Years ago I went on a 12 hour road trip with my Game Gear. I was really excited since I had Mortal Kombat and some other choice games. About 90 minutes into the trip all of the batteries that I brought were used up. The rest of that road trip was really lame.
I remember getting my Game Gear when I was a kid for my birthday. We were in a cabin in the mountains and my parents got me 6 Everready Batteries (one with the shithead cat on them). 30 minutes later my Game Gear was dead and I had to wait days to get back to civilization to play the damn thing.
The Ever Ready batteries died in 30 minutes! You HAD to get Energizer or Duracell batteries. In order for it to last a solid 2 hours before dying. They didn’t make cars with AC ports in them yet; unless you had a fancy van.
I begged for a game gear specifically for the TV tuner. Back then there wasn't a tv in every room like today so the thought of having my own tv was so cool. I got the game gear but sadly no tv tuner. I only got two games for it as the gameboy was my go to portable.
I used the tv tuner which had an A/V in via a headphone jack. Would use a composite to headphone dongle to hook my VCR up to the gameboy and watch Hook over and over..
Probably it was pointed out already but the gameplay shown on 14:20 is from Land of illusion, not legend of illusion. There are three illusion games in total on game gear including castle of illusion and they are all great traditional 2D platformers.
+utoobninja well i dont know about John, but my fave is absolutely Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, there are only a few RPGs/StrategyRPGs on the GG, so they are highly coveted by us RPG Fanatics.
I, honestly, hadn't play it enough to come up with a favorite. The Sonic games would be too blurry for me after I started running fast. To me, the Disney platformers ruled that system. Loved The Lucky Dime Caper.
John Riggs: RIGG'd Games i cant count Lucky Dime Caper myself cause it was on SMS first, still a great game though, the Illusion series was definitely a highlight of the GG.
With all that battery talk I'm surprised you all didn't recommend picking up some rechargeable batteries like Energizer or other brands make instead of just using disposable ones.
+Luis Badolato Assuming you could find the right voltage, you could 3D print a case that attaches to the underside of the game gear, and uses the screw port on the back to hold it in place and then run a cable to the power plug on top as there is not really an easy way to put one inside the case with the original screen taking up so much space, so you have to dremel out the battery cases to make them flush, and then wire up the correct voltage batteries if you would find some slim enough to fit with the battery covers closed, and wire those batteries to the power port on the top so they could be charged with a proper charging circuit. so yeah the external case is the better option. In fact as a Kid I had an external battery pack by DOCS that did go on the bottom of my GameGear in the same manner.
Rechargeable batteries back then didn’t have enough voltage. The brightness would be low from the beginning and could actually even damage the device. Or so I’ve heard.
@@MrCumstein Rechargeable battteries when Game gear was new (early 90´s) was dirt expensive.It was based on lead (environmentally doubtful and physically HEAVY),and they were not the best option for intensive consumption use,like gaming processors,either.Of course,you could load the n:r 1 set of batteries (with power from the car´s cigarette lighter output) at the same time as you played with the n:r 2 set of batteries,and then exchange ém with each other when needed.The problem though,if you played non stop,you would end its capacity cycle in about 2-3 hours.Loading lead batteries from the early 90´s would probably take 4-6 hours,so it still would´nt be a full working solution in the end anyway.But what are we talking about here ?.Why not just buy a CHARGING CABLE to the console itself,and say "F¤¤k y¤u" to the batteries,once and for all ?.Yeah,all console accessories is what makes its manufacturer´s blood sucking parasites.But with a such gaming obsession as mentioned,it´s actually a reasonable decision to take (personally,i like to just relax when i´m a car passenger,and have me a smoke or two if it´s possible.But that´s just me).
It was more powerful yes, but the Game Gear had higher resolution and more colors. Most importantly, the Game Gear has better games, although in the Lynx's defense, it's easier to get a full collection for it and there's still some homebrews being made for it while the Game Gear's library is basically done. Overall, both systems have their pros and cons.
The Game Gear screen was worse. I owned both. Having better games is subjective not a fact. Many Game Gear and Gameboy games were shovelware garbage. The lynx had quality not quantity. The Lynx has some amazing games not possible on the Game Gear.
Alec Xander But its issues (Most notably battery life and higher price tag) killed it. PSP pretty much had just the price tag issue, other than that... it is a beast.
Also the actual true "PSP" of that era was the PC Engine GT handheld. Although the Lynx still had superior sprite scaling and 3D power. And then in 1995 the Sega Nomad was the most powerful 1990's handheld with even WORSE battery problems like never seen before.
I had a game gear and the TV tuner when i was little . i used to fall asleep watching arseno hall on my game gear everynight... whooo whoo whoo whooo whoo whooo
I loved my Game Gear, still got it with a lot of games. The only thing, the Mega Drive adapter is 10V, and the Game Gear one is 9V, the 10V one burns out the capacitors while the 9V doesnt. Thats one of the reasons the screen loses it brightness
I repair old gaming systems and in particular, I have been focusing on Game Gears recently. At least 90% of the failures or disruptions on the system are related to a batch of bad capacitors that swept the electronics world in general during those years. You can replace the video and audio caps and get nearly 100% performance from them. With that said, the battery packs and AC Adapter are mandatory for long term playability of a Game Gear.
I'm so glad you guys mentioned Devilish. The video footage doesnt do the game itself justice. It's so satisfying to play and ghe gameplay and soundtrack is just awesome. It also feels much more intense and "faster" when playing it instead of watching it on a video. I can absolutely recommend this game to everyone who's into Game Gear!
