GameCube Disc Cleaning Series: Part 3- It still won't play!

PART 3 of a multi-part series! We show you how to clean those pesky GameCube discs!
Here's the scoop. I got a stack of 8 GameCube games that were all deemed "damaged beyond repair". I've tested each one, and they do not play. At least for now...
In this series we will clean one GameCube disc per video, in increasing difficulty (based on visual inspections). I'll walk you through the steps and procedures of how I clean GameCube discs of all sorts of damage. (My assumption/hope is that I manage to revive all 8 discs).
And now we get to Part 3! You say you've tried to clean your disc using the steps show in Part 1? And you say it still doesn't work? Well friends, you have options. A single polish with Novus 2 might not be enough! You may need to do a number of rounds of polish with Novus Step 2, you might need to jump up to Step 3, lots of options here!
Just keep in mind that you can use Novus 2 a few times over and over until those scratches are removed and the game comes back to life. Sometimes a single polish works, and sometimes it takes 20. Heck in this video I polished a disc a few times, figured it was good, and it still didn't play!
Let's get into it!
Discord information:
Catch me on the Gameye discord, or send a DM to @Eldoug
Tools I use! And affiliated links to buy them on Amazon!
(Let me know if you are outside of the US, I have suggested tools for most international countries too!)
Scotty Peelers-
amzn.to/3yxSRis
Heptane (Bestine)-
amzn.to/3FTBIS5
My gloves! Cosplay as me!-
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Mini heat gun-
amzn.to/3sv1si4
Gamebit screwdriver-
amzn.to/37Ezj0F
Thermal paste I use-
amzn.to/3FCllsQ
Insepction loupes/magnifiers-
amzn.to/3yxhtYs
iFixit Manta kit-
amzn.to/3a0fYYR
Magnetic parts tray-
amzn.to/3L99HqD
Brayer/roller-
amzn.to/3l5vDbu
Extraction fan for soldering-
amzn.to/3a0gbLD
Hygrometer/Thermometer-
amzn.to/3FMsmaE
The blue mat!-
amzn.to/3L8zdfp

[@RestoreAndReplay]

You say you've used Novus, you followed the steps in Part 1 and it still won't play? WELL GOOD NEWS CITIZENS. Part 3 is here! We get into the finer details. How much Novus you can use, how often, and pressures. And we dabble our toes into Novus Step 3! Check it out!

[@daviddowns7552]

can you tell me where to get the full kit. novus 3 step. ? ill be using on games and mostly dvd and music cds but those are about the same i would think. also ive used meguires plastx cleaner and ill go over the disc with some meguires quik spray wax and shine well using a microfiber towel.. have you ever tried that plastx. thank you for your video and and advice appreciated.

[@ThickpropheT]

People on Reddit are so damn touchy. I'd want to rile them up as well. Awesome video. Thanks

[@conj8293]

Just want to say thanks for posting these videos! Just bought Novus to try on my gamecube collection I had growing up (Oddly a lot of the scratched discs I thought didnt work still work so a lot less possible work haha).

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Hey you'd be surprised how often I'll buy a stack of "non-working games" from a store and half of them work just fine after a quick wipedown! It's always worth a try!

[@lionscar_art6284]

You save my zelda twilight princess Thankyou so much, but really, that disc means a lot to me, it represent so much. Thankyou 💙

[@Pawnfaz409]

Love your vids man!

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Glad you like them!

[@AndyVandercoy]

Thank you. Just subscribed. Back when I used to use the disc doctor I got some good results but nervous about that device so picked up a Novus kit. I remembered for cleaning specifically never to do circular motion and go from the inside out in a straight line so it will take everything in my body to work the disc scratches out through a circular motion..it's hand resurfacing so it's fine just but I instantly think Nooooo! Lol. Good stuff though. I have a ton of old CD's and DVDs and Dreamcast discs that need work done and hopefully I can get some of these working namely my precious suikoden 2.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Thanks for the sub! So the circular motion versus the straight line is an interesting one. In polishing you always want to go at a 90 to the scratch. But disc scratches are usually curved, so without going insane over the geometry of things, I just encourage people to go in circular motions. Between car polshing equipment and professional disc resurfacers, you'll see a lot of circular motions. But of course in my videos showing how to polish acrylic jewel cases, I do straight lines on Novus Step 3 and circular patterns on Step 3. The big reason to avoid straight lines on disc scratches is that you don't want to widen the scratch, so if there was a scratch that went straight out from the center of the disc to the edge, straight line polishing could potentially widen that scratch!

