It was doing miles better than the competition (Atari Lynx and PC Engine GT), though, which is why I meant to consider it, too.
It's main Problem was that Sega decided to focus entirely on the Megadrive/Genesis, thus leaving software support for the Game Gear pretty bare and mostly released Master System ports. After 94 it didn't sell much anymore due to this, those 10M came mostly just from the 2 first years.
I think the bigger issue is that it was $60 dollars more expensive (150 vs 90) and used 6 AAs which it burned through in under 5 hours vs the GB getting up to 30 from 4.
Try 1 hour instead of 5 the liquid screen burned through batteries sometimes in 20 minutes.
Gameboy shipped more in the year that Game Gear launched than Game Gear shipped lifetime. This is even true for Europe.
It was doing miles better than the competition (Atari Lynx and PC Engine GT), though, which is why I meant to consider it, too.
It's main Problem was that Sega decided to focus entirely on the Megadrive/Genesis, thus leaving software support for the Game Gear pretty bare and mostly released Master System ports. After 94 it didn't sell much anymore due to this, those 10M came mostly just from the 2 first years.
Doing better than colossal failures is not a reason to be considered.
I dug up some old numbers on neogaf for yearly shipments.
I think the bigger issue is that it was $60 dollars more expensive (150 vs 90) and used 6 AAs which it burned through in under 5 hours vs the GB getting up to 30 from 4.
Try 1 hour instead of 5 the liquid screen burned through batteries sometimes in 20 minutes.
Never heard of such crappy ones before, must have had some defects or really shitty batteries (like in 500 times recharged already).
Mine generally held up for about 4-5 hours, similar to the Switch in fact. Could get up to 6 hours with Zinc/Carbon batteries, but those where too expensive back then.
Try 1 hour instead of 5 the liquid screen burned through batteries sometimes in 20 minutes.
Never heard of such crappy ones before, must have had some defects or really shitty batteries (like in 500 times recharged already).
Mine generally held up for about 4-5 hours, similar to the Switch in fact. Could get up to 6 hours with Zinc/Carbon batteries, but those where too expensive back then.
It's hard not to hear such stories they were very common, in the UK the game gear became a running gag as a result and the batteries used weren't crappy ones either they were from notable brands like Duracell.
Never heard of such crappy ones before, must have had some defects or really shitty batteries (like in 500 times recharged already).
Mine generally held up for about 4-5 hours, similar to the Switch in fact. Could get up to 6 hours with Zinc/Carbon batteries, but those where too expensive back then.
It's hard not to hear such stories they were very common, in the UK the game gear became a running gag as a result and the batteries used weren't crappy ones either they were from notable brands like Duracell.
I know 5 persons who had a Game Gear but not one came even close to such bad battery life, 3-5 hours was the consensus we had.
It's hard not to hear such stories they were very common, in the UK the game gear became a running gag as a result and the batteries used weren't crappy ones either they were from notable brands like Duracell.
I know 5 persons who had a Game Gear but not one came even close to such bad battery life, 3-5 hours was the consensus we had.
Anecdotal as I know 10 people who had a GG and they struggled to get an hour out of the thing I even had one and had the same issue.
I know 5 persons who had a Game Gear but not one came even close to such bad battery life, 3-5 hours was the consensus we had.
Anecdotal as I know 10 people who had a GG and they struggled to get an hour out of the thing I even had one and had the same issue.
Anecdotal for both of us I guess. I never heard of such low battery life before, and couldn't find evidence of such short battery life either. Unless you guys bought the cheapest NiCd batteries, as they where total crap no matter the brand. What batteries you used mattered a lot for the Game Gear. just look here:
Anecdotal for both of us I guess. I never heard of such low battery life before, and couldn't find evidence of such short battery life either. Unless you guys bought the cheapest NiCd batteries, as they where total crap no matter the brand. What batteries you used mattered a lot for the Game Gear. just look here:
With more modern batteries the Game Gear lasted 7.5 hours, twice as long as the OG 3DS.
Duracell are the go to brand for batteries over here they weren't the cheapest and using a comparison with modern batteries is very moot because people wouldn't be using those back in 92 the same batteries when in a GB lasted 30 hours. The 3DS comparison is also moot as it's running more demanding games, the hardware is more advance, has 2 screens and the battery is rechargable.
I doubt it. The biggest threat long term is mobile and steaming services but that's very long term. Right now I can't see anyone building a rival hybrid.