I Bought 7 BROKEN NES Games - Let's Try To Fix Them

[@erinbuck129]

Really appreciate how you remind us of how things are supposed to work, like when you are testing continuity (we should hear a beep, etc). Really helps those of us who enjoy learning from your videos. Thanks, Steve!

[@Tronicsfix]

Glad to hear that's helpful. Thanks for the comment!

[@Margen67]

birb

[@ryanwilson1369]

@@Tronicsfix What was the cylindrical stand you had the board clamped in at 18:37?

[@joercoll30]

Yes I agree, I like learning from him

[@xNathan2439x]

@@ryanwilson1369 i know you posted this a year ago, but for anyone who wants to know.. the Clamp he is using is called "Hakko Omnivise PCB Holder (C1390C)"

[@brianfitzsimmons9682]

Most of the big chips are ROMs. They can be replaced with easy to purchase EEPROMS and then programmed with the game code. The game won't be "original" after that, but it will work.

[@SupremeShuckle]

Saying the game won’t be original is like saying a vintage car is worth less if you switch the “original” tires out for new ones.

[@SupremeShuckle]

Why would original be more special if original means broken and unusable

[@codmobster5229]

@Jacob I get what you are saying, but to a gamer, as long as it's playable I don't care. To a collector the "original" is what makes its value. Like putting on a new game label. I just want it to look good. A collector don't want it at all.

[@SSXVegeta]

So basically a pirated version.

[@xyloftalexander4369]

@@SSXVegeta no, you can rip Roms legally. That’s why I rip all my games that I possibly can

[@TheDurdane]

I recommend using a copper brush instead of scraping; it will be cleaner and you won't damage anything. Also, it seems more convenient to me to use just bare copper wire instead of insulated wire. This allows you to work faster and not overheat the board by burning away the insulation. Then I would insulate the wire bridges with solder mask that you can quickly harden with UV light.

[@scottmooredrakoedragon9891]

Not sure why he isn't using a trace repair kit. Wouldn't have to use wires at all

[@jacobriggs7483]

I was thinking the same thing. Be easier, and alot faster

[@3nertia]

@@scottmooredrakoedragon9891 What does a trace repair kit consist of and where are they sold?

[@3nertia]

@@poa2.0surface77 But "time is money"! Heh

[@Sacren365]

I just did my first trace repair a couple of days ago. It was a copy of Pokémon Sapphire that had a ton of soda in it. It had seven completely broken traces and a ton more slightly corroded. Years ago my aunt had been clearing out my cousin's stuff after he moved out and gave me all of his Pokémon things, fast forward about 15 years and I finally have the skills needed to do that kind of repair. It boots up and plays fine now, but I think I’ll replace the other traces. Once I’m completely finished, I think I’ll return it so he can let his son play it.

[@Technikplayzzz]

Nice

[@Sacren365]

Yeah I wish I did have the skills, but I was also somewhere between five and ten. There’s a lot of things I probably could’ve fixed now but I didn’t even know what a soldering iron was.

[@Sacren365]

Also I did meet up with cousin recently and was able to give it to him. He appreciated it but it was that kind of “thank you” you give someone for getting something that they don’t really care much about. It’s the thought that counts though so I’m not really upset about that.

[@jaymanier7286]

Hell yeah thats awesome!

[@deathsnitemaresinfullust2269]

That'd be really cool. Best cousin ever. 😄👍

[@0938847u]

On the Super Mario 2 game, it looks like the short can be coming from the traces between the 2 big chips on the right at 18:09. They mask is all scratched off and they look like they can be shorting with eachother.

[@Ryan_DeWitt]

RC Pro Am. The chip that is shot is just the CIC chip which is only used for copy protection. It can probably be desoldered and replaced by an identical CIC chip from another broken game and be made to work.

[@Kara_Kay_Eschel]

Also, if you have a cloned NES or the lock out chip is disabled on the original NES the game would run fine. Ben Heck had did this a wile ago.

[@patrimad9265]

18:17. You can still replace the work ram chip in these types of cartridges. In your case it is the top right chip (It usually also says what type of chip it is on the cartridge like rom or ram) You can try to find cheaper games that use the same type of w-ram chip or find a replacement.

[@lookitskazzy]

You can just burn a replacement easily if you have a burner, or else use buyicnow.

[@MizuhoChan]

@@lookitskazzy Burn replacement ram? Huh?

