If you're not aware, Sega has been in business 60 years this week. To celebrate the occasion, the Japanese video game giant is releasing one of its classic consoles in miniature format. Say hello to the Game Gear Micro.
It looks very much like the 8-bit hand-held console of the same name, launched in 1990, but it's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Sega is actually selling a "Big Window Micro" magnifying lens as well, so you can actually make out what's happening on the 1.15-inch display.
The dinky box measures a mere 80 x 43 x 20 mm (3.1 x 1.7 x 0.8 in), and comes with a mono speaker and a headphone jack. It's powered by either two AA batteries or a USB power cable.
Sega is actually releasing four different versions of the Game Gear Micro, with different colors and different games on board. There's the choice of black (with Sonic the Hedgehog, Puyo Puyo 2, Out Run and Royal Stone on board), red (featuring Revelations: The Demon Slayer, Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special, The GG Shinobi and Columns), blue (with Sonic & Tails, Gunstar Heroes, Sylvan Tale and Baku Baku Animal) and yellow (which gets you Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei – Jashin no Kuni he, Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict and Nazopuyo Aruru no Ru).
The Game Gear Micro won't be on sale until October 6 – the 30th anniversary of the console's original launch – and then only in Japan, at least to begin with. Each individual console costs 4,980 yen (about US$46), while collectors can go for all four for 27,255 yen (about $251), and get the Big Window Micro as well.
We're assuming that the 1.15-inch display runs at the same 160 x 144 pixel resolution as the original – only thanks to improvements in display technology, it can now be about a third of the size of the 3.2-inch screen that the 1990 console came with (the original is actually the only hand-held console in Sega's history).
Sega also launched a mini version of the Genesis console last year, so it knows there's a market for this sort of retro-tech. Nintendo has also been doing some nostalgia mining of its own in recent years, with the release of updated versions of the NES and Super NES.
Product page: Sega
