Modder refurbishes retro SEGA handheld using a Raspberry Pi

A modder and YouTuber used a SEGA Game Gear shell to create the ultimate portable retro machine powered by a Raspberry Pi.

The SEGA Game Gear could be considered the precursor to the modern Valve Steam Deck or Nintendo Switch. Though blocky by modern standards, its form factor is nonetheless familiar and practical.

These venerable old devices are becoming increasingly scarce as the electronics within fail, so one modder and YouTuber decided to rescue a Game Gear by giving it a Raspberry Pi-flavoured overhaul.

Hobbyist and YouTuber Jeff Geerling noted that many SEGA Game Gears are failing and decided to do something to save some of these increasingly rare devices.

Notoriously, Game Gears have an issue with blown capacitors that leak and cause catastrophic damage to the main board. Sometimes these boards are salvageable, but often they are not.

Geerling turned to ZArcade, a retro game company in the UK run by John Maddison. Maddison has created a series of kits that completely guts the Game Gear and replaces it with a Raspberry Pi. The MAME kit from ZArcade comes with the main board and all the daughter boards and converters you might need, though the Raspberry Pi itself must be bought separately.

Turning the Game Gear into a modern emulation machine

Rather than attempt this on his existing (and mostly functional) Game Gear, Geerling instead went to eBay to find a broken, non-functional Game Gear. This ended up costing only $15. Next, Geerling bought some replacement buttons and a new front screen cover from another site called Handheld Legend.

It is possible to use several different types of Raspberry Pi for this mod, including the Pi Zero, Zero 2, or A+. An adapter board is available from ZArcade for users who wish to use the CM4 or Compute Module model of Raspberry Pi.

The most daunting part of the build, according to Geerling was drilling holes for two extra buttons. Unfortunately, this step was necessary for playing anything past the 8-bit era.

So he bought a resin button holder bracket and 3D-printed a drill template to ensure the process was as smooth as possible. The plastic shell is not flat, and old plastic can be brittle which makes it difficult to drill, plus there is an internal metal coating that can interfere with the drilling process.

Replacing old parts makes a big difference

One part that made a surprisingly big difference was replacing the original screen cover. The originals are not very scratch-resistant so they can become cloudy and hard to see through due to micro-scratches accumulated over 30-plus years.

YouTube, Jeff Geerling

Due to the structure and precise length of the wires involved, when reassembling the Game Gear the casing needs to be held partially open, like you’re sneaking a peak at a book.

It’s a little fiddly as demonstrated when Jeff got the speaker wire caught in the casing and ended up having to tape the wire down the mainboard. For anyone trying this for themselves, something like the ‘octopus arm’ component holders might be useful for this operation.

Upon reassembly, the Game Gear turned on and worked perfectly, showing the RetroPi boot-up screen. RetroPi is a software package that can transform any Raspberry Pi into a complete emulator, supporting a huge range of console emulation, from NES to PlayStation and even MAME arcade games.

As Geerling discovered, using the CM4 means that some settings do need to be changed from the defaults to get a smooth experience with no stuttering, but otherwise the refurbished system performs amazingly well, with 60FPS and responsive controls.

Since this is still a Raspberry Pi that uses Linux, it is possible to connect up a keyboard and use console commands. The best you could get on a standard Game Gear is to hook up the TV Tuner. Jeff ended up describing it as “The Stream Deck’s tiny little blocky brother.” Sounds good to us.