SEGA's new tiny Game Gear is bewildering and rather strange

SEGA is making a new Game Gear handheld...but it's tiny. Really tiny. Small enough to be a novelty you buy at a thrift store, but for Japan, it's a premium product.

SEGA's new Game Gear Micro is a weird proposition for the West. You can fit the entire thing in one palm, and it's something Adam Ant would play for fun. It's really a tiny contraption you'd give to, say, a kid to keep them entertained, not adults.

The micro handheld has a tiny 1.15-inch display, but you can magnify it with a new SEGA Big Window re-release (yes, really). The catch? You have to buy all 4 consoles in a special $250 pack to get it.

"The main body size is 80 mm wide x 43 mm high x 20 mm deep, a micro size that is less than 40% of the original Game Gear," SEGA says on its website.

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What's even more perplexing is that SEGA has carved up the games library across four variants. SEGA will sell four different Game Gear Micros at ¥4,980 (~$45) that each come packed with four separate games. To get the entire collection of games you'll need to buy all four, which will set you back roughly $180. This seems like a fun little way to celebrate SEGA's big 60th anniversary and doesn't seem to be a huge widespread global product.

It's a bizarre move for SEGA, but then again, the Japanese market is very different than the West.

SEGA also revealed its plans to revolutionize Japanese arcade gaming. The company plans to transform its coin-op arcade machines into game streaming servers, essentially allowing users to play games even when game arcades are closed. It's actually pretty transformative and could elevate SEGA even higher on the arcade market's leaderboards.

The SEGA Game Gear Micro will be released October 8, 2020, and pre-orders are up now. We don't expect it to come to the West.

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Game Gear Micro Games List

Black:

• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Puyo Puyo 2
• Out Run
• Royal Stone

Blue:

• Sonic Chaos
• Gunstar Heroes
• Sylvan Tale
• Baku Baku Animal

Yellow:

• Shining Force Gaiden: Ensei - Jashin no Kuni he
• Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya
• Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict
• Nazopuyo Aruru no Ru

Red:

• Revelations: The Demon Slayer
• Megami Tensei Gaiden: Last Bible Special
• The GG Shinobi
• Columns