Is there a way to play Game Gear Games on the TV?

[MagicMajenta]

Kind of like the Game Boy Player that connects to the GC! If it exists, let me know.

[Arkaign]

Well, this will be an interesting tidbit .. contributed to by the awesome Rob Budrick :)

http://www.geocities.com/vjkemp/sega/ggtv.htm

In short, I don't believe that there was any retail gamegear-to-tv kits, but if you're committed, you should be able to make it happen.

[Whiskers the Wonder Cat]

Never heard of anything that would let you play GG games on the tv. Do you really want to? Yuck.

Anyways, I'm sure some fans out there modified and whatever to play GG games on their tv.

[davidleeroth]

Actually, a more suitable link is:

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

see the photo gallery on page two and the thread on smspower.org. The output is warm chocolate puddin', not composite, so it's definitely *not* yuck. I've been building one, too, but I ran into some trouble and haven't had a chance to check what's exactly wrong with my doings. One of the more exciting projects I've tried I must say.

[rbudrick]

Thank you, Thor! :embarrassed:

I was rather pleased when some of the folks at SMSpower.org finally picked up where Victor Kemp and I left off (god, that was years ago) and completed the project....It was a huge relief, because, as much work as Victor and I did on it, I always felt it was something I failed a little bit at. As most of you who know me will attest, when I start a big project, I usually get way in over my head until I finish it...almost obsession-like. This one just made me feel really defeated because it got really complicated years ago and I just started to get all mixed up colors. I just put it down and put it on the backburner. Now I see why I was getting it all wrong when I look at the plans on SMSpower.

I have a Game Gear on its way to me right now that DP member Cauterize sent me in a trade. I can't wait to build the circuit and give this a shot.

It took 15 years, but yes, there is finally a home solution to play GG games on your TV....the drawback is that you have to build the circuit.

Oh, and here's the SMSpowerlink where it was finally cracked. I wish someone would put all the relevant info on one site...it's a bit much to take in at once, especially for a beginner.

http://www.smspower.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2539&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

-Rob

BTW, that puddin' word filter thingisn't still on, is it? Well, let's see: RGB. I guess not, heh heh.

[Arkaign]

Hey Rob, what about paying someone for a modded GG? Know anyone that would be willing? I think only a fraction of gamers want to do mods, and only a fraction of those will be into soldering a custom pcb.

Oh, awesome link btw .. I'm just now checking it out, incredible they have such a thick forum for SMS :) I remember when my brother got one (Xmas 87 I think) .. so cool. We only had like 1 game so we played that built-in maze game to death too, lol that music is still stuck in my head!!

[Sniderman]

I once had a Game Gear emulator for my Dreamcast. Does that count? :hmm:

[Icarus Moonsight]

I've seen a Game Gear that was modded with AV outputs simular to the Nomad... never heard of a cart converter though. I don't think Game Gear games can run on the Master System hardware due to the extended color palette of the Game Gear. Though admittedly I'd love to be wrong :)

[anagrama]

I don't think Game Gear games can run on the Master System hardware due to the extended color palette of the Game Gear. Though admittedly I'd love to be wrong :)

No, you're spot on there, which is mainly why it's taken so long for a workable method to be finalised. I'd love to build one myself, but I'm afraid it's a little beyond my technical ability. There was someone in the SMS Power thread linked above who mentioned selling custom kits that would just require soldering the connections into place, but I'm not sure whether that's still on the agenda or not...

[InsaneDavid]

Never heard of anything that would let you play GG games on the tv. Do you really want to? Yuck.

They look a million times better with...


...a Game Gear emulator for my Dreamcast...

SMSPlus v0.2b - SMS and GG all in one emulator, full featured with an interface that looks like a commercial product...

http://www.pascalorama.info/article.php?news=19&cat=8

Aside from that, Google is your friend.

[fishsandwich]

Never heard of anything that would let you play GG games on the tv. Do you really want to? Yuck.

Dude... playing real GG carts on a regular TV (like the old Super Gameboy) would be FANTASTIC. The reason why so many GG games are perceived as sucky is because the GG screen is blurry and small. Some GG games are quite wonderful.

[MrSmiley381]

Strange, I swear my cousin used to be able to play hers on their TV. Maybe my uncle made an adaptor.

Then again, I said that I saw chili dogs and cheese come out of an end-level metal thingy in Sonic 2, so I may just be having fake memories again.

[Ed Oscuro]

Dude... playing real GG carts on a regular TV (like the old Super Gameboy) would be FANTASTIC. The reason why so many GG games are perceived as sucky is because the GG screen is blurry and small. Some GG games are quite wonderful.
Yeah, and you lose the real controls when you go to emulation.

Personally, just adding a Wide Gear screen makes stuff look much better. Hell, even G-Loc is tolerable with a Wide Gear LOL

[rbudrick]

Hey Rob, what about paying someone for a modded GG? Know anyone that would be willing?

