What if? Game Gear

[kool kitty89]

OK, so this is somthing that has come up a couple times with the GG in discussions I've had, most recently this:

The Nomad was a bad move, at least from a buisness standpoint. It was just an expensive addition for current Genesis users, more or less, not increasing Genesis software popularity or such, and not offering its own games. That and it was an even less practical handheld than the GG, bulkier, more power hungry, and with bulky genesis cartridges. Game sales is where the money is, sell the hardware cheap, possibly at a loss, and profit from software sales. That's where the 3DO missed it.

Perhaps the Game Gear did need a successor, or maybe just compete more directly with the GB in cost, size/convienence, and battery life.

A good successor would need to correct the size, cost, and battery life issues with the original GG, and preferably be Backwards compatible. Perhaps a modest upgrade, closer to the Genesis in some aspects, but still simple enough to be cost/size/power efficient. (like upgrade the VDP to capabilities closer to the Genesis, but maybe just using a faster Z80 rather than adding a 68000, plus a sound upgrade, maybe the YM2413 of the JP SMS, or the YM2612 of the Genesis, and add more buttons)

This is off topic though, and deserves its own thread if continued.

(note that I was talking purely in a mass market/buisness perspective on the Nomad comment, as cool as it is, it wasn't a good sucessor for the GG)


So just a kind of general "what if" on the Game Gear. What things could have been done different during its life, and what a successor should have been like. (and when it should have been released)

Any thoughts on what a cut-down GG could have done? (ie the non backlit one suggested in my quote)

How important were things like portability (ie size), cost, and battery life in competing with the Game Boy, opposed to the game library?

[j_factor]

I don't think the Nomad was a bad move, only because I don't think it was really a "move" at all. They threw together a portable version of the Genesis and just kind of put it out there. It's not like they spent a lot of money on it or expected it to be a success. I don't think it was ever intended as a Game Gear successor, it was just its own little thing.

At that point in time (circa 1995) they could've just redesigned the Game Gear, rather than coming out with a successor. Much like the Game Boy Pocket. A smaller Game Gear with better battery life and a better screen would have been smart. I think if you try to make it more powerful on top of that, you have to compromise something else (or make it really expensive), considering the time frame. Plus a new system would've been a harder sell, since development wasn't that hot to begin with, splitting it further into Game Gear leftovers and new games for the new system wouldn't have been great. I don't think it would've been as hard to get companies to keep making Game Gear games, especially with a system revitalized by a new design. Throw in a new Sonic (not Sonic Blast) and the Game Gear's selling again.

An actual successor could've come later, like the Game Boy Color. The Game Gear's true successor could've been (and should've been) the WonderSwan Color. Sega was supposed to merge with Bandai but it went sour at the last minute.

[17daysolderthannes]

I just think people weren't ready for a premium portable system at the time. Back then video games were often relegated to kids and if an adult actually was buying it, they wanted something familiar (Tetris) and cheap (Game Boy). I think the Nomad could've been great, they should've pushed it as a handheld format and just kept developing Genesis games into the new millenium. It would've kept current Genesis owners happy as well to have new software constantly available.

All I know is that I hope with all of the 20-in-1 Game Gear clones coming out we get one with a cart slot and a nice screen since the Game Gear is almost the only video game system with severe long-term lifespan problems due to capacitors.

long sentence, I'm tired.

[Nunzio]

If Sega could have focused on improving their handhelds and keeping up with Nintendo instead of focusing on Saturn and then Genesis I think the world could be completely different today. There is no doubt that the Game Gear had potential and held a nice audience, but they dropped it basically. Game Boy moved on to GBC, and Game Gear just died. There was never any improvement.

If Sega could have stuck to their guns then despite the failure of Saturn and Dreamcast they could still be in the hardware market today as the only realistic competitor to Nintendo's handheld stranglehold. No doubt some games like Sonic lend themselves to smaller style platforms (just like Metroid, did fantastic on the switch).

Who knows where we could be today if there had been a smaller, more efficient Game Gear heir. Certainly the market would be completely different. Although Neo Geo Pocket and Wonderswan made good runs, they didn't have the history Sega had in the handheld game to bring their audience with them. AES buyers? All 12 of them? If there was a GG2 and they could get a reasonable amount of GG owners to commit... oh man.

[QuickSciFi]

I think a Game Gear 2 (another Sega handheld, in general) is far more feasible than a full blown console. I'm still hopefull.

I agree with j factor. I never really saw the Nomad as an answer to the game gear. It was just another version of the sega genesis/md; a treat for us hardcore genesis/md gamers in portable form.

[the.importer]

If SEGA would have released the Nomad (smaller and better) to compete with the GBA and re-released Genesis games, they could have had a chance, I think.

[retrospiel]

from http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?p=182225

The Genesis somewhat flopped initially, but they stuck with it and had great success.

Same for the Master System. It was successful in Europe and Brasil because they stuck with it even when they didn't have a billion seller on day one.
Sega of Japan designed games like Asterix, Sonic or the Disney games specifically for these markets, even when they didn't sell SMS stuff in Japan or North-America anymore.

