I watched your video, ordered the capacitor kit and fixed my brothers game gear that hasn’t worked in over 20 years. I have never done anything like this before and was amazed at how easy it was thanks to your video! Thanks!
Replacing the screen with a modern one dramatically increases battery life too. The vast majority of the battery drain from the Game Gear was from the CCFL backlights for the awful screen. Btw, the original screen is also an LCD, just not a modern one. I think what you meant to say is the old CCFL backlight screen is being replaced by an LED backlight screen which is what all modern LCD's use. This is where the power consumption difference comes into play, LED's use FAR FAR less power while also being brighter. LCD's themselves have also gotten a lot better, they have much better controllers with much lower response time (hence the lack of ghosting). The wavy lines on the video are just a result of the camera not playing nice with the polarization filter on the screen...that won't appear in person.
I wonder if you could buy some of that led tape (in white) I see online just put a strip Behind The Game Gear wear the Iite used to be and then Sauder it somewhere so you get 9 volt it says 12 volts but I've gotten it to run off a 9-volt battery.
it's not the screen, it's only the backlight. McWill's screen draw around 450mA whereas a simple brightness mod (such as Retrosix's) can save 100 to 150mA compared to the original current draw (around 270mA). the McWill mod hosts a whole microcomputer with 1 or 2gigs of RAM to decode the graphics data coming from the VDP, and then it encodes them to the proper signals for the screen. It's a very complex process that draws A LOT of power (the McWill's processor being much faster than the Game Gear's) and one can actually feel how much warmer the whole system gets. I'd recommend Retrosix brightness mod over the McWill's any day of the week, mainly because I like to save power.
I've replaced just the old CCFL backlight with the cheapo plastic backlights from Console5 and boosted the battery life by at least 4x or 5x times what it is stock.
now im thinking about doing the whole 9 on my game gear...started several months ago on the capacitors but my soldering iron didnt come with a small enough tip..found a micro soldering iron on amazon..its coming in a few days..if i can get the game gear to work again, i might do the screen too.
Why am I getting the feeling *just now* that Spawnwave is the electronic Bob the Builder? Every time I see one of these titles of “Can we Fix It?” my immediate response is “Yes We Can!” 🤣🤣🤣
@@rap6439 I have a string of LEDs that run off of 12 volts but I've gotten them to light up off of nine volts so I wonder if you could find a way to use them. You can cut them in three-piece increments.
Just bought a recapped and glass replacement system. Version 5 system. The mcwill upgrade screen mod is better but it costs almost $400 Canadian so yeah I'll have to get that done later
Really shows us how much display & electronics overall have advanced. It's pretty cool to play these updated systems its made me appreciate these older gen systems so much fun.
Good tip for those gamebit screws if you haven't got a screwdriver is take a pen, pull the ink out, use something like a lighter to soften up the clear empty pen casing and place it down on top of the screw for a few secs until the pen plastic hardens. Used this method on my game gear and it works surprisingly well as a temporary makeshift screwdriver.
I just bought a soldering iron kit from Amazon and might just get a “broken” Game Gear from EBay in a few weeks that way I can finally build some skills in the soldering scene. Super excited!!
Seems like everyone has their particular console or consoles that evoke their fondest childhood memories. For me it's the GG and the C64. I always got hand-me-downs and cheaper consoles, and got made fun of at school for it, lol! Isn't it weird how the memories of the games are so much more than the crude graphics and tinny sound? My memory of Land of Illusion, for example, is of this huge magical place inhabited with strange creatures; even PGA golf seems like a real place. And each game is attached to particular memories. Jungle Strike is my grandad digging the garden in the summer; Lemmings is sending a cheat I discovered to Sega Mean Machines magazine, composed on an old typewriter (recently even found the published cheat on Internet Archive!). The GG was a present from my step dad, long gone. Replaying the games today, I suddenly unlock memories of being with him, memories that have otherwise remained lodged away in my unconscious. People who dismiss gaming nostalgia as juvenile are missing the point - it's about more than just the games, fun though they are. For the generations that grew up with games, they are interwoven with the fabric of our selfhood, including important relationships.
Dude, thank you. Never soldered before but bought the parts on eBay and the materials on Amazon. I was shocked the video turned on after replacing the 8 capacitors on the mother board. Next will try the audio but thanks for giving me some confidence to try to fix it myself!
When I was a shitty kid, I dropped my Game Gear and it stopped turning on. So I sold it at a flea market. I hope they were able to get it working somehow.
By the looks of this video, there was not much that could have broken off the game cube internally, EXCEPT the fluorescent light tube. Even that flimsy LCD could have survived. Without a CCFL powering on, nothing would be visible to the user. I doubt they were able to do anything to get that working, save having some soldering skills, and a replacement fluorescent tube handy.
Thank you for this video. My Game gear hasn't worked in probably 20 years. I still have it (sentimental), and now I have hope for it working again someday.
Much respect for doing this mod. I did a recap earlier this year and I sold it on ebay with a powerback I installed lithium batteries in to. The guy who bought it was very happy.
Back then, we had lower standards. It's crap now, but a colour backlit handheld was amazing in the early 90s. Granted, most of my memories playing the Game Gear was with it plugged into the wall cause of how battery hungry it was.
It looked better back in the day as well. They start ghosting and the backlight dims as they age. Still didn't look great by todays standards but not as bad as his example here.
