Game Gear Mod Kits and Consoles

The Sega Game Gear... A missed opportunity?

Unfortunately the Game Gear has has little in the way of upgrade kits, if any. I hope to change that by putting into production a custom made PCB mod kit that requires little or no modification to the existing Game Gear Shell. 

While there are plenty of kits available if you are a big Nintendo fan, you will find it impossible to buy anything similar for the Game Gear.

What does the Game Gear Mod Kit do?

The idea is simple. The original Game Gear  shell must be one of the best looking handhelds ever to hit the Market. The Game Gear Mod Kit replaces the internals of any Game Gear with a custom designed set of PCBs that fit the existing Game Gear shell.

By adding a Raspberry Pi 3a+, the Game Gear Mod kit can be used to access a wide range of systems that utilise the Retropie Software.

Usually this would limit game-play to those games that only use the original 2 button input. My Game Gear Mod Kit adds two additional input buttons, expanding the usable inputs to A, B, X and Y.

Although adding two additional buttons does require modifications to the existing case,  I also supply simple 3D printed drill guide to ensure  correct placement of the additional button holes.

The Game Gear Mod Kit also prolongs playtime by using two 2000mah Lithium Rechargeable batteries. A full battery charge system is included within the custom Game Gear PCB's.

A simple (included) USB charging cable is now all you need to keep your Game Gear powered and ready to go.

How does it work?

Using a custom PCB, I have used the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins to manage user inputs for 6 buttons in total, (A,B, X, Y, Start, Select), Take the audio to the audio board and connect to the LCD. No soldering required as the board does all the work. Specific drivers had to be installed but they will be available already pre-configured for the controller inputs, audio out and LCD display.

The audio board has been designed to use a low-power mono amp but it still retains a replacement volume control, headphone jack and speaker connection.

The power board simply houses a new momentary on/off button rather than the orignal slide on/off switch. This now safely shuts down the Raspberry Pi and cuts power cleanly. The power board also connects to the battery charger module and powers the Game Gear mod kit itself. So the system can be run from mains power, or 1/2 lithium rechargeable batteries.

The safe shutdown module uses an LED in place of the original LED to show the power status and will flash or stay on constantly to show the current power status.

The original LCD brightness wheel has been replaced with a new Select Button.