[@spencertaylor-mrliltay]

😳 just watched part 1 and 2 of the GCN cleaning videos, had to come to this. Firstly for the information, secondly because Rebel Strike: Rogue Squadron used to be my favorite game as a kid but my copy hasn’t worked for close to 10-15 years now and I’m hoping to now get it working better.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Rogue Squadron is so good too!! Let me know if you have any troubles or if you got it working again!

[@isaiahmcguire7348]

I'm loving these videos! I just found your GameCube Disc cleaning series, but only after I took a copy of Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness to get resurfaced, since I didn't know there was anything else besides that or home remedies. The disc was in rough shape and wasn't getting past the intro, and after resurfacing it looks pretty clean, but there's still one notable but pretty small scratch but it's still not getting past the nintendo logo, do you think taking some novus 2 to it might help?

[@huangaga6923]

Nice video. I did not use those, but using IPA. After 20 minutes polishing, my gamecue and ps2 disks can read normally.

[@OurFellowGamer]

I just spent like 3 hours with you getting this Spider Man Shattered dimensions on the 360 I’ve had for ever that was soooo Ducked, remove the d. And now it will at least play the intro. I’mmma keep going

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Hey that's progress! And actually, getting it to play the intro is a HUGE step, it means it passed it's initial spin-up and the system is acknowledging it as a disc!

[@docsradioden]

I appreciate your disk repair Videos. Here's my deal. I made an exception to a very strict rule I have. I loaned some music CD's to a friend. These were imports bought at 'Rare Records' in the San Fernando Valley many years ago when I lived in Simi Valley Ca. ( I am retired now and live in Iowa on a nice acreage away from city life... and California Thank God So , This friend is typically trustworthy. He returned the disks in a stack ( no sleeves or cases ) and handed them to me. They were all buffed into scratch hell. It turns out while driving he just flings them into the glove box. His job often has him traveling a couple hundred miles a day That is a lot of CD-to-CD vibratory action .Another type of resurfacing indeed. I will just tell him to squirt a bunch of Novus 2 in his glove box and spare others of the disappointment and sadness he put upon me JK lol , I was also given many DVDs with a friend saying " Here ya go, maybe you can fix them" that was about 8 years ago. I stumbled upon resurfacing of Disks and watched several, I saw the topic on KZbin quite awhile ago but didn't go down the rabbit hole and a week ago I did. I have seen others wet-sand working up from 800 grit to 2500 grit with power tools and worse. I enjoy repurposing and restoring many things and this process to repair disks is new to me, my mind has been on Audio Design and remodeling my kitchen. I then watch a couple of yours. I am a bit more conservative and I like your " Check-as-you-Go" and repeat with finesse and patience. I understand the difficulty even demonstrating many of my tactile skills. Demonstrating and explaining to others just can't convey enough on many things. I also warn them as you do that practice and my techniques I learned over time . What works for me may not work for you but go for it and practice. Soldering and electro-mechanical repair under a microscope is one example of many. I want to give you a big THANK YOU for the valuable information. Another ' Very Well Done Job Sir ' goes out to you for the clear and necessary repetitive message to viewers that their '(Mileage may vary so to speak ) and one will just have to get a feel for it and switch things up a bit to be successful. I tried tooth paste with minor success and I did not repeat but a couple times. You have Given me a concise and trusting jump start on this process. You , then my Novus 2 arrived yesterday and I feel confident. Looking forward to absorbing more of your knowledge. ~~ Mike in Iowa ~~

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Thanks Mike! I regret making the toothpaste video, since it "works" but rarely works well enough to be a common use. You can wet sand discs, I've done it several times before, but there are so many uncontrollable factors that go into it all that I'm hesitant to make a full video about it. (If you look up headlight restoration videos, it's basically the same method I use on the worst of the worst discs). But! With wet sanding you're also completely removing an entire layer, maybe needlessly! But never let a disc intimidate you! I honestly struggle to find discs "beyond repair" nowadays, since people are more apt to take the time to try cleaning a disc with the various methods floating around. Let me know how the Novus works out for you!

