am glad you are able to expand it so much with some added work. Here is a link to a google translate of the Japanese article. It has some additional detail on special releases and variants of the Game Gear. Might be worth adding.[14] Other than that, unless we can get a behind the console type interview I think it we may end up exhausting our sources in English. Japanese sources would be hard to get, but I think it will meet the broad criteria with the added info, so I can begin the review when you are confident in it. Pushing just a bit harder yielded major results, but I think you are happy to have clarified and expanded so much of it, right? ChrisGualtieri (talk) 00:47, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Absolutely, very proud to have it expanded. In fact, this would've been a great day for me on Wikipedia if what had happened at Talk:Sega CD, my other GA nom, hadn't happened. I'm actually still surprised there isn't more about the Game Gear, but if the Retro Gamer article is to be believed, then Game Gear falls right in with Sega CD, Sega 32X, and Sega Nomad as being undersupported by Sega, which may explain the lack of coverage a bit. Even a book by Steven L. Kent called The Ultimate History of Video Games, which has been far and away one of the most useful references I've used in the last couple of months, had absolutely nothing to say about Game Gear. Most I really got out of console development was the idea of competing with the Game Boy and that to save time and money they duplicated a large part of the Master System's hardware. I'll look at the Japanese source tonight and see if I think I can use it, but otherwise, I think we're ready to begin the review and start fine-tuning any minor details remaining. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 01:34, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• I originally was going to take both reviews of the consoles, I had already printed and hand checked the work, but I did not tag them in time. That IP editor is incorrect. Even FA does not require different articles on a subject from around the world. I'm removing the tag and going to deal with the issue. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 02:08, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Thanks for helping, you might have just saved that review and a lot of effort for me ;) Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 04:41, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

• Are you ready for a re-review in light of changes, or are you done? ChrisGualtieri (talk) 12:45, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
  • It's ready now. I apologize for the delay; my work schedule has me with an equal number of days off as I have on, but I work 12 hours each day I'm on, meaning I'm essentially unavailable while I'm on a working day. I'll periodically check Wikipedia but don't have time to undertake projects on these days. Anyway, that fact aside, while doing the research to add on to Sega CD last week, it turns out the same issue of Retro Gamer I used for that also had a feature on the Game Gear, another one that isn't part of the "Retroinspection" series, and it had some interesting facts that weren't in their other article, so I had to add those in and use it for touch up. We're ready to review now. Red Phoenix ^{build the future...}_{remember the past...} 14:53, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
    • I feel more confident that the broad aspect has been met now, while deep details about Sega's development processes are secretive I do not believe that readers will be at a loss for an encyclopedic overview of the console and will have a better grasp then most sources can provide. Congratulations, it passes. ChrisGualtieri (talk) 03:01, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Gamepro's 11 million

In trying to figure out where VG Chartz got their 10.62 million from, I've found a book on page 30 discussing a similar figure. So Gamepro could be rounding up. « Ryūkotsusei » 03:57, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Possibly. We've questioned their figures before: one on consoles placed Sega 32X figures at 200,000 units sold, when we know it's much higher than that (though still not a fantastic seller). Red Phoenix ^{let's talk...} 04:52, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

Correction

GamesRadar's Top 50 Game Gear games actually names Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse the best game for the platform, not Shinobi (number 14). I believe the list was recently updated, but there is no reason this article should not be too.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 01:31, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Now that I can tell you must be recent; it was Shinobi when I put in the reference last year. I'm 100% sure of that. Red Phoenix ^{let's talk...} 01:54, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, GamesRadar has a tendency to do that. Thanks for fixing that up.TheTimesAreAChanging (talk) 02:30, 14 April 2014 (UTC)

Missing fact

No section about the korean version of Game Gear, Samsung Handy Gam*Boy.--95.89.229.101 (talk) 14:37, 7 June 2014 (UTC)

Requested move 17 February 2016

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: move. (non-admin closure) sst✈ 13:12, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

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Sega Game Gear → Game Gear – Simplification. The system was mainly refer to simply as the "Game Gear" in official documentations without Sega's name on it. – Jonny2x4 (talk) 17:38, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

@Jonny2x4 and BarrelProof: This is a contested technical request (permalink). Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:11, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

