The
Sega Game Gear was
Sega's response to
Nintendo's
Game Boy. It was released in
1991 and was basically a pocket
Sega Master System, though it seemed to have arguably better graphics. However, despite its technical superiority, it did not gain a significant market share due to the enormous popularity of the Game Boy. It did have a few setbacks: the backlit screen led to high battery drain, and it was rather large. Mostly, however, it suffered from a lack of quality games, as Sega failed to sign up as many key software developers as Nintendo. Today, the Game Gear is widely considered to have been a failure, and unlike the Game Boy no newer versions were released.
- Main Processor: Zilog Z80 (8-bit)
- Processor Speed: 3.58 MHz (same as NTSC dot clock)
- Resolution: 160 x 144 pixels
- Colors Available: 4,096
- Colors on screen: 32
- Maximum Sprites: 64
- Sprite Size: 8x8
- Screen Size: 3.2 Inches
- Audio: 4-channel tone generator
- RAM: 24 KB