Is there any Game Gear clone consoles? [Archive]

View Full Version : Is there any Game Gear clone consoles?

Urzu402

11-07-2010, 10:04 AM

I mean, Newer consoles that play Game Gear like the Genesis has a bunch of newer clones. The Game Gear never gets any love :(.

The reason being is I'm going to have 3 of the most desired Game Gear games and I would like something better than a Game Gear to play them on because my Game Gear's screen is faded. The speaker works though. Also if there was something with A/V out it would be great.

todesengel

11-07-2010, 10:36 AM

I'm sure somebody's made an A/V out mod for the Game Gear. As for clone systems I don't believe that ones ever been made. I remember the Majesco Game Gears having a better screen than the original Sega ones though so that could always be an option for you.

CMA Death Adder

11-07-2010, 01:34 PM

I mean, Newer consoles that play Game Gear like the Genesis has a bunch of newer clones. The Game Gear never gets any love :(.

Those "newer clones" aren't an effort of love - they're pieces of garbage, filled with sub-sub-sub-par hardware. The Game Gear is much better off not having cheap-ass clones made of it.

The reason being is I'm going to have 3 of the most desired Game Gear games and I would like something better than a Game Gear to play them on because my Game Gear's screen is faded. The speaker works though. Also if there was something with A/V out it would be great.

Chris Covell was one of the first (if not the first) to produce a functional color TV output method for the Game Gear. Details are here -

http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/segahacking/ggrgb.html

If you contact the OP of this topic at SMSPower, he'll gladly build you a unit for a nominal fee -

http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11931

If you want A/V output, ask him for a "composite" modification. I had him modify my Game Gear for composite output, and it works great. No more staring at that washed-out GG screen. :)

johj1987

11-07-2010, 02:13 PM

Here's a controler clone it has gamegear and Sega master system games Built http://www.ddrgame.com/retro-console-atgames-poga-tv-plug-n-play.html

Rickstilwell1

11-07-2010, 03:39 PM

todesengel

11-07-2010, 04:19 PM

I remember reading something years about how Sega actually made a prototype Game Gear player for the Genesis but for some reason decided against going forward with it.

Damaramu

11-07-2010, 04:27 PM

Has anyone hacked that "Coleco" branded Sega handheld yet? The one from a few years back that had SMS/GG games on it? The screen on that is pretty nice.

Rickstilwell1

11-07-2010, 04:33 PM

Has anyone hacked that "Coleco" branded Sega handheld yet? The one from a few years back that had SMS/GG games on it? The screen on that is pretty nice.

Somebody has a good understanding about the Playpal clone, thinking there might be a way to somehow get other roms working in it, but I'm not sure about hardware.

Greg2600

11-07-2010, 11:14 PM

Once you start talking about using other units to play GG roms on it, why not just use a Game Boy Advance or DS, or others which play emulated roms?

PS: That guy on SMS Power is in Australia, which costs a fortune to mail anything to/from.

woodsof

11-08-2010, 01:36 AM

use other units to play gear games?I dont think it works well,clone is similar not the same

A Black Falcon

11-08-2010, 01:38 AM

How about a Majeco Game Gear? It has a less blurry screen, and I've never heard of capacitor issues with the Majesco model either. There are negatives -- it doesn't work with the TV Tuner, most notably -- but that's fairly minor, and it will work with all of the games.

Majesco GGs were only sold in the US (and maybe Canada?), but they're not too hard to tell from the earlier Sega model -- while the shell is the same, the system is black instead of grey (Majesco GGs match the color of the Genesis, pretty much), the power button is blue instead of purple, the power plug area is black like the rest of the case instead of being a different color, and the three-ovals logo is all white, instead of red, blue, and green.

The only thing I wish was that it had improved on the battery life (or reduced the size, the system is comfortable and good looking but it's pretty big...), but no, no change there. Oh well, at least otherwise it's better.

Rickstilwell1

11-08-2010, 02:42 AM

I haven't seen a Majesco Game Gear online anywhere, not even once though. I wonder how uncommon they are? All you have to do is look for a purple start button...

hellraiser

11-08-2010, 03:02 AM

Wow ! I had no clue about the second game gear till this thread...

cool vid in case your intrested-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYTljba7J_o

Gameguy

11-08-2010, 04:22 AM

I gave up on the Game Gear because of the poor battery life and poor screen. I remember playing someone else's system and wanting it back in the 90's, but when I finally got one around 5 years ago it wasn't as good as I remembered. I still don't regret selling off my Game Gear collection.

A Black Falcon

11-08-2010, 05:04 AM

I haven't seen a Majesco Game Gear online anywhere, not even once though. I wonder how uncommon they are? All you have to do is look for a purple start button...

While in person the color is the most obvious difference -- the black color really is different from the Sega grey -- in online pictures that might be tough to tell. You can look for the purple start button, but looking for the white "three ovals" logo, instead of the red/green/blue colored one of the Sega model, is probably the easiest way. If the logo's white, it's a Majesco system. It's worth it for the improved screen and, to the best of my knowledge, lack of bad-capacitor issues (so these shouldn't just fail on you).

