Tat Tuesday.

Last week when I was talking about GameCenter CX I mentioned that I was never a real gamer. I did have a number of game systems as a child. My favorite were the portable systems. Such as the Game Boy (Including all its upgraded versions), Neo Geo Pocket, and my personal favorite the Sega Game Gear. Which, in case you haven't guessed, is this Tat Tuesday's topic.

The Sega Game Gear was released on April 26, 1991 after two years in development. The Game Gear was designed to be a portable Sega Master System. As such it, unlike the Game Boy, was able to display a large palette of colors. There were down sides of course. Mainly the systems size and weight. A good deal of the weight came from the 6 AA batteries needed to power the system.

Even with all the pros he Game Gear had going for it, it could not beat the Game Boy. Although it did give it a hell of a fight. Sega ended support for the Game Gear in 1997 and its pseudo replacement the Sega Nomad did not have a long shelf life. Meanwhile the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Advance SP went on to be some of the most successful game systems ever.

I had a Game Boy. I liked it. It was a fun system with a ton of awesome games. However, the Game Boy never really found a way into my heart. The Game Gear on the other hand did. I received one for Christmas and it was one of the best presents I ever got. There was something about it that just made it feel cool. Maybe it was the color screen, or the black case, or just the size of the thing. Whatever it was I loved my Game Gear. I spent hours and hours playing it. There were so many fun and addictive games.

The version I got came with Columns, which was a Tetris style puzzle game. It wasn't as addictive as Tetris but it did have a few cool features. Such as the ability to choose a theme for the "blocks". I usually chose the fruit theme. Much like Tetris, the game just wormed it's way into your head and blocked out everything else. It was the type of game that ate time. If I actually look back and think about the amount of time I spent on that game I get a little cross eyed.

It wasn't my favorite game however, that honor goes to Aerial Assault. The game was a side scrolling shooter that boasted tight controls and good graphics. It was a simple game that had a good degree of difficulty. I played it so much I actually got pretty good at it.

My Game Gear game collection wasn't huge. I had at most a little over a dozen titles. Some of which were pre owned. Of those the one I remember the best was Wonder Boy.  (The cartridge I had went under the title Revenge of Drancon. It was only while researching this post that I learned the games real name.) When I bought it I knew nothing of the game. I thought it would be some sort of sword and sorcery action title. I was wrong. The game centered around a caveman named Tom-Tom. The story meant very little to me. I just liked that my character could use a skateboard.

A large part of my collection was made up of Sonic the Hedgehog games. Which, considering the Game Gear was made by Sega, is par for the course. There were many Sonic games made for the Game Gear and I had them all. The last of them Sonic Triple Trouble was the one I remember the most. At that point the games included hang gliding and snowboarding levels.

Games aside, the Game Gear meant something to me. I grew up relatively poor. In fact there were times when my Game Gear, a portable system mind you, had to stay at home, we just couldn't afford to buy the batteries. Now I never went hungry or slept on the street. My family, that is to say my mother and I, just didn't have much in the way of disposable income. As such I usually had to wait until Christmas or my birthday for anything other than the cheapest toys. When those days came I got the things other kids didn't have to wait for. The Game Gear was one of those things. Maybe that made me appreciate it more. Or maybe it was just that not every one had a Game Gear and my having one made me feel special. I can't be sure. All I do know is that to this day I miss my old Game Gear. In fact it wasn't until recently that I finally got rid of my Game Gear games. Even over a decade later it wasn't easy.

There is one other reason I love the Game Gear. It had a starring role in one of the most ridiculous films ever made. Watch the trailer above to see what I am talking about. Oh, I should add that the Nintendo 3DS, through it's 3DS Virtual Console, will feature Game Gear games. Who would have ever thought that my beloved Game Gear would get a second life from a Nintendo Console. The world sure has changed since I was a kid.

Wikipedia
Amazon
Youtube