• It's probably not a good idea to do that without discussion. Wikipedia isn't based on "official names", and within company-specific documentation, more context can be assumed. The same suggestion was previously rejected in an RM discussion. —BarrelProof (talk) 18:32, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
• To many people, Game Gear is game gear is equipment for any game. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 23:11, 17 February 2016 (UTC)
  • First time I hear of this. Most results for "Game Gear" (with and without quotation marks) on Google show the portable device. Jonny2x4 (talk) 14:18, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose per BP and AA. Wikipedia does not use official names because they are official. -- 70.51.200.135 (talk) 04:38, 18 February 2016 (UTC)
  • I consider that, but there's really no other page with the title Game Gear on it. Game Gear redirects to Sega Game Gear. It's not like the Sega Genesis, where Genesis can mean a lot of things besides Sega's 16-bit video game console. Jonny2x4 (talk) 14:18, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

To prove that Sega simply referred to the platform as "Game Gear", here's a list of official sources in both, Japanese and English.

• This Japanese Sega Hardware Encyclopedia. Notice how the only platforms that actually have "Sega" in their names are the "Sega Mark III" and the "SegaSaturn".
• This Game Gear service manual. Compared that to the service manuals for the Genesis II/Mega Drive II and Sega Saturn.
• The side labeling for later Game Gear games compared to Genesis and Sega Saturn.

I could come up with more examples if any is needed. Jonny2x4 (talk) 19:38, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

• I took time to read the previous requested move and I realized the final decision was done under the mistaken assumption by user @Hbdragon88: that "Sega" was part of the console's name, even though I have shown evidence that it's not. Sega simply had a habit of putting their logo right next to the platform's logo and people make the common mistake of associating "Sega" as part of the platform's name. Jonny2x4 (talk) 14:36, 24 February 2016 (UTC)
• Support per WP:COMMONNAME and Game Boy. I can't imagine anyone expecting to find anything except the Sega thing at this title. Number 57 11:52, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
• Support per WP:CONCISE and WP:COMMONNAME. This is generally referred to simply as "Game Gear", and there is no need to include "Sega" for any disambiguation reasons.  — Amakuru (talk) 16:29, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
• Support provided this is not used as precedent for the Mega Drive/Genesis debate.  ONR  (talk)  18:43, 25 February 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Old Naval Rooftops (talk • contribs)
• Support. Unsurprisingly, a quick Google Books search supports "Game Gear"[15] as being more common than "Sega Game Gear".[16]--Cúchullain ^t/c 21:48, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
• Support, per WP:PTOPIC and WP:CONSISTENCY (Dreamcast, not Sega Dreamcast, GameCube, not Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, not Sony PlayStation 2, etc). soetermans. ^{↑↑↓↓←→←→ B A TALK} 15:15, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Image from this article to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Game-Gear-Handheld.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on 31 December 2018. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2018-12-31. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks  — Amakuru (talk) 10:11, 27 December 2018 (UTC)

Picture of the day

The Game Gear is a handheld game console by Sega, released in various countries between 1990 and 1992. The Game Gear shares much of its hardware with the Master System, and can play Master System games through an adapter. Containing a full-color backlit screen with a landscape format, Sega positioned the Game Gear as a technologically superior handheld to the rival Game Boy but due to issues with its short battery life, lack of original titles, and weak support from Sega, the Game Gear was unable to beat the Game Boy. The Game Gear was succeeded by the Genesis Nomad in 1995 and discontinued in 1997. It sold approximately 11 million units.Photograph: Evan Amos

Correction about VRAM space

According to the original schematics and to the datasheet of the HM65256B Static RAM chip, the Game Gear has 32kB (32,768 x 8-bit words) of video RAM memory and not 16kB as stated in the article. https://console5.com/wiki/Game_Gear#Schematics https://html.alldatasheet.com/html-pdf/136263/HITACHI/HM65256BLFP-10T/302/1/HM65256BLFP-10T.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.162.151.214 (talk) 10:03, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Poor quality capacitors

I think it would be important to acknowledge these, and the resultant gradual failure of pretty much all units between 2010 and 2020 or so (unless they've had at least a certain 17 of the 20 capacitors replaced). Anamyd (talk) 21:27, 8 March 2021 (UTC)

Reliable sources, please. Red Phoenix ^talk 01:33, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

I don't think it's important to point out that capacitors for 30-year-old hardware are only now starting to fail. MightyArms (talk) 01:50, 2 September 2022 (UTC)