Saving a Sega Game Gear | FASTEST way to recap but will it WORK?

The Sega Game Gear was released in 1990, a year after the Nintendo Game Boy, its main competitor. The one advantage the Game Gear had was that it had colour. But it also had a thirst for batteries!
I picked this Game Gear up on eBay for £15 and it was described as faulty. Sure enough, it was. The first thing to do with any old Game Gear is to replace the capacitors as it is highly unlikely that they will be working properly after so long.
I opted to use hot air to remove the old caps as it appears to be the quickest and easiest way to get them off. As well as being soldered to the board, they are also glued so it can be a pain removing them with pliers and a soldering iron. I’ve never recapped a Game Gear or used hot air for that matter so this was two firsts for me. I used solder paste to attach the new SMD capacitors because it’s rumoured to be the fastest way to complete the job.
Once the main board was recapped, I moved on to the sound and power boards and then fired up the game for a test.
I am aware that there is a fair bit of muck on the board, probably from leaking capacitors. It does need a good clean but my focus in this video was to get it working first. Also, if I manage to fix it, my plan is to upgrade some parts so it may be that the sound/power board get removed anyway...
Unfortunately, due to a stupid mistake on my part, I managed to turn my microphone off during filming which affected a couple of minutes of this video. Fortunately, I managed to recreate the original sounds digitally and my integration is so seamless, that I doubt you will even notice! 🤣
#retrogaming
#gamegear
#repair
#asmr

[@DistinctlyAverageRepairs]

Apologies once again for the minor audio issue in the middle of this video. I think I got away with it - I’m sure you’ll let me know if you disagree! More importantly, I’d love to hear your views on where to go next with this Game Gear…

[@prpaulo1]

muito bom

[@JulioCochrane-lq1po]

😁😁🇻🇪💯 nice job buddy

[@prpaulo1]

Muito bom esse vídeo, Airton Senna do Brasil

[@DistinctlyAverageRepairs]

Thank you. Yes, he was indeed and a great racing driver. This game would have been released at the height of Senna’s career I imagine.

[@prpaulo1]

@@DistinctlyAverageRepairs When I was a child, I always woke up with my father in the living room watching the races in which Senna participated and always playing his classic victory song,"O Tema da Vitória" Every Brazilian knows this song.
ua-cam.com/video/-0hmmX96QvY/v-deo.htmlsi=CzsdllgynCmp0clG

[@DistinctlyAverageRepairs]

@prpaulo1 That’s a great memory to have…