Game Gear

The Game Gear has the highest hardware mortality rate of any portable console in history. The electrolytic capacitors on the motherboard degrade inevitably: an unrecapped 1990 Game Gear almost certainly has audio, video or boot problems. A professional recap — replacing the capacitors — is today considered standard maintenance, not modification. The TV Tuner accessory, which turned the Game Gear into a portable television, is a fascinating and fairly rare add-on. The Master Gear Converter allowed playing Master System cartridges — and since the SMS library was far larger and stronger, many users ran it almost exclusively for that purpose. The best Game Gear exclusives are criminally overlooked: Tails Adventure is a surprisingly deep action-RPG.