RetroGaming

My Dad took 16 rechargeable AAs and ran a small circuit board to them with an adapter cable coming out. The zipper cases they made for GGs had a large cavity behind the storage area that was perfect for hiding them. I could play for an extra 16 hours with those things. Had to recharge them with a huge wall wort but it was the best gift my Dad ever made for me. I loved that damn system.

It doesn't take up that much space. You sound like my wife lol

There's a free to the public pinball museum near me, not quite the same thing but I could see the possibility of one for retro games, but they would probably have to charge a fee to prevent people ruining or stealing stuff unfortunately.

I used to have a room dedicated to retro games and tech, but since having kids, it's all been crammed into closets. Once they're old enough to not break stuff, I plan to get the "museum" out again in some form so that they can enjoy it.

Pssh we all carried the wall wart with it, just like we do with Steam Deck today.

The battery life was hilariously bad, it was almost the defining trait. It was made especially prominent since it was being compared to the OG Game Boy which could go 20 hours on four AA batteries. The GG could only go about five, if you were lucky, on six AA. Mine basically lived plugged into the wall with a long extension code so I could use it from anywhere in my bedroom.

Game Gear "services" are quite common now - you can get them recapped to solve the infamously troublesome sound dropouts, and most will change the screen to a far more power efficient LCD display as well to let you play at night.

It still eats batteries, but at a much slower rate.

I'm just gutted I left mine in the garage in storage where the damp air fucked it for good

One kid on my bus had it, we were all SUPER jealous and kicked his seat

I got one for xmas one year, probably it's last year when Sega was clearing inventory, because I didn't ask for it. All I ever had was the pack-in Sonic title. I wish I kept it so that I could modernize it, but who would have seen that coming? I remember playing it and then seeing the battery light flash and I was like, "I wonder what that means, that can't mean a low battery since I've not been playing it all that long!" Yep, it was a low battery :(

It probably wouldn't have been a big deal IF Sega bundled a damn AC adapter with it instead of charging separately for it. It was hard to convince my parents to get me video game stuff as a kid.

Conveniently carry around 20 or so AA batteries and you could probably get through an episode of Benson and the intro to TNG.