[@NoomlinKnight]

This video gives me so much hope that I can get some of my collection to work again! I have a Dragon Quest VIII I've been dying to play but it's just a black screen after the logo and the playstation kinda "revs" like it runs a bit and then stops and repeats. I also have a Kirby Air Ride that just starts into disc read error. I can't wait to try this

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Let me know how it goes! Sometimes the older the disc the more passes with Novus or a plastic polish it'll take, but don't give up!

[@Nate17-]

thank you so much man! i just bought a copy of pokémon coliseum for the gamecube and sadly it was badly scratched up and stopped working. after watching this video and using the novus step 3 and 2 it finally worked! like deserved!

[@brockjones2637]

I’m hoping this works. I just bought a copy of PoCo myself scratched that has a calcified middle section.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Yessssssss. I feel like Pokemon Colosseum is one game I have to clean more than regularly.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Sounds like it needs a cleaning. That middle section is from being resurfaced, so it shouldn't impact gameplay (just looks weird).

[@mannynegron3588]

Love this series! Got me inspired to try this myself. I picked up a game that had recently been through a JFJ, and the disc looks great, however on the edges where the 2 layers come together it’s almost like the sanding pads dorked the disc and you can feel the unevenness when you run your finger across it like a razor blade. The data layer doesn’t appear to be affected, and I’ve tried the Novus 2 method a few times now with no luck. I’m wondering if the disc is out of alignment now because of the rough edge in the one spot? Your input would be appreciated, thanks again!

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Oh it might very well be. If a resurfacer isn't level (the pad and the disc assembly) they can rough up an edge of a disc. When that disc edge is messed up, as the disc rotates and spins it creates an inbalance and wobbles. That wobbling is caught during the initial runup of the disc drive and the disc drive says "nah somethings weird here". You can (and I'm hesitant to explain this to the wide world of the internet) sand down the edges of a disc just so to even it back out. But it ain't easy. Hold it against another disc of the same console and see how far off the edges are, what you'll see is small little grooves on the sides, compared to the good disc. But absolutely a rough edge can throw off a read, same thing happens if you were to heavily polish a single spot on the surface of the disc, you'd get that same wobbling.

[@polartoons]

How well do you think meguiars scratch x (Fine scratch and blemish remover) would work on a gamecube disc I’ve seen you use it on other style discs but not GameCube I would assume it’s the same principle I’ve tried and got a game to load up and start but wouldn’t last long before it would reach a disc read error I’m thinking perhaps I should do some more coats ? What do you think

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Meguiars works! I used it for years prior to finding out about Novus, it just takes a bit longer (and usually a few more passes). I've got a video where I show how to use Meguiars actually! kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZiViJ-PoadrkNk

[@daviddowns7552]

i sorta enjoy doing the disc restoring and even more when good results come. i cant find a professional disc cleaning place in my area now. family video used to do the service but they all went out of business during covid outbreak.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I actually bought up a lot of the old Family Video machines as the locations were closing, refab'd them and sold them to local stores. For a used DVD store it makes sense for them to clean in bulk, but most gamers won't run across that many discs, so they might as well clean by hand! Glad to hear you're getting good results!

[@trulahn]

I used a water pick (for teeth cleaning) to rinse out the polishing compound stuck in the center ring layers.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Well heck that's not a bad idea. Now I gotta go try it!

[@mrrammy0077]

Hi loving the videos can I ask please what could be used in the uk thinking of getting turtle wax scratch remover

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Should work just fine! Might take a few more passes than with Novus or a plastic polish, but they'll still do the trick! As long as its a scratch remover, and not an actual wax!

