VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => Classic Video Games => Topic started by: megasilverx1 on November 04, 2019, 06:23:11 pm
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Earlier today I found a Game Gear game that had no label besides "GG Checker" at a thrift store. It appears to be official looking at the circuit board and it brings up the licensed by Sega start up screen when I turn the game on. I assume it would be like a button test program or some other kind of test cartridge like Nintendo made for their consoles, but nothing happens after the licensed by Sega screen except that a red screen with Japanese text appears. Pressing the buttons does nothing. I couldn't find anything online about this thing, so I'm not really sure what it is. The only other thing of note about the cartridge is that rather than a game bit screw on the back it has a small phillips screw similar in size to the ones early NES game carts used.
Update: The text on the red screen basically translates to "Poor Connection." So I assume this cartridge is for testing the link cable connection between two Game Gear consoles.
(https://i.imgur.com/pUbkC89.jpg?2)
(https://i.imgur.com/DR7cZ8N.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/6WVSQwn.jpg?1)
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don't know either :-\
I think that the circuit board should have a battery in it but I don't see one. If it were a game.
I just read on an un-secure site google link that there is a game test cartridge out there according to the Game Gear Service Manual page 29 and 30 but I didn't click on the site link
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The phillips head screw isn't all that strange- I have a few Majesco-era carts with those in them.
Assuming you've cleaned the thing to make sure 'poor connection' doesn't mean the pins, I'd try taking it to any local retro shops/events you might have around, see if you can find someone with a link cable to try it with. It could also want you to connect it to a PC if it's a diagnostic cart- maybe look around for that previously mentioned service manual for more info.
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Post it to here, I'm sure Bock would appreciate any information:
https://www.smspower.org/forums/12827-GameGearPrototypeSamplesCartridgesPhotosScansWasRequestGameGearPrototypeCartScans
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don't know either :-\
I think that the circuit board should have a battery in it but I don't see one. If it were a game.
I just read on an un-secure site google link that there is a game test cartridge out there according to the Game Gear Service Manual page 29 and 30 but I didn't click on the site link
I assume you're talking about this:
30(https://i.imgur.com/vUrCcvo.png?1)
31(https://i.imgur.com/79HdvcP.png)
32(https://i.imgur.com/syZQrso.png)
33(https://i.imgur.com/67kjltb.png)
34(https://i.imgur.com/X5l9e76.png)
35(https://i.imgur.com/3e34XFW.png)
Someone on twitter linked me to this. If I'm reading this manual correctly, then I'd need a link cable plugged in to get past the initial soft check step. The manual also confirms that the Japanese text on the red screen that appears is about a communication cable problem. I'm not sure what the "exclusive adapter" that is mentioned on page 34 is; I'm assuming it would be a Game Gear Link Cable (Gear-to-Gear Cable)?
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don't know either :-\
I think that the circuit board should have a battery in it but I don't see one. If it were a game.
Batteries in cartridges are for one of 2 things saving, or clocks. Until the GBA era where they were just for clocks.
So games that didn't save or used a password system wouldn't have a battery.
It's actually one of the definitive ways to tell a fake GBA game from a real one because fakes use a battery to save.