[@renaissanz]

@@MizuhoChan he means like flash your own chip

[@cheesetomatoes]

@@renaissanz It's RAM- there's nothing to flash.

[@renaissanz]

@@cheesetomatoes you are damn right! Sry didnt read properly :D

[@austinhensley6553]

the fact the he actually put time into working on a 5 dollar game with that many deficiencies says a lot

[@meowmageddon]

Content. I'm not saying I don't enjoy it, but it's just content.

[@MartinFZelada]

@@meowmageddon It is not content at all, cause we aint watching the process. It is dedication.

[@Puddlemuck14]

@@MartinFZelada It also goes into practice. If say a more expensive product needs that type of repair, he'll be more confident doing it since he was able to practice on the cheaper products. Always good to practice as much as possible. Even for the unlikely in your field. If you don't practice, then when it comes to the expensive products, it's more likely you'll make a mistake.

[@Travlerr]

Why I need to call or something to get my sons Sbox series S and my ps4pro as both hdmi are out.

[@mikehensley78]

Sometimes it ain't for the money. Sometimes ya just gotta know if you can fix it or not no matter what. Lol

[@dakotart1984]

Brasso and other metal polishes typically have ammonia in them and I've seen that eat traces over time. The best solution I've used is a fiberglass pen to clean the contacts.

[@lookitskazzy]

YES, thank you. DO NOT USE BRASSO OR ANY KIND OF METAL POLISH ON PLATED CONTACTS.

[@eduardbaciu8860]

There are also contact cleaners that are designed for clearing contacts..not sure why he's scraping them with various things..

[@Poppinwheeeeellllllieeeeez]

Its fine if you clean it properly afterwards. If you do not then there will be problems. Deoxit would work, but take forever. ​@lookitskazzy

[@joedangle]

I’ve been using brasso for 30 years on cartridge games. You can use brasso but u MUST completely clean it off with high isopropyl alcohol immediately after light scrubbing with brasso on the pins. Then after the IPA I use contact cleaner on a microfiber cloth to wipe down the pins and make sure there is no IPA residue left over. I have had no issues using brasso in this way. Yes it will cause major issues if u don’t clean it off the pins and solder mask on game boards. Or u can use a pencil eraser but brasso has always worked faster and easier for me. Hope this helps.

[@TheGlitchyMario]

The Nintendo brand chip on all of the carts is the 10NES lockout chip. If the NES doesn't blink, all traces going to that chip are 100% good.

[@Dave01Rhodes]

And if the chip is bad, you can still play it in an NES 2

[@Spartan122S]

I really love it when you’re going out of your comfort zone with products you’ve never worked on. It really helps for us in the future when we encounter the same thing. Good Job Steve!

[@XxthefailnessxX]

I love you trying to repair the old games as well! Would love to see some old consoles (n64, GameCube, sega genesis, etc)

[@Tronicsfix]

I'll be making some of those at some point

[@XxthefailnessxX]

@@Tronicsfix if you’re looking for a GameCube to mess with, I do have 2 that I attempted to repair and had no luck with! I’d happily send them for free for a fun KZbin video!

[@williamharris8367]

I agree; repairing vintage hardware would be in keeping with the theme of this channel, but it would probably attract a wider/different audience

[@julienturcot8112]

I would definitely like to watch repairs on NES and Genesis consoles myself.

[@brandonerrorcontentmissing4012]

Agreed, would love to see other game repairs.

[@TheDurdane]

It looks like the Supermario 2's electrolytic capacitor is dilated at the bottom. In my opinion, it is more convenient when desoldering components when a short circuit occurs, to also test them outside the circuit, and put them back on only after all components have been unsoldered. This is because some defective parts can give a false positive by interacting with each other. And a final tip for liquid damage is: use water instead of isopropanol, usually the base of the liquid (drinks, soup, etc.) that caused the corrosion.

[@herekongato]

Wow, Immortal, what a pleasure to see it again after so many years. Thats like one of the hardest, most unforgiving games i ever played. The dark atmosphere works so well for such an old game.

[@alexman5566]

I've never attempted a repair as intricate as the simplest things you do in your videos but because of your knowledge and explanation i feel like some day ill be able too. keep up the awesome content man we all need people like you on YT.

[@3nertia]

You can do it!