[@paulpapadopoulos4330]

Love the videos but I had a quick question. I recently received a game that was buffed with a machine but is not working. Do I still attempt to do video one and three because it uses the novus but the polycarbonate has already been affected or do I just stick with the second video (tweezers/brushes). Also I heard of someone separating the polycarbonate layer from the disk completely and replacing it with one of the same size so it works. Would you know if this method works just as well as your methods or is it too dangerous. Thank you! I hope you understand my questions. I know they’re long sorry

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Alright if someone is talking about separating the polycarbonate layers they're either me, or someone I've been working with. That method is possible BUT complicated. You have to leave the aluminum layer intact and there's a whole mess about the transfer process. Thankfully most poly layers are the same diameter, so you can use donor layers from other discs. but like.... it's real complicated. Ok ok, so back to the disc at hand. Check it's thickness. depending on what type of disc the machine may have overpolished the disc and removed too much material. Are there any visible scratches that are curved or that you can feel with your fingernail? The problem with machine buffing is that it can also bring out some smaller scratches to the surface. And now I'm real curious what maniacs are also talking about polycarbonate layer transferring. I love it! hah!

[@jasonvlavianos3986]

I have black opps on xbox 360. Campaign, zombies, etc works. But when I save my game and try later to load my saved progress on the campaign it doesn’t load/freezes. It has a lot of light scratching and one 1/2in deeper scratch you can feel with your finger. Will a cleaning process like this help it?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Def sounds like it could use a cleaning. Anytime the game has to load information from the disc, and it struggles to do that, it's usually a sign of a scratch right on the spot that it needs the info from.

[@darthkahn45]

Have you ever personally polished a working but scratched game down too far? Like while trying to give it a better finish? I'm trying to get a vague/general idea so I can be more confident.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Intentionally? Yes. Accidentally? No. You will know when you've polished too much, you'll start to see warping and weird creasing start as you get to the bottom of the polycarbonate. Also it will have been around 8-10 hours of polishing and you'll be absolutely exhausted (if you were doing it by hand). But remember that you can always check the disc thickness and compare it to another disc to see how much you've removed. It'll be MMs you're removing. But yeah, it'll take a good long while until you polish it TOO MUCH. And you will have gone past the "I think I messed up" point long ago.

[@darthkahn45]

@@RestoreAndReplay Thanks for the reply 👍 You're the man

[@maddaya]

I'm interested to try this! I have a copy of Pokemon Colosseum which is very sought after these days. It came from a video gallery rental shop I went to as a kid. It was closing up and I bought some of the games back then. It's very odd, because when I start up the game it reads, and I'm even able to load the save file and roam around. But when I tried to restart a "New Game File" there is an opening cutscene, and without fail an error message always comes up at this scene. I know it's not the GameCube because the Wii I have does the same thing. The disc has some scratches but is no more scratched looking than my copy of Pokemon Gale of Darkness which plays fine. I've been so nervous to try and ruin such a game that people really want their hands on, but in it's current state nobody could play it and my save file is a beaten one. So I might as well try at this point.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

So one of the benefits of cleaning/resurfacing a disc by hand is that you can control the pressure applied, not a machine. I'd say give it a shot using Novus and light pressure and see what happens! I promise you won't use enough pressure to do any harm to the disc, and will likely bring out some of those scratches in the process. Give it a shot! Honestly I'd be nervous too to give an expensive disc to a machine and hope for the best, but if it doesn't currently work and fails at the same spot, that tells me there's a scratch somewhere on that disc causing trouble! See if you can find it with the back of your fingernail and work on just resurfacing that one small spot first! You can do it!

[@filmwarriorwake1044]

Do you have any advice on how to get rid of small but deep scratches cause I have been at novus 2 for hours. Even stepping it up to step 3. Would it take days?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

So this is where the "art of scratch removal" sort of comes in. Despite the internets insistance on not polishing in certain directions, with deeper scratches you sometimes need to. Remember you're trying to reduce the sides of the valley of the scratch. So you can go about it one of two ways. Either completely reducing the overall thickness of the disc, or.... Now this is where it's going to sound kind of crazy, but stick with me....by widening the scratch making it easier to deal with the edges. If you widen the scratch enough, you can focus on reducing the intensity of the sides of the scratch. But it really depends on how the scratch is laid out, and how deep. If you could send over some pictures I'd be happy to help out! (And if anyone else is reading this and thinks "cutting a scratch wider makes it easier to remove" it's not that simple, and only works in certain circumstances.)