Well, I don't know anyone specifically that would do it...there was talk of it on the smspower boards, but I don't think anybody actually will. Once I get mine done, I may consider it, but it may be prohibitively expensive because of the time it would take gathering the parts and putting them together. Also, you would have to find and send me a 2 ASIC GG. You'd probably also have to wait at least a month, since some of the ICs were a bit of a pain to find....I had to back order them and it took a couple of weeks. Of course, if I had a lot of orders, I could sort of do them in bulk.

Most of the parts I already have, though (resistors, diodes, etc.).

I dunno...this is all hypothetical right now. I'd have to think about it, and I probably wouldn't do it unless I had several orders at once.


I once had a Game Gear emulator for my Dreamcast. Does that count?

'A' for effort, but nope. ;)


I've seen a Game Gear that was modded with AV outputs simular to the Nomad... never heard of a cart converter though. I don't think Game Gear games can run on the Master System hardware due to the extended color palette of the Game Gear. Though admittedly I'd love to be wrong

If you truly saw an AV modded GG, it was probably an extremely rare GG Dev unit like the scans victor put on his site. As for running GG games on an SMS, they can be reprogrammed to allow the larger resolutuion, downshifting the colors, and rewriting certain interrupts (EG, the pause/start button is NOT equivalent across both systems)...things like that. Apparrently, it's really not too hard to rewrite the software, but throwing a GG game on an SMS flash cart proves that it doesn't work. Some games begin with all weird colors, and then crash (often immediately going on permanent pause mode), others just don't work, period, iirc.


No, you're spot on there, which is mainly why it's taken so long for a workable method to be finalised. I'd love to build one myself, but I'm afraid it's a little beyond my technical ability. There was someone in the SMS Power thread linked above who mentioned selling custom kits that would just require soldering the connections into place, but I'm not sure whether that's still on the agenda or not...

Well, like I said, it can't be done. You can't run GG games on the SMS. Sure, you could wire a pin-for--pin adapter, but the games will crash or not work. The software must be re-written.


Strange, I swear my cousin used to be able to play hers on their TV. Maybe my uncle made an adaptor.

Then again, I said that I saw chili dogs and cheese come out of an end-level metal thingy in Sonic 2, so I may just be having fake memories again.

Hmm, probably a Nomad.

-Rob

[anagrama]

No, you're spot on there, which is mainly why it's taken so long for a workable method to be finalised. I'd love to build one myself, but I'm afraid it's a little beyond my technical ability. There was someone in the SMS Power thread linked above who mentioned selling custom kits that would just require soldering the connections into place, but I'm not sure whether that's still on the agenda or not...

Well, like I said, it can't be done. You can't run GG games on the SMS. Sure, you could wire a pin-for--pin adapter, but the games will crash or not work. The software must be re-written.


eh, probably wasn't quite clear there - the second part of my statement was referring to the GG-TV, not a GG-on-SMS adapter - I'm aware that's not possible ;)

Oh, and I'd certainly be interested if you do consider doing the mods for other people at some point... :)

[rbudrick]

Wel what would you folks pay for something like this? I don't want to be a cheap bastard, but I probably would overcharge for it since it's such a pain to do...would be easier if I had custome PCBs or something made, but still.

Plus, just finding a 2 ASIC GG is a huge pain, but that would kind of be the quest of the person wanting the mod done, since I can't really source them..

-Rob

[Arkaign]

Hey I've got an idea on that, depending on how hard it is to find the right GGs for this project. After you get yours done, take a bunch of pics and put it on ebay with a really high reserve .. see what the interest is like. You may find yourself a handful of committed buyers who will pay what it takes .. maybe $100+ premium for each unit. Idk, just an idea.

[Ikari Warrior]

I use the SMS/GG emulator on the Xbox. The games run in 1080i progressive scan. They look amazing, and you can make the screen any size you want.

[Ed Oscuro]

Then again, I said that I saw chili dogs and cheese come out of an end-level metal thingy in Sonic 2, so I may just be having fake memories again.
LOL

Gotta give the Nomad a plug. I don't have a model 1 Genesis, so out of the Nomad, the couple 2s, and the couple 3s I own, the Nomad has the best picture and is among the most reliable (though the connection cuts out now and then if it's moved too much). Awesome.

[Arkaign]

Nomad was pretty cool, I had one but someone stole it out of my car lol. Turboexpress is awesome too, but it's every bit as bad on batteries as the Nomad.

On the emu side of things, I think the point was the guy didn't want emulation ..

:eek 2:

[anagrama]

Wel what would you folks pay for something like this? I don't want to be a cheap bastard, but I probably would overcharge for it since it's such a pain to do...would be easier if I had custome PCBs or something made, but still.

Hmm, not sure really - are any of the components particularly spendy?
I'd probably be happy to pay $50 or so.

[rbudrick]

Well, it costs about $25-40 for components, by my estimate (the inital unit I build probably will cost close to $100, if I added up the receipts, but I'll have a lot of crap left over for others, so, I'm guessing $25-40).

-Rob