This IS why Metal J ROCKS...Both Dragon Crystal&Devilish are two of the most UNDERRATED gems..EVER..Amazing double Pick Mister MJR...And we need MORE Kinsey...One of the most adorable and cutest you tube ladies ever.
Sitting against the wall, plugged in, playing Axe Battler was my JAM back in the day. Being able to paly SEGA Genesis games wherever I was blew my mind. I carried my purse with the AC plug, giant console, AND the 3rd party magnifier around with me everywhere. I loved bringing it on vacations at the hotel.
You all brought me back to my childhood. I remember standing in a long line outside with my dad at this store called Consumers Distributing. The tv turner was sold out but I got the sega game gear with the travel bag and soinc game and MLB world series 1992. Thanks dad that dad was snow like crazy too.
Fun Fact: For the not so well remembered film "Johnny Mnemonic", Johnny (Keanu Reeves) uses a passport to get into Newark. The passport was actually a Sega Game Gear cartridge with a different label on it and a housing built to go around it. And I have encountered that Coca-Cola Game Gear once.
Thank you very much Metal Jesus! I don't know if you remember, but I was one if not the only person who asked you if you could make one of these buying guide videos for the Game Gear! It makes me smile because you listen to your subs quite a bit and that can get pretty rare! I also find it ironic that I literally just ordered one this past Wednesday and it should come Any day now! You are probably my favorite TH-cam and thank you again, Rock on! :)
6 AA Battery's last between 45 - 55 minutes. I will never forget my friend and me switching the tv remotes Battery's out with the dead game gears Battery's. my dad never knew lol.
I'm glad I bought a Game Gear last year (April 2021). It's a lot of fun, with games like Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble, Columns, Super Off Road, etc. Just a shame the console and games are much more expensive in the UK vs the US.
i love that you're a collector that doesn't see modding as heresy. a lot of collectors seem to be super puritan about preserving the past, but i find modded consoles MORE historically interesting than stock consoles.
+supernoob17 I just want to play the games in the best possible way...and often that older tech doesn't hold up today, so modding is a great way of bringing LIFE back into a system!
When I was 12 on a family trip to Tenerife we rented a convertible jeep to drive across the mountain range to some other town. I had just bought Mortal Kombat for the Game Gear and I spent about four hours huddled under blankets playing it during the drive. I burned through a ton of batteries but whenever I think of the GG I remember that trip.
I noticed you didnt mention Majescos game gear that they made after sega, it doesnt let you use the original master gear converter and it had a couple of differences.
In case anyone is still reading this, it's more expensive, but the tradeoff is that it doesn't suffer from the capacitor issues and is much more likely to still work.
I had a game gear when I was a kid .. got it for my 9th birthday in 1993. It came in a value bundle , with Joe Montana football and Sonic 2. It also included a travel pouch and power adapter .. I loved the power adapter because the game gear was notorious for sucking the life outta battery’s fairly quickly .. I recently got myself an Anbernic RG35XX, and I’ve been going through the game gear library again.. I have to say that my favorite game is still Chakan the Forever Man .. still holds up after all these years and fun as hell!!
My personal favorite RPG for the Game Gear will always be Defenders Of Oasis. It was just awesome back then, and I must have played through it several times in my life, and enjoyed every single minute. Love that title, and always will look back at it fondly.
Hey MJR! The fact that you found difficult to play Vampire on the Game Gear screen is that some games were poorly ported from Master System to Game Gear, so they were not made to fit on that screen size. Here in Brazil, both Master System and Game gear were a huge success. In 1996 they were still releasing new games here like Street Fighter II' and Baku Baku for example. The Mortal Kombat Trilogy was also ported from Game Gear to Master System and they sold a lot. Anyways, thank you for one more great video!
All of your videos are great. It always brings a nostalgic feeling when I see the devices of my childhood. I only played a Game Gear one time but man it was fun back then. Imagine me now with an iPhone in my hand 100x's as powerful.
No mention of the Streets of Rage or Jurassic Park Game Gear games? those were great. Also fun fact on the cover of Home Alone 3 the main character Alex is seen with his yellow color Game Gear!
I loved this handheld as a kid, spent many hours on it! I loved the tv attachment, I used to stay up late and match tv when I was supposed to be in bed. My favorite game on it was actually Evander Holyfield's boxing.
I just want to say that this is a great video on such an underrated system, but there was a bit of a mix up with the Mickey Mouse games. The cartridge shown and title named was LEGEND of Illusion, but the game shown and talked about was LAND of Illusion. Sorry if I came across as THAT person.
The sequel is even better. It's a shame that the Shinobi games on the non-handheld systems never adopted the style of game play in the GG Shinobi games. Also, Batman Returns is another great Shinobi-style game.
+Kevin Bender You earned a HUGE THUMBS UP for mentionning the AWESOME GG Version of Batman Returns. It's my absolute fave handheld Batman Game EVER. The boss battles alone are worth the price of admission and my absolute faves Batman boss fights.
Yeah, a lot of Game Gear installments in various series are arguably the best in their respective series. It's a shame that Game Gear is such an overlooked system. It had a ton of great exclusives.
I just had my GG modded with a new screen and VGA out as well. The difference is huge and I totally recommended. It is expensive though, but if you plan to keep your Game Gear, it is worth it.
i know its a little late but i just yesterday fixed one of my game gears by replacing all the capacitors in it...works great now, just the screen looks like crap...time to upgrade the screen to led or just a new backlit lcd...
+Adam Stephens a 90s PC buying guide!? Man, that would be a 2 hour video! So much changed with hardware during the 90s, especially with video and sound cards!
