I Bought A Broken SEGA Game Gear On eBay...Can We Fix It? 

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!

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!” 🤣🤣🤣

I bought a recapped and fresh glass Sega Game Gear in May during quarantine. Goodbye Covid, hello childhood!

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.

To be fair, the ghosting on sonic on GG wasn't a bug but a feature. It really made you feel the speed.

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!!

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.

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.

That screen was hd back in the day 😂

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.

When you said florescent tube, I didn't think you actually meant a "florescent tube". That's nuts it was in a handheld device .

The brightness wheel works as a switch between the LCD-screen and the VGA-Out (once installed) !

That scratch near the screen would bother me so badly

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

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.

Perfect timing, also just bought a broken gamegear few weeks back to do the samething. Great video. Thanks for sharing. Keep them coming !!!!!

I loved the Sonic music during the time lapses haha! Great stuff Spawn Wave

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!

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!

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.

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!

I'm not into modding or a tech person at all and I still enjoyed this. Great video man.

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

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!

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

Love watching videos like this. It's just so entertaining and helpful since I've been doing some on the side repair work trying to get my own thing started.

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 refurbed my game gear years ago but haven't gotten around to doing my mcwill. Glad I waited for you to make a video.

Thanks for making videos like this! I've been selling my broken systems on ebay and pretty happy with the prices they fetch!

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.

When the game gear was around i had my original gameboy (which still have) and my sega master system.

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.

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.

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.

Games looked so nice back then I can't believe they weren't HD - memories are a weird drug

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.

This is a great video I love what you did with the screen great job man 👍🏾

I use to live in fear of seeing that power light starting to blink, loved the game gear though lol.

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.

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*

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.

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.

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.

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 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. .

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

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.

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 ;)

Excellent work man! You really know your stuff. Made respect. Its a Game Gear Pro now.

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.

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 really like it when you do these types of videos thanks

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! 😇

This is amazing man keep doing stuff like this

Great video. I love seeing the actual surgery of it all.

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 had a couple game gears over the years that display is light years ahead of the original hazy foggy display. Very Nice!

That was excellent. I get frustrated with tedious things but I'm now debating on looking to buy a broken system

This is a great video, I love watching soldering and doing it myself. Damn you really know what you're doing

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...

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.

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.

Wow I can’t believe the difference in that screen. That’s really amazing.

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.

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.

Good video, although I would suggest using Deoxit contact cleaner in squeeze tube for any small PCB work. It cleans better and actually improves the surface IMHO.

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! 👍😎

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.

prices are insane lately. i used to buy game gears to refurbish for $12 shipped. $35 is nuts.

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.

How big is your collection now Jon?! That was super cool. What was once old is now new again.

This is exactly what I need. I had messaged you in a video about possibly helping with my GG. I’d like to point out it was a nice touch with the Sonic music during repair, enjoyed that very much. Spawn Wave can you help? I’ll pay for any repair but this is exactly what I need. I can’t do this on my own. If you can possibly point me in the right direction I’d greatly appreciate it. Thanks, man, really enjoy your videos.

It's so rare seeing Game Gear systems with battery covers!

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.

I found one at Goodwill today for $8. It needs to be recapped. I cant wait to fix it and go back in time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I don't have a game gear yet but i hope to find one to restore soon enough. that looks so cool with the screen mod!!! I bet the battery run time is a lot more improved with out that backlight.i remember when i had a game gear it would eat batteries so fast do to that backlight.

Oh wow I want to fix my game gear now, where did you buy the kit/parts from?

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..

Funny I came across this as I am in the process of getting ready to recap my GG that died on me. Screen will come later, but man I am excited to get this working again.

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 I scrapped the plastic here on the side but it's not a big deal" Me: SOILED IT! SOILED IT! SOILED IT!!

Nice work! I wonder if plugging in the wrong AC power pack would have caused the capacitors to blow?

I love new tech coming to improve on old tech 🙂

I wish you had the time to do more of these. Great! XD

I need to recap & after seeing McWill I want to do that, looks a little difficult but might be a good winter project!

NBA Jam TE, any sonic game, and Mortal Kombat 2, and NFL Quarterback club. Those are my go to games for game gear. Columns 1&2 are good as well.

Nice work!!

Just watch your video and pretty informative. Found my old Sega Game gear but seems challenging for me. Can you recommend a place to have it fix or are you repairing them as well. Thanks.

Our Gamegear from childhood was definitely missing the battery doors and we had to use painters tape to keep the batteries in 😅

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.

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.

Love this. Didn’t have a SNES or Genesis but I loved my Gamegear!