Majesco's rereleased games come in black carts, just like the system; I have a few, and it's easy to tell the difference because with a Majesco rerelease cart in the GG (I have a Majesco one) and cart are the same color, but with any other cart in the cart is grey and the system black.

Oh, and that video does a good job of pointing out most of the differences, but I do think the screen is a little better...

Rickstilwell1

11-08-2010, 05:12 AM

While in person the color is the most obvious difference -- the black color really is different from the Sega grey -- in online pictures that might be tough to tell. You can look for the purple start button, but looking for the white "three ovals" logo, instead of the red/green/blue colored one of the Sega model, is probably the easiest way. If the logo's white, it's a Majesco system. It's worth it for the improved screen and, to the best of my knowledge, lack of bad-capacitor issues (so these shouldn't just fail on you).

That is good to know. Because my third Game Gear now is showing signs of the video capacitor wanting to go out. Game Gears and Microvisions must be the retro handheld equivalent of early model Xbox 360s, they just didn't start failing like crazy till they were old.

Greg2600

11-08-2010, 06:57 PM

The capacitor problems aren't present in the Majesco's, otherwise they're no better. The screen is still one of the foggiest/fuzziest of any hand held.

Urzu402

11-08-2010, 07:41 PM

While we're on the subject of Game Gear, anyone have game recommendations? I already have:
Mega Man
Shining Force Sword of Hajya
Gunstar Heroes
Shinobi 1
Street of Rage 1

Also some Sonic games

The bolded ones I don't have yet and I am waiting for in the mail.

todesengel

11-08-2010, 09:03 PM

Urzu402

11-08-2010, 09:43 PM

Master of Darkness was a good Castlevania clone. I think it was called Vampire here in the US. Both of the Shinobi's were great, Columns(if you like puzzle games) and Mortal Kombat 1&2 to name a few you should look for.

Thanks, Vampire looks really great, and I'll look into buying the second Shinobi. Don't like puzzle games, And I was never really thrilled over Mortal Komba besides how does Mortal Kombat work with only 2 buttons?

todesengel

11-08-2010, 10:16 PM

how does Mortal Kombat work with only 2 buttons?You basically just have 1 button for punch and 1 for kick, with the start button for blocking. It's actually not as bad as it sounds.

kedawa

11-09-2010, 03:56 AM

Fatal Fury Special is easily the best fighting game on the GG. Much better than either MK game.
Ninja Gaiden isn't a bad game either.

megasdkirby

11-09-2010, 03:39 PM

Fatal Fury Special is easily the best fighting game on the GG. Much better than either MK game.
Ninja Gaiden isn't a bad game either.

Good game, but no where near the SMS version.

I'm interested in that adapter to output GG to TV, but I'm afraid of installing it myself.

Does the guy who makes it installs it?

todesengel

11-09-2010, 06:01 PM

Good game, but no where near the SMS version.
There was an SMS version of Fatal Fury Special?

Urzu402

11-09-2010, 08:16 PM

While we're at it, I'm curious as to just how rare Gunstar Heroes for Game Gear is.

megasdkirby

11-09-2010, 08:22 PM

There was an SMS version of Fatal Fury Special?

Sorry, I meant Ninja Gaiden. :D

todesengel

11-09-2010, 08:47 PM

Sorry, I meant Ninja Gaiden. :DDarn it would have been neat to have seen Fatal Fury on the SMS. I agree with you on Ninja Gaiden, the SMS version is great and is one of 3 PAL SMS games I own.

todesengel

11-09-2010, 08:51 PM

While we're at it, I'm curious as to just how rare Gunstar Heroes for Game Gear is.
Not sure about how rare it is but I usually see complete copies go for about $40-$50. Those prices might be a little on the high end though, I'm not fully sure how much GG stuff goes for these days, haven't owned one in 10 years but now with all this talk about it I'm tempted to get another one.

Urzu402

11-09-2010, 09:00 PM

Not sure about how rare it is but I usually see complete copies go for about $40-$50. Those prices might be a little on the high end though, I'm not fully sure how much GG stuff goes for these days, haven't owned one in 10 years but now with all this talk about it I'm tempted to get another one.

I would like to know where you see them go for that much, I bought mine of the 'bay loose for 42 shipped.

Greg2600

11-09-2010, 11:03 PM

Most GG games were greatly over produced, not to mention reproduced by Majesco. The rarer ones are actually fairly pricey. It's like night and day, the difference in values.

fahlim003

11-09-2010, 11:25 PM

I have always been wishing for a replacement for Game Gear. Even if somebody hacked a cartridge from Game Gear parts to make a Super Game Boy type thing for Genesis that would be awesome. I would pay a lot for that so if any techies read this, get started. You will be rewarded with money/ and or video games. To have a consolized way of playing Game Gear like there was for Game Boy would be excellent, especially since I am a CIB Game Gear collector which is not very common either.

Game Gears themselves are dying. Their leaky capacitors may some day lead to the quick death of the systems and then all the cartridges will be useless, unless somebody makes a clone or pass through to Genesis. And roms are not a good solution because then what are your cartridges for? Looking at?