Great work, love the revision with the new screen it looks like a blast. TBH the first thing I would do if I were to get a GameGear would be to implement some sort of rechargeable battery solution... thinking about the money and waste associated with 6 AAs for a few hours of gameplay makes my skin crawl.
@@avva4090 it's very power inefficient. the GG uses three power rails (9V, 34V, 5V) and a Vref (1,28V) to help the unit understand when the batteries are ging to die, all provided from its SMPS. using a Li-Ion solution would need a dedicated SMPS able to provide the same voltages (except Vref, knocked down to the same 9:1,28 ratio but with 4,2V), replacing the original one, otherwise you should boost the 4V2 or whatever voltage from the batteries up to 9V used by the SMPS to create the 5V and 34V rails, so it's at least two conversions. then there's the 5V -> 200 or so volts on the board to light up the CCFL. installing a McWill mod gets rid of the 34V rail though, and the 5V doesn't get boosted anymore. but still, if you want to install a lithium ion mod you should create a purposefully designed SMPS or else there would be some power waste. with a brightness mod on the McWill you can squeeze up to 12 hours from 6x good branded rechargeable AAs, so no need to go 100 more miles when you can do it in 100 metres or so. I recharged my Bonai AAs only once in a month (not playing a lot but 1 to 2 hours each time is more than enough), and they're still pretty crappy compared to Panasonic friggin Eneloop Pro.
That thing was power hungry, I'm sure it was that screen that drew the most power. I couldn't imagine audio or input and game play would take that much. Even ate thru Duracell and Energizers in no time. You can forget those cheap black and silver eveready batteries. They were dead in a matter of minutes. We ended up having to get an ac adapter or I think we used the segas ac adapter just to play. You know to able to get any real use out of it. I only had one game for it, Sonic 2. Looking back though it kind of made sense. Six batteries, device was asking alot, no wonder they went dead so quick.
People today think I'm crazy when I point this out but the way the screen looks after this fascinating refurbishment is how the Game Gear screen actually looked when you first purchased it. Back then, there was still obviously some ghosting issues due to the primitive LCD technology at the time, but overall it was a far superior display right out of the box than anything available in the market at the time including the Atari Lynx. He is also 100% correct that normally the tiny Game Gear speaker is extremely loud and the battery life is god awful short. To work around my family complaining about the noise as well as my frequent need for AA Batteries, I ended up getting some generic, large rechargeable battery packs that extended the battery usage from 2 hours to close to 4 hours. Whenever the battery light would start flashing to indicate the juice was almost out, I would immediately plug in my AC Adapter and sit leaning against a wall near the power outlet so I didn't lose progress in the game I was playing. Those were the days man and so not annoy or disturb my family with the constant blips and bleeps, I would plug in the headphones from my portable cassette player and zone out to the amazing games Sega had to offer back then like GG Shinobi 2! 😇
Knowledge you can get anywhere and experience just by doing it. I think all you need is steady hands and not be afraid (or be very afraid?) of making mistakes. Just watch a ton of videos and you will find out what to do and what not to do. That's how i fixed and modded joy cons and game boys :)
@@Daigon95 assembling is a better term though, and that is much much much easier especially with modern PCs, you don't even need to screw the CPU anymore. Just clip it on.
Cap replacement on this generation's consoles is a great way to improve your systems. I had a Genesis model 2 that had not great mono only audio out. After replacing the caps, stereo sound is back, and it sounds way better. *Even more so after a Triple Bypass*
Audio on my game gear crapped out years ago but last I checked it turned on. The screen was the best/worst part of this thing. A wall adapter was a requirement while playing at home a car adapter for the road. Not exactlly the most portable system but it was a blast to use. Favorite games I had was Sonic 2, Jurrasic Park and Ecco the Dolphin. Great vid... great job!
Watching you work is oddly relaxing and satisfying. Probably because I'm learning about something other than just doing math all day. I like your channel you're doing great!
Phenomenal vid! I haven't soldered anything in over 20 years, but your vids have inspired me to get a kit and start practicing on some old systems I find on ebay. Thanks for that! Something I'll do when I get more space.
I also have a Game Gear that's not working either. It's in excellent condition. No missing battery lids. No corrosion on the battery terminals. This video gives me hope to one day make this awesome piece of technology work again. As a bonus, I also have the TV 📺 tuner. The antenna is half broken. Unfortunately, there's hardly any analog TV channels out there. There's hope after all, for old tech. .
Really does suck when it comes to old systems, sometimes. Cases like this where over time, something inside screws up and makes the system not work the way it was supposed to work. Yeah, there are ways around this for almost any old system or in this case any old handheld, but not everyone is into console surgery.
Thanks for this! Just took out my old game gear out of storage and I was surprised to see it didn't turn on. Did the same as you in the beginning. Surprised because last time I remember using it it was working plenty fine. It HAS been over 20 years since I last used it though so, yeah... I came for a possible reason and a guide to fix and while I haven't checked inside mine yet you got me pretty reassured that I can fix it! Now to get myself a soldering iron... And learning to use it before I attempt this. Lotsa projects I've been holding out on because lack of iron so hopefully I get a lot more done. Thanks again for sharing your expertise, on top of the daily content I tune in every morning!
The screen on this was QHD compared to the original gameboy, yet the gameboy seemed better. Zelda and Mario did it for me. I later had a Gamegear I bought from someone in my school and it was great bar the screen being scratched to bits. I do remember the 2 hr or less battery life I got from my game gear. I used NiCd batteries in it, Disposable Duracells gave me 3 + hours.