But this goes for Japan itself too, where they had the hardware in stores since 1983 ("SG-1000", "Mark 3" since 1986) and supported it with software until 1990 (Master System), or actually 1996 (Game Gear).

Of course, there also was a lot of nostalgia involved. They just totally were in love with the Z80, the SN76489 and the TMS9918 VDP. Practically all the designers that created our favorite MD/G games started with devloping for the SG-1000/Mark III, from Yuji Naka and Rieko Kodama to Yuzo Koshiro.

The pulled the plug on Sega CD and 32X before people even knew they existed. Basically the same thing with Saturn and Dreamcast.

I agree.

Usually it's Kalinske who is associated with the success of the Genesis but actually he didn't do much if anything at all - other than being at the right place at the right time.
The Genesis was a success because it was an excellent hardware with incredible games. When Kalinske joined they could sell Genesis at a lower price than when Michael Katz was in charge.

Kalinske acutally did a piss-poor job at positioning all the systems Sega released since 1990: Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, Sega Saturn.

Most of the games that were produced under Kalinske at SOA were absolutely terrible, from Fantasia to that FMV garbage on SCD to Bug! on Saturn.

It's not so much the hardware itself but these games that ruined Sega's reputation and turned away customers.

[Baloo]

That's pretty much with every Sega console, they wanted it to sell a bajillion units within a super-small amount of time. They didn't want anything less, and that's why the Dreamcast was cut, the Saturn was cut, and the 32x was cut. All three of those systems had a lot of potential and possibly could have come out successful (especially Dreamcast and 32x) had Sega just stuck with it and not dumped them off on the doorstep like a child at the orphanage.

[the.importer]

from http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?p=182225



Same for the Master System. It was successful in Europe and Brasil because they stuck with it even when they didn't have a billion seller on day one.
Sega of Japan designed games like Asterix, Sonic or the Disney games specifically for these markets, even when they didn't sell SMS stuff in Japan or North-America anymore.

But this goes for Japan itself too, where they had the hardware in stores since 1983 ("SG-1000", "Mark 3" since 1986) and supported it with software until 1990 (Master System), or actually 1996 (Game Gear).

Of course, there also was a lot of nostalgia involved. They just totally were in love with the Z80, the SN76489 and the TMS9918 VDP. Practically all the designers that created our favorite MD/G games started with devloping for the SG-1000/Mark III, from Yuji Naka and Rieko Kodama to Yuzo Koshiro.



I agree.

Usually it's Kalinske who is associated with the success of the Genesis but actually he didn't do much if anything at all - other than being at the right place at the right time.
The Genesis was a success because it was an excellent hardware with incredible games. When Kalinske joined they could sell Genesis at a lower price than when Michael Katz was in charge.

Kalinske acutally did a piss-poor job at positioning all the systems Sega released since 1990: Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, Sega Saturn.

Most of the games that were produced under Kalinske at SOA were absolutely terrible, from Fantasia to that FMV garbage on SCD to Bug! on Saturn.

It's not so much the hardware itself but these games that ruined Sega's reputation and turned away customers.

Well not to take glory away from SEGA, but the Master System was popular in these regions because Nintendo's almost complete lack of support there.

[retrospiel]

True. - but it's never just one thing. My point was that they stuck with it (the SG-1000/Mark III/Master System/Game Gear hardware that is) and because of that had some success with it - not only in Europe, Australia, Brasil, Korea or Canada but also in Japan itself.

The reason why the Master System is considered a failure in the US (aside of the all-dominating NES) is that they pretty much gave up after little more than a year or two and handed out distribution rights to Tonka Toys - only to buy them back another year or two later.

[kool kitty89]

[QUOTE=j_factor;182101]I don't think the Nomad was a bad move, only because I don't think it was really a "move" at all. They threw together a portable version of the Genesis and just kind of put it out there. It's not like they spent a lot of money on it or expected it to be a success. I don't think it was ever intended as a Game Gear successor, it was just its own little thing.] Yes, the only problem would be if it took unnecessary resources away from other activities. (including the GG)

At that point in time (circa 1995) they could've just redesigned the Game Gear, rather than coming out with a successor. Much like the Game Boy Pocket. A smaller Game Gear with better battery life and a better screen would have been smart. I think if you try to make it more powerful on top of that, you have to compromise something else (or make it really expensive), considering the time frame. Plus a new system would've been a harder sell, since development wasn't that hot to begin with, splitting it further into Game Gear leftovers and new games for the new system wouldn't have been great. I don't think it would've been as hard to get companies to keep making Game Gear games, especially with a system revitalized by a new design. Throw in a new Sonic (not Sonic Blast) and the Game Gear's selling again.

An actual successor could've come later, like the Game Boy Color. The Game Gear's true successor could've been (and should've been) the WonderSwan Color. Sega was supposed to merge with Bandai but it went sour at the last minute.

