Sega Game Gear (SEGA GAME GEAR) Roms

Sega Game Gear ROMs

Sega Game Gear is part of the fourth generation of handheld game consoles. Introduced by the reputable Sega, it was welcomed with high interest. It was originally released in Japan in the autumn of 1990. By 1991, it was already available in Europe and North America too. It made it to Australia in 1992.

Sega Game Gear had a harsh competition. Atari had its Lynx console, boosting quite a few innovative features. Nintendo had the world renowned Game Boy, not to mention the TurboExpress console from NEC.

From many points of view, the Game Gear is similar to the Master System. Much of the hardware is identical. At the same time, players could enjoy Master System games on the Game Gear, but they required a special adapter.

Based on numbers, Nintendo's Game Boy was the main competition for the Game Gear. However, Sega's console came with something special. It had a full color screen, and it also featured the landscape format, something the Game Boy lacked.

Sega Game Gear also had a few benefits over TurboExpress and Lynx. For example, the game library was quite amazing, bringing access to a plethora of unique titles. Furthermore, the price wasn’t an issue either, despite the extra features.

There were a few minuses that contributed to its mixed reviews, though.

First, the battery wasn’t great. Therefore, you couldn’t spend hours smashing game after game. At the same time, it had no original games. Despite having some unique titles, none of them was actually proprietary.

As if all these were not enough, the support from Sega was quite low.

By the spring of 1996, Sega Game Gear sold more than 10 million units. However, it couldn’t surpass Game Boy. Therefore, it was discontinued in 1997.

Believing in its capabilities, Majesco Entertainment took it over and kept producing it under a Sega license until 2000.

Reviews went in two different directions. Some people appreciated the screen and power of the processor. Some others criticized the game library and battery life.

Believe it or not, more than 300 games were released for Sega Game Gear. The console required cartridges for the games, which varied in price. Some of the leading names include Sonic the Hedgehog, Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and The GG Shinoby. Space Harrier was also quite popular.

Games released later were practically some updated versions of the games released by Genesis. In other words, there was nothing really new for the fans. Porting Master System games was also doable due to the landscape orientation, but then again, those weren’t new for players.

The lack of games was because Nintendo had a monopoly over the video game market, so there weren’t too many developers able to provide games for Sega.

Whether you owned a Sega Game Gear console or you want to explore some of the original games in the industry, you can now download free ROMs and emulate them on modern machines, without actually altering the original experience of the video game console.