Nice! Too bad the LCD kit didn't come with a plug for the removed top security screw. I wonder if adding a sugar cube speaker would kick it up a notch! 👍😎
Love these restoration videos...one time I would like to see a restoration on something that in the end, couldn't be fixed. It will make me feel better about all the projects I got in over head on lol
I had found one on craigslist when I was 17. My older brother and I went to go get it. Guy was only asking like $20. Met up and the guy says “I tried testing it this morning and it was really dim and wont play” I had researched common issues with these and informed him that it was most likely needed recapped. He then proceeded to give it to me and said “Man you can have it. It worked last time. You drove here and seem interested in it so I’ll just give it to you for free” Still have that GameGear today works great after recapping it. Also came with a small carry bag and the superwide accessory.
I will definitely be doing this to my Game Gear. Screen and sound both having same issues. I’ve never soldered anything but I’m up for a challenge. Love fixing my old tech to give it new life.
I used the wrong dc adapter for my neo geo pocket colour and ever since when I tried to power on I get nothing there red led just flashing. So probably fried the power I don’t know if I’ve ruined the screen also but before it was in mint condition, I was gutted. I’d love to see you repair one of those because there way to expensive to buy in the same condition as I have. Always really enjoy your tech videos . I have no idea actually happened it powered up made a funny sound then crashed and from there on nothing. Keep up the great work :)
I just found a game gear in very nice condition at Goodwill for $15. It was dangling from a wall outlet under a table, facing the wall and I barely noticed it. Wrong power source, but it shows a bit of life with batteries. Can't wait to dive into this.
Even first Nintendo DS 20 years later didn't have Backlighted screen. Game Gear was awesome. And I could play 5 to 6 without recharging my rechargeable batteries or buy bew one. (Technically more than the 2 hours or 2 and a half with my switch when I play Zelda botw... 🙄
Inside and out that is the cleanest gamegear I've ever seen.. holy cra*. Especially on the outside, all the ones I see have dirt or dust cached in all the little nooks, all scratched up. Damn, they took care of that one.
Don't be too worried removing the old screen. If you rip the pads there's little vias above each pad. Some through hole soldering can be done with 30awg wire and a fiber glass pen.
The Game Gear was ahead of it's time. If they could have figured out how to make it more efficient with batteries and it had more titles it would have blew the gameboy out of the water. It was such a superior system to the gameboy.
Well done video. Congrats. I did this mod last month to a dying GG with gone caps and screen. I also installed a 3.7v 18650 Lithium battery with usb charging circuit stepping up voltage to reach 9v. Now waiting for a everdrive to have a full gaming experience.
GG Aleste, Power strike 2, Coca Cola Kid, Gunstar Heroes, Ristar, Sonic Triple Trouple, Tails Adventure, GG Shinobi 1 and 2, the Puyo Puyo games, Land of Illusion, Sylvan Tale, Batman Returns, Ninku Gaiden, Streets of Rage 2, lots of others.
well some of those you're better off just getting the 16-bit Gen versions. (idk why Sega wasted time and money down porting 16-bit games into 8 bit anyway)
These refurbishing videos are really cool and interesting. I love seeing how you clean these retro consoles up and upgrade them too! Best part of these videos is seeing how a console goes from not great quality to amazing!
this came at a great time Spawn, I have a blue gamegear with lines through the screen and garbled audio that was given to me, that I was looking as my next project. I just finished a atomic purple GBA SP shell swap with a funnyplaying screen that turned out beautifully. Got me super pumped to jump into another project soon. keep up the awesome inspirational work.
I recently came into possession of a Game Gear and was really disappointed when it didn’t turn on after putting new batteries. I was thinking of popping it open to see inside so this video is a definite help. Thanks. Now to just figure out what I’m doing lol. I’m also kinda conflicted with the screen. Seeing how it looks now vs what it can be, I don’t have the confidence or knowledge to do such a surgery but it definitely looks amazing.
Perfect timing. I've been doing a lot of handheld modding to keep me busy during the pandemic and I have my sights on the Game Gear. The McWills kit is a fair bit more expensive compared to the Game Boy IPS screens but it does look really good.
What a cracking video! This has made me go on a search for modded Game Gear's! I always wanted one as a child, but was always told "NO!". Apparently, the Master System, Mega Drive and Mega CD were enough ;)
I Recapped mine cause I didn't have any audio or video and now it works great. I would like to have a new screen but I'm afraid to try and attempt that
its even better when you put scanlines on etc by pressing start and the other 2 buttons at the same time, I've done lots of these, and removing the bits of the board for the screen is the trickiest part..
That screen looks so gorgeous, I still have my GameGear from childhood, it is in very good condition, turns on and sounds all working fine, except that the screen is damaged, it shows some green lines and tiny points (pixels dead) all around , Replacing the screen like this would be the perfect solution, I might look into this at some point, do you have any link pointing to detailed instructions on how to do this? Thanks for such a cool video!
I remember doing that capacitor make over i did also years ago, it did revived my game gear, i did also mod the lights from the original fluorescent bulb to LED bulb , did make the battery last longer...
I actually have a Game Gear still waiting to be recapped and I really wanted to do that screen mod 2 so it was really awesome to see that you did it because now I see how good it is to
1. MMPR:TM:TG is hella fun. I honestly think I played it the most of my GG games 2. The LCD screen looks so bright and clear it looks like you greenscreened it in
Those internals really did look pristine. Kind of a blessing and curse, as it makes finding any specific fault more difficult if everything looks fine.
