Sega Game Gear

A backlit colour handheld with arcade ambition — and an appetite for AA batteries.

Sega's answer to the Game Boy, built on Master System internals and pushed into a landscape, backlit colour screen years ahead of Nintendo's offering. The hardware was a step up in every spec that mattered, but six AA batteries got you 3–5 hours, and Nintendo's software grip kept the library thin outside Sega first-party. Still a beautiful handheld with a small but excellent catalogue.