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this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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RetroGaming
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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.
Which, while of course requiring exponentially more power, the Switch 2 only goes for about 6 hours on less demanding games, funny how battery life hasn't really changed much for advanced handhelds.
Sure but the switch 2 has a rechargeable battery unlike the game gear which had to be supplied with new batteries every time which cost money.
I’m not sure if rechargeable AA were common in those days.
Rechargeable batteries were common, but in my experience they tended to not hold up as long as normal batteries and took 6-8 hours to recharge. At that time they also degraded quickly, were expensive, and overall just a massive hassle to try and manage.
The IBM thinkpad that runs on windows 95 that I have still has a vaguely functional battery. The battery can last a whole 5 minutes still, damned battery was probably more expensive to produce than the entire rest of the laptop.
rechargable AA's before Eneloops were all absolute dogshit
The biggest problem with rechargeable dry cells is that each one supports 1.2 volts, while alkaline are 1.5. Some devices wouldn't even run, most run more poorly and run out of battery even faster.
Fwiw, should you need it, there are AA lithium batteries with a usbc slot for charging and they deliver 1.5v. I bought a pack out of curiosity and was very pleasantly surprised.
Make sure to get some that mimic battery power loss at the end. Some models just shut off when they are empty and others slowly reduce the voltage so that battery indicators on devices are able to pick that and display a warning to change batteries soon.
I didn't know those existed. I read they just stay at 1.5 until they run out. Now I'm not sure what mine are, if they exhibit this behavior 🤔
This is also why I have never considered the Switch a portable system. It was a hybrid that was never quite a "real" console or a handheld, and thus made compromises on both ends. I personally never used the Switch undocked, I'd have rather they sold a fixed model with no screen or joycons that just plugged in.
The real reason that Game Gear was so power hungry is that it was just a Sega Master System crammed into a handheld. This is why it felt wildly better and more advanced then the Game Boy. Sega did the same thing years later with the Sega Nomad aka a Genesis crammed into a handheld.
The biggest culprit is probably the CCFL tube backlight.
I'm generally of the same opinion about the Switch, but it's amazing to be able to play it on flights
the real reason it was such a bitch for power is that it had a compact flourescent tube for the backlight.
when you remove that and replace it with a LED backlight suddenly the battery life explodes.
I figured the backlight was a big part of it. crazy that people actually modded a game gear
You would not believe the amount of mods the GameGear has, my dude.
and they are expensive as fuck, lol
I can't say I loved the Game gear enough to go that route, but seeing as I have had people try to argue with me that E.T. for the Atari 2600 is actually a fine game, there are enthusiasts for everything.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
You dont have to replace your switches batteries every time they run out tho
If you tried to run the switch on AAs, you'd need a separate suitcase to house them.
It was more like 30 minutes with the Super Heavy Duty AA's my dad could afford.
But that's okay, he hand soldered me a DC adapter that only threw sparks sometimes.