Sure you can have somebody take apart the Game Gear and replace the capacitors, but then those will die again later on. I dont call that a solution to the Game Gear's curse.I wouldn't be so pessimistic about servicing/replacing capacitors on Game Gears, with the knowledge available, new caps should last a long time. Provided you put good use into the system and maintenance (perhaps a screen replacement too) the time between services shouldn't be too big an issue.

All this discussion on the GG and the relation to the Master System gets me itching on the idea of backwards compatibility with Genesis or SMS. The wide known issue is the discrepancy of the colour palette on GG, whether or not this is the only significant issue remains to be seen. I can agree that it would be advantageous to have a true adapter for use of GG cartridges on a Genesis or SMS and given the benefit of such a move I would be all in favour of the idea. That's of course the ideal situation over getting A/V out of a GG to display on a television, which corresponds well to owning the AC adapter to make for a near console-type system. All that would be left in that case would be wiring of a controller so that the system itself can be stationary.

It also gets me thinking about the Japanese Master System, again. It's either that with the SMS Power Gender adapter or another PBC for my V3 Model 1.

Rickstilwell1

11-10-2010, 01:02 AM

I wouldn't be so pessimistic about servicing/replacing capacitors on Game Gears, with the knowledge available, new caps should last a long time. Provided you put good use into the system and maintenance (perhaps a screen replacement too) the time between services shouldn't be too big an issue.

All this discussion on the GG and the relation to the Master System gets me itching on the idea of backwards compatibility with Genesis or SMS. The wide known issue is the discrepancy of the colour palette on GG, whether or not this is the only significant issue remains to be seen. I can agree that it would be advantageous to have a true adapter for use of GG cartridges on a Genesis or SMS and given the benefit of such a move I would be all in favour of the idea. That's of course the ideal situation over getting A/V out of a GG to display on a television, which corresponds well to owning the AC adapter to make for a near console-type system. All that would be left in that case would be wiring of a controller so that the system itself can be stationary.

It also gets me thinking about the Japanese Master System, again. It's either that with the SMS Power Gender adapter or another PBC for my V3 Model 1.

Are modern day capacitor's nearly invincible compared to the old ones that are on Game Gears?

todesengel

11-10-2010, 08:17 AM

I would like to know where you see them go for that much, I bought mine of the 'bay loose for 42 shipped.
Ebay and a few copies popped up locally going for around that price. I'm pretty sure you could have gotten that cart only copy for cheaper if you would have waited it out and just kept searching for other copies over the weeks.

Urzu402

11-10-2010, 04:19 PM

Ebay and a few copies popped up locally going for around that price. I'm pretty sure you could have gotten that cart only copy for cheaper if you would have waited it out and just kept searching for other copies over the weeks.

Oh well, but anyways my copies of Shinobi 1 and Streets of Rage 1 arrived today. Shinobi is absolutely fantastic, Streets of Rage is ok. I can't decide between the Vampire game or Ninja Gaiden to get next.

todesengel

11-10-2010, 04:43 PM

Definitely go with Vampire, the Game Gear Ninja Gaiden is pretty mediocre.

Greg2600

11-10-2010, 07:49 PM

Are modern day capacitor's nearly invincible compared to the old ones that are on Game Gears?
Yes but the problem was that the company making those specific capacitors made a garbage product. I mean, people have crappy walkmans that still work from 20 years ago. Yet the GG sound dies?

Compute

11-10-2010, 07:55 PM

Greg2600 is correct here. Electronic components vary considerably in quality. Nowadays there are a few companies even making "counterfeit" components.

Urzu402

11-10-2010, 07:58 PM

How likely is Captacitor failure on a Game Gear? My Game Gear that I bought off of Amazon for pretty cheap's sound still works.

Gameguy

11-10-2010, 09:34 PM

Even if the capacitors don't die completely, they'll still cause poor performance. The screens weren't that bad when new, they're starting to look bad and washed out because of the capacitors.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/eviltim/ggrgb/ggrepair.html

There was a website which showed before and after shots of the screen when the capacitors were replaced but I can't find it now. Here's an example shown on youtube, you can see the screen before and after.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFLmua59aDg

Urzu402

11-11-2010, 12:01 PM

Here are 2 pictures of my Game Gear screen

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/706/cimg0167j.jpg
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/3783/cimg0168d.jpg

It is a normal game Gear not a Majesco one.

BobbyRobby

11-12-2010, 03:16 AM

My Cart says 'Master of Darkness' on it.

todesengel

11-12-2010, 08:14 AM

My Cart says 'Master of Darkness' on it.
That's because you have a European copy. The U.S. release was called "Vampire: Master Of Darkness" and the Japanese version was "In The Wake Of Vampire".

Rickstilwell1

11-12-2010, 04:35 PM

Now here is a mod I would want done for me. He pretty much consolized the thing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkniHVCUWTI&feature=related

Just replace the caps then do these mods to the system. Gotta find someone who knows how to mod for both controller input and video out

todesengel

11-12-2010, 07:22 PM