Well, I got my new GG...

[bigladiesman]

[Part 1]

But, for starters, I think I may have made a tremendous faux pass while looking for new games. I've seen a Master Gear Converter in a retro shop, got too entuthiastic and bought it without stopping to check the price. 25 €...

OK, but that's not the problem "per se". Many times we happen to buy things at an inflated price. The thing is that, thinking while I was going home, I realized I don't want to be a die-hard collector, but rather to build a small, cheap collection and then buy a GG Everdrive (still considering if with or without carcass: man, they're expensive. I'm seriously considering to recycle one of my cartridges) when Black Friday comes in November. So, having an Everdrive X3 and wanting to buy an Everdrive GG, both of which play SMS games... Huh... To sum up: a typical novice collector mistake . I'm still considering if keeping it with the copy of Alien Syndrome I've bought alongside it as a collector curiosity or to both sell peripheral and game for an itty-bitty quantity when I get the GG Everdrive. What would you guys do?

Then again, after trying it, I get why the MGC was so appreciated: it really turns GGs into full-fledged SMS, even with pause function! If it wasn't for the Everdrive issue, I would be throughly satisfied.

(It's curious how life works: I'm a cinema collector with some practice, capable of spending 30 € for a new release and then leaving it unwatched for years without any regrets. And then I buy a video game peripheral I can use inmediately and I'm torturing myself ).

[Part 2]

The GG works nicely and it's in fine condition (not perfect at all). I have a collection of 15 games (16 if we count the SMS Alien Syndrome) and I'm enjoying it. A lot.

[xelement5x]

I'd keep it, they're nice to have and like you said a cool little thingy. Plus it looks like a beast when you've got a GG with that on top!

[Ecco]

I'd keep it. It's a cool curiosity item. Plus there's a satisfaction to having physical copies of things, even if you focus on everdrive or emulation etc. So even if you just have a small pile of carts, it will seem more special than a PC folder of ROM's.

[bigladiesman]

Thanks for the answers, guys! You both state that something that's very true: Holy crap...

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THIS

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THING

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IS

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SEXY

[bigladiesman]

Holy crap, I finally bought the Everdrive GG today: One of Krikzz's licensed dealers in Spain (according to his own website) had an already mounted Everdrive (with shell and sticker) for only 2 € more (Krikzz, 77 €; that site 79 €). Quite a bargain.

[CaptainKoloth]

Hey so I have another new Game Gear owner question...

After having wanted one since childhood I finally picked up a Game Gear today. I know they are reputed to have problems with the capacitors so I took care to get one that had been refurbished. I powered it up and happily the sound and screen both work, but man is this one awful screen.

Motion blur, ghosting, poor contrast, low resolution, incredibly sensitive to viewing angle, it may literally be the worst screen I have ever seen. I can literally see the individual pixels.

Now, I totally get product of its era, etc. What I'm really asking is more is it possible the capacitor replacement wasn't done well and the screen itself actually is not functioning properly, or did the screen really look this bad even in its prime? The guy who sold it to me claimed the latter and he does seem credible (he does lots of other repairs and mods), but I wanted to get a second opinion.

Here's a video of a few seconds of me playing Sonic 1 on it so you can judge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Lkm80TdRc

[Blades]

I had one BITD and the screen did suck. I assume you've played with the contrast knob?

I remember one day I just turned it on, and the screen was purple.

[cleeg]

I wish I'd not sold mine now, especially since the new McWill screens are out. Big regrets.

[xelement5x]

Yeah, I'd say that looks about right for a stock screen.

Like cleeg mentioned the McWill screens for it are supposed to look amazing though, but I can't personally comment since I don't have one though.

[Greg2600]

You can change all the caps, and probably should. That will improve the screen lighting and the sound. However, you're still likely to have jailbars and other age induced defects on the LCD. It's pricey, but the McWill mod is literally amazing.

[PixelPedant]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I don't feel like the Game Gear's original screen is bad, in the context of its era. Basically, comparing it to a 486 passive matrix laptop display (as a contemporary example). Obviously, a screen of that era is going to be terrible today (whatever the device). But the idea that the screen was somehow a failure of the device as a product, I feel should be dismissed. Times change, and technology certainly does. Now the flaky caps, obviously - that was a failure of the device as a technology product.

[xelement5x]

Oh I agree as well, at the time it was very cool and novel to have stuff in color over the B/W of the Gameboy. But the problem is while many of the games are still good, the medium to play them on could definitely use improvement in this day in age. Hence people say, "the screen on the GG sucks" or "the GG sucks" I take it to mean the original hardware which has it's limits of the time.

[Greg2600]

I agree but again, once the LCD has gone bad, and it normally does, you can fix all the caps you can, it's going to look bad. idk, to each his/her own, but I personally have a difficult time looking at it. The Majesco (later) systems, I have one, suffer from bad ghosting. Games like Sonic blur really bad. I can post some comparison shots. Similar to my Lynx, the original screen worked but very tough to see.

[Raijin Z]

I have two Game Gear systems; one Sega, one Majesco, and while they're nice, I don't have any real desire to play them. This dumps a horse trough of water on any spark of desire I might have to replace the screen of one or both, considering the parts cost as much as a flash cart for another system, and then some.

[xelement5x]

I have two Game Gear systems; one Sega, one Majesco, and while they're nice, I don't have any real desire to play them. This dumps a horse trough of water on any spark of desire I might have to replace the screen of one or both, considering the parts cost as much as a flash cart for another system, and then some.

Yeah, really a well implemented FPGA system for the GameGear would probably be the best long term solution. Bonus points if they made it like the Switch so it normally had a screen, and then had like a docked mode where you could use Genesis/MD controller and output to the TV.