[@emmettturner9452]

Ads are still running but “The Immortal” is often sold as “broken” merely because it causes modern TVs to glitch with an out of spec “blacker than black,” black color. I actually patched the ROM to fix this. :)

[@emmettturner9452]

Not only does it use the blacker than black, black, it also uses “emphasis bits” to make everything on screen darker.

[@Tronicsfix]

Interesting. That's good to know. Thanks for the comment

[@emmettturner9452]

@@Tronicsfix Any time. I actually have a couple videos of the sync glitching with this game on a Sony KV-52XBR2 and a 2005 Toshiba CRT. Both misinterpret the blacker than black color as a mid-line sync pulse causing line shift, scrambled graphics, or complete signal loss. Older TVs are better designed to tolerate bad sync due to things like camcorders having notoriously bad circuitry in order to integrate VCR functionality in a portable package.

[@FoxLightstep]

I had no idea that my favorite games were so simple looking inside their cartridges. This was a very interesting to watch.

[@Pulverrostmannen]

I have a good feeling your NES have a pretty poor 72 pin connector too, you should check that out to rule out problems related to connecting issues too. it is especially typical when you get weird artifacts in the picture you have a poor contact and the game might actually be fine. remember there is also a second row of pins hidden deeper inside that connector too that is equally guilty for poor contact with the game as the outer row. good to see good ol games come back to life :)

[@mar10kuup]

The 72-pin connector is the achilles heel of the NES 👍

[@Pulverrostmannen]

@@lurch1539 you are correct it often works to bend out the pins again and I been doing this myself in combination with boiling the connectors that can also help them get back to shape again. The biggest problem with this method is still to reach the deeper row with pins. But you get a big benefit by just clean and bend the first row of pins too. But what I seen is that the plating is usually worn off when they get this bad and it will usually not be possible to make it perfect without actually changing the contact. And the 72 pin is very easy to replace anyway as it is only pressed on the edge of the mainboard. It’s all just a few more screws to remove. There are better types of connectors like the blinking win that you can get today for the Nes. But I am using original connectors myself still because I got more than a big grocery bag full of used connectors I can mess around with as much as I want so I can afford to ruin some in the process

[@theweldmasster]

@@Pulverrostmannen UR THE ACHWHATEWVER HEEL TO THE NES BROOOO

[@jacobriggs7483]

​@mar10kuup yes it is... thats why some games magically work after you put them in n take them out again, with a certain angle n a lil force. Also, the load spring that holds the tray down is a pretty easy fix. Can't play if you gotta hold the cart down, lol

[@jacobriggs7483]

​@@PulverrostmannenI didn't know that. Why didn't I know that??? Lol

[@lagautmd]

Those long cylindrical white erasers are for use in motorized electric erasers used in hand drafting and drawing. You can get pink erasers for that, also. There are also some high abrasion erasers made for them. It might be a better way to use them on contact, though there's always the risk of removing the conductive material completely.

[@knightofsouls]

Its crazy if you stop to think that each one of these game cartridges has a story and presumably a play history in which someone somewhere enjoyed them.

[@DanielLopez-kt1xt]

The second game's chip could be fixed if you use a pencil-size rotary tool, to eliminate part of the plastic cover over every dissapeared pin, so you can solder a small wire to it's place in the board. I guess you loose nothing for trying, it may let you repair future more expensive boards...

[@jacobriggs7483]

Gotta have a very steady hand, lol. But it works

[@intoxicode]

My favorite type of thing for cleaning pins is either in an abrasive eraser usually they're gray and kind of gritty, or a magic eraser, you can also use a railroad track cleaner too as well

[@juansolo1617]

The black material on the copper pads is tarnish. Best way I know to clean that is from my mom cleaning her copper dishes back in the day. She used lemon juice and baking soda mix. Scrub it around for a bit and the black tarnish eventually comes off. I'm not sure if the lemon juice would be good for the board, but you could always douse it in alcohol later to clean it and then dry it.

[@kattriella1331]

Pretty sure the lemon juice (an acid) would react with the baking soda (a base) and just neutralize each other. The baking soda is a mild abrasive, and was probably what was actually doing most of the work to clean the brass.

[@smashICE1]

You're awesome, Steve. The NES was my first console. Great memories. Next stop: SNES Your choice of music for this one was on point. Love it!

[@_Drekavac_]

NES, SNES, N64, PS2, PS3... Man my childhood 😭😭 Wish i could turn back time...

[@JanoBrossChile]

Thanks to you, I have applied your advice in my repairs. Even though I don't speak English very well, I can understand you in the videos. greetings from Chile!

