The Sega Game Gear was released in 1991 as Sega's answer to the Nintendo Gameboy. The Game Gear was a worthy opponent. It had everything the Gameboy didn't have, it was comfortable, was backlit, and in color. The Game Gear looked promising, but several issues with the system, and the dominance of the Gameboy led to slow sales. The Game Gear only had a fraction of the Gameboy's market share. 

System Design A-: The Game Gear, is a very comfortable handheld. It molds with you're hands, and it doesn't leave them sore. The 3 buttons (1,2, and start), are well placed. The D-pad is very well suited for fast, and precise gameplay. On the right side of the unit, there is a brightness adjuster. This is useful, for making your Game Gear playable anywhere. My only issue with the system, is where the two battery compartments are located. They are located right where you're hands are placed. The batteries can get hot during long play sessions, and it might make you're hands sweaty.

Toughness B-: I have had no issues with my Game Gear, it feels very sturdy; however, I have heard about several Game Gears breaking over the years.

Screen B: The Game Gears screen is large, back lit, and most importantly, in color. The screen does malfunction if not well cared for. One of the problems with the screen is that you have to view from a certain angle, it depends on condition though. I found the screens back light to be a bit too bright. You can't get a solid color on the Game Gear without having a little bit of light. Despite these issues, the screen shows a lot of detail, and it was quite advanced for the time. It just hasn't aged too well.

Battery Life D-: The Game Gears battery life is the weak spot of the system. With 6 freaking batteries, you only get about 3-4 hours of play. So rechargeables are a must. 

Games B-: The Game Gear didn't have very many exclusives. Most of its library, consists of scaled down ports of Genesis games, and improved ports of Master System games. Many of these ports however are the best of their kind. The Game Gears library reaches most genres. Except for RPG's One of the best things about the Game Gears library is the amount of great games there are. 4 Sonic games were made, and 6 spin offs were made, and most of the Sonic related games, are high in quality. Despite the large amount of quality titles, like Space Harrier, Outrun, the Sonic games, Shinobi, Road Rash, X-Men, and many more. Few games truly stood out due to many of the games being ports.  So if you want exclusives, stick to the Gameboy.

Graphics A-: The Game Gears visuals were far superior, to what other handhelds could produce, the high resolution visuals, and a huge color palette, help the Game Gear stand out. The only downfall is that the Game Gear can't handle fast speeds, and a large number of sprites. Considering that the Game Gear has the same hardware as the Master System, plus a much larger color palette, and smaller memory. This comes as no surprise. 

Sound B: The Game Gears sound capabilities are okay, the sound effects and music, have several 8-bit instruments playing, and voice synthesis is good, but the Gameboy is better in terms of sound.

Affordability and Collectability B+: Despite the port filled library, the Game Gear is very cheap, and affordable. The games are not very much money either. Getting batteries will add to the cost though. If you want to save money, buy either an official Game Gear battery pack online, or buy rechargebales.

G@mehe@d : Another awesome System review! The Game Gear is my favorite handheld. I agree with pretty much everything you said. The only thing I hate about the system is that they are notorious for having two problems. 1- The sound is often faint, not working, or only working with headphones (I have had plenty with these problems and just as many Game Boys and GBC with the same problem.) and 2- a messed up screen. The most common screen problem is that you have to tilt the Game Gear upside down, back facing your chest to see the screen. Good job my man, can't wait to see your next console review!

G@mehe@d : Good review. There's no doubt that the Game Gear was the superior console, the problem was the game library.

I owned both the Gameboy and the GameGear when they were released..and the main problem was for every 1 pretty decent game on the GG there was like 10 on the Gameboy.

The fact is, that the reason that the Gameboy was so popular was because they had a lot more great games for it.

I have the Game Gear, and your review describes it perfectly.