Why was there no Game Gear TMNT game?

[CyberCubed]

I just thought of this due to the collection. Many licensed games back then appeared on NES, SNES, Genesis and then Gameboy and Game Gear.

But there never was a TMNT game on Game Gear despite getting two on Sega Genesis. We could have gotten another mostly unique TMNT beat 'em up on the Game Gear back in the 90's and we never did.

[oldmanwinters]

Konami was slow to bring anything to Sega due to their longstanding Nintendo relationship. By the time they began to support Sega’s platform, the Turtles license was starting to slip in its bankability and the Game Gear was also cooling off in the battle with the Game Boy. I’d say it was just bad timing.

[sdp]

That's a shame, in the last few years I've been discovering how the game gear has "hidden gems" when it comes to licensed titles that are entirely original and yet no one talks about them. The likes of Power Rangers and Jurassic Park have better titles exclusive to the game gear better than the GB/NES/SNES/Genesis counterparts!

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

The Turtle craze was almost over when Konami began to release TMNT titles for Sega consoles.

[oldmanwinters]

To my great surprise, I'm not sure if Konami ever published ANY titles for the Game Gear.

They were involved with the licensing of Junction in 1991 (published under the Micronet label in the US), but other than that, I can't find anything:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Gear_games

[CyberCubed]

The Game Gear definitely had some unique games. Would have been cool to see what type of TMNT game they would have made for it.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

Yeah it is a shame. Truth be told, they probably could've ported the NES games to the system.

I'm also surprised there were no games based on the Red Sky seasons.

[Ninjinister]

Nobody had a ****ing Game Gear.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Nobody had a ****ing Game Gear.

There was always that one kid on the school field trip bus.

[Leo656]

A few of my friends had a Game Gear... but they never played it "on the go" because of the sh*tty battery life. So they only ever played it while tethered to the wall using a power adapter, thus defeating the entire point of a handheld system. I guess it made sense in the poorer households where they only had one TV; the kids could sit on the couch and play game Gear while Mom watched whatever on the TV. Otherwise seemed a bit pointless to have a handheld system you could only play at home plugged into the wall, color screen or no.

As for specifically why no TMNT Game Gear game, I'd agree it was probably a combination of Konami's Nintendo contracts plus the fact that Game Gear sales were never through the roof anyway, thus negating any financial upside of making an exclusive game for the system.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

A few of my friends had a Game Gear... but they never played it "on the go" because of the sh*tty battery life. So they only ever played it while tethered to the wall using a power adapter, thus defeating the entire point of a handheld system. I guess it made sense in the poorer households where they only had one TV; the kids could sit on the couch and play game Gear while Mom watched whatever on the TV. Otherwise seemed a bit pointless to have a handheld system you could only play at home plugged into the wall, color screen or no.

As for specifically why no TMNT Game Gear game, I'd agree it was probably a combination of Konami's Nintendo contracts plus the fact that Game Gear sales were never through the roof anyway, thus negating any financial upside of making an exclusive game for the system.

Yeah, all of this. Bingo. And I too remember lots of stories of abysmal battery life.

[CyberCubed]

I had a Game Gear as a kid. I only ever had 5 games for it. Sonic 2 (which is different than the Genesis version, it was a new game), Alladdin, The Jungle Book, and two other games I can't even remember. My parents bought it for me because they said it looked like a portable Super Nintendo and the Gameboy was only in black and white. Which made sense, it's kinda funny how underpowered the Gameboy was at the time and it lasted for 10 years.

There was also 364 games made for Game Gear, and tons of licensed games based on cartoons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Gear_games

So we could have gotten a TMNT game if it came out the same time as HyperStone Heist or the Genesis Tournament Fighters.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

My friend from next door briefly had a Game Gear (or if not, was borrowing it) and was playing either Sonic 2 or Sonic & Tails. That was the only time I saw the system up close until college where my current best friend has one but hasn't any batteries. It's huge from what I remember but he said it was quite the battery guzzler.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

Nobody had a ****ing Game Gear.

My only experiences with the Sega Game Gear, and the Nintendo Game Boy, was playing in toy stores and shopping malls.