RH | 4,963 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 IMHO, this is the console variant to end all variants. Back in 1993, a high-end British department store offered a then $75,000 Sega Game Gear. It had a shell made out of 800 grams of gold (today worth about $45,000, alone) and was encrusted in diamonds! I remember hearing about this as a kid and I even think every kid with an EGM subscription was showing it off (see the image below.) But here's my question--how in the world can we as a community even find such a thing. I seem to also recall that this device made news. Furthermore "the Sultan of Brunei" supposedly bought this for his son, so at least one exists. Of course, when you're dealing with Big Middle-East Oil money, I imagine that kid trashed this Game Gear as soon as the GBC came out because it was old. Regardless, I can imagine that maybe 2-5 of these might have sold, and if that happened, some very wealthy person, somewhere is likely setting on one. Anyone, have any clue, how to reach out to communities like that and find one? I don't even mean for purchase or sale. I'd just like to see a modern photo of one and if someone could make a video of it, I'd just like to see the interaction. Someone made a solid gold, handheld console intended for children, and it was 1993?! There has to be some info on this, somewhere or some way for some resourceful individual to track one down. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart010 | 1,708 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 19 minutes ago, RH said: But here's my question--how in the world can we as a community even find such a thing. I seem to also recall that this device made news. Furthermore "the Sultan of Brunei" supposedly bought this for his son, so at least one exists. Of course, when you're dealing with Big Middle-East Oil money, I imagine that kid trashed this Game Gear as soon as the GBC came out because it was old. I think Brunei is actually Southeast Asia. I know this because I was in the Philippines once riding on a highway with my cousin through a mountain pass and there is a building on top of a mountain there. My cousin pointed to it and told me that is the sultan of Brunei’s vacation home. Maybe climb to the top of the mountain and ask them if the Game Gear is there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,963 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 1 minute ago, phart010 said: I think Brunei is actually Southeast Asia. I know this because I was in the Philippines once riding on a highway with my cousin through a mountain pass and there is a building on top of a mountain there. My cousin pointed to it and told me that is the sultan of Brunei’s vacation home. Maybe climb to the top of the mountain and ask them if the Game Gear is there Possibly. I've never looked it up. I just know there was someone who was called a "Sultan" who spent a lot of money on his kids in 90s in extravagant ways. Another gift he gave one of his kids was, supposedly, he paid the cast members of the TMNT movie to show up in full costume, for his son's birthday party. So, yeah, a $75,000 Game Gear sounds like something that guy would buy. If I ever make it to that region, I'll make the pilgrimage. IMHO, this is the rarest console variant every (with very loose definitions of "rarity" applied by most YouTube standards.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart010 | 1,708 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 31 minutes ago, RH said: Possibly. I've never looked it up. I just know there was someone who was called a "Sultan" who spent a lot of money on his kids in 90s in extravagant ways. Another gift he gave one of his kids was, supposedly, he paid the cast members of the TMNT movie to show up in full costume, for his son's birthday party. So, yeah, a $75,000 Game Gear sounds like something that guy would buy. If I ever make it to that region, I'll make the pilgrimage. IMHO, this is the rarest console variant every (with very loose definitions of "rarity" applied by most YouTube standards.) Do you think it’s fair to call it a variant? I would say it’s a customized Game Gear. For it to be a variant, it would have to have been officially sanctioned by Sega. From the article, it seems that a department store took it upon themselves to make this Game Gear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,963 Posted February 3, 2023 Author Share Posted February 3, 2023 15 minutes ago, phart010 said: Do you think it’s fair to call it a variant? I would say it’s a customized Game Gear. For it to be a variant, it would have to have been officially sanctioned by Sega. From the article, it seems that a department store took it upon themselves to make this Game Gear Well, I'm not looking to derail my own thread but in some cases, I'm willing to "duct tape" special cases to special lists. Yeah, this is an aftermarket thing but it happened in the original era and it was notorious enough to make the nightly news and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I'll call this a "console variation", even if it's not officially a licensed SEGA product, however, I do seem to feel that somewhere I heard they worked with SEGA on this. SEGA may not have made it, but they might have given the blessings for such a thing and might have even mailed off copies of the design docs for the shells and buttons. The screen looks official and I just kind of think if you want to make a high-end product like this, you're not going to take a marred up plastic screen from an original one that had it popped off and slap it on your $75,000 device. You're going to want to source original parts. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,532 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 53 minutes ago, phart010 said: I think Brunei is actually Southeast Asia. Yeah, it's on the island of Borneo, along with Malaysia and Indonesia. The ruler is called a sultan because Brunei is a Muslim majority nation (along with the other two.) Hassanal Bolkiah is the current sultan, and has been since 1967. He has a ton of kids, so any one of them might have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twiztor | 855 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 2 hours ago, RH said: IMHO, this is the rarest console variant ever (with very loose definitions of "rarity" applied by most YouTube standards.) didn't Nintendo gift a gold Wii to Queen Elizabeth? was that a 1/1 print run? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,824 Administrator · Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 Just now, twiztor said: didn't Nintendo gift a gold Wii to Queen Elizabeth? was that a 1/1 print run? THQ made and attempted to gift it to the Queen, but they weren't able to actually gift it to her (gifts to the Queen 99% of the time are not accepted). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart010 | 1,708 Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 47 minutes ago, Gloves said: THQ made and attempted to gift it to the Queen, but they weren't able to actually gift it to her (gifts to the Queen 99% of the time are not accepted). I read it’s in the royal queue of gifts that are not delivered to the queen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloves | 11,824 Administrator · Posted February 3, 2023 Share Posted February 3, 2023 8 minutes ago, phart010 said: I read it’s in the royal queue of gifts that are not delivered to the queen There was a video a while back of the guy who had it: The latest news I can find is that it was for sale on ebay, asking $300k. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PII | 1,896 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 7 hours ago, Tulpa said: Yeah, it's on the island of Borneo, along with Malaysia and Indonesia. The ruler is called a sultan because Brunei is a Muslim majority nation (along with the other two.) Hassanal Bolkiah is the current sultan, and has been since 1967. He has a ton of kids, so any one of them might have it. It's probably been in use as a doorstop in the sultan's basement or attic since the turn of the millennium or whenever it was that something better came along.. ..and only after first being demoted to "bathroom use only" circa 1995 and having its place beside the solid gold toilet plunger for a few years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkchylde28 | 1,546 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 7 hours ago, RH said: Well, I'm not looking to derail my own thread but in some cases, I'm willing to "duct tape" special cases to special lists. Yeah, this is an aftermarket thing but it happened in the original era and it was notorious enough to make the nightly news and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I'll call this a "console variation", even if it's not officially a licensed SEGA product, however, I do seem to feel that somewhere I heard they worked with SEGA on this. SEGA may not have made it, but they might have given the blessings for such a thing and might have even mailed off copies of the design docs for the shells and buttons. The screen looks official and I just kind of think if you want to make a high-end product like this, you're not going to take a marred up plastic screen from an original one that had it popped off and slap it on your $75,000 device. You're going to want to source original parts. I think you're on the right track, as something can be a variant of an official product even if it's not officially licensed so long as it's commercially produced in some sort of quantity and not just 1 or 2 custom jobs done for people. Examples of stuff like this would be the Saleen and Roush Mustangs, which originally weren't authorized by Ford whatsoever, even if they have partnered up in more recent years. So long as it can be proven that more than a couple were produced, I'd say it would totally count as a variant. However, if it was 2, or even just that 1 that was reported on being sold, then I'd have to say that it's more of a 1 or 2 off custom and a marketing gimmick more than anything else, regardless of who reported on it back in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,892 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Damn, if no one finds that thing and recaps it soon, that solid gold GG is toast! Unless... Do you think the caps are solid gold too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkTone | 988 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 That gold wii was passed around more times than a kardashian. Always wanted to see that game gear. AND the gold game boy too. I can understand the silence, but some more photos or video would be amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,012 Posted February 4, 2023 Share Posted February 4, 2023 Likely melted down by now. Atari gave out some solid gold prizes and half of those were confirmed to have been melted down. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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