I actually found a Game Gear a month ago at a church yard sale for $1 and it came with Sonic 2. I haven't been playing in awhile, but thanks MetalJesus for making this video. I'm now more interested to start buying game gear games and try to modify and get some of the cool accessories from your video.
I have a mad game gear collection! 130 games, about a dozen 2 player games with link cable. ac adapter, car adaptor, carrying case. Game genie. love the game gear
"Color/backlit screen was a selling point" what an under statement that is! Hahaha You can actually see whats on the screen!!!! Holy fawk!!! I mean even compared to the gameboy color display, there is no contest! Fucker liked batteries tho lol
The Game Gear was more advanced than the Game Boy in basically every way, but as it turns out tech specs are not everything. The monochrome non-backlit display of the Game Boy ironically worked to its advantage. You could get many hours of gameplay out of it on batteries alone, making it truly portable, and it had good software support, and this is an ethos that Nintendo have largely stuck to ever since - don't get too caught up in being cutting edge and focus on the games. It's worked well enough, for the most part.
Yesterday i bought a Game Gear and even before getting it, i went to get Fantasy Zone, i really LOVE that game, the ship is so cute, the weapons are weird as hell, and the enemies has that special smell to Japan that makes me so so happy haha
A Game Gear game that blew my mind when I was younger was Star Trek The Next Generation The Advanced Holodeck Tutorial (just rolls right off the tongue). To this day I think it’s pretty cool. First, I would like to mention the awesome 8-bit rendition of the Star Trek theme in the title screen. The game starts off with Picard telling you some stuff that you end up skipping because you just want to get to the game. You eventually end up looking at the Enterprise’s view screen, on the bottom are where you can control and maintain parts of the ship, more on that later. If you hold up, you will start zooming through space, hold down to stop, pressing start will give you options to move side to side and up and down. Unfortunately you have to press start again and hold down in order to stop. The 5 options on the bottom allow you to maintain the ship, a couple odd things to note is pressing 1 on any of them leads you to a map showing how close you are to a planet. The other odd thing is when you enter one of the options, pressing 1 will make them give a report on the current situation, which is usually nothing. The first option is manned by Lt. Warf, he can raise the shields and set the lasers and torpedos. Press start then 1to shoot torpedos, 2 to shoot lasers. Next is Data, he sets courses and allows you to warp to other planets, mans the sensors, and allows you to orbit planets. Next is La Forge who basically tells you if you lose power, you need to repair something, or if something is damaged. Next is O’Brian who allows you to beam up, beam down, or warns you about intruders. Finally there is Riker, who basically tells you what’s going on. There is other things like some planets have ships coming at you and obliterating the Enterprise. That’s about all I can remember about the game, and I highly recommend it, it is as if you are inside the Enterprise and flying it. It’s so cool.
I still have my Game Gear, have the wide screen and the TV Tuner. Capacitors are shot on the sound board. I bought new ones and will eventually upgrade it. Never thought of upgrading the screen itself, may have to look into that too. The TV tuner was great, especially back in the day when I did boring security work. I'd take that along to watch, could hook it up to a VCR with a cable converter I hooked up and watch movies, kept me quite entertained on boring nights. If you have the tuner, you have a monitor to input other video sources to...something to think about. I loved mine, it was just a great device all round in its day.
I never owned the Game Gear, but I’ve been recently playing the games through emulation. There are just so many great games. Some of them are really impressive for an 8 bit heldheld. Just ordered a GG Micro to play Aleste 3, can’t wait!
Game Gear was my first console of choice. And Sword of Hajya was my crack on it. I haven't owned the game in many years, but I can still hear the battle music in my head. Thank god it's available on the 3DS!
I remember my friend had one and I had the original Gameboy. It was only really cool when we were at his house, but then again we could just play Genesis or SNES. I was always happy w/ my Gameboy b/c of road trips.
Just got my modded/fixed game gear back from Marco, amazing job, bright as hell screen. still terrible battery life, but that's why you get a wall plug. lol
I love the GameGear. It is such an amazing little handheld that was well ahead of it's time. And even today it's still fun to play. Despite how bulky it is, it's actually pretty comfortable to hold.
I have some original C64 games for sale Batman. kungfu2. karatake .. feued.a few more ..+a pile of copies all on 51/4 floppy. games have original sleeves no box stored in a covered disk caddy in bags.
I had the screen widener, or whatever it was called, but I rarely used it. I remember Castle of Illusion being one of my favs. I also had the Master System adapter.
+skabcat242 most everyone was a Nintendo fan, so GG and other Sega stuff usually fell under the radar, only those who branched out beyond that of nintendo actually bothered.
I remember my Game Gear back in 1992 had a bubble screen, but my friend's at the same time had a flat screen. It still bugs me to this day why these 2 were different as I was only ever aware of different coloured versions of these systems.
Thank you for doing a Game Gear buying guide! There are so many great games, you should do another video for it just for the games. Some more that I liked include: Shinobi (1 & 2) Defenders of Oasis (Great RPG) Sonic the Hedgehog (the 1st one) Columns (pack in title, better than the Genesis version IMHO) G-LOC (afterburner like title with plane upgrades) Mortal Kombat I Samurai Shodown (this one blew me away)
Summer of 1998. I was hanging out with friends, when one of them wanted to give me some old stuff of his brother's. Cool. It was a paper bag full of cool stuff. In it was a Sega Game Gear with Sonic 1 and Mortal Kombat 2, Sega Nomad with Sonic 3, and Atari Lynx II with Double Dragon. And as a bonus, the TV tuner with the Game Gear! ...I wish I didn't lose all that cool stuff when I moved...
