DeoxIT is a great cleaner here, but it's expensive. Not to mention other things like decades-old Pepsi goo. It's not worth the effort it takes to carefully examine/clean/bend/test/bend/test/bend/straighten/clean/retest an old connector - especially when you're fixing up ten machines at once, and you want to be able to guarantee that they'll work for people.Īlso, most of the gunk on the cartridges isn't corrosion (the contacts are gold plated - they don't corrode unless the plating is damaged or missing from some idiot cleaning it with sandpaper or an eraser) - it's just dirt and grime from years of use and abuse. It's not worth the 'fiddling' and cleaning, when I can just use a nice shiny new connector that has none of those problems. But the connectors in the old Nintendo consoles are usually pretty worn, the plating is worn off, they're often corroded and bent. Disassemble the cartridge to get better access.Ĭlick to expand.DeoxIT is great stuff. Clean the edge connectors on the game cartridges with isopropyl alcohol.

The most important thing you can do to keep your games playing right is to CLEAN YOUR GAMES. I always wondered what to do with them - maybe glue them all together and make something? Any ideas? I've got a couple of large Priority Mail boxes full cruddy of old original connectors though, if for some reason I ever wanted to. It's not worth it trying to bend and fiddle and muck with nasty, dirty, worn old connectors.

Any machine I touch gets a new connector. I've fixed well over a hundred Nintendos at this point.

I'd be interested to see that - where did you obtain it? The connectors I've been using have been just fine. You bend the pins, then after that, you get a nice squeaky/scratchy sound when you insert the cartridge into the Nintendo. Also, if you're not real careful bending the pins back, you can bend them such that they damage the edge fingers on the games. The plating has worn away from years of use, and I frequently see them corroded and otherwise mangled. The problem is, that most of the old connectors are more than just bent.

Nintendo nes cleaner