This year is Sega’s 60th anniversary, and while the company has long since fallen out of the game console market, it has plenty of nostalgia to mine for this new micro-console craze. Following up its launch of the Genesis Mini, Sega has announced the Game Gear Micro in Japan. This portable game system is much smaller than the original handheld, and it comes in four colors. However, each color only has four games, with no way to add more.
The original Game Gear launched in the early 90s as a direct competitor to the Game Boy. While Nintendo’s handheld had a monochrome display without backlighting, the Game Gear had a 3.2-inch 4,096-color LCD. That came at the expense of battery life, though. Sega’s handheld would devour six AA batteries every few hours, but good luck holding it for that long — the Game Gear was about twice as heavy as the Game Boy.
While the Game Gear was the biggest portable of its era, the Game Gear Micro is downright tiny. It’s just 3.14 x 1.69 x 0.77 inches (WHD). That’s barely larger than the screen on the original system. The footprint is 86 percent smaller than 90s Game Gear, and the overall volume is 92 percent smaller. The display is similarly tiny at just 1.15 inches diagonal. Although, the 240×180 resolution works out to an impressive 260 pixels per inch. Sega even brought back the classic magnifying screen clip to make the tiny screen easier to see. It might not even look terrible, thanks to the high resolution.
As with all these new micro-consoles, the Game Gear Micro comes with a pre-loaded collection of games with no way to add more. The NES Classic came with 30 games, and the Genesis Mini had 40. The new Game Gear won’t be anywhere close with a mere four games, but that’s four games for each version of the device. Sega is making the Game Gear Micro in four colors, and each comes with four different games for a total of 16. Even though Sega could easily have loaded all those games on a single handheld, you’ll have to buy all four versions. Here are the variants:
- Black: Out Run, Puyo Puyo 2, Royal Stone, and Sonic the Hedgehog
- Blue: Baku Baku Animal, Gunstar Heroes, Sonic & Tails, and Sylvan Tale
- Yellow: Shining Force Gaiden: Expedition to the Land of Evil, Shining Force Gaiden II: The Sword of Hajya, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, and Nazopuyo Aruru no Ru
- Red: Columns, Game Gear Shinobi, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special, and Revelations: The Demon Slayer
Sega has thus far only announced the Game Gear Micro in Japan, where it will ship on October 6th for ¥4,980. That’s about $50. Even with the limited selection of games, it would be fun to see this device come to other markets. Fingers crossed.
Now read:
- Pour One Out for the Dreamcast, Sega’s Awesome, Quirky, Gone-Too-Soon Console
- It Looks Like Sega Nailed the Genesis Mini
- Sony Announces the PlayStation Classic, Packs in 20 Games
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