I have a recapped original GG and recently purchased a refurbished blue McWill edition and yes it is way better than the stock screen. I agree Devilish is also a good game rare too!
Just for anyone who doesn't know this now somehow, Hyperkin has sense released the adapter for the Retron 5 that they were talking about in this video, it allows you to use game gear games along with master system games and sega cards on the Retron 5
I also had the madcats rechargeable grips that had rechargeable batteries that you could still play while the batteries charged it was awesome! and I still have them today.
finally someone who gives dragon crystal the attention it deserves. What makes it so special is theres always a certain mystery to it, the levels are never the same, you never know exactly when your getting the better sword or armor or what scroll will do. it just keeps a certain mystery.
Oh, and yeah. Devilish was also on the Genesis. I don't think it was on any other systems though. There's also a new version on for the DS that's pretty good you might what to check it out. Great game for sure. Still trying to find it for the Game Gear.
Game Gear can be rough to have these days, but it's got some surprisingly fantastic games on it, especially if you can play Japanese games. It especially had a lot of good JRPGs. Games like Last Bible, Madou Monogatari 1-3, Shining Force Gaiden. Phantasy Star Gaiden, Magic Knight Rayearth, Moldorian, Sylvan Tale, etc. I really enjoy mine, especially since the games are so cheap.
You guys should look into the Majesco Game Gear. It was released after 2000 and has a better built to it. Majesco also re-released a few games which have different labels compared to the originals. I'm not sure if this version is more rare or expensive, but I personally think it is the one to buy if you are buying a Game Gear.
Battery time was the only con. I could never tell what was on the screen on a Nintendo Gameboy and had too many bad games. GameGear was like a portable Master System and had a much better screen than you would expect for its time. It had a cool selection of games also. I was always impressed how good they were.
Just got a Game Gear so now I know some games to pick up. My vote is for a Sega Master System buying guide. That was my first console as a kid and I'm curious to see what you guys have to say about it
Years ago I went on a 12 hour road trip with my Game Gear. I was really excited since I had Mortal Kombat and some other choice games. About 90 minutes into the trip all of the batteries that I brought were used up. The rest of that road trip was really lame.
Hahahaha! Great story jimmy :)
didnt they have a car adapter for the game gear?
+Mark W I believe so Mark
+MetalJesusRocks I could have really used one of those. :D
+MetalJesusRocks They definitely did, I had one as a kid. If I wasn't attached to some external power source I probably wasn't playing game gear...
I remember getting my Game Gear when I was a kid for my birthday. We were in a cabin in the mountains and my parents got me 6 Everready Batteries (one with the shithead cat on them). 30 minutes later my Game Gear was dead and I had to wait days to get back to civilization to play the damn thing.
The Ever Ready batteries died in 30 minutes! You HAD to get Energizer or Duracell batteries. In order for it to last a solid 2 hours before dying. They didn’t make cars with AC ports in them yet; unless you had a fancy van.
I begged for a game gear specifically for the TV tuner. Back then there wasn't a tv in every room like today so the thought of having my own tv was so cool. I got the game gear but sadly no tv tuner. I only got two games for it as the gameboy was my go to portable.
Console Wars you guys are my favorite TH-camrs I share all your vids on Facebook keep it up I love the show
Dude, gamegear had a TV tuner?!
Dude. Lol
There were sony watchman tv's out long before gamegear if you just wanted the tv
I used the tv tuner which had an A/V in via a headphone jack. Would use a composite to headphone dongle to hook my VCR up to the gameboy and watch Hook over and over..
I remember having an Atari Lynx and my friends teased me for not having a Game Gear :D
I can't find the link for the guy who does the Game Gear mods wtf
I had a Lynx 2 at school and everyone thought it was cool when they saw it
Barnacules Nerdgasm Lynx is cool!
Thumbs up for the Atari Lynx. Along with the Gameboy, Turbo Graphx Express and the Game Gear this is one of my favorite hand held systems.
😂
Sega and its extention adapters, have to admire making their products backwards compatible and future proof.
Probably it was pointed out already but the gameplay shown on 14:20 is from Land of illusion, not legend of illusion. There are three illusion games in total on game gear including castle of illusion and they are all great traditional 2D platformers.
LOVE these buyers guides. Thanks guys! I have a Game Gear collecting dust. This video is making me wanna bust it out.
+utoobninja well i dont know about John, but my fave is absolutely Shining Force: The Sword of Hajya, there are only a few RPGs/StrategyRPGs on the GG, so they are highly coveted by us RPG Fanatics.
I, honestly, hadn't play it enough to come up with a favorite. The Sonic games would be too blurry for me after I started running fast. To me, the Disney platformers ruled that system. Loved The Lucky Dime Caper.
John Riggs: RIGG'd Games i cant count Lucky Dime Caper myself cause it was on SMS first, still a great game though, the Illusion series was definitely a highlight of the GG.
Riggs!!!!!!! :D
John Riggs: RIGG'd Games i tought it was Ron Jiggs at first.. i had to take a closer look.
With all that battery talk I'm surprised you all didn't recommend picking up some rechargeable batteries like Energizer or other brands make instead of just using disposable ones.
+MrMario2011 could there be an easy mod to use a lithium battery like the psp's or something?... Maybe I'm just talking nonsense here...
