Game Gear Hey, Let's talk about Sega Game Gear games

[bcdusk]

Around 50 bucks US for a rechargable battery pack back then. A third of the price of the console.

In todays money thats the equivalent of buying Hollow Knight Silksong, a twenty dollar game, six times. also rechargable batteries back then did not even last a year, hence why they were used mostly for photo cameras.​

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Class got cancelled abruptly today, so might as well make the best of it!

(Picture is just of the opening demo. When actually playing, I had one of my longest gem combos ever, with a combo of SIX! Before I messed up a bunch of drops and lost the game. Oh well! There’s always next game!)

Post automatically merged: Jan 27, 2026

Brought Power Rangers too. Here’s a photo I took right before the Green Ranger ended my life during the giant fight.

 

[bliss_freak]

My dad has dug up my uncle's old Game Gear from his parents' attic. I now have possession of it and a few games, most of which are complete-in-box and a couple worth some actual money. The problems are (a) the capacitors on the Game Gear are burned out so I need to get it serviced, and (B) it's the launch model with the dogshit screen.

It's still pretty cool.

 

[bcdusk]

Again, the screen is still better that the brick Gameboy one.

Heck look at reviews at the time no.one complained about the Game Gear screen quality.

They complained about the price and shit battery life.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[bliss_freak]

Heck look at reviews at the time no.one complained about the Game Gear screen quality.

In fairness, I unquestioningly accepted the screen of my GameBoy Color as a little kid and now every time I fire it up I have no idea how I played on it. You can't see a goddamn thing.

 

[UnDubious]

The first screen I remember having a problem with was the original GBA, which didn't have a backlight. It was so dark I had to turn the lights off and set a flashlight on to hit the screen at the right angle, it was ridiculous. It bothered me a lot and I ended up only beating maybe one game on it. Before that I was probably too young to notice that kind of stuff much.

 

[bliss_freak]

I haven't seen the launch model GG screen but I'm told it has horrific ghosting that turns motion into a blurry mess, and that it was indeed made fun of for this.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Yeah, I think I must have later one since my screen isn’t the WORST. But, no matter the one, it still gets blurry if you play more action stuff. Power Rangers looks good, but Sonic stuff starts to blur a bit. Puzzle games are always the magic spot for this kind of screen, which leads me to one of my favorite GG games I’ve emulated…

MAGICAL PUZZLE POPILS!

It’s an action puzzler where you’re a young prince trying to save your princess in as few moves as possible by shattering rocks with your bear hands! But it’s cute. Very cute! It reminds me of the most appealing early 80’s arcade games, like Mappy and Bubble Bobble. Makes sense it reminds me of the latter, as it’s made by the same director behind Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island!

It has an unfinished NES port, but the good ol’ Gear is the only place the game was actually released. A massive shame, in my opinion, since it’s a damn good game.

 

[UnDubious]

I remember the screen getting blurry playing Sonic 2, but it wasn't anything crazy for the time. It was the state of technology.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

I remember the screen getting blurry playing Sonic 2, but it wasn't anything crazy for the time. It was the state of technology.

Yep. Most old handheld screens are rough to some degree. Which is actually how some developers hid imperfections, especially on systems like the GBA with its blown out color palettes.

For the Game Gear itself, the screen is okay and kinda cromulent. It’s just that the tech that was used to assemble it makes them hard to keep going. I’ll always represent original hardware, but whenever I bring up a game recommendation, I totally recommend playing on emulator. Emulating GG games is great! Especially using other, later handhelds to do it. Lots of good games, now on systems that don’t have the infamous faults the original hardware had!

 

[ThatOneLum]

I'm not sure if it was released on other systems, but Factory Panic was a pretty enjoyable puzzle game on the platform.

 

[bcdusk]

The GBC screen is a huge.improvement over the Game Gear but by then the Game Gear was dead.

It needs however good light conditions.

Anyway I do not recomend using an actual Game Gear, unless you have a screen and battery mod.

 

[UnDubious]

The GBC screen is a huge.improvement over the Game Gear but by then the Game Gear was dead.

It needs however good light conditions.

Anyway I do not recomend using an actual Game Gear, unless you have a screen and battery mod.

IMO no backlight destroys that screen. The GG actually had a backlight, it makes a bigger difference than some blurring with fast movement to me.

I never had an original model DS, but I had a DS XL and a PSP. I'd say those are the first generation of handhelds with really great screens. I have no issue with either.

 

[bcdusk]

The PSP was cool but battery life was horrible and so was the use of mini discs.

Hacked however the thing is great.

 

[Eclipse14]

I'll just go ahead and slip this in here. Made a thing on Tails Adventure. I intended this to be uploaded back in November, but things fell apart privately and it got put in cold storage. As I made quite a bit of material prior to that happening, I opted to simply work on it when I had time and release it when I was done. Not my best work, since this was effectively a salvaging attempt, but at least I was able to finish it.

 

[stealthRUSH stealthRUSH]

 

[BrawlMan]

Shinobi Game Gear and Sonic Triple Trouble were always my personal favorites on the system.

 

[bcdusk]

Overlooked Sega Game Gear Titles - Part One by Sega Lord X

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[MistarerX]

So many cools releases. My RG ARC loves them.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

I think that the actual most powerful handheld at that time was the Atari Lynx.
Also anyone here played that Mega Man game. Is pretty weird and haves a big screen crunch.

 

[Majora Fi]

Any Game Gear games I've played were ports that Brazil made for Master System.

 

[Moreno909]

I played a bit of Demon Child Zenki but so far it was great

 

[bcdusk]

I think that the actual most powerful handheld at that time was the Atari Lynx.
Also anyone here played that Mega Man game. Is pretty weird and haves a big screen crunch.

No, while the screen was technically superior many games lacked sound because sound lagged games a lot for some reason on the Atari Lynx.