On October 6, 1990, Sega released the exceptionally unique handheld gaming console, Game Gear. When hearing about handheld game consoles back then, many people would likely picture a vertically long body. The Game Boy and PC Engine GT from the same period were also vertically long in style, but the Game Gear was boldly horizontal. Because its design diverged slightly from the image of the time that a handheld device should be shaped a certain way, its presence when seen in stores for the first time must have been quite massive. Since its shape allows you to hold it firmly with both hands on the left and right sides, it fits comfortably during operation, and looking at it again now, it is surprising that it adopted a style leading to subsequent handheld game consoles as early as 1990.

When talking about the Game Gear, what absolutely cannot be left out is its color LCD. During gameplay, it could display 32 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 4,024, and furthermore, it was equipped with a backlit 3.2-inch color LCD display for the first time as a domestic game console. While beautiful color screens on mobile devices are taken for granted today, back in 1990, the impact of a portable game console screen glowing vividly and displaying the game world in color must have been substantial. It was a product that completely changed the perception of “color on the home TV, but monochrome outside.” As a handheld game console, a model that adopted a color LCD earlier was Lynx, released in 1989 by the overseas manufacturer Atari, but there are likely many who remember the Game Gear as the single unit that strongly impressed Japanese users with the existence of color handhelds.

Furthermore, the Game Gear had a feature that would make you want to say, ”It can even do that?” That was watching TV. By attaching the separately sold ”TV Tuner Pack” into the cartridge slot, the Game Gear could surprisingly be used as a small television. While watching videos on smartphones is everyday life now, back then, an environment with only one TV per household was not uncommon. If the show your family wanted to watch overlapped with the show you wanted to watch, what naturally began was a battle for the TV channel. In such an era, being able to watch TV programs on the Game Gear right in your hands must have held value far beyond a mere bonus feature. A machine meant for playing games turning into ”your own personal TV” with just one peripheral. In this playful idea, one can feel Sega’s signature challenging spirit.

What is interesting about the Game Gear is that it does not attempt to play it safe within the framework of a handheld game console. A horizontal body, a backlit color LCD, and the expandability to watch TV. Beyond just saying ”you can carry it around and play games,” an ambition to try doing various other things precisely because it is a handheld device comes through from every aspect. Of course, if you simply compare its performance with modern devices, there is a difference of era. However, touching it while considering its release timing of 1990 reveals the forward-looking nature of what Game Gear was aiming for. Rather than merely gazing at the numbers on a spec sheet, imagining ”how did this look to the people who got their hands on it at the time” might let you appreciate the appeal of this hardware even more.

The Game Gear is an unforgettable presence when looking back at the history of handheld game consoles. The fact that games were displayed in color on a 3.2-inch screen, that the screen itself glowed thanks to the backlight, and that you could even enjoy TV if you attached the TV Tuner Pack. Even if these features do not seem extraordinary now, the value lies in having packed them into a handheld game console in 1990. Rather than pursuing pure convenience, the Game Gear feels like a direct realization of the idea, ”Wouldn’t it be exciting if a handheld game console like this existed?” Even when viewed today, long after its release, it is a truly deep and delightful piece of gaming hardware that lets you feel the momentum of Sega as it tried to get ahead of the future.