+Luis Badolato Assuming you could find the right voltage, you could 3D print a case that attaches to the underside of the game gear, and uses the screw port on the back to hold it in place and then run a cable to the power plug on top as there is not really an easy way to put one inside the case with the original screen taking up so much space, so you have to dremel out the battery cases to make them flush, and then wire up the correct voltage batteries if you would find some slim enough to fit with the battery covers closed, and wire those batteries to the power port on the top so they could be charged with a proper charging circuit. so yeah the external case is the better option. In fact as a Kid I had an external battery pack by DOCS that did go on the bottom of my GameGear in the same manner.
Rechargeable batteries back then didn’t have enough voltage. The brightness would be low from the beginning and could actually even damage the device. Or so I’ve heard.
@@MrCumstein Rechargeable battteries when Game gear was new (early 90´s) was dirt expensive.It was based on lead (environmentally doubtful and physically HEAVY),and they were not the best option for intensive consumption use,like gaming processors,either.Of course,you could load the n:r 1 set of batteries (with power from the car´s cigarette lighter output) at the same time as you played with the n:r 2 set of batteries,and then exchange ém with each other when needed.The problem though,if you played non stop,you would end its capacity cycle in about 2-3 hours.Loading lead batteries from the early 90´s would probably take 4-6 hours,so it still would´nt be a full working solution in the end anyway.But what are we talking about here ?.Why not just buy a CHARGING CABLE to the console itself,and say "F¤¤k y¤u" to the batteries,once and for all ?.Yeah,all console accessories is what makes its manufacturer´s blood sucking parasites.But with a such gaming obsession as mentioned,it´s actually a reasonable decision to take (personally,i like to just relax when i´m a car passenger,and have me a smoke or two if it´s possible.But that´s just me).
Game gear - PSP of its time.
The Atari lynx was the psp of its time. Far more powerful
It was more powerful yes, but the Game Gear had higher resolution and more colors. Most importantly, the Game Gear has better games, although in the Lynx's defense, it's easier to get a full collection for it and there's still some homebrews being made for it while the Game Gear's library is basically done. Overall, both systems have their pros and cons.
The Game Gear screen was worse. I owned both. Having better games is subjective not a fact. Many Game Gear and Gameboy games were shovelware garbage. The lynx had quality not quantity. The Lynx has some amazing games not possible on the Game Gear.
Alec Xander But its issues (Most notably battery life and higher price tag) killed it.
PSP pretty much had just the price tag issue, other than that... it is a beast.
Also the actual true "PSP" of that era was the PC Engine GT handheld. Although the Lynx still had superior sprite scaling and 3D power. And then in 1995 the Sega Nomad was the most powerful 1990's handheld with even WORSE battery problems like never seen before.
I had a game gear and the TV tuner when i was little . i used to fall asleep watching arseno hall on my game gear everynight... whooo whoo whoo whooo whoo whooo
The macho man was the best guest...I miss the 90's.
Same here. Had the TV tuner
I would do that too (watch tv in bed), but I was doing it with the Turbo Express.
@Spit The Last Dragon huh? What kind of a stupid comment is that?
thats like a poor 90s kids dream
I loved my Game Gear, still got it with a lot of games. The only thing, the Mega Drive adapter is 10V, and the Game Gear one is 9V, the 10V one burns out the capacitors while the 9V doesnt. Thats one of the reasons the screen loses it brightness
Finally some Game Gear love. No one talks of this underrated system. Great video.
Finally some Game Gear live! It was my go to as a kid too.
The opening theme music of your videos has become one of the most iconic metal riffs in youtube.
I repair old gaming systems and in particular, I have been focusing on Game Gears recently. At least 90% of the failures or disruptions on the system are related to a batch of bad capacitors that swept the electronics world in general during those years. You can replace the video and audio caps and get nearly 100% performance from them.
With that said, the battery packs and AC Adapter are mandatory for long term playability of a Game Gear.
I'm so glad you guys mentioned Devilish. The video footage doesnt do the game itself justice. It's so satisfying to play and ghe gameplay and soundtrack is just awesome. It also feels much more intense and "faster" when playing it instead of watching it on a video. I can absolutely recommend this game to everyone who's into Game Gear!
This IS why Metal J ROCKS...Both Dragon Crystal&Devilish are two of the most UNDERRATED gems..EVER..Amazing double Pick Mister MJR...And we need MORE Kinsey...One of the most adorable and cutest you tube ladies ever.
Sitting against the wall, plugged in, playing Axe Battler was my JAM back in the day. Being able to paly SEGA Genesis games wherever I was blew my mind. I carried my purse with the AC plug, giant console, AND the 3rd party magnifier around with me everywhere. I loved bringing it on vacations at the hotel.
You all brought me back to my childhood. I remember standing in a long line outside with my dad at this store called Consumers Distributing. The tv turner was sold out but I got the sega game gear with the travel bag and soinc game and MLB world series 1992.
Thanks dad that dad was snow like crazy too.
You should do a Neo Geo buyers guide:
Step 1 - win lottery
Step 2 - now you can buy games
First four titles I'd recommend for Game Gear are: Columns, Mickey In Castle Of Illusion, Sonic 1 and Shinobi. Can't go really go wrong with those.
Fun Fact: For the not so well remembered film "Johnny Mnemonic", Johnny (Keanu Reeves) uses a passport to get into Newark. The passport was actually a Sega Game Gear cartridge with a different label on it and a housing built to go around it.
And I have encountered that Coca-Cola Game Gear once.
I honestly feel like the blue game gear makes me think of pepsi.