Yeah, a cost effective redesign, maybe 2 versions as well, one completely cut-down one, and possibly another higher-end one retaining the backlight, or just continued producing the older model slightly modified. (possibly add the YM2413 of the Japanese SMS as well, but keep games backwards compatible to work with PSG alone just like on the SMS)

And possibly have the real successor derived directly from the Genesis, to facilitate ports/ease of programming, and an adaptor like the GG had for SMS carts. (or avoid this and engineer a more optimized system built of GG hardware specifically, backwards compatible, maybe using a much faster Z80 derivative instead of another CPU as the Genesis did)

I just think people weren't ready for a premium portable system at the time. Back then video games were often relegated to kids and if an adult actually was buying it, they wanted something familiar (Tetris) and cheap (Game Boy). I think the Nomad could've been great, they should've pushed it as a handheld format and just kept developing Genesis games into the new millenium. It would've kept current Genesis owners happy as well to have new software constantly available.

If SEGA would have released the Nomad (smaller and better) to compete with the GBA and re-released Genesis games, they could have had a chance, I think.

Yeah, but I just don't think the Nomad could have generated sufficient interest to support the Genesis, it was best as kind of a cool accessory for Genesis/MD owners, but really not a great handheld system in its own right. Given the Game Boy's life cycle, Sega had quite a long time before they even had a color competitor, so a redesigned GG could have been what was needed (with or without a backlight, color was still a big advantage, and the light was hindering it at least in some respects - I kind of like the sidelit possibility though)

Usually it's Kalinske who is associated with the success of the Genesis but actually he didn't do much if anything at all - other than being at the right place at the right time.
The Genesis was a success because it was an excellent hardware with incredible games. When Kalinske joined they could sell Genesis at a lower price than when Michael Katz was in charge.

Kalinske acutally did a piss-poor job at positioning all the systems Sega released since 1990: Game Gear, Sega CD, 32X, Sega Saturn.

Most of the games that were produced under Kalinske at SOA were absolutely terrible, from Fantasia to that FMV garbage on SCD to Bug! on Saturn.

It's not so much the hardware itself but these games that ruined Sega's reputation and turned away customers.

i agree to an extent, and in particular I wonder how things might have gone if Katz had stuck around, particularly given how he seems more level headed.

As for FMV, SoA may have hyped it, but the vast majority of "crappy FMV" games were independent developments, and in several cases (particularly with Digital Pictures) the games were in the works (or even completed to a large degree) prior to the Sega CD's existence. The overhyping was a bad thing, but they were there and were going to sell for the time being quite well. One other problem is how poor much of the video looks on MCD compared to 3DO and PCs, still some games relying on FMV for the gameplay (other than the dragon's lair style interactive movies) were quite good, like Silpheed or NovaStorm. (while the campy FMV games are still liked by select individuals, well except for the real crap like make my video, but Night Trap and Sewer Shark fall into the former)

[Aarzak]

The portable gaming market was relatively low-key throughout most of the 1990's, with the exception of when Nintendo released the "Play It Loud" Game Boys and later the Game Boy Pocket. Only portable games that made a dent in sales were Nintendo's first-party GB games (i.e Tetris, Mario, Kirby). People were either complacent with their Game Boys or had abandoned it due to the same old technology. Everything else (i.e Lynx, Game Gear) didn't stand a chance, sales-wise.

When Nintendo released both "Pokemon" and the long-awaited "Game Boy Color" in the Fall of 1998, the portable gaming market rose like a phoenix from its ashes, and its been alive and well, making mucho dinero ever since........mostly for Nintendo of course, as they've been untouchable in that market until the PSP was released.

The thing that killed all of the competitors for Nintendo's portable gaming throne, apart from Nintendo beating everyone else to the punch first and having a stranglehold on the market from the beginning, was the lack of third-party support and games that have that portable "it" factor (liek Pokemon, lawl). A lot of the games on Game Gear were downgraded or shovelware ports of coin-op, 16-Bit and Master System games. Few were made with the console and portability in mind.

That and of course, the bulkiness, the higher cost, the lower battery life......same things that doomed the Nomad (which really came out at the absolute worst time....Fall of 1995, with the 32-Bit wars in full session, and the drama between SoJ and SoA, and SoJ canning support for every non-Saturn Sega console) as well.

[kool kitty89]

Maybe, but I think the mid/late 90s was a strong point for the used/budget market for Gameboy, I didn't bet mine until mid 1997 iirc.

Edit: of course my family tended to buy stuff used, we only got an SNES in 1995/6 (can't remember for sure but it was Christmas of one of those years), though it wasn't due to lack of money per se, just being frugal and content with other stuff. (plus being suplemented by PC games)

Also, while used buyers may tend toward this, particularly hardware, that doesn't mean they won't be buying a fair number of new games as well, so still valued customers for the primary market. (plus there's the whole budget end of new products as well, particularly for aging systems)

[jamesdude]

A Game Gear 2 can still be made. Sega said they left the CONSOLE buisness, not the handheld buisness. Besides it would most likely endup being simular to the GBA or PSP depending on what route they take.

[Deo]

What Sega should have done is never release the 32X and all the time/money spent developing that thing should have gone to a more compact smaller GG and possibly a successor based on Genesis hardware. If the GG2 had come out in 1997, was compatible with Genesis games, and had a killer app, it might have what it takes to stand up against Pokemon in 1998.