[@DeadlyBrianX]

I got a question about this, my disc is essentially like this except it clicks and clack when reading and often times errors out my Wii when trying to read and am forced to reset. It’s similar to this disc where it’s really clean. Tried this and no go. Something I did notice is the laser side is significantly more transparent than my other GC games. Anything helps man appreciate it

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I have a small amount of GameCube discs that just flat out don't want to come back to life. BUT often there's a small scratch near the ringcode that's causing the issue. You'll see a row of hash lines and if any of those are scratched it seems to trend that the GC/Wii won't read those discs.

[@ATeaDaze]

I've been working on my GameCube Action Replay discs with this method. They've gone from "no disc" to "disc error." I actually got them to read successfully twice but I couldn't replicate it so I'm seeing improvement. I just need to keep working on them and try to focus on the worst spots. People are trying to sell these discs for ~$200 now but I just want to use them for homebrew. The way I see it, they're completely broken right now so, worst case scenario, I could wear them down too much which leaves me exactly where I started

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Awww yesssss! What you're seeing is progress! Keep at it! I also never understand people who sell a non-working game for near the cost of a working title. My dude... it doesn't work, it is worth $0. hah!

[@ATeaDaze]

@@RestoreAndReplay Exactly, I'd rather try fixing it than own a plastic coaster, lol. I've seen some progress but I need to check my GameCube laser/optical drive before I work on it more It doesn't read some of my clean and official discs so I'm holding off on further disc repair until I verify the disc reader itself is good. Apparently the GameCube is notorious for needing its resistance tweaked

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Absolutely yes, the GameCube can benefit from a resistance tweak, BUT the problem is when people have tweaked it in the past and the console still doesn't work. So it get's overtweaked. And of course there were two models of GameCube laser, which means some discs read on one but maybe not both. The GameCube continues to be the most curious and frustrating console made. 😄

[@pixolite]

Never tried nuvos before, I'll have to give it a shot. Honestly I think, ingredients wise, my trusty method of 60 grit abrasive mixed with a little bit of gas and then just the tiniest amount of cyanoacrylate accomplishes the same finish as your method using navis and its cheap and readily available.

[@pixolite]

For step 3 this is, step 2 I usually go with the inside of an orange peel with a little bit of ceramic flake

[@RestoreAndReplay]

This man is a scientific genius! For added longterm protection, I seal my games in concrete! Take that, disc rot! 😆

[@mrhobo4866]

When the disk is spinning but randomly stops is the problem that the scratches prevent the GameCube from reading it and it stops on its own or there's something more severe in the disk and it had to stop the disk spinning?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Likely there is something on the disc that is causing the laser to misread. Does it only happen to one game in perticular, or a few games?

[@marq7443]

This video was very informational! I actually have a GameCube disc that I recently bought that had a sharpie marker circled around the label side of the disc that would display "an error has occurred". The back side of the disc is only lightly scratched, but I've had more horribly scratched games that would still play. I was able to get most of the sharpie marker off with some of the disc art coming off as well, but it still will not work. Is it possible that because the label side of the disc was affected that the disc cannot be read by the internal laser? Thank you!

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Tape it! Get some masking or painters tape and cover the label side with it (try not to overlap the tape too much) then run the disc. If the disc functions perfectly that'll narrow down where the issues are!

[@marq7443]

@@RestoreAndReplay I'll try that suggestion! Thank you!

[@jack55787]

@@marq7443 Did that work?

