The SEGA Game Gear Will Go Micro For SEGA’s 60th Anniversary

2020 marks SEGA’s 60^th anniversary [19], as well as the ironic success of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie and the 30^th anniversary of the SEGA Game Gear, SEGA’s answer to Nintendo’s Game Boy [26] [28]. To celebrate the two anniversaries and increase the company’s cred in a similar way of how the SEGA Mega Drive Mini has potentially helped celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the original Mega Drive outside of Japan [27] [34], a miniature version of the Game Gear has been announced not too long ago [5] [6]. So far, The Game Gear Micro is raising plenty of eyebrows. I think I have a thing for analysing and stating my thoughts on smaller handheld systems. First the Playdate that has recently demonstrated its own monochrome port of Doom [8] [9] [35] [36], then the Nintendo Vita [29]…oops! I mean Nintendo Switch Lite [14] [37] [38], now the SEGA Game Gear Micro. It also looks like pint-sized versions of old school consoles might have become a trend ever since the classic edition of the Nintendo Entertainment System came around in late 2016 [30]. A miniature version of a classic gaming system can either be exceptional and honourable or…could have been much better [3] [30].

I have got to stop ticking off some Vita misters and sisters by calling the Nintendo Switch Lite “The Nintendo Vita” [29]. [14]

Apart from that, I hope many employees at SEGA enjoy the company’s 60th anniversary! [19]

The Game Gear Micro will be available in four different colours to further increase its appeal [4] [6] [25], similar to how the Nintendo Switch Lite is now available in four colours, including a new lovely shade of coral [14]. Unfortunately, I do not think the decent variety of different colours will make up for how small the screen is, how tiny it will feel in the hands of many old school gamers and how awkward the risk of having to squint to see it more clearly will feel [5]. After all, the whole thing is only twenty millimetres deep, forty-three millimetres tall and eighty millimetres wide, making it smaller than a Nintendo Entertainment System controller [25]. Heck, it is as almost as small as the screen of the original Game Gear [25]! A way to see the screen more clearly would be holding the device close to your face, which would be almost as straining as looking at the red and black gameplay from any of the games for the Tiger R-Zone [12] [18] [35] [36]. Did Sonic the Hedgehog sneak into Mario’s trailer and give four of his mini mushrooms to a bunch of Game Gears after Beat from Jet Set Radio painted them with graffiti [7] [13] [20] [33]?

Look at tiny it is!! [4]

And look at the four different colours! [4]

In addition to four colours for the Game Gear Micro, there will be four games available for each coloured system [4] [25], which is quite fascinating to a degree. For example, the black Game Gear Micro will provide:

•    Sonic the Hedgehog’s first game from 1991 [4] [6] [25]
•    Puyo Puyo 2 [4] [6] [25]
•    OutRun [4] [6] [25]
•    Royal Stone [4] [6] [25]

The games that blue Game Gear Micro will consist of will be:

•    Sonic and Tails [4] [6] [25]
•    Gunstar Heroes [4] [6] [25]
•    Sylvan Tale [4] [6] [25]
•    Baku Baku Animal [4] [6] [25]

The red Game Gear Micro will come with:

•    Megami Tensei Gaiden Last Bible [4] [6] [10]
•    Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special [4] [6] [11]
•    Columns [4] [6]
•    The GG Shinboi [4] [6] [21]

Lastly, the yellow Game Gear Micro will include:

•    Shining Force [4] [6] [24]
•    Shining Force 2 [4] [6] [23]
•    Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict [4] [6] [22]
• ·  Nazo Puyo [4] [6] [16]

Reflecting on the fitting but unfortunate size of the Game Gear Micro, having to buy all four colours to play every single ported game on a Game Gear Micro may not feel all that rewarding to plenty of video game collectors since the handheld’s size seems quite too impractical [25]. Nevertheless, I suppose each Game Gear Micro can at least be a unique collectors’ item for plenty of old school gamers out there. Dare to collect all four?