Make sure the old pads are clean clean clean when doing the recap. Fiber glass pen helps and maybe gently scrape the stubborn bits with an xacto knife.
Don't be scared, anyone can do it! I recommend starting with easier projects like fixing gameboys then working ur way up. Soldering is easy u just need to be confident! But u can easily learn if u just look it up on TH-cam!
Sheesh, I remember mucking around with these years ago. I still have my consolised one, one where I used a NDS backlight to replace the original backlight and replacement led screen (not the newer fancy one). My favourite was the consolised for sure.
Really interesting project here. It seems the Game Gear was notorious for degrading like this. I have a whole bunch of retro consoles/computers, going back to the C64, and the Game Gear is the only one I have that doesn't work today, AND it's my second one after my first one died. Both do exactly the same as this one at the beginning of the video. The screen comes on for about 5 seconds with just a bunch of white lines on it before fading out.
Looks like the power board is working for now at least. I'd start with the sound board first just. It's quick and can confirm your system doesn't have additional problems. Then the main board then the power board.
I think you need more of this kind of video. I like watching what you do to the game and getting it repaired. I have seen a lot of other videos on youtube and none of them are as good as yours, except one, but I have not seen much from the YT. Anyways, I would like to get one and see if you can get mine to like yours.
excellent video, the sega game gear is my favorite portable console and for me the best in its time, what I like most about this portable console is its backlit color screen and its powerful sound that there was no GB that equaled it, until the arrival of the ultra-bright GBA sp that surpassed it in everything except the sound that is very low compared to the gg, 16 years later.
I just did a video showing my modded game gear, it makes such a dynamic difference. If you can change out the screen with a modern one, you definitely should.
I watched your video, ordered the capacitor kit and fixed my brothers game gear that hasn’t worked in over 20 years. I have never done anything like this before and was amazed at how easy it was thanks to your video! Thanks!
Oh man. That's awesome, I have one just like this in the garage and tempted to try it
They're caps from a 30 dollar Amazon kit. Enough to fix 30 consoles haha. It's not always caps either. It's as if no one uses a multimeter hahaha
Replacing the screen with a modern one dramatically increases battery life too. The vast majority of the battery drain from the Game Gear was from the CCFL backlights for the awful screen. Btw, the original screen is also an LCD, just not a modern one. I think what you meant to say is the old CCFL backlight screen is being replaced by an LED backlight screen which is what all modern LCD's use. This is where the power consumption difference comes into play, LED's use FAR FAR less power while also being brighter. LCD's themselves have also gotten a lot better, they have much better controllers with much lower response time (hence the lack of ghosting). The wavy lines on the video are just a result of the camera not playing nice with the polarization filter on the screen...that won't appear in person.
You sure do know a lot
I wonder if you could buy some of that led tape (in white) I see online just put a strip Behind The Game Gear wear the Iite used to be and then Sauder it somewhere so you get 9 volt it says 12 volts but I've gotten it to run off a 9-volt battery.
it's not the screen, it's only the backlight. McWill's screen draw around 450mA whereas a simple brightness mod (such as Retrosix's) can save 100 to 150mA compared to the original current draw (around 270mA).
the McWill mod hosts a whole microcomputer with 1 or 2gigs of RAM to decode the graphics data coming from the VDP, and then it encodes them to the proper signals for the screen. It's a very complex process that draws A LOT of power (the McWill's processor being much faster than the Game Gear's) and one can actually feel how much warmer the whole system gets. I'd recommend Retrosix brightness mod over the McWill's any day of the week, mainly because I like to save power.
I've replaced just the old CCFL backlight with the cheapo plastic backlights from Console5 and boosted the battery life by at least 4x or 5x times what it is stock.
now im thinking about doing the whole 9 on my game gear...started several months ago on the capacitors but my soldering iron didnt come with a small enough tip..found a micro soldering iron on amazon..its coming in a few days..if i can get the game gear to work again, i might do the screen too.
To be fair, the ghosting on sonic on GG wasn't a bug but a feature. It really made you feel the speed.
Why am I getting the feeling *just now* that Spawnwave is the electronic Bob the Builder? Every time I see one of these titles of “Can we Fix It?” my immediate response is “Yes We Can!” 🤣🤣🤣
2 hours ago djruhfbdbfjjrnr ok
Yes we can
Not fix it, face it your a failure and you break everything
Tronicsfix is the Bob the builder of TH-cam electronics. His motto is "if its not broke, i can fix it until it is"
@@thomashernandez6536 but can he fix a crt? Now that would be impressive. Gotta keep my Trinitron going strong
@@retrosoul8770 that tvs are made to last. i have mine for more that 25 years. and still work. its my tv for playstation 1, 2, megadrive, gamecube.
I bought a recapped and fresh glass Sega Game Gear in May during quarantine. Goodbye Covid, hello childhood!
@@rap6439 I have a string of LEDs that run off of 12 volts but I've gotten them to light up off of nine volts so I wonder if you could find a way to use them. You can cut them in three-piece increments.
Same with the dreamcast
Say hello battery’s lol 😆
Just bought a recapped and glass replacement system. Version 5 system. The mcwill upgrade screen mod is better but it costs almost $400 Canadian so yeah I'll have to get that done later
where you find it
Really shows us how much display & electronics overall have advanced. It's pretty cool to play these updated systems its made me appreciate these older gen systems so much fun.