[@Tronicsfix]

So great to hear!

[@patricktelfort8901]

they have conductive paint that you can uses instead of wire for the traces.. just trim the tip of the paint brush bristle and paint. then spray a clear coat over it for protection.

[@Alasswolf]

Not sure the paint is that conductive as it will be a really small amount of it but, if that works, it could be a game changer Personally, I can't do the combo of soldering with the microscope. In fact, I'm pretty lame when it comes to just solder stuff 😅

[@Watcher3223]

​@@Alasswolf There are conductive paints and conductive pens meant for electrical and electronic work, and these tools are available with carbon, nickel, and even silver. However, they have their limitations. For instance, you really wouldn't want to use these tools where you may need wire as it affords the repaired trace with physical reinforcement, such as if the substrate is subject to the effects of thermal cycling.

[@bengraham5699]

a graphite pencil is conductive.

[@Ragnar8504]

According to the silkscreen markings the two small components you checked for shorts are capacitors too, not resistors. Some types of capacitors use coloured rings like resistors.

[@nalinux]

Especially when there's "C2" on the board :)

[@Ragnar8504]

@@nalinux That's what I meant by silkscreen.

[@llamacebu216]

Just send them into Nintendo and they'll fix it for cheap. Sometimes you just have to pay for the shipping

[@vgamesx1]

Looks like these make good practice boards for learning how to solder jumpers, they're quite cheap and small repairs, but they're not absolutely tiny and cramped to work on like a phone or laptop.

[@Enjoymentboy]

When I was in high school soooo long ago we used these white erasers in our drafting class. They were more firm than the pink ones and they had fine grit in them. They were actually made to erase ballpoint pen. I had one with me in my electronics class one day and was bored. For some reason I started to try to erase the wire I had in front of me and I was amazed to see it go from brown to shiny copper. I haven't seen them in years but if you do, try them. They really work well for flat contacts like this.

[@Galius7]

I've had great luck restoring filthy/corroded contacts with a magic eraser, and then cleaning with alcohol. Seems like the metal polishing cloth would work similarly. On some heavily corroded contacts I've even soaked the contacts in vinegar and let the weak acid do it's job, and then cleaned thoroughly with alcohol. The games I've done this to have looked and worked perfect years afterward.

[@sokifin01]

I'd love to see you fix that NES with the cartridge slot issue. I have a similiar one i'd love to fix myself someday when i have the time for it so it would be appreciated if i had some guidance on it when i decide to finally start fixing it!

[@mikehensley78]

A rubber pencil eraser works great for shining copper pads or contacts up. My electronics instructor back in the 1990s had us keep erasers in our tool boxes. Love the videos.

[@luke9511]

another awesome video! i love working on and fixing nes games its a lot of fun! i also use briteboy to clean the contacts on the games themselves

[@Tronicsfix]

Thanks for the tip

[@rayclark9643]

Hey Steve...nice job saving the ones you did...I still own a bunch of NES games and a working deck, including Super Mario Bros 2. Also a lot of N64 games and a working deck...so fun watching these get repaired😁!

[@ByFaith747]

Just found your channel I'm about 30 videos in. You have inspired me to give repair/restorations a try. It's not as crazy as I thought it would be.

[@danarepouille1381]

What's the story behind Scotty? Was he saved from the trash bin?

[@Tronicsfix]

It was my father in laws multimeter before he passed away several years ago.

[@lyianx]

I've fixed quite a few cartage games. 95% of them are just dirty pins (usually caused by people BLOWING IN THEM to try to get them to work.. please dont do this). Hi-Polymer Erasers (the white ones) work pretty well to clean the contacts. They have less friction than the pink ones so less risk of damaging the contacts when you clean them. I have a pack of large block ones and you can get them in Pencil sizes that are just erasers (so you dont need the pencil part) to focus on a couple pins. But for any that look liek they have liquid spill, its also important to clean the plastic cartridge as well so it doesnt get back on the pcb.

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

The Sanyo chip is a Sram chip and you can replace it. The chips that have “Nintendo” written on them or “rom” can’t be replaced. In the case of SMB2, the chip that populates U3 is the W-RAM, it’s a 28 DIP 8KB SRAM chip and can be sourced online or off another donor board. I’ve fixed a few games with faulty SRAM chips.

