Sega launched the Game Gear in Japan on 6 October 1990 and introduced it in North America and Europe during 1991. Its architecture was closely related to the Master System but adapted to a handheld with a 160 × 144-pixel backlit colour LCD screen. It used its own cartridges and, through the Master Gear Converter accessory, could run numerous Master System games. Sega opted for colour and a landscape-format screen in contrast with the Game Boy’s monochrome approach; that technology required six AA batteries and consumed considerable power. In a European collection, 1991 corresponds to its regional arrival, not to the original Japanese launch.