How is the Majesco-released Game Gear?

[Ed Oscuro]

As topic says. Had one of my Gears' screens go bad a while ago, and instead of paying for a cap fix as a first fix, I might as well look at an upgrade.

[Tupin]

I heard it was horrible, made of cheap plastic and an easily-scratched screen.

[A Black Falcon]

That's a good question. The system is clearly the best Game Gear out there (apart from the removal of TV Tuner support) due to the reported better speaker and better, lower response time screen, but does it have better capacitors too? It's newer -- from 2000, instead of from 1990-1996 for the original systems -- but I don't know if it uses the same bad caps or not. That a repair guide says "all Sega-made Game Gears" and that this thread here says that the board design may be different suggests that it's at least possible that the capacitors in Majesco systems may not fail like the Sega ones. Due to the better screen, at least, if I was to get a Game Gear, I'd want a Majesco one anyway, better capacitors or not. I'd then hope that the capacitors are also good... and there does seem to be reason to hope that.

I heard it was horrible, made of cheap plastic and an easily-scratched screen.

Would you rather have one whose picture and sound are going to fail, probably soon, because of the capacitors? Not everyone can replace them themselves you know...

[Tupin]

Neither can I, I've never had experience with any Game Gear, I just have heard bad things about the Majesco Game Gear. I guess I was wrong...

[otoko]

Okay... I have own three Game Gears so far.

My first one was a Majesco release I purchased at a Toys 'r' us when they had them on close out. The last two I owned where definite Sega releases.

To put it into context, my Majesco randomly had a symptom of BROKEN SCREEN, my second (Sega release) half the screen would be out of sync contrast wise with the other half, and the third is the replacement.

Out of the three my favorite by far was the Majesco. It didn't feel cheap in my hands like Tupin said. And the screen was much brighter in my Majesco verson, the contrast was greatly improved from the original retail, and the sound was crisper.

Honestly, I miss it. Still no idea why the screen broke in the first place though.

[bangtango]

I've owned three of the Majesco-version Game Gear systems. I've never had a problem with any of them.

I heard it was horrible, made of cheap plastic and an easily-scratched screen.

That doesn't matter, because Ed is the type of guy who takes care of his stuff. Any portable will end up with a scratched screen if you don't take proper care of it.

From my experience, the plastic on the Majesco Game Gear appears to be identical (or at least as good as) the plastic on the Sega version.

[A Black Falcon]

Of course the Majesco Game Gear still has that awful 4-6 hour battery life per 6 AA batteries, but there's not much you can do about that short of this: http://forums.benheck.com/viewtopic....=29063&start=0 (but that sure would be awesome... 2-3 times better battery life, and better lighting too? Very cool!)

At least all the thing needs for an AC adapter is a standard Genesis 2/32X power supply. That's nice. I'm sure I'll get a GG sometime (and when I do it will be a Majesco), though for older handhelds, when I get one the question would be which to get first, Game Gear or NGPC (I have a GB, GBC, GBA, DS, and Virtual Boy)... but that's a different issue.

[Daria]

The Majesco Game Gear has a "tin-y" speaker (as in a metallic quality not a reference to size), but that's the only gripe I have with it compared to the original. However, the originals have a bad habit of losing sound so I'd rather have a crappy speaker than none at all.

If anything I prefer the look of the rerelease, blacker casing, purple start button and a white logo.

And this isn't an opinion based on something I've read, I actually gotten a lot of use from my Gamegears.

[Sonicwolf]

How can you tell a Majesco Game Gear from a Sega one? Is it just the purple button thing?

[A Black Falcon]

The easiest way to tell is the three-bars logo, to the left of the screen (above the words "Game Gear"). In a Sega model, those bars are red, blue, and green. In a Majesco one, all three are white.

Also, the Majesco system is black colored, while the Sega one is grey (or blue or yellow, for the rarer special models), and the start button is purpler instead of bluer. In pictures on EBay and such though, I have trouble telling the button color apart... the three bars is really the quickest way to tell. Just look for the white instead of colors. You can tell the system colors apart too, but depending on lighting, that could be deceptive... the logo color, though, is an easy indicator.

[Ed Oscuro]

That doesn't matter, because Ed is the type of guy who takes care of his stuff.

Thanks, that made me smile.

Anyhow, I guess I'll go hunt for one of these. I've got a couple GGs that I picked up at a thrift within the last two years - they were old and I hadn't used them much at all, which makes the sudden screen failure of the one quite interesting.

The same thing has happened with my PC-GT, now that I think about it. I wonder if the occasional usage sent them over the edge.

On the topic of the speakers: I use headphones with handhelds, and a wall plug too. By the time I'm ready to game, I look like a whale about to get stripped of its blubber (well, I would, if I weren't skinny).

[A Black Falcon]

The PC Engine GT/Turbo Express, PC Engine Duo/TurboDuo, and Game Gear all are well known to have bad caps. These are the only three console systems that I know have this problem, though (some older computers do as well, I believe) -- the standard Turbo CD, PC Engine Duo R or RX, etc. are all fine. But with those three systems, the problem is real, and is usually first noticed when the sound starts to fail. Graphics often follow, later on.

I sometimes use headphones with handhelds, because you do get much better sound quality (and stereo!), but often just use the built-in speaker anyway... it may just be mono, but it's usually good enough, as long as I can hear it.

[Sonicwolf]

(some older computers do as well, I believe)

Yeah, the Amiga 2000's were prone to the capacitor leakage problems.

[otoko]

Yeah, the Amiga 2000's were prone to the capacitor leakage problems.

News to me, I guess I'm lucky on that respect.

[Sonicwolf]

News to me, I guess I'm lucky on that respect.

Yeah. I opened up my schools Amiga 2000HD and one of the capacitors had done a number to the circuit board it was on. Luckily the thing still worked, albeit not very well.

My high school opened in '93 and was stocked with some pretty neat crap. When I graduated in 2008, I took the schools Amiga 600 computer and left the Philips CDI220 and Amiga 2000. Im hoping my former computer teacher who was also a retro gamer will take them before they get junked.