Thank you very much Metal Jesus! I don't know if you remember, but I was one if not the only person who asked you if you could make one of these buying guide videos for the Game Gear! It makes me smile because you listen to your subs quite a bit and that can get pretty rare! I also find it ironic that I literally just ordered one this past Wednesday and it should come Any day now! You are probably my favorite TH-cam and thank you again, Rock on! :)
6 AA Battery's last between 45 - 55 minutes.
I will never forget my friend and me switching the tv remotes Battery's out with the dead game gears Battery's. my dad never knew lol.
duracell lasted me around 4 hours
9
Lol
The adaptor was my friend
I've just recently bought one from a guy that had it sitting in storage since the mid 90's! Works great.
Yay!! I love when Kinsey is on the show!
I'm glad I bought a Game Gear last year (April 2021). It's a lot of fun, with games like Sonic Chaos and Triple Trouble, Columns, Super Off Road, etc. Just a shame the console and games are much more expensive in the UK vs the US.
i love that you're a collector that doesn't see modding as heresy. a lot of collectors seem to be super puritan about preserving the past, but i find modded consoles MORE historically interesting than stock consoles.
+supernoob17 I just want to play the games in the best possible way...and often that older tech doesn't hold up today, so modding is a great way of bringing LIFE back into a system!
When I was 12 on a family trip to Tenerife we rented a convertible jeep to drive across the mountain range to some other town. I had just bought Mortal Kombat for the Game Gear and I spent about four hours huddled under blankets playing it during the drive. I burned through a ton of batteries but whenever I think of the GG I remember that trip.
I noticed you didnt mention Majescos game gear that they made after sega, it doesnt let you use the original master gear converter and it had a couple of differences.
In case anyone is still reading this, it's more expensive, but the tradeoff is that it doesn't suffer from the capacitor issues and is much more likely to still work.
I had a game gear when I was a kid .. got it for my 9th birthday in 1993. It came in a value bundle , with Joe Montana football and Sonic 2. It also included a travel pouch and power adapter .. I loved the power adapter because the game gear was notorious for sucking the life outta battery’s fairly quickly .. I recently got myself an Anbernic RG35XX, and I’ve been going through the game gear library again.. I have to say that my favorite game is still Chakan the Forever Man .. still holds up after all these years and fun as hell!!
a lot of the game mentioned are also available on the 3DS for those of you who want to try them out but cant get the originals
Yes
One of my favourite handhelds I had one as my first handheld and have one now with about 40 games.
BTW, the footage for Legend of Illusion was actually for Land of lllusion! Both are great though!
Love this machine. the carts are amazing and you can even find New Old stock .even the original bag
12:00 I played Master System's Master of Darkness on the GameGear adapter. It is hard to see stuff, but I beat is and it was very good!
My personal favorite RPG for the Game Gear will always be Defenders Of Oasis. It was just awesome back then, and I must have played through it several times in my life, and enjoyed every single minute. Love that title, and always will look back at it fondly.
Hey MJR! The fact that you found difficult to play Vampire on the Game Gear screen is that some games were poorly ported from Master System to Game Gear, so they were not made to fit on that screen size. Here in Brazil, both Master System and Game gear were a huge success. In 1996 they were still releasing new games here like Street Fighter II' and Baku Baku for example. The Mortal Kombat Trilogy was also ported from Game Gear to Master System and they sold a lot. Anyways, thank you for one more great video!
14:20 actually that's footage of Land of Illusion, Legend is the sequel to that one and the third in the series.
+Alianger I thought so! I was excited for a second, because I actually have Land of Illusion.
Well that's the best one, so I think you made the right choice there. I'd say they're all worth playing though.
All of your videos are great. It always brings a nostalgic feeling when I see the devices of my childhood. I only played a Game Gear one time but man it was fun back then. Imagine me now with an iPhone in my hand 100x's as powerful.
No mention of the Streets of Rage or Jurassic Park Game Gear games? those were great. Also fun fact on the cover of Home Alone 3 the main character Alex is seen with his yellow color Game Gear!
I loved this handheld as a kid, spent many hours on it! I loved the tv attachment, I used to stay up late and match tv when I was supposed to be in bed. My favorite game on it was actually Evander Holyfield's boxing.
I found a blue one in near perfect condition the other day.
I just want to say that this is a great video on such an underrated system, but there was a bit of a mix up with the Mickey Mouse games. The cartridge shown and title named was LEGEND of Illusion, but the game shown and talked about was LAND of Illusion.
Sorry if I came across as THAT person.
GG shinobi one of the best games on the system
+Retro Hawk yes
The sequel is even better. It's a shame that the Shinobi games on the non-handheld systems never adopted the style of game play in the GG Shinobi games.
Also, Batman Returns is another great Shinobi-style game.
+Kevin Bender You earned a HUGE THUMBS UP for mentionning the AWESOME GG Version of Batman Returns. It's my absolute fave handheld Batman Game EVER. The boss battles alone are worth the price of admission and my absolute faves Batman boss fights.
Yeah, a lot of Game Gear installments in various series are arguably the best in their respective series. It's a shame that Game Gear is such an overlooked system. It had a ton of great exclusives.
Yeah i agree i think at the time it was the fact that it ate batteries that put people off compared to the original gameboy that lasted an age.
I just had my GG modded with a new screen and VGA out as well. The difference is huge and I totally recommended. It is expensive though, but if you plan to keep your Game Gear, it is worth it.
Metal Jesus do you own a Sega Nomad? I love that thing but the battery is even worse on this device.
+Abel Perez I do not...yet, but I would like to because I LOVE the Genesis!
