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segaWhy Every Unserviced Game Gear Is on Borrowed TimeThe listing says "tested — powers on." The photo shows Sonic frozen on the title screen, and the description never once mentions sound. Experienced Game Gear collectors read that silence the same way: the capacitors are going, and the seller either doesn't know or doesn't want to say. Sega's 1990 handheld is a strange collectable. It's essentially a Master System you can hold — a Z80 heart pushing a 4,096-colour palette onto a backlit 3.2-inch screen while the Game Boy made do with four shades
segaWhat Actually Fails on a Dreamcast, and How to Spot FakesThat indignant double-beep when you flip the power switch isn't a fault. It's the VMU in port A announcing that its two CR2032 batteries died years ago, and it's the perfect introduction to Sega's last console: on a Dreamcast, almost nothing fails silently. Whether you're buying your first unit, maintaining a shelf of them, or getting one ready to sell, the machine will tell you what's wrong — if you know what to look and listen for. The GD-ROM drive tells on itself — so listen The proprietar
GlossaryWhat CIB, Loose and Sealed Really Mean on a Game ListingSet two copies of Rayman for the original PlayStation side by side. The early North American printing lives in a tall cardboard long box, roughly the proportions of a VHS tape. The PAL copy sits in a standard CD jewel case. Both sellers can honestly describe theirs as “complete” — and they'd be promising you entirely different stacks of cardboard and paper. That's the trouble with collector shorthand. CIB, loose, sealed, NIB — the words sound precise, but what they actually cover shifts with pl