Game Gear surprise

in99flames

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Donor 3 years: 2015, 2021, 2025
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It is about time I recap my Game Gear. I'm well aware of the doom that awaits most of these with leaky caps.

My game gear has been working without problem. No screen brightness issues. No sound issues. It just works normally. Regardless, I know it should be done. I opened it up just now and what did I see? ZERO leaking caps. None. In fact, the solder joints are all still shiny. It probably has happened to other people but I am just kind of shocked that it is in this kind of shape. I was expecting a partial shit show. (I am still going to replace them)

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Nice. Since you have it open, the McWill screens are a really nice upgrade.
I cant.....they look great and make it so much nicer.... but I am a purist. It was meant to be played this way, so I will keep it as such. I might buy another and do that screen upgrade, but part of the charm of these old systems is experiencing it in its original form. However, I am making an exception here. The CFL backlight will eventually die in this. I am replacing it with an LED backlight in this fix. It will make the original screen look a little better with more even light and dramatically improve battery life. Ill post both before and after pics.
 
It is about time I recap my Game Gear. I'm well aware of the doom that awaits most of these with leaky caps.

My game gear has been working without problem. No screen brightness issues. No sound issues. It just works normally. Regardless, I know it should be done. I opened it up just now and what did I see? ZERO leaking caps. None. In fact, the solder joints are all still shiny. It probably has happened to other people but I am just kind of shocked that it is in this kind of shape. I was expecting a partial shit show. (I am still going to replace them)

View attachment 850567
Nice find! Most Game Gears are a mess by now, you definitely lucked out. Smart move recapping anyway.
 
Was it preserved in amber or something ?

That's crazy !!

Respect on keeping the OG screen. The games don't look right without the original screen, how they were designed to be seen. Same with Game Boy. I certainly understand why people like the nicer LCDs tho haha . But glad to see others preserving them
 
Adaptive Led backlight installed! The colors look better and even made the ghosting slightly improved (but this is really a limitation of the LCD screen more than the backlight).
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Here is before with CFL:
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And after with the LED:

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It looks better in person. It isnt exactly a huge dramatic improvement but definitely noticeable. The real added bonus is the extra battery life from the decreased power draw. :)
 
Makes me want to open up my GG…
You should if you havent! The old caps can destroy it! I recommend the LED backlight too. It was retrokai adaptive led backlight. Its a uniform brightness and no bright "LED hotspots" I've noticed.
 
Thanks for the reminder. I need to crack mine and snip those bastids
 
Thanks for the reminder. I need to crack mine and snip those bastids
I THINK the audio boards were most damaged by the leaky caps, however they did make reproduction audio boards for the game gear if yours is ruined.
 
I powered it up recently and it came on, screen lit up but it then shut right down. So not totally dead yet!
 
You should if you havent! The old caps can destroy it! I recommend the LED backlight too. It was retrokai adaptive led backlight. Its a uniform brightness and no bright "LED hotspots" I've noticed.
I cracked this open last night, didn't realize there were so many surface mounted caps, ugh…
The cap kits seem cheap enough but I suck with SMD stuff, new screens $80ish…
Is it worth it…
 

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Its always worth it :) the cap kit is cheap. The LED backlight(if you want to go this route) was like 30. Technically all you need is a cap kit from like console5.com(great for console stuff). I buy a lot from them in terms of console repair parts. Youll get axial caps to replace them but yea they are surface mount with only a few having actual vias.
 
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