+MetalJesusRocks Have you done a Top 10 Genesis yet?
i know its a little late but i just yesterday fixed one of my game gears by replacing all the capacitors in it...works great now, just the screen looks like crap...time to upgrade the screen to led or just a new backlit lcd...
I have a few of those I bought on the Nintendo eShop. super awesome.
So glad you covered shining force! It was such a fantastic game and the Sega CD remake made it even better.
I would LOVE to see a PSP buying guide, huge fan of that system. How about a 90's PC buying guide?
+Adam Stephens a 90s PC buying guide!? Man, that would be a 2 hour video! So much changed with hardware during the 90s, especially with video and sound cards!
Haha, true! So many good games to cover as well!
OMG the amount of time trying to setup my sound card on my old 486 PC computer was torture.
Just picked up a Game Gear at a pawn shop. Very thankful for your guides!
please do a buying guide for wii MJR. love these types of videos!!
That Mini Atari in the intro was too funny metal Jesus, you are always switching it up on us.
OMG! don't say fanny pack. I'm British and I spat my tea out...
Don't you guys call it a "bum bag"? Bum is another term for someone's ass in the US.
thank you for that info, Han. you destroyed the Kessel run btw
12 parsects!
blaser ikr
my grandma had me thinking they were "heinie purse" in the 90's.
I actually found a Game Gear a month ago at a church yard sale for $1 and it came with Sonic 2. I haven't been playing in awhile, but thanks MetalJesus for making this video. I'm now more interested to start buying game gear games and try to modify and get some of the cool accessories from your video.
Ah the game gear. Still the hardest MLB game I've played. I loved that system as a kid
I have a mad game gear collection! 130 games, about a dozen 2 player games with link cable. ac adapter, car adaptor, carrying case. Game genie. love the game gear
"Color/backlit screen was a selling point" what an under statement that is! Hahaha
You can actually see whats on the screen!!!! Holy fawk!!!
I mean even compared to the gameboy color display, there is no contest!
Fucker liked batteries tho lol
The Game Gear was more advanced than the Game Boy in basically every way, but as it turns out tech specs are not everything. The monochrome non-backlit display of the Game Boy ironically worked to its advantage. You could get many hours of gameplay out of it on batteries alone, making it truly portable, and it had good software support, and this is an ethos that Nintendo have largely stuck to ever since - don't get too caught up in being cutting edge and focus on the games. It's worked well enough, for the most part.
Yesterday i bought a Game Gear and even before getting it, i went to get Fantasy Zone, i really LOVE that game, the ship is so cute, the weapons are weird as hell, and the enemies has that special smell to Japan that makes me so so happy haha
metal Jesus is the best. respect
A Game Gear game that blew my mind when I was younger was Star Trek The Next Generation The Advanced Holodeck Tutorial (just rolls right off the tongue). To this day I think it’s pretty cool. First, I would like to mention the awesome 8-bit rendition of the Star Trek theme in the title screen. The game starts off with Picard telling you some stuff that you end up skipping because you just want to get to the game. You eventually end up looking at the Enterprise’s view screen, on the bottom are where you can control and maintain parts of the ship, more on that later. If you hold up, you will start zooming through space, hold down to stop, pressing start will give you options to move side to side and up and down. Unfortunately you have to press start again and hold down in order to stop. The 5 options on the bottom allow you to maintain the ship, a couple odd things to note is pressing 1 on any of them leads you to a map showing how close you are to a planet. The other odd thing is when you enter one of the options, pressing 1 will make them give a report on the current situation, which is usually nothing. The first option is manned by Lt. Warf, he can raise the shields and set the lasers and torpedos. Press start then 1to shoot torpedos, 2 to shoot lasers. Next is Data, he sets courses and allows you to warp to other planets, mans the sensors, and allows you to orbit planets. Next is La Forge who basically tells you if you lose power, you need to repair something, or if something is damaged. Next is O’Brian who allows you to beam up, beam down, or warns you about intruders. Finally there is Riker, who basically tells you what’s going on. There is other things like some planets have ships coming at you and obliterating the Enterprise. That’s about all I can remember about the game, and I highly recommend it, it is as if you are inside the Enterprise and flying it. It’s so cool.
if i had left the batteries out, my game gear would still be working
:'(
You can probably clean it up and fix it.
I still have my Game Gear, have the wide screen and the TV Tuner. Capacitors are shot on the sound board. I bought new ones and will eventually upgrade it. Never thought of upgrading the screen itself, may have to look into that too. The TV tuner was great, especially back in the day when I did boring security work. I'd take that along to watch, could hook it up to a VCR with a cable converter I hooked up and watch movies, kept me quite entertained on boring nights. If you have the tuner, you have a monitor to input other video sources to...something to think about. I loved mine, it was just a great device all round in its day.
Have six AA batteries, will play!!!
+nuketowncity just get a genesis model 2 powercord... its not worth it to use batteries
Its a pun , I sold my game gear years ago , great device tho
I remember getting one for my birthday after asking for a gameboy pocket. I wasn't too excited but boy did that go away fast after playing some sonic!
Where does Kinsey get all her cute dresses from?!?
+ConjUK I'm pretty sure it's Black Milk Clothing
Is she single???????
I will move from Denmark if she will have me...
I never owned the Game Gear, but I’ve been recently playing the games through emulation. There are just so many great games. Some of them are really impressive for an 8 bit heldheld.
Just ordered a GG Micro to play Aleste 3, can’t wait!
i loved my game gear
Nice video. It was really interesting seeing the mods to make the Game Gear more playable.
kinsey WOOWOO!