[@eloraxcx8208]

Is the reason so many gamecube discs tend to fail after a buffing is not because of being buffed too deep but rather the machine has eaten away at the edge of the disc? I was comparing a disc I have that won’t read at a certain part to all my other GameCube discs and noticed that when shining a light on it it was the only disc that had a portion of the edge where there was no clear plastic and all my other discs at least had some amount of clear plastic all around.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

GameCube discs are temperamental. They used good materials and a good polycarbonate blend, but the discs are pretty thin. So you'll see light shining through them regularly, but machines have a tough time with GameCube discs because of the size and thickness. JFJ and ELM machines both require an adapter to clean them, if you tried to clean a GameCube disc on a regular resurfacer (without the GC adapter) it would only clean one edge of the disc. So in cases like yours, what I would recommend is checking the overall disc thickess across the entire disc, in multiple spots, to verify that it's consistent. It's entirely possible it's thicker on one side than another (which can also be seen visually when you hold it up to light).

[@BrandenCooper]

Got super smash bros melee that didn’t really work when I got it. Tried to get it resurfaced at a local game store and it still didn’t work. Found these videos and have bought Novus 2 to try and fix it up. I’ve done about 10 polishes so far and the noticeable scratches have mostly disappeared but still nothing. It shows what game it is on the start screen but gives me an error before it even hits title screen. Wondering if I should keep trying or stop before I get too deep

[@RestoreAndReplay]

You should absolutely keep going! And try increasing the pressure a bit! Usually when people first start off, they don't use enough pressure to really have an impact. It'll take quite a while before you start to do any damage (as long as you inspect the disc after each round!)

[@binarystork7006]

As strange of a suggestion as this may be, but maybe a good way to determine the pressure you're putting on is by using a digital scale

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I've actually thought of doing this! (there are some lab tests that require how much weight/force the tester applies). I'll definetly be referencing how many lbs of force I use when I draft out the article versions of these! It's kinda crazy how much force you can apply with just a finger or two!

[@binarystork7006]

@@RestoreAndReplay yeah hands are surprisingly strong, and honestly I am very excited to see where your work goes from here. Honestly what you show makes me feel more confident in case something goes wrong with a disc I own

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I love to hear it! I got so tired of seeing all of these "professional game and disc cleaning services" advertized. Heck around where I live we don't even have those anyway! So I figured if I can help a few people clean up a few games and curate their collection, that's good enough for me! I'm wanting these games to stick around for generations to come!

[@millenix7313]

I have this exact issue with two disks, Mario kart double dash and Mario sunshine. I tried cleaning the disks with some “Disk repair” my dad bought. Doesn’t work, tried toothpaste too. The only thing it did was getting the hole in the disk full of white stuff.. I need help! Should I try getting Novus? Or look for a resurfacing machine? I live in Switzerland so novus might be kinda hard to get. Please help

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Ok so good news, you don't need to get Novus, You just need a plastic polish or car scratch remover. Fish tank stores, acrylic art stores, heck even some hobbyist/model stores will have a few different plastic polishes. I actualy don't have a list of products for Switzerland though! I need to work on that!

[@andrewluvender2984]

I’m having an issue where on my copy of Mario party 5, it starts up and runs fine, I get into a board game fine. But as soon as a mini game loads up the game says “an error has occurred refer to the instructions etc..” Does that mean the scratch happens to be where the path to enter mini games is. Because as soon as anything mini game related starts, the disc stops spinning and i get the error. Frustrating, I bought it this way, the gentleman who owned the shop that sold it to me assumed all was well since it started up. But who could foresee mini games just killing the game

[@RestoreAndReplay]

It's entirely possible it's a scratch causing the problems! I've had games that will run all the way up to the end credits and crash. At GameStop we'd test a disc to make sure it ran, but basically we'd just turn it on and get to the first gameplay. It was considered "good enough", but discs aren't exactly like records in how the data is laid out on the surface. A scratch could be nearly anywhere on the disc surface and mess up a scene or a section of the game. But! If you are able to get the disc started and running, that's a good sign that the majority of the disc is still workable, so finding and fixing that one troublesome scratch should be all you need to do!

[@coreypinkos5834]

I have spawn on gamecube that my gamecube will not read. says no disc same issue you had with this game.. When I hold the game up to a light compared to a game that i know works I can see the label of the spawn game right through the bottom and I can not on known games that work.. Is this disc beyond repair? Was it over resurfaced and dug too deep into the data? The disc itself looks fairly clean and has very few scratches just odd how it is transparent compared to other games. any insight? Thanks!