Good tip for those gamebit screws if you haven't got a screwdriver is take a pen, pull the ink out, use something like a lighter to soften up the clear empty pen casing and place it down on top of the screw for a few secs until the pen plastic hardens. Used this method on my game gear and it works surprisingly well as a temporary makeshift screwdriver.
Wow so simple and worked, thank you
I just bought a soldering iron kit from Amazon and might just get a “broken” Game Gear from EBay in a few weeks that way I can finally build some skills in the soldering scene. Super excited!!
iVirtualPlays thanks for the great advice, can’t wait to finally start learning, I’ve put it off for too many years.
iVirtualPlays awesome, much appreciated, I’ll keep the recommendations in mind. I take it you have been doing this for a while.
iVirtualPlays wow, that’s awesome. Glad to get some pointers from a pro then!!
Seems like everyone has their particular console or consoles that evoke their fondest childhood memories. For me it's the GG and the C64. I always got hand-me-downs and cheaper consoles, and got made fun of at school for it, lol!
Isn't it weird how the memories of the games are so much more than the crude graphics and tinny sound? My memory of Land of Illusion, for example, is of this huge magical place inhabited with strange creatures; even PGA golf seems like a real place. And each game is attached to particular memories. Jungle Strike is my grandad digging the garden in the summer; Lemmings is sending a cheat I discovered to Sega Mean Machines magazine, composed on an old typewriter (recently even found the published cheat on Internet Archive!). The GG was a present from my step dad, long gone. Replaying the games today, I suddenly unlock memories of being with him, memories that have otherwise remained lodged away in my unconscious.
People who dismiss gaming nostalgia as juvenile are missing the point - it's about more than just the games, fun though they are. For the generations that grew up with games, they are interwoven with the fabric of our selfhood, including important relationships.
I agree my grandparents got me my first game gear as a kid and both of em are gone now decided to pick up a game gear to keep that memory forever
Dude, thank you. Never soldered before but bought the parts on eBay and the materials on Amazon. I was shocked the video turned on after replacing the 8 capacitors on the mother board. Next will try the audio but thanks for giving me some confidence to try to fix it myself!
The brightness wheel works as a switch between the LCD-screen and the VGA-Out (once installed) !
Yep, I was just about to post this.
Good on ya! I concede to the master of fixing consoles.
I have a couple Game Gears I still need to do cap replacements. Just, well, need to.
When you said florescent tube, I didn't think you actually meant a "florescent tube". That's nuts it was in a handheld device .
When I was a shitty kid, I dropped my Game Gear and it stopped turning on. So I sold it at a flea market. I hope they were able to get it working somehow.
By the looks of this video, there was not much that could have broken off the game cube internally, EXCEPT the fluorescent light tube. Even that flimsy LCD could have survived. Without a CCFL powering on, nothing would be visible to the user. I doubt they were able to do anything to get that working, save having some soldering skills, and a replacement fluorescent tube handy.
Perfect timing, also just bought a broken gamegear few weeks back to do the samething. Great video. Thanks for sharing. Keep them coming !!!!!
Thank you for this video. My Game gear hasn't worked in probably 20 years. I still have it (sentimental), and now I have hope for it working again someday.
Much respect for doing this mod. I did a recap earlier this year and I sold it on ebay with a powerback I installed lithium batteries in to. The guy who bought it was very happy.
very power inefficient but ok.
@@waltercomunello121 wym
That screen was hd back in the day 😂
Back then, we had lower standards. It's crap now, but a colour backlit handheld was amazing in the early 90s. Granted, most of my memories playing the Game Gear was with it plugged into the wall cause of how battery hungry it was.
It looked better back in the day as well. They start ghosting and the backlight dims as they age. Still didn't look great by todays standards but not as bad as his example here.
not even 144p
@@dmtd2388 The Game Gear's resolution is 160x144, so it's in the class of 144p.
@@AmartharDrakestone Oh wow. That's the exact resolution of the original gameboy. Weird how the screen looks wider than that of the Gameboy though
I loved my Gamegear... I hated the batteries it ate. Lucky for us it could be pluged in with a DC outlet.
Great work, love the revision with the new screen it looks like a blast. TBH the first thing I would do if I were to get a GameGear would be to implement some sort of rechargeable battery solution... thinking about the money and waste associated with 6 AAs for a few hours of gameplay makes my skin crawl.
You can buy rechargeable AAs.
@@ZachAttackIsBack definitely the easiest solution. I was just imagining a Game Gear with a USB-C port, clearly I'm getting carried away :)
@@avva4090 it's very power inefficient. the GG uses three power rails (9V, 34V, 5V) and a Vref (1,28V) to help the unit understand when the batteries are ging to die, all provided from its SMPS. using a Li-Ion solution would need a dedicated SMPS able to provide the same voltages (except Vref, knocked down to the same 9:1,28 ratio but with 4,2V), replacing the original one, otherwise you should boost the 4V2 or whatever voltage from the batteries up to 9V used by the SMPS to create the 5V and 34V rails, so it's at least two conversions. then there's the 5V -> 200 or so volts on the board to light up the CCFL. installing a McWill mod gets rid of the 34V rail though, and the 5V doesn't get boosted anymore. but still, if you want to install a lithium ion mod you should create a purposefully designed SMPS or else there would be some power waste.
with a brightness mod on the McWill you can squeeze up to 12 hours from 6x good branded rechargeable AAs, so no need to go 100 more miles when you can do it in 100 metres or so. I recharged my Bonai AAs only once in a month (not playing a lot but 1 to 2 hours each time is more than enough), and they're still pretty crappy compared to Panasonic friggin Eneloop Pro.