[@wolfgangjr74]

Can they be salvaged and used in other cartridges of the same game in regard to the Nintendo specific roms?

[@PunkNDisorderlyGamer]

@@wolfgangjr74 yeah that may work. Let’s say you have 2 copies of the same game, 1 has a bad PRG rom and the other has a bad CHR rom, you can combine the two working chips to fix 1 copy.

[@nekonosuke3086]

Are the ROM chips an old proprietary model and/or write only? If not then one could write the game data to it with a chip programmer Is it worth the effort? No, but that's not what this is about anymore

[@wolfgangjr74]

@@PunkNDisorderlyGamer Thats exactly what I was wondering. Thank you.

[@wolfgangjr74]

@@nekonosuke3086 REprogramming is another whole can of worms. Not to mention a possible legal liability with Nintendo as this would mean that you actually have a copy of a ROM.

[@mikemarkovich69]

I am an NES collector of many years. One thing I found that works for the pins is pool cue chalk. Usually takes the black markings off quickly. You may have arguments against that though.

[@DrBobGaming1]

Maybe you might want to get on the really good list with IfixIt and throw them the idea to make their own metal polish.

[@Tronicsfix]

That would be awesome!

[@rushoffailure]

Just need some Brite Boy

[@inibrasiumthefirst2680]

I wonder if you can 3d print a clip to make that one chip with the broken legs connect

[@JohnQuilyQuinlan]

i love your work man, you are lucky to be still doing what we all tried and sometimes failed as kids, great to see old stuff being giving a second chance.

[@jacobriggs7483]

Right? Lol

[@jacobriggs7483]

I know I messed up a few... won't name the casualties here... probably be worth alot of money now huh...

[@ddave6419]

That SMB2 capacitor is a ceramic capacitor. More expensive than the electrolytic variety, but they tend to last for a very very long time without having a problem.

[@tony--james]

I know Shango on YT says in all the hundreds of vintage TV's and radios, he's never seen a disc capacitor go bad,

[@danday9697]

The best eraser I've seen for the games is one you can get at the craft store. Think it's like a Mars eraser or something. It always cleans my games up very nice

[@bigrenegade7121]

A very valid suggestion that could help NOT actually damage one with liquid damage: try using alcohol or a liquid cleaner to remove it first. The (odds) are that the liquid was a cola or some other liquid sugary drink and the corrosion you see is the sugar from the drink left behind after the liquid dried out.

[@diy_mushroomguy]

Makes sense. I remember being huddled around an NES with friends/family with drinks around. Even some alcoholic drinks later on.

[@bigrenegade7121]

@@diy_mushroomguy Been there done that LOL It's why I suggested using a cleaning liquid to try and remove the sugar residue that would be baked onto the board from the heat the chips produce. It will take a little time to soften the residue but the result is worth it. Undamaged traces on the board :)

[@diy_mushroomguy]

@@bigrenegade7121 now do you think an ISO alcohol w/a higher % of alcohol or a lower alcohol content? I would think maybe in the middle because the higher the content the faster it evaporates. I would think that considering the sugar which is actually a syrup (kind of gross when you think about it, lol) has been allowed to dry for probably year's. I would think a ISO with the lower content would be allowed to penetrate that baked on residue and allow you to wipe it away with more ease. I'd probably then use a higher content ISO just to clean up anything left over that might not be that visible. Never a bad thing to be thorough.

[@bigrenegade7121]

@@diy_mushroomguy Not sure where you live but we have a store here where I am in Ohio called Dollar Tree. They carry 50% alcohol which would probably best to use. I takes forever to evaporate so would need wiped off later but applying some and letting it soak for a bit should help loosen it up and make it easier to remove.

[@diy_mushroomguy]

@@bigrenegade7121 haha what coincidence I'm in Ohio as well. I'm familiar with the dollar tree. Not sure where I get my alcohol exactly but I do recall having trouble finding 50%. I recently got into the hobby of growing mushrooms and using 50-70% is the best because it lingers longer than a 90%. So a bit more affective killing microbes and mold spores.

[@Ferret5317]

I remember needing to hold down my cartridges as well, and the opening above the cartridge slot is just big enough to fit another cartridge so it could hold the slot down just by sticking another cartridge in there on top of it.

[@Che1ito]

You don't even need to hold it down though. It's all cosmetic.

[@chasefournier]

Dude! This was awesome! Amazing soldering as always steve! & Of course not everything can be fixed, but you did everything you could!