[@RestoreAndReplay]

So transparent GameCube discs are actually pretty common. It was thought for a long time that that suggested damage, but it's just not the case. Has more to do with the transparency of the label. No disc is usually beyond repair!! First thing I would do is roughly measure the thickness of the disc. Compare it to another GameCube disc if possible, see if they are roughly the same height. It's rare that GC discs have been resurfaced too many times (at least in 2023) but not out of the realm of possiblities. The other thing you want to look for is if you see any water damage. Check my GameCube Disc Cleaning series 2 video, you can see images of where something (water usually) has separated the layers. That can also cause a disc to not work.

[@coreypinkos5834]

When i bought the game the cover art and manual both had water damage and i knew this when buying but i was told the game was "tested and working". My bad on putting it off for so long to test it when I got it because of the holidays I was busy. If assuming water got in between the layers, it's safe to say the game is a goner?@@RestoreAndReplay

[@jakesploder1389]

I bought a GameCube game off eBay that was listed as not working due to several scratches, so I bought the Novus 2 to try and fix it. I kept doing the resurfacing process over and over but it kept saying disc read error. Eventually I just started inserting the disc over and over and eventually the game worked. I have discovered that 95% of the time it says disc read error and rest of the time it works. Should I keep applying Novus 2 to make the playability of the game more consistent?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

If you've got it working 95% and before it wasn't, that is definetly progress! Just make sure to really clean off the disc after using Novus as well. The GameCube can be picky about dust and Novus can cause misreads if there's some left on the disc!

[@jack55787]

You mentioned in part 1 that Blu Ray discs are different and you shouldn't use this method. What should I do? I have a couple that I bought from ebay that don't look scratched or damaged but they skip around at certain parts of the movie.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Bluray discs are a little different, I've got an entire series planned for those! It still involves using Novus 2, but you use less of it and more applications, if that makes sense. Blurays just need a softer touch when being resurfaced by hand!

[@jack55787]

@@RestoreAndReplay Thanks! Looks like I've got a lot of work ahead then

[@SaintSkeleton]

Waiting on that perfect finish video , I'm dieing to get rid of micro scratches , does novus 1 do a good job? Ordered all 3

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Mirror finish video is gonna be loooooooooong. It's steps on steps on steps. But it works! We've got lots of pictures of before and after mirror-finish discs up on discord! Novus 1 is definetly a sleeper-hit. It works like armorall or plastic and vinyl protectant. It'll remove some small surface scratches, but it really stands out when you use it on consoles and controllers. It gives the surface a nice shine, helps resaturate the plastics, and keeps those surfaces free from dust and dirt. I'll make a whole video on just Novus Step 1. The 3 pack is a solid set where you'll get heavy use out of all 3 of them!

[@jessescollection485]

Any idea when the mirror finish video will come out? All of my discs work I just want em to look a little better.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

@@jessescollection485 It'll happen! I promise! We're just waiting for some folks to do some final testing! So a little note about how I make videos/techniques. I write it out (or make the video) and give it out to 5-10 different people, they try my method and report back. The method has to have a 70% success rate before I'll publish the video. If it's less than 70%, I go back and remake the video with edits. Currently the success rate for that test group trying the mirror finish is just below 70%, but I want it closer to 80%ish if possible. A few more rounds of testing and verification and we'll have it nailed down! (if anything, my poor ability to explain some steps is probably what's holding them back! 😆)

[@jessescollection485]

I can respect how professional you make your content bro. I’ve got no problem waiting on quality content!

[@RestoreAndReplay]

@@jessescollection485 Appreciate it! It's one that I want to make sure anyone can do on their own with ease. I will tell you the key to a mirror finish has to do with more tries and more liquidy liquids. But once we get that success rate and feel confident it'll translate we'll post it right away!

[@johnnybriannawiseman8154]

We don't have anybody in town that does that so I'm going to Wally World the pick up some polish for my games I'm sure everything you're doing is worth the time how much is Novus 2

[@princesszelda6847]

can u try og xbox game ? where can i get the product from

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I'll have an entire series for Xbox games, but yep the method is the same! Novus you can get on amazon, ebay, and most auto parts stores too!