You can use a power adapter with the game gear and plug it into the wall. That's what I did as a kid.
That thing was power hungry, I'm sure it was that screen that drew the most power. I couldn't imagine audio or input and game play would take that much. Even ate thru Duracell and Energizers in no time. You can forget those cheap black and silver eveready batteries. They were dead in a matter of minutes. We ended up having to get an ac adapter or I think we used the segas ac adapter just to play. You know to able to get any real use out of it. I only had one game for it, Sonic 2. Looking back though it kind of made sense. Six batteries, device was asking alot, no wonder they went dead so quick.
That scratch near the screen would bother me so badly
I'm the same way I would have to touch that up it just draws your attention way to much.
Yup. I would have to sand it a little then buff it out to a shine with high grit sandpaper.
Say no more
I loved the Sonic music during the time lapses haha! Great stuff Spawn Wave
People today think I'm crazy when I point this out but the way the screen looks after this fascinating refurbishment is how the Game Gear screen actually looked when you first purchased it. Back then, there was still obviously some ghosting issues due to the primitive LCD technology at the time, but overall it was a far superior display right out of the box than anything available in the market at the time including the Atari Lynx. He is also 100% correct that normally the tiny Game Gear speaker is extremely loud and the battery life is god awful short. To work around my family complaining about the noise as well as my frequent need for AA Batteries, I ended up getting some generic, large rechargeable battery packs that extended the battery usage from 2 hours to close to 4 hours. Whenever the battery light would start flashing to indicate the juice was almost out, I would immediately plug in my AC Adapter and sit leaning against a wall near the power outlet so I didn't lose progress in the game I was playing.
Those were the days man and so not annoy or disturb my family with the constant blips and bleeps, I would plug in the headphones from my portable cassette player and zone out to the amazing games Sega had to offer back then like GG Shinobi 2! 😇
If they can build a miniature Dream Cast in this build that would be sick or even put a Wii on this with a larger screen
doing it with a wii would be more like early wii portables
I dont know, the Dreamcast is a very hot machine... need a very good heat cooling system.
Lookup the Wiiboy.
Someone already turned a Nintendo Wii into a Gameboy. I was gonna watch that video after this one actually. Haha
I've seen someone put a gamecube in an atari lynx shell so it could be possible
There are a couple of retro gaming handheld consoles that can play Dreamcast, n64, and ps1 games using roms on their respective emulators
How come every time you put out one of these videos I feel like I can do it despite having no experience or knowledge how to
Knowledge you can get anywhere and experience just by doing it. I think all you need is steady hands and not be afraid (or be very afraid?) of making mistakes. Just watch a ton of videos and you will find out what to do and what not to do. That's how i fixed and modded joy cons and game boys :)
@@DontpushtheBbutton Basically wht I did when building my 1st pc. lol
a game gear is a easy repair equipament. you dont need great skill to desolder those caps. on anything else. pay just attention for the caps position.
@@Daigon95 assembling is a better term though, and that is much much much easier especially with modern PCs, you don't even need to screw the CPU anymore. Just clip it on.
I found one at Goodwill today for $8. It needs to be recapped. I cant wait to fix it and go back in time.
I'm not into modding or a tech person at all and I still enjoyed this. Great video man.
Games looked so nice back then I can't believe they weren't HD - memories are a weird drug
Well, compared to the OG Game Boy, the Game Gear was HD.
I use to live in fear of seeing that power light starting to blink, loved the game gear though lol.
Favorite Game Gear game was 'Tail's Adventure'
Cap replacement on this generation's consoles is a great way to improve your systems. I had a Genesis model 2 that had not great mono only audio out. After replacing the caps, stereo sound is back, and it sounds way better. *Even more so after a Triple Bypass*
Audio on my game gear crapped out years ago but last I checked it turned on. The screen was the best/worst part of this thing. A wall adapter was a requirement while playing at home a car adapter for the road. Not exactlly the most portable system but it was a blast to use. Favorite games I had was Sonic 2, Jurrasic Park and Ecco the Dolphin. Great vid... great job!
Watching you work is oddly relaxing and satisfying. Probably because I'm learning about something other than just doing math all day. I like your channel you're doing great!
Phenomenal vid! I haven't soldered anything in over 20 years, but your vids have inspired me to get a kit and start practicing on some old systems I find on ebay. Thanks for that! Something I'll do when I get more space.
I also have a Game Gear that's not working either. It's in excellent condition. No missing battery lids. No corrosion on the battery terminals. This video gives me hope to one day make this awesome piece of technology work again. As a bonus, I also have the TV 📺 tuner. The antenna is half broken. Unfortunately, there's hardly any analog TV channels out there. There's hope after all, for old tech. .
It's so rare seeing Game Gear systems with battery covers!
Really does suck when it comes to old systems, sometimes.
Cases like this where over time, something inside screws up and makes the system not work the way it was supposed to work. Yeah, there are ways around this for almost any old system or in this case any old handheld, but not everyone is into console surgery.
Thanks for this! Just took out my old game gear out of storage and I was surprised to see it didn't turn on. Did the same as you in the beginning. Surprised because last time I remember using it it was working plenty fine. It HAS been over 20 years since I last used it though so, yeah...