Sk8jitsu yeah shes fun.
Not complaining!
Game Gear was my first console of choice. And Sword of Hajya was my crack on it. I haven't owned the game in many years, but I can still hear the battle music in my head. Thank god it's available on the 3DS!
The Game Gear was so much better than the Gameboy, it's not even close.
Yes th3 gameboy beats it so easily
I remember my friend had one and I had the original Gameboy. It was only really cool when we were at his house, but then again we could just play Genesis or SNES. I was always happy w/ my Gameboy b/c of road trips.
Just got my modded/fixed game gear back from Marco, amazing job, bright as hell screen. still terrible battery life, but that's why you get a wall plug. lol
I love the GameGear. It is such an amazing little handheld that was well ahead of it's time. And even today it's still fun to play. Despite how bulky it is, it's actually pretty comfortable to hold.
Commodore 64 buying guide lol.
+Classic Contagious Gaming That's a very good idea! thanks :)
I have some original C64 games for sale Batman. kungfu2. karatake .. feued.a few more ..+a pile of copies all on 51/4 floppy. games have original sleeves no box stored in a covered disk caddy in bags.
I had the screen widener, or whatever it was called, but I rarely used it. I remember Castle of Illusion being one of my favs. I also had the Master System adapter.
Yeah, game gear games are cheap. Yet for some reason no one in my area collects games for he game gear,
+skabcat242 most everyone was a Nintendo fan, so GG and other Sega stuff usually fell under the radar, only those who branched out beyond that of nintendo actually bothered.
be glad about it
Kevin De Bondt oh i am, just saying how it was back then, not so much now, but ppl definitely miss out if they dont branch out between consoles.
+skabcat242 Same here, everytime I go to the game store, I see a bunch of cheap titles that I've been considering!
most everyone was a Nintendo fan? lol i am pretty sure you know nothing young americano
I remember my Game Gear back in 1992 had a bubble screen, but my friend's at the same time had a flat screen. It still bugs me to this day why these 2 were different as I was only ever aware of different coloured versions of these systems.
I luv you Kinsey :) You're so pretty
I am in love with her too... What a nice GF to have, sexy and nerdy on a high level.
She gets me excited on all levels...
Cookie 33 this is the creepiest comment I’ve ever seen LOL
Thank you for doing a Game Gear buying guide! There are so many great games, you should do another video for it just for the games. Some more that I liked include:
Shinobi (1 & 2)
Defenders of Oasis (Great RPG)
Sonic the Hedgehog (the 1st one)
Columns (pack in title, better than the Genesis version IMHO)
G-LOC (afterburner like title with plane upgrades)
Mortal Kombat I
Samurai Shodown (this one blew me away)
instaaant Liiiiiiiiikeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!
Always an instant like for these vids :)
Summer of 1998. I was hanging out with friends, when one of them wanted to give me some old stuff of his brother's. Cool. It was a paper bag full of cool stuff. In it was a Sega Game Gear with Sonic 1 and Mortal Kombat 2, Sega Nomad with Sonic 3, and Atari Lynx II with Double Dragon. And as a bonus, the TV tuner with the Game Gear!
...I wish I didn't lose all that cool stuff when I moved...
I want to touch it. Feel the sweet cool of the buttons. Run my hand over the cartridge. Tenderly insert it and gently play the game.
It gets pretty hot.
I have a recapped original GG and recently purchased a refurbished blue McWill edition and yes it is way better than the stock screen. I agree Devilish is also a good game rare too!
Kinsey is gorgeous.... some awful comments
Just for anyone who doesn't know this now somehow, Hyperkin has sense released the adapter for the Retron 5 that they were talking about in this video, it allows you to use game gear games along with master system games and sega cards on the Retron 5
I also had the madcats rechargeable grips that had rechargeable batteries that you could still play while the batteries charged it was awesome! and I still have them today.
finally someone who gives dragon crystal the attention it deserves. What makes it so special is theres always a certain mystery to it, the levels are never the same, you never know exactly when your getting the better sword or armor or what scroll will do. it just keeps a certain mystery.
Oh, and yeah. Devilish was also on the Genesis. I don't think it was on any other systems though. There's also a new version on for the DS that's pretty good you might what to check it out. Great game for sure. Still trying to find it for the Game Gear.
Just got my first gamegear a week ago, and I freaking love it
Sweet. All those games look great. I love retro gaming.
wow that screen upgrade is amazing
Great job with the video guys
+Radical Reggie PSP Buying Guide, Reggie!
Game Gear can be rough to have these days, but it's got some surprisingly fantastic games on it, especially if you can play Japanese games. It especially had a lot of good JRPGs. Games like Last Bible, Madou Monogatari 1-3, Shining Force Gaiden. Phantasy Star Gaiden, Magic Knight Rayearth, Moldorian, Sylvan Tale, etc. I really enjoy mine, especially since the games are so cheap.
You guys should look into the Majesco Game Gear. It was released after 2000 and has a better built to it. Majesco also re-released a few games which have different labels compared to the originals. I'm not sure if this version is more rare or expensive, but I personally think it is the one to buy if you are buying a Game Gear.
Battery time was the only con. I could never tell what was on the screen on a Nintendo Gameboy and had too many bad games. GameGear was like a portable Master System and had a much better screen than you would expect for its time. It had a cool selection of games also. I was always impressed how good they were.
Just got a Game Gear so now I know some games to pick up. My vote is for a Sega Master System buying guide. That was my first console as a kid and I'm curious to see what you guys have to say about it
Me and my bro both loved are GameBoy & Game Gear as kids!!