It was not. In fact, the GG had a slower CPU than the original GB. It had a more advanced video chip and more RAM, but compared to the GBC it was definitely less powerful and it's not close.
Well, it seems you already answered your affirmation before even saying it (?), but ok:
"it's not close, cause the CPU is more fast, bro"
Oh... so, let's see now some CPU speeds on the same generation then:
16Bits
-Mega Drive/Genesis:
7.6 MHz
-Super Famicom/Super Nintendo: 3.58 MHz
"it's not close, SNES was definitely less powerful". RIght?
32birs
-Sega 32X: 23 MHz x 2 full CPUs
-Playstation: 33.87 MHz
"it's not close, PSX was definitely less powerful". Right?
Let's see now in detail, some remembered 8-bit portables of the 90s:
8-bit Portables
-Game.com:
Sharp SM8521 at 10 MHz
-Game Boy classic: Sharp SM83 at 4.2 MHz / Game Boy Color: Sharp SM83 at 8.2 MHz
-Game Gear: Zilog Z80 at 3.5 MHz
"it's not close, Game.com was definitely the most powerful". Right?
You want to escalate that to the next steep?
Let's see Mini Portables from the turn of the millennium:
Memory Card/Mini Portables
-Sony PocketStation:
ARM7T 32-bit RISC chip at 8 MHz
-Sega VMU: 8-bit Sanyo LC8670 at 6Mhz
-Pokémon Mini: 8-bit S1C88 at 4 MHz
"it's not close, PocketStation was definitely the most powerful" . And YES, it is. But for what? managing a bunch of dots in a calculator-alike dot-matrix display? Was PocketStation, as a "console", any better than the other 2? Nope.
Yes. Sony wasted 32Bits technology for that. Why? Who the fuck knows.
You see, the CPU is not what we are talking here. It is THE SYSTEM.
When I said, and I'm quoting: "
GG, I'm pretty sure, was more "powerdul" than the GBC from 1998" is because I'm talking about the system. Not the CPU. Why? because sometimes, both things are not the same.
We also can talk about the
PC-Engine/Turbografx, and how, although it has a 8-bit CPU at 7.16 MHz, NOBODY, and I mean, NOBODY, talks about it as an 8-bit console. Because it would be nuts to do that. Why? because its hardware was WAY superior to the NES and Master System.
It was the system, the full chipset, not the CPU speed, what really makes that console a 4 generation console (MD/SNES), already in 1987. And it sold better than Mega Drive in Japan, during that generation.
Anyways, IF YOU want to believe GBC was "more powerful than GG", ok. I will not debate that. BUT, I will NOT share that view, sorry.
And of course, it is not just as simple as comparing CPUs: That may serve many times, but not always: Saying the original classic GB was "powerful" than the Game Gear... to me, is almost a joke.
Yes, SM Land 2 was fucking great and had massive character sprites, ok (it was a massive massive improvement respect to the 1st one). But Boy... GG had amazing games in full color, including platformers (and not only Sonics), action games, shoot em ups, or even great tactical RPGs.
And in ANY case, we will agree in that:
both consoles were too similar to be considered different generations... when one of them was 8 years older, and that was a LOT (I mean, MASSIVE) in the 90s technology.
Because, I repeat, GBC, when it appeared, was a very old hardware already: in Nintendo, they basically just "overclocked" the old CPU to make it able to manage the new color games. That does not mean it was a BAD console (it was not a bad console, by any means).
But I'm gonna tell you this: sometimes, was ridiculous to see how while the"domestic" consoles achieved BIG developments in 10 years (1990-2000), from NES/MS to Dreamcast/PS2... portable games were just fucking stuck in 8bits 2D games, like the very ones you already saw in portable systems from 1991.
If you bought a Nintendo magazine in 1997-1998, you will get N64 previews and reviews of games with some big names, like Banjo Kazooie or Turok 2... and Game Boy games, like the ones you already saw when Super Mario World for SNES was brand new. Now with colors! Like in GG! remember GG??
Also the GBC having less battery life is heavily misleading. It got more than half the time on half the batteries. Battery life had improved so much over the decade that they realized they could use 2 batteries instead of 4 and still get plenty of time while reducing the size of the unit. By contrast the Sega Nomad still needed 6 batteries because it uses a very similar panel to the GG and that thing still drained batteries at an obscene clip.
GBC and Game Boy Pocket had a lot less battery life than original Game boy, being basically the same kind of hardware (especially GB Pocket). Yes they used less batteries, so, of course had less hours, but they had a lot less battery life than classic GB. Sorry.
The "improvement in using energy" was possible there, but nonetheless, was not a huge difference and was not that impressive after all those years, because GB hard was so basic and designed specifically to save battery already in 1989... it was difficult to improve its consumption after many years.
Nomad was a full official Genesis/Mega Drive portable console in 1995. That was very impressive and amazing, and could be used just as a normal Genesisi/Mega Drive connecting it to a TV, 10 years before PSP (even having a port for a 2nd pad).
Do not hate it, just love it. SEGA developed a new reduced board for it, and for sure, tried to make it less demanding in energy, but nonetheless, do not expect any miracles in battery life for a FULL Genesis with a full 68K CPU (and a bunch of other chips)... using normal batteries. Because, I repeat, their mission was to play Genesis games. Bigger changes in the board would provoked the console not being compatible and would have killed the idea. SEGA was not developing a new console there, just wanted to put a screen in a MegaJet, cause it made sense.
As it happened with TurboExpress, those portable "domestic consoles" were thought to be played mostly using an AC/DC adapter, with the possibility of battery gaming for some times. And yes, that makes a lot of sense in the 90s: not many TVs in the houses. In fact, TurboExpress and Game Gear, had official analog TV adapters because that: it was an interesting feature even in home.
Of course, Nomad had a LOOOT less battery life than a Game Boy. And forget about "the panel". the panel of Nomad was FINE. It had a full backlight, that means it used a little neon light behind the screen, like GG had. That could eat faster your batteries, but was very useful.
GBC did not had any backlight, as GB had not. In fact, the ORIGINAL GBA did not had backlight in 2001. GBA SP was the first one (not counting GameBoy Light, which is a japanese-only rare version of Pocket), and was very applauded for that (who would imagine that!).