Game Gear - A Tribute
by A. Griffin

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Game Gear:
keeps you busy till the train's here.

Full color screen,
8-bit graphics so vibrant they make your eyes tear.
No one cared that it's just a smaller Master System,
it had top tier games,
so we put it into commission.

Stereo sound to listen,
but only if you've got headphones:
can't squeeze two speakers on something that predates iPhones.

Playing on the ride home -
Dad's stuck in late night Brooklyn Bridge traffic,
speed's a no-go:
but I'm behind the wheel with Ayrton Senna
racing in Monaco.

The glow of the screen,
makes the back seat a party scene,
the batteries running out now would be a bad dream -
they drain faster than Sonic dying in "Sonic Spinball".
Mom's got extra Duracells,
she has it covered, so trust her.

Vanishing colored gems in "Columns" like Fruit Gushers.

"Fantasy Zone", a shooter with Lisa Frank syndrome,
space combat so cute you don't wanna quit.

"Sonic the Hedgehog", where do I start with this?
I admired Eggman's robot transformation gimmick,
but roboticizing my animal friends is beyond my limit.

Doc mocks me with Jim Cumming's Robotnik cartoon voice,
because my head-canon for this game is multiple choice.
Sally, Antione, Bunny, and Rotor are my back-up crew,
gonna beat Robotnik, and all his Badniks too,
and solve mechanical puzzles too tough for Nancy Drew.

The Doctor's sinister,
his boss stages make my head spin,
but in the name of great justice: I gotta fight him -
powered by six double-A's
of bottled lightning.

Loved my Game Gear,
for playing in the dark; nothing came near,
but its nemesis the Game Boy was one for Sega to fear.
Nintendo's black-and-white screen made Sega get cocky,
let their guard down, but Game Boy came swinging like Rocky.

Smaller price tag - which the parents loved.
Needing less batteries fit budgets like a glove.
Barely small enough to fit into a 90's kid's pocket,
looks like a brick today,
but back then, it was some hot kit.
You know Mr. Yokoi's team was proud of it.
And the batteries lasted a lot longer too,
you could play all day
hiding it under your desk at school.

And Sega boned their own ads by dissing Game Boy fans,
instead of luring handheld gamers with an olive branch.

Wow.
What a system,
How could I not miss it?
Nostalgia soaring high like "Space Harrier" missiles.

I showcase it on Twitch to help spread the word,
sometimes it's new to even long-time Sega nerds.
I'd talk forever on Game Gear,
you know I like this.
But my batteries are low,
so it's time to split.

---

I'd like to specially thank Anita Stokes, president of Humans Against Genesis, for inspiring me to ask my mom for Sega after not giving a darn about video games my entire life before that.

That commercial literally changed my life.

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