Well, there are many reasons, actually.
Alston Information Research's hyperbolic ad campaign is a tad misleading. There isn't any sort of rumble-pack involved here - the hand-shaking potential of the Gamate is strictly metaphorical. It is billed as the ultimate in hand-held entertainment, employing one of those advertising phrases that sounds like it means something but is in no way objectively verifiable.
Wikipedia's not even sure this was distributed in the US, so the Gamate may have been vaporware from the get-go. But the more-than-50 titles promised were actually released for the original device, known in China as the Super Boy. (The moniker would surely have provided ample lawsuit bait for both Nintendo and DC Comics if it had been retained here.)
So the Gamate may have made its only appearance on these shores in a handful of magazine ads, despite the dozens of games waiting in the wings. Or because of them, actually.
Somehow, I can't help feeling that Witty Apee and Incantational Couple were unlikely to challenge Super Mario Land and Tetris for market dominance.
Just saying.
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A version distributed in SOuth America by Electrolab has recently been confirmed to exist.
ReplyDeleteI've only been collecting for this handheld for not quite two years, but in that time more and more games have been leaking out of asia. The total (based on serial #'s) is presently at 71. Yet the identity of about 20 of those still remain unknown.
jonathan