I came for a possible reason and a guide to fix and while I haven't checked inside mine yet you got me pretty reassured that I can fix it! Now to get myself a soldering iron... And learning to use it before I attempt this. Lotsa projects I've been holding out on because lack of iron so hopefully I get a lot more done.
Thanks again for sharing your expertise, on top of the daily content I tune in every morning!
The screen on this was QHD compared to the original gameboy, yet the gameboy seemed better. Zelda and Mario did it for me. I later had a Gamegear I bought from someone in my school and it was great bar the screen being scratched to bits. I do remember the 2 hr or less battery life I got from my game gear. I used NiCd batteries in it, Disposable Duracells gave me 3 + hours.
Nice! Too bad the LCD kit didn't come with a plug for the removed top security screw. I wonder if adding a sugar cube speaker would kick it up a notch! 👍😎
This was my first hand held. This was a fun system to play with on the go! So much better looking now. Also power rangers was amazing as a kid.
Love these restoration videos...one time I would like to see a restoration on something that in the end, couldn't be fixed. It will make me feel better about all the projects I got in over head on lol
Mortal Kombat was my favorite game when I had a GG back in the 90's. Awesome refresh vid, makes me want to get a GG and do the same.
I had found one on craigslist when I was 17. My older brother and I went to go get it. Guy was only asking like $20. Met up and the guy says “I tried testing it this morning and it was really dim and wont play” I had researched common issues with these and informed him that it was most likely needed recapped. He then proceeded to give it to me and said “Man you can have it. It worked last time. You drove here and seem interested in it so I’ll just give it to you for free” Still have that GameGear today works great after recapping it. Also came with a small carry bag and the superwide accessory.
I will definitely be doing this to my Game Gear. Screen and sound both having same issues. I’ve never soldered anything but I’m up for a challenge. Love fixing my old tech to give it new life.
I refurbed my game gear years ago but haven't gotten around to doing my mcwill. Glad I waited for you to make a video.
I used the wrong dc adapter for my neo geo pocket colour and ever since when I tried to power on I get nothing there red led just flashing. So probably fried the power I don’t know if I’ve ruined the screen also but before it was in mint condition, I was gutted. I’d love to see you repair one of those because there way to expensive to buy in the same condition as I have. Always really enjoy your tech videos . I have no idea actually happened it powered up made a funny sound then crashed and from there on nothing. Keep up the great work :)
Challenge spawn to repair it. Seen a commenter a few comments up challenge him, try!!!!
prices are insane lately. i used to buy game gears to refurbish for $12 shipped. $35 is nuts.
I just found a game gear in very nice condition at Goodwill for $15. It was dangling from a wall outlet under a table, facing the wall and I barely noticed it. Wrong power source, but it shows a bit of life with batteries. Can't wait to dive into this.
Would you be interested in trying to fix my CDX? I'd pay for the recaps and other parts, you make the video and we both win.
@spawnwave
Do it, please. I genuinely wanna see this.
I like this idea too 👊
Has this happened yet?
@@Hero-3 nope. Still broken even after a recap :/
@@SuperNicktendo he can only repair items that already have how to repair videos.
Even first Nintendo DS 20 years later didn't have Backlighted screen. Game Gear was awesome. And I could play 5 to 6 without recharging my rechargeable batteries or buy bew one. (Technically more than the 2 hours or 2 and a half with my switch when I play Zelda botw... 🙄
Inside and out that is the cleanest gamegear I've ever seen.. holy cra*. Especially on the outside, all the ones I see have dirt or dust cached in all the little nooks, all scratched up.
Damn, they took care of that one.
Don't be too worried removing the old screen. If you rip the pads there's little vias above each pad. Some through hole soldering can be done with 30awg wire and a fiber glass pen.
The Game Gear was ahead of it's time. If they could have figured out how to make it more efficient with batteries and it had more titles it would have blew the gameboy out of the water. It was such a superior system to the gameboy.
Well done video. Congrats.
I did this mod last month to a dying GG with gone caps and screen. I also installed a 3.7v 18650 Lithium battery with usb charging circuit stepping up voltage to reach 9v.
Now waiting for a everdrive to have a full gaming experience.
We have come along so far in three years with repairing Game Gears. You should revisit this with the BennVenn HD and the easy install ribbon.
If sega made a dreamcast 2 with new exclusive games and a portable controller like this that could connect to the console, it would be great.
GG Aleste, Power strike 2, Coca Cola Kid, Gunstar Heroes, Ristar, Sonic Triple Trouple, Tails Adventure, GG Shinobi 1 and 2, the Puyo Puyo games, Land of Illusion, Sylvan Tale, Batman Returns, Ninku Gaiden, Streets of Rage 2, lots of others.
well some of those you're better off just getting the 16-bit Gen versions. (idk why Sega wasted time and money down porting 16-bit games into 8 bit anyway)
These refurbishing videos are really cool and interesting. I love seeing how you clean these retro consoles up and upgrade them too! Best part of these videos is seeing how a console goes from not great quality to amazing!
I'd love to see more of this type of content! It is so interesting to see systems get fixed and upgraded.
You've inspired me to fix up my Turbo Express.
this came at a great time Spawn, I have a blue gamegear with lines through the screen and garbled audio that was given to me, that I was looking as my next project. I just finished a atomic purple GBA SP shell swap with a funnyplaying screen that turned out beautifully. Got me super pumped to jump into another project soon. keep up the awesome inspirational work.
I had a couple game gears over the years that display is light years ahead of the original hazy foggy display. Very Nice!
