Considering buying a Sega Game Gear

[MrPopo]

And Be Forewarned!![/b] the battery life is terrible, unless you have chargeable batteries.

Yeah, it's like 2 hours.

I don't see why everyone still says that the battery life is horrible, I use Energizer Lithiums and usually get 7-10 hours or more depending on how frequently I play it. Modern battery tech has come a long way since the early 90's, plus a decent 5.00 pack of batteries is infinitely better than the cheapos.

On the flip side, using said same batteries your Gameboy will run forever. Yes, it's not as bad as when the GG first came out and my brother's chewed through 6 in a couple hours. We never used batteries again with it after that; only the AC adapter. But relatively speaking the battery life is still bad for the GG.

[mobiusclimber]

There's also a rechargable battery pack. That's what I was using but I think mine is worn out now b/c it doesn't get as good/long a charge as it used to.

And what do you mean, no shmups??? (Whoever said it, that is.) The GG has:

Aleste 1 & 2
Fantasy Zone
Panzer Dragoon Mini (probably not worth the hefty price tag)
Magical * Taru Ruto-Kun
Griffin
Tails Sky Patrol

... Granted, they're probably not the best, but they do exist and might be worth looking into if you like shmups.

[futuramaguy42]

The only game I kept on my Game Gear is Sonic 2, which is different then the Genisis version, it's pretty cool. Maybe I would have liked the other games if I had played them longer but I didn't know that you could plug the system in and not use batteries.

Personally, if your not a collector, I don't recommend the Game Gear, the screen is hard to see, you have to tilt it at a certain angle to see it clearly, the battery life is terrible, 2-3 hours for 6 double A batterys. (I know this was talked about before in the thread but it is quite a bit flaw) Also the system is not portable at all but I'm sure you already know that.

On the plus side, if you have a Genesis 2 power cord, the one with the yellow tip, you can plug that into the Game Gear so you don't need to use batteries. (maybe it's a Genesis 3 cord I can't quite remember) Also the graphics are very good, near as good or the same as Genesis graphics, but the games have a weird blur, at least on my system, and as I've said, their hard to see.

EDIT: I was just playing Sonic 2 and I remembered, it's heavy, even without any batteries in.

P.S Sonic 2 scene 1 act 3 is so annoying, where you have to dodge the boulders and if one hits you, you die.

[CAv]

I owned a game gear for like a week once. I found one for $20, was so impressed with the price that I got it, and then realized that I had no real need for one. I returned it shortly after.

[Anapan]

My recommendations (that weren't already mentioned)
Gunstar Heroes
Megaman
Strider Returns
Ristar The Shooting Star
Wonderboy 3
Samurai Shodown
I didn't like Streets of Rage for GG, but the port of Battletoads is good.

[Curlypaul]

The problem with tilting the screen to see it clearly is due to a leaky capacitor, which the GG suffers from a lot. Sega orginal used these funny square surface mounted caps, but there is plent room to replace them with some small thru board caps.

I did mine a year or so ago and the screen is much better, although its still very low resolution and bit fuzzy.

[silverback]

I had 5 or 6 at one time, all needed the caps doing, all came back to life and worked perfectly afterwards. Well worth doing.

Its hard to believe how good the GG still is, ok its no PSP for graphics etc but its still excellent. Outrun, the sonics etc all fun games you can pick up and put down unlike the newer games where it takes an hour to get into the story and so on.

[shallowgamer]

I'm a sucker (idiot) for graphics, and Mortal Kombat II blew me away for its time.

[mobiusclimber]

There's also a Master Converter or something that lets you play Master System games on the GG. Really opens the library of titles up.

[shallowgamer]

There's also a Master Converter or something that lets you play Master System games on the GG. Really opens the library of titles up.

The "Master Gear Converter". Very neat, but makes the GG even less portable. Text gets a little tricky as well.