[@shanebowers7624]

Most NES games don’t work when you first put them in the system. Either you take it out and blow on the pins. And put it back in. Or you put your finger on the slot of the game while it is push down with the power on, and wiggle your finger back-and-forth and keep hitting reset. Not only that another trick is don’t put the game in all the way just to the edge of lip of the slot where its hitting the edge when you push down. Force it past the edge and make it push down.

[@diy_mushroomguy]

Well it's cool to see it's possible to save old cartridge games. Not a lot of hope though because I know a lot ended up not being stored in the best ways possible. I know I found a bunch of my brother and sister's old Atari stuff in a cardboard box in the attic. Somehow a lot of it still worked. The controller's is what ended up being the first to go unfortunately.

[@petergee7269]

I believe I ruined a combat cartridge by holding down the reset and fire buttons. It was an old trick to shoot through walls.

[@JordetheArtist]

I recall those controllers feeling broken the second I started using them. They never felt comfortable to use

[@rebeccafay7402]

We spent a lot of time repairing our Atari controllers. There's a plastic ring inside that tended to break under the buttons. We glued in harder plastic over the breaks and went back to playing.

[@louislong8220]

i love how you take your time to do alot of cleaning and fixing....i love videos on these NES games of my childhood

[@solaceinrage]

Immortal is a hidden gem, really gave me a nostalgia hit seeing it.

[@datorxodar4595]

Deoxit is a fantastic product for pin cleaning. It's dielectric, so it can be left on the cartridge and reinserted into the console wet. Repeating this several times will disolve carbon from the console connector also. Just swab the dirty deoxit off of the cartridge pins and re-apply a light coating. If every game cartridge has a light coat of deoxit, you will essentially maintain the console connector every time you insert a new cartridge.

[@bubsy3861]

Well. Just want to say that I respect retro content and repairs) way better than watch another hdmi replace) (didn't say that hdmi replace are bad, but it just better))

[@Tronicsfix]

Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoy the old stuff

[@teemum.9023]

6:35 1. drill tiny spaces into the chip and use the same wire method to bypass the legs 2. order the chip from ebay 3. take the chip from another cassette

[@tapuout101]

I thought you had to blow on them, stick it in and try again? lol

[@BossManSays]

Ya that's how they get the damage

[@jus7040]

@@BossManSays then one has blown to moist, I guess?

[@TwistedIdentity]

For Mario 2, you can replace the chips, if you have another cart that's too dirty or messed up check the model number on the cart and see if it matches and then swap it out.

[@user-mz7hb1dq5x]

Battle toads lets go! I fixed super mario all stars when I was 12 years old by soldering a single wire to one pin there was a burn mark on the trace.

[@danieloutloud9151]

A helpful tip for you , if some of the tabs on the game have a nonconductive substance on them they may contaminate the receptor slot within your game player when you do a test insertion . You'll need to clean the gripper tabs in the game unit periodically . They make a spray for electronics with a straw insert that will clean away dirt and grime without compromising the boards nonconductive areas .

[@gregames4843]

One spray that works for that is WD-40 "specialist" contact cleaner.

[@allsportnj]

I'm 52 years old and have owned every console from the original Pong to the Series X/PS5. To this day I cannot understand how any console/cartridge/disc can get anywhere near getting water damage, other than flooding?

[@JavierMonsuarez]

Hi, I normally clean the cartridges using an ink eraser (the blue one, not red) which is a bit more abrasive but not too much. Then apply WD40 with cotton, and you are ready for many more years of use.

[@4MataRaul]

Maybe the liquid damage was mostly caused by blowing into the cartridges🤔

[@Tronicsfix]

I'm sure some of it was but some of these had a lot of damage.

[@OtaconEmmerich]

Try to get a top loader NES for repairs next time, makes it a lot easier on testing. Great video, Glad the Battletoads was saved.

[@capellerk]

Thanks. I have small pile of old non-functioning Atari carts that I was going to chuck. I'm going to try these techniques and see what happens.

[@Warrior_Resisting_Colonialism]

Nice! Don't just toss them though if you can't fix them. Collectors might still buy them on ebay. Just disclose they don't work, let them go to auction in a lot starting at a buck, with them paying shipping, that's all.

[@bflippsytrance]

A lot of game cartridges had kids blowing in them to remove dust particles before inserting it into the NES or tried to clean them with cloths. But I think the worst damage can come from storing them in a location where condensation happens. Great to see these games getting their lifetime extended.

