Alright well I did a quick search here to see if this was normal operation.. After many many years I've broke down and got a Game Gear. The unit came from eBay of course and was said to be in "good shape" and while it does work there seem to be 2 major issues:

1) No sound through speaker, poor sound through headphones (I understand this is a fairly easy cap fix, but I've no idea where to buy the caps (help!)) (Also, is there any idiot's guide for this or do I go at it in the dark?)

More importantly:
2) When you press either of the 2 face buttons the right side of the screen gets a wavey effect, more so for button 1 than button 2 since it's closer to the screen. Very similar to pushing your finger to any LCD screen. This can't be normal can it? I've not played a Game Gear since I was a wee lad, but I don't recall them ever doing that.. Is there any fix for this or would I be better off getting another Game Gear that works better?