MY RETRO LIFE
GETTING BACK INTO GEAR
Why did Nick feel compelled to buy the Game Gear Micro?
W hen I was a small kid, I was fully bought into the Sega universe. I played my Master System for as long as I could secure the living room TV, I’d play the Mega Drive with my dad at weekends, and when I wasn’t playing games I was reading the adventures of Sonic, Joe Musashi and the Streets Of Rage crew in Sonic The Comic. And as far as I was concerned, the Game Gear was the ultimate gadget.
It wasn’t really about the games, though I will champion Popils to anyone who won’t immediately run away, and I certainly felt hard done by when Sonic Triple Trouble didn’t get a Master System release. What really thrilled me was the prospect of adding the freedom of portability to stuff I already loved. With the Master Gear converter, I could take any of my games out with me. If I got the TV tuner, I could watch something interesting while mum was watching Home And Away – anywhere in the house! In a world before tablets and smartphones, this was the entertainment device of my dreams.