[@duranium4445]

Blowing is exactly useless. The game usually doesn't start because of the copyright chip. A reset helps.

[@Catterjee]

For metal polish, use Brite Boy rather then Brasso. It leaves less of a residue. With that Mario 2, its worth trying just reflowing the solder on the chips.

[@Zuloff]

When I was trained in work on circuitry in the USAF I was told never ever use a standard pink or green pencil eraser to deoxidize card edge connections or other exposed contact pads. The gritty standard pink or green school erasers will contaminate the exposed metal contacts with sulfur which attacks the them. I was trained to use only the smooth white premium rubber drafting erasers or a Pentel Clic pen eraser.

[@lesnyleszek4191]

when he managed to fix battle toads I screamed "yes!" I think I was much happier than the author himself 😅

[@bobbrown98]

dang it - I read this while he was in the middle of the repair. lol.

[@henriquehff]

6:35 you can try to grind the chip to expose some of the contacts inside the chip package

[@sophbliss]

With something that has that extreme level of grime similar to marijuana resin, leaving the surface of the metal submerged in iso for 5 minutes and then scrubbing with a brush should get it off. If there are still flecks after doing this, try a magic eraser that is often used for the kitchen. I often forget to catch the resin droppings when I clean my pipe, and then I have a 4 hour job of getting the resin off of the porcelain of my sink. If alcohol failed, I would put like 2 mm of CLR in a container lid and tilt the board to sit in the CLR and then try to scrub after 5 mins. Whatever that is, it is the concoction of a satanic childhood, clearly (either that or some *depraved individual* tried to make hash using their nintendo). Perhaps some kind of occult sludge. For the love of Tetris, please figure it out.

[@spade749]

This looks like a great way to get started for anyone interested in learning about circuitry and electronics.

[@djlancematthew]

Glad you’re deciding to go to the retro video games now. Definitely want to see more videos where you fix not only the games but the consuls Too!!

[@albertalvarez5901]

You can probably put a thin grinding bit on your dremmol to scratch of the clear covering the traces instead of using a blade or whatnot to uncover it, makes the job much easier and you save a lot of time

[@UltimateTechHub]

I have to give you soooo much credit for trying to fix a 5 dollar. Nobody else would bother to do this. Great video as usual.

[@Caffeinated_Warrior]

Thanks for showing us the reason behind why the "blow in the cartridge to make it work again" trick worked back in the day (sometimes).

[@hairychest7865]

If you can find the same IC just remove the old and put in the new. Even with the capacitor. but I can see the hesitation because it might not be worth it. and with the jumper wires I'd use sleeved 34-gauge wire and then hold them down with compatible adhesive. you did nothing wrong. just making suggestions from my 36 years' experience in this business. If you can get hold of Methyl Ethyl Keytone it will clean the gold pins well.

[@nathanjohnson9715]

That's not completely true. At least one of those chips (depending on the type of cart, it either uses ram, rom, or both for its graphics) is a rom, and you can't just replace one rom with another. It would need to be written to first. That being said, I'm sure you could find the binary online and just replace it with a compatible eeprom. An eeprom burner isn't expensive, and if you do a lot of these repairs it might be something worth investing in.

[@Dave01Rhodes]

That IC in RC Pro Am looks like the lockout chip, which should be entirely swappable from other cartridges. And if you use an NES 2 or a NES with its lockout chip pin clipped, it won’t matter if the lockout chip functions.

[@Grommie122]

I get my methyl ethyl ketone at home depot, that's some nasty stuff but it will work. Toluene is a slightly different solvent that I've had success with as well.

[@SteavenGilmore]

Love the videos, you could always try a fiberglass pencil to get some of the gunk off the pins... not sure how corse they are though, but it's a thought

[@JoeyCeppaglia]

I’d love to see some more retro videos

[@Tronicsfix]

I'll be making more

[@frankly3498]

Just about to get into nes repairing, and this is great. Definitely subscribed and look forward to more of your videos. Been wanting to delve into this for some time now, and now I'm taking the surprisingly cheap plunge!

[@SKotris84]

This is such an interesting channel.

[@RealJMAC]

The most important step is always blowing into the cartridge ;)

[@yogibear2k220]

When I used to clean edge connectors for my ZX Spectrum peripherals I just used light grade sand paper. Worked really well.

