Monday, August 31, 2009

Sega Game Gears - colored

Not everyone knows that the Game Gear came out in several variants - mostly released in Japan, often with bundled games, to refresh the platform and encourage new sales.

Some the colored Game Gears are becoming increasingly rare to find, especially in good condition with good packaging and 100% complete.

As a collector, its hard to even find out much information about the Game Gear. Not a lot exists on line and there seems to be more and more fakes appearing on Ebay.

So, to help other collectors, here is part of my collection documented so you can see what to look for and hopefully how to get a great deal and avoid the fakes.

White

Only 10,000 white Sega Game Gears were released making it the rarest Game Gear released by Sega. Most of these were given to industry executives, developers and Press.

The hard plastic shell was lined with a soft "sorbothane" like lining that protected the Game Gear, a white television tuner, power cable and 6 spare batteries. There was room for 2 games stored under the Game Gear.

Although supposedely rare, they do pop up from time to time, but rarely in really good condition with the case also in good condition and the printed text still perfect.

I actually got mine from an ex-Sega executive.

If you find one...buy it.





Coca Cola

The Coca Cola Sega Game Gear is considered one of the Holy Grail's of Sega Game Gear's. It was released in Japan only in 1994 and came bundles with a game called Coca Cola kid.

What was unique about ths game gear was the packaging. It was about 20% larger than a normal Game Gear box and made out of sturdy corrigated -ply cardboard which gave it a stiffer and more rigid box.

Whilst teh Coca Cola Game Gear can be purchased, finding a boxed version in good condition is becoming increasingly rare.





Magic Rayearth

This was a basic Red Sega Game Gear that was screen printed with the Magic Knight Rayearth logo. It came bundled with Magic Knight Rayearth and a really cool little gold MKR character in a small white paper envelope - which is extremely rare to find complete with the MKR Game Gear.





Virtua Fighter - Kids Gear

The Virtua Fighter Sega Game Gear was released in japan in 1996. The packaging reflected the in box cartridge of Virtua Fighter. Inmy opinion, the fascia was one of the better Game Gear variants although the game wasn't.




Yellow

The yellow Sega Game Gear was released in japan only and came with no in box game.

The yellow Sega Game Gear was released in japan only and came with no in box game.


Red

The Red Sega Game came with no in box game as was released in Japan only.