SEGA’s first foray into the portable gaming market and a direct competitor to Nintendo’s Game Boy. Released on October 6th 1990 in Japan and April 26th 1991 in America and Europe. It was later re-released by Majesco in 2000 but only in America. The console’s main selling point was it’s full colour, backlit display. The Game Gear is architecturally very similar to the Master System but with a broader colour palette. Master System games can actually be played on the Game Gear with use of an adapter. The console’s biggest drawback is its need for 6 AA batteries to run without a power adapter. It also suffers from poor battery life and the capacitors have a tendency to leak and cause the screen to fade and the sound to quieten over time. 390 games were released for the system and 10.62 million consoles were sold worldwide by March 1996.

Specifications

CPU
Main Processor: Zilog Z80 (8-bit)
Processor Speed: 3.579545 MHz (same as NTSC colorburst)
Audio: Texas Instruments SN76489

Graphics
Resolution: 160 x 144 pixels
Colors Available: 4,096
Colors on screen: 32
Maximum Sprites: 64
Sprite Size: 8×8
Screen Size: 3.2 Inches

RAM
8kB RAM, 16kB VRAM

Storage
ROM cartridge

Images