The Game Gear Micro gang will provide four ports each. That makes sixteen ports of retro games that were available for the original Game Gear at the time in total. [4] [6]

I strongly believe that my boyfriend will choose either the black one or the blue one since both of those versions will consist of an instalment of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise [4] [6]. [25]

The concept of a pint-sized Game Gear reminds me of the Game Boy Micro, a small model of the Game Boy Advance that was established back in 2005 [1] [31]. Sadly, the second redesign of the Game Boy Advance was a failure due to its lack of backwards compatibility and how it was released after the debut of the Nintendo DS [2], but it also came in a bigger variety of different colours [1] [31], including:

•         Black
•         Silver
•         Pink
•         Green
•         Red
•         Blue
•         Purple

The Game Boy Micro seemed to be almost the same size as a Nintendo Entertainment System controller [31]. Furthermore, it is no wonder the Game Gear Micro will simply be a rehash of it for the early 2020s, despite having a smaller variety of different colours [4] [6] [25]. Another notable difference is that any Game Boy Advanced game could be played on a Game Boy Micro in any colour [1] [31]. How only four games will be available depending on the colour of the Game Gear Micro might feel too limited. Reflecting on the poor sales of the Game Boy Micro back in the mid-2000s [1] [31], it looks like the Game Gear Micro might be at risk of heading down the same fate.

Not even the Pikachu edition of the Game Boy Micro could rapidly increase its sales back in the mid-2000s. [1]

The edition of the Game Boy that celebrated the 20th anniversary of Nintendo sadly did not help either. [1]

Luckily, there is an accessory that can help those who have their hands on a Game Gear Micro see the screen far more easily and that is no other than the Big Window Micro [4] [6] [25]. Its name is quite oxymoronic if you ask me. Too bad the Game Boy Micro never had an accessory to help magnify its screen. Even though I could be grateful and appreciative towards how a useful accessory would increase a device’s playability, the appearance of it slightly decreases the appeal of the handheld’s visual appearance. It reminds me of the Light Magic, an accessory that would shine its light around a Game Boy’s screen to make it easy to see in a dark room and has a magnifying glass to make it seem bigger and even easier to see, even though it seemed quite tacked on due to its fairly odd design [17]. At least the Big Window Micro has a quite cool design as it resembles a television set you would see in the 1990s, the decade the original Game Gear was released in [26]. The add-on also does not seem as excessive as the Booster [17]. Sometimes less is more and one solution to one problem is enough.

The Big Window Micro looks like a television set from the ’90s, increasing the nostalgic vibe despite making the Game Gear Micro look a little bulky. [25]

What will be next? Platform shoes that have a slot to place a Gamer Gear Micro into? It worked for the Game Boy Color at some point. [17]

In all honestly, I would prefer to play any of SEGA’s nostalgic gems on the original Game Gear from the ‘90s [26]. I would not want to risk having to squint unless I am holding the handheld closer to my face whilst feeling a little discomfort near my elbows. At least I can always attach the Big Window Micro accessory onto the system.  Despite how the Game Gear Micro seems too small and unnecessary to many ‘90s kids to play on comfortably as fairly young adults [5], it will be available on shop shelves in October 2020 [25]. I do not think plenty of our dear Vita misters and sisters would be too pleased with a PlayStation Vita Micro [28]. At some point in the rest of this new decade, I would still like a recreation of the original Game Boy called “Game Girl” with the colourful 8-bit graphics from the Game Boy Color [34], along with a recreation of the Game Boy Camera for talking far more colourful selfies with the quality of an iPhone SE selfie to balance the nostalgic vibes of handheld Nintendo gaming from the 1990s with a little more female empowerment in today’s modern gaming society [17] [32].

I think I would prefer the Playdate due to how it is proportionately bigger and can at least show something refreshing, which is an appealing chalkboard-like aesthetic on the screen [8] [9] [35] [36]. [15]

Anyway, we are yet to find out how well the Game Gear Micro will do and how much it can honour the legacy of the original Game Gear. Will it sell decently? Will it also be released outside of Japan [4]? [25]

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