A continuation of the Game Gear that was recapped last week. It’s not ideal doing this in two stages but it’s often the case with these. You can never really tell what state the original screen is in until the system has been recapped.
We’re fitting a RetroSix Clean Screen v4 to this lucky Game Gear. Version 4 of the Clean Screen uses a higher definition screen than previous generations, which makes a notable difference. It is sharper and brighter. It’s simply stunning.
This Game Gear seemed to have a new lens fitted already but it had some marks on it which appeared to be crazing from point impacts. We’ll be replacing it.
It’s always difficult to remove aftermarket lenses. This one was no different. It left behind a horrendous sticky gooey mess too that had to be removed before the new one could be stuck on. A mixture of scraping, soaking in isopropyl alcohol, wiping and scraping. What a mess. Eventually got it cleaned up though and the new one put on.
It’s important to keep any dust out once the lens is fitted. It can be a bit of a dust magnet. You can guarantee if any anything is to land on anything anywhere, it’ll be exactly where it shouldn’t be. I try and keep it covered until moments before the board and new screen goes back in to meet it. It’s the same for the screen itself.
The new screen comes as a kit, with the board that controls it, a plastic mounting frame for the screen, the screen itself and some flat flex ribbons to solder to various points on the Game Gear board. Annoyingly, I didn’t take any photos along the way, so there’s only the before and after to show you. There will be others though.
You can see the old screen and backlight after it’s been removed from the system, along with the two backlight fuses. The back light is similar to a small flourescent tube mounted into a mirrored reflector.
There are a few other components to remove from the board before the ribbons are soldered. Removing them isolates the 34V, coming from the power board, which is no longer needed and woudl damage the new screen. There are components too which when removed isolate the brightness wheel from the rest of the circuit, so it can be used with the new screen instead.
The new screen really makes this system playable again, with 2026 eyes more used to ultra high def phone screens and massive TVs. If you have a working one, the original screen is terrible but it is original, and will increasingly become more of a rarity. More often than not, these need them replacing now. Look after it!
