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Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

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Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#41
post #39

What always worked for me was inserting a 3x2 Lego piece, oriented vertically, between the cartridge and the top of the NES container. This pushed down the game by about 3-4mm. This trick was common knowledge in the neighborhood where I lived during the mid 80s.

Our trick was that once the cartridge was pushed down, you could slide it left and right a tiny bit into place until the pins lined up, then it would work.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#42
post #7
post #5

As a wee lad in the last millennium I was an authorized Nintendo repairman. Blowing on the cart sometimes worked, if there was errant dust or fluff in the way. But in the long run the salty moist air would cause a corrosive layer of gunk on the contacts. Normal procedure was to open each cart and clean them with a good eraser then an alcohol wash. The bigger problem was bad design in the original NES. The cart plugge…

The force was actually borne by the contacts? Man. You'd think they would have put the contacts on something more flexible, and transmit the force with the outer covering.

Kinda. The point was to push the contacts into position, so some of the force landed there, but I don't think the contacts were actually the fulcrum of the lever. Look at pictures 10 and 11.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/207891/inside_the_nes.html

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#43
post #5

As a wee lad in the last millennium I was an authorized Nintendo repairman. Blowing on the cart sometimes worked, if there was errant dust or fluff in the way. But in the long run the salty moist air would cause a corrosive layer of gunk on the contacts. Normal procedure was to open each cart and clean them with a good eraser then an alcohol wash. The bigger problem was bad design in the original NES. The cart plugge…

Another interesting fact is that the NES was deliberately designed with the horizontal loading rather than the vertical one (as in the original Famicom) so it looked less like a videogame console, helping to dodge the stigma that consoles had after the Great Crash of 1983.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#44
post #5

As a wee lad in the last millennium I was an authorized Nintendo repairman. Blowing on the cart sometimes worked, if there was errant dust or fluff in the way. But in the long run the salty moist air would cause a corrosive layer of gunk on the contacts. Normal procedure was to open each cart and clean them with a good eraser then an alcohol wash. The bigger problem was bad design in the original NES. The cart plugge…

Let me pedantic while being clueless at the same time, the western NES design introduced the problem, since the original famicom had vertical insertion cartridge already right ?

In Russia we had so-called Dendy[1] (hardware clone of Famicom made in Zelenograd) which had that exact vertical slot. Guess what, we used to blow into our cartridges too when they didn't work.

[1] Actually, history of game consoles in Russia in early 1990s is quite curious. Nintendo themselves weren't interested in our market, so Russian-Chinese manufacturers promoted their clone quite freely. I believe it was even better than original famicom, since original controllers were detachable and easily replaced and also it came with a lightgun. Cartridges were cheap and abundant, about $2-4 each. Also there was a lot of 10-in-1 (100-in-1 even) catridges. After SEGA released their mega drive 2 console in Russia, dendy business started to decline. Look at this pic: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Dendy%27s... Ridiculous bottom-left cartridge with the picture of Morpheus from the Matrix and hilariously named FBI was clearly released in 1999 or later. Anyways, all our favorites were the same with the rest of the world: mario, contra, battle city (this one was a real hit! everyone had it). Ah, sweet times.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me pedantic while being clueless at the same time, the western NES design introduced the problem, since the original famicom had vertical insertion cartridge already right ?

In Russia we had so-called Dendy[1] (hardware clone of Famicom made in Zelenograd) which had that exact vertical slot. Guess what, we used to blow into our cartridges too when they didn't work. [1] Actually, history of game consoles in Russia in early 1990s is quite curious. Nintendo themselves weren't interested in our market, so Russian-Chinese manufacturers promoted their clone quite freely. I believe it was even…

What about Rush'n'Attack? Did Cold War favorites cross over?

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#47

The trick that always worked for me was to insert the cartridge and then pull it out just enough to where the near edge of the cartridge would just barely scrape against the console as it was pushed down. This was far more effective than blowing on the cartridge.

I read the comments just to see this answer. I thought it was common knowledge - and was surprised it wasn't in the article.

Re: Did Blowing Into The NES Cartridge Really Work?

#50
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Russia we had so-called Dendy[1] (hardware clone of Famicom made in Zelenograd) which had that exact vertical slot. Guess what, we used to blow into our cartridges too when they didn't work. [1] Actually, history of game consoles in Russia in early 1990s is quite curious. Nintendo themselves weren't interested in our market, so Russian-Chinese manufacturers promoted their clone quite freely. I believe it was even…

What about Rush'n'Attack? Did Cold War favorites cross over?

Unfortunately, never heard of it. Watching the video of it gave me a chuckle though.
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