[@Suhadisgood]

The NES cartridges are a joke all my life I couldn’t wait until Nintendo stopped releasing NES games they needed to be blown in to make them work or you need another cartridge to be on top of the game you wanted to play 8 bits sucked so I bought arcade machines for $3,000 after they ruined teenage mutant ninja turtles and made a joke on the sticker saying teenage mutant ninja turtles 2 the arcade game

[@CorgdVR]

@@Suhadisgood what are you yapping about

[@samamir8765]

@@CorgdVRwhat are you yapping about child this is life how games used to be like be happy it’s not like that anymore I bet you weren’t here anyways when it was 1980

[@peterparker346]

@@CorgdVRyour problem is your just to young to understand what the comment is saying you weren’t here when trash consoles were here and arcade machines rules the world of video games you instead won the hack pot and got to play on Xbox 360 PS3 that didn’t suck you didn’t spend any money on trash consoles

[@peterparker346]

@@samamir8765he’s a little child 😂

[@CorgdVR]

@@samamir8765 what are you yapping about

[@dmock1616]

Classic game source Inc makes a cleaning kit for the cartridges. Thats probably what you saw on the one game. It comes with isopropyl alcohol, a solution almost like what you would use to buff a car and some fabric like pads. I have it and it works pretty well for cleaning the cartridges.

[@TheCod3r]

First again 😝

[@danarepouille1381]

Dang. Only because you are five hours ahead of my time zone. Good on ya.

[@madmanmechanic8847]

You probably dont read the comments but if you want to make short work of the contacts on game and get them spotless really quick just get some red scotchbrite tear off a chunk with some contact cleaner or alcohol and a follow up with a paper towel it will get them spotless and speed up your game repair time . They will be brilliant in the shine on the contacts and bring them back to factory fresh

[@WickedCrispy]

If the picture is scrambled on your TV on every game you put in usually the game socket in the NES has dirty pins. They used to sell cleaning kits that was basically a cartridge with a foam pad instead of a PCB to insert and remove multiple times to clean the teeth. You can wet the end of a cart's teeth with a tiny bit of windex to do the same thing.

[@ryandavis5475]

Instead of trying erasers, which can leave rubber residue, I would recommend DeoxIt. The metal polishing cloth is a good idea, though.

[@looneybinjim]

I'm not sure if anyone has commented this yet; There are replacement pcbs available for the various NES carts. These pcbs can be socketed to test the chips. Most of the time the chips are fine and it's pcbs or other components that need replacing.. 😊

[@Fools_Requiem]

Brasso works really well when polishing the pins and removing the black stuff that is on pins.

[@Akira42]

For your trace cleaning, maybe try a melamine sponge, or "magic eraser"?

[@lubbockleft]

Deoxit Gold is great for cleaning the connections on these

[@MREHUSTLER3043]

Watching these games come back to life is extremely cathartic for me.

[@LM-wq4fe]

You might want to get a fiberglass pen. It works well at removing the corrosion

[@κπυα]

These videos with old games are my favorites.

[@oogbigworm]

All these years to finally look inside. Cartridge was so big for that small board. Wonder what piece used to break off when you used to hear something rattling around.

[@rogerheller6838]

YO!!!!!!!, TRONICS you forgot to add the perfect amount of thermal paste my guy , stay blessed and stay safe and keep it retro

[@CyberTom77]

What sort of RCA-to-HDMI-converter do you use? Your pictures on screen always look brilliant. 👌

[@donpoppito1]

Embry board for the pins. It removes the coating but everytime ive used it the game worked fine. Its a copper coating ontop of silver pins.

[@anthonyj.adventures9736]

Have you tried to use fiberglass pencils to clean electronics? I collect old model trains and try to restore them. they have very small brushes, springs, commentators, and fly wheels for the motors. I find fiber glass doesn't scratch the surfaces and cleans good with some oderless mineral spirits.

[@brianfraser4864]

You mention using 99% alcohol. Solvents will dissolve some types of stains but have no effect on sugary residue from pop. Consider cleaning first with water and then IPA. Also you may get some electric connection restoration success with “rear window defogger trace repair paint”

[@dl200010]

With replacing chips on those boards. One can be replaced (CIC Lockout Chip), but all the others are ROMs that actually hold the game. The only way to replace them is to find the same game. So, there would be no point unless one game had water damage and working chips and the other did not have water damage and non working chips.