[@SomeonesAlt22]

Do you ever use Novus Step 1 to fix your discs?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Not to fix the discs, but to protect them! Step 1 makes a fantastic dust and oil protectant for discs, AND it can be super helpful to give consoles a nice shine too! I'll have a whole video on Step 1 and it's fantastic uses!

[@britsluver]

Is novus 3 cleaning video coming :-)

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Yes absolutely! I have a stack of pretty badly scratched videos, it's just a matter of explaining the process well enough so that people don't over use Step 3! But it's in the works as we speak!

[@peachfuzz137]

Do you know if this method works on Wii U games?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

It sure does! I'll do a full series on Wii U games, as you'll want to get back that beautiful mirror finish. But in the meantime, if you have a Wii U disc that isn't working, try this method before tossing it out!

[@peachfuzz137]

@@RestoreAndReplay that’s fantastic, I definitely want to try out this method on some of my gamecube, Wii and Wii u games as I bought some from a lot that weren’t working. Looking forward to see more of your videos.

[@bayleyinc]

The game I have works sort of. But all you get is the screen flickering and its showing black and white. Odd because all my other Gamecube games work fine so I know it isn't to do with the connections to the TV or anything

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Could still be the disc, wipe off the laser in the system, and wipe off the disc and see if you get any changes. Does it do anything weird when you first load up the disc?

[@jjvela685]

Watching your video to see if novus will work for GameCube disc i wanna buy novus to clean the scratches in GameCube disc

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Novus will absolutely work! It's currently my go-to for all GameCube discs. But there are a handful of different plastic polishes that will work as well!

[@joshuaturner7881]

How can I Fix my copy of SSX ON TOUR to work smoothly on my Nintendo Gamecube that game means alot to me.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

I've got a whole cleaning and repair series on GameCube discs! Be sure to check it out!

[@jessekirkpatrick6895]

I had a copy of Thousand year door that I couldn't get to play no matter how many times I polished it. I literally wet sanded it with 1500/2000/3000 sand paper and then polished with car polish starting with heavy cut and finishing with the Scratch-X. It works now.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Boom! I love hearing that! I don't tell folks to wet sand unless they're familiar with the process (the fact that you did it on a copy of TTYD tells me you know what you're doing!), but when it works, it works so so well! I'm glad it came back to life! We will likely one day do a wet-sanding tutorial video. The challenge is how to explain it well enough so people won't accidentally strip off too much, ya know?

[@jessekirkpatrick6895]

@@RestoreAndReplay For sure. I have experience painting and finishing guitars, so I figured it couldn't be all that different than polishing a polyester top coat on a guitar body. I just used the same techniques with the exception of using the power buffer. I took two big dings out of the disc and it plays perfectly now.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

See I love that. I learned a handful of video game repair stuff from my experience detailing cars! Weird how many different hobbies all cross over!

[@palemonvazquez1982]

is this a temporary fix?

[@RestoreAndReplay]

Permanent fix! This will remove all current scratches. It won't prevent new scratches, but it'll remove all old scratches that prevent the game from playing. As long as the disc is kept nice and clean and scratch free!

[@SuperPaul2006]

Here's a better idea. Buy a BRAND NEW disc to replace the old one. Because there is no such thing as a scratch remover. I've tried alot of methods and I have excellent 20/20 vision and I can still see the scars on the disc and it STILL won't read. Buying a disc repair kit is much more expensive than the disc itself. The best way to get rid of scratches is to prevent and take extra care of discs, always grab it by the edges and stuff. Once your disc has scratches and is experiencing it's first nonreadable error THROW IT AWAY and save minutes of your life. Disc scratches are like a man's scalp, once you get bald spots (scratches) your follicles are permanently dead.

[@RestoreAndReplay]

There's a lot there I disagree with, and some misinformation. But ultimately, some of these games are very expensive. So buying a brand new disc isn't always possible. If you are throwing away scratched discs, lemme know where that trash can is. 😄