Thanks for making videos like this! I've been selling my broken systems on ebay and pretty happy with the prices they fetch!
I recently came into possession of a Game Gear and was really disappointed when it didn’t turn on after putting new batteries. I was thinking of popping it open to see inside so this video is a definite help. Thanks. Now to just figure out what I’m doing lol. I’m also kinda conflicted with the screen. Seeing how it looks now vs what it can be, I don’t have the confidence or knowledge to do such a surgery but it definitely looks amazing.
I love new tech coming to improve on old tech 🙂
Perfect timing. I've been doing a lot of handheld modding to keep me busy during the pandemic and I have my sights on the Game Gear. The McWills kit is a fair bit more expensive compared to the Game Boy IPS screens but it does look really good.
What a cracking video! This has made me go on a search for modded Game Gear's! I always wanted one as a child, but was always told "NO!". Apparently, the Master System, Mega Drive and Mega CD were enough ;)
mortal kombat and megaman were awesome, roadrash was great at the time too ^_^
I Recapped mine cause I didn't have any audio or video and now it works great. I would like to have a new screen but I'm afraid to try and attempt that
its even better when you put scanlines on etc by pressing start and the other 2 buttons at the same time, I've done lots of these, and removing the bits of the board for the screen is the trickiest part..
what you wanna do is put some flux on your capacitors, and then turn the volume up to 88
That screen looks so gorgeous, I still have my GameGear from childhood, it is in very good condition, turns on and sounds all working fine, except that the screen is damaged, it shows some green lines and tiny points (pixels dead) all around , Replacing the screen like this would be the perfect solution, I might look into this at some point, do you have any link pointing to detailed instructions on how to do this? Thanks for such a cool video!
I remember doing that capacitor make over i did also years ago, it did revived my game gear, i did also mod the lights from the original fluorescent bulb to LED bulb , did make the battery last longer...
I actually have a Game Gear still waiting to be recapped and I really wanted to do that screen mod 2 so it was really awesome to see that you did it because now I see how good it is to
Just FYI the screen brightness control is used for VGA switching, when the screen is turned dark, it is passing the signal to the VGA port.
Thats crazy as hell I forgot about the Sega Game Gear. For its day. It was cutting edge. I had one after my OG game boy. Sonic was awesome.
1. MMPR:TM:TG is hella fun. I honestly think I played it the most of my GG games
2. The LCD screen looks so bright and clear it looks like you greenscreened it in
Spawn Wave, I have this very system. I was about to toss it. How much would you charge to re-vamp mine? Loved watching your video. Thank you.
Those internals really did look pristine. Kind of a blessing and curse, as it makes finding any specific fault more difficult if everything looks fine.
what is your toolkit for refurbishing older game systems? I’d love to take this up as a hobby!
That was excellent. I get frustrated with tedious things but I'm now debating on looking to buy a broken system
Make sure the old pads are clean clean clean when doing the recap. Fiber glass pen helps and maybe gently scrape the stubborn bits with an xacto knife.
Wow I can’t believe the difference in that screen. That’s really amazing.
I really wish I had the know-how and the soldering skills to do stuff like this. I would love to make a hobby out of this.
Don't be scared, anyone can do it! I recommend starting with easier projects like fixing gameboys then working ur way up. Soldering is easy u just need to be confident! But u can easily learn if u just look it up on TH-cam!
Our Gamegear from childhood was definitely missing the battery doors and we had to use painters tape to keep the batteries in 😅
Now I know where the term backlit screen comes from... I never considered that there was just a lightbulb back there.
My Lynx needs some mods like that, class, great work. BTW, I was getting anxious with the batteries connected and the covers off, drives me crazy.
"I think I scrapped the plastic here on the side but it's not a big deal"
Me: SOILED IT! SOILED IT! SOILED IT!!
Sheesh, I remember mucking around with these years ago. I still have my consolised one, one where I used a NDS backlight to replace the original backlight and replacement led screen (not the newer fancy one).
My favourite was the consolised for sure.
Really interesting project here. It seems the Game Gear was notorious for degrading like this. I have a whole bunch of retro consoles/computers, going back to the C64, and the Game Gear is the only one I have that doesn't work today, AND it's my second one after my first one died. Both do exactly the same as this one at the beginning of the video. The screen comes on for about 5 seconds with just a bunch of white lines on it before fading out.
Looks like the power board is working for now at least. I'd start with the sound board first just. It's quick and can confirm your system doesn't have additional problems. Then the main board then the power board.
Nice work! I wonder if plugging in the wrong AC power pack would have caused the capacitors to blow?
I think you need more of this kind of video. I like watching what you do to the game and getting it repaired. I have seen a lot of other videos on youtube and none of them are as good as yours, except one, but I have not seen much from the YT. Anyways, I would like to get one and see if you can get mine to like yours.
excellent video, the sega game gear is my favorite portable console and for me the best in its time, what I like most about this portable console is its backlit color screen and its powerful sound that there was no GB that equaled it, until the arrival of the ultra-bright GBA sp that surpassed it in everything except the sound that is very low compared to the gg, 16 years later.
I just did a video showing my modded game gear, it makes such a dynamic difference. If you can change out the screen with a modern one, you definitely should.
Ahhh the game gear.... lots of memories playing games on this system.
I need to do this with my game gear, but holy crap do I not want to do all that soldering. I’d pay for a Spawnwave refurbished game gear lol
I knew the Vita d pad looked familiar but never knew why. Now I do.