Sega: ages of innovation

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Online gaming and motion sensitivity - why Sega was years ahead of its time

Remember when Game Boy Advance got its SP redesign not so long ago to give it a backlit screen? That was Nintendo finally catching up with Sega's 1991 handheld. Game Gear had a bright, 32-color display that put the black and green Game Boy LCD to shame. The screen was big (but fuzzy), the games weregreat and the console could be expanded to allow for play of Master System titles or even receive a TV signal with the TV Tuner. We watchedMonday Night Footballon a Game Gear recently and it really works - just so long as you find a reception sweet spot.

So what went wrong? Why did we never see a Game Gear 2? Well, actually there was a handheld Genesis a couple of years later called the Nomad. It functioned just like the home console, capable of plugging directly into your television, and featured the later day six button control scheme with an extra controller port for those on-the-go bouts in Street Fighter II: Championship Edition. You can still find it at flea markets and ebay these days, but it too suffered from the Game Gear's main problem - a criminally short battery life. Yup, in order to run that bright, power-sapping screen, you needed six AA batteries. And that got you about an hour and a half of play time, with the sound turned off. You could finish Sonic in that time if you were good, but then it was time to cough up for more batteries. Bye-bye Game Gear.

Above: Sonic the Hedgehog on Game Gear was a superb 8-bit rejig of the classic Genesis original

So what went wrong? Why did we never see a Game Gear 2? Well, actually there was a handheld Genesis a couple of years later called the Nomad. It functioned just likethe home console, capable of pluggingdirectly into your television, and featured the later day six button control scheme with an extra controller port for those on-the-go bouts in Street Fighter II: Championship Edition.You can still find it at flea markets and ebay these days,but it too suffered from the Game Gear's main problem - a criminally short battery life. Yup, in order to run that bright, power-sapping screen, you needed six AA batteries. And that got you about an hour and a half of play time, with the sound turned off. You could finish Sonic in that time if you were good, but then it was time to cough up for more batteries. Bye-bye Game Gear.

Justin Towell
Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.