How to Properly Clean NES Games

[ronnie3704]

This system works much better than the solutions that are sold. So far, this method has worked for me on all of the games I've cleaned. I never would have thought to use an eraser... but it damn sure works! Thanks!

[techmouse1101]

When I was a kid my dad's friend told me to use an eraser on the pins. That sounded like a dumb idea and I didn't want to do it but he told me if it didn't work then he would replace the game.  I don't know if it was a bad eraser or what but it didn't work AND HE DIDN'T REPLACE IT. Fucking asshole. Being a kid sucked.

[crass770]

by the way...they are not called "gamebit screws" thy are Torx

[libraalbert91]

What if you get a flashing Gold screen?

[thuggofdablock]

@libraalbert91 YOU WIN!

[Yamtendo]

8-Bit is enough.

[bleedingxxaurora]

I have the screwdriver to open these up.

For me it was E, definitely none of the above.

Super easy to find for a low price.

[Kelekin]

I'm always a big fan of natural solutions. I do find that scrubbing with isopropanol does not end up getting -all- the grime off, so I'm interested in trying the eraser. Would it maybe make more sense to use a can of compressed air to blow the eraser pieces off?

Secondly, what are your thoughts on a polishing wheel? I see no reason it might not work.

[shivosummoner]

hi i have problem with my three games one xexyz,two bucky o hare and the last third is dr.chaos and all three not working on my nintendo desk and how resolving this games. help me.

[ziberteck]

Blow on the cartridge, put it in see if it works, if it doesn't take it out blow on the inside of the nes and cartridge again. Put it back in see if it works. If it does not give up and play wii.

[kenshindono69]

do you really have to cut the alcohol down? I dont see why it would harm the contacts. It evaporates faster and better than water. I would think a mixture with a higher water content would actually be worse than straight alcohol. A lot of my carts are just a bit dusty with no major grime. Is just using 91% alcohol straight, then wiping it off, or using a straight alcohol solution to wipe the brasso off the grimier ones really gonna hurt them? If so, why?

[KidrobotKid1]

you dont need special screwdriver i just used a regular one

[gunstar9]

did you do LSD first? some old NES games are made with flathead screws, but for the most part they've got those gamebit screws.

[tunicaroja86]

@gunstar9 nop , he is right , you can use also a hammer.

If you are pro you can use a rock.

Special Screwdrivers...pffffffff you are insane

[terppa12]

i use that eraser trick too :) works great every time!

[xTheXtreme1x]

Quick question, I had some guy on eBay put in a new 72 pin connecter because I fail at that kinda stuff. Anyways, my game works fine, but if I push the game down(Like in the video you said not to) I get the flashing grey screen.

Im just wondering if this is normal because the guy taht installed it didnt have too many ratings.

[panasony23]

awesome music

[crazyfooInc]

I always just used Q-tips and Windex alone, that usually worked for me.

[gunstar9]

Windex has ammonia in it, I wouldn't recommend using it.

[crazyfooInc]

So, rubbing alcohol then?

[gunstar9]

it dries fast and is commonly used to clean PCs and other electronics, so yeah.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

gunstar is right, no windex Rubbing alchohol is what IBM and Intel suggest.

[crazyfooInc]

@BiffsGamingVideos

Thanks!

[ChrisGiesbrecht10]

im just a kid and well is there a subsitute for the screwdriver bit?

[gunstar9]

you can heat up the end of a plastic pen, but it's a pain, I would recommend looking for gamebit screwdrivers online and getting your parents to order them for you if you're serious about cleaning up your old games.

[ChrisGiesbrecht10]

thanks ill try doing the first thing if it doesnt work well ill ask my parents again thanks =>

[Jackmiles2006]

Why were the carts so big when the chips inside are so small? they could've made it top loading with smaller cartridges that didn't mess all up!

[crazyfooInc]

@Jackmiles2006

They couldn't make it top-loading because after the video game crash of 1983-84, no retailer, consumer, etc would touch anything that remotely resembled the past consoles (atari, coleco, intellevision, etc), which is why the NES had such a radical design.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

Not at all. When Nintendo designed the famicom, they did everything opposite atari just to be opposite (joypads not joysticks. We has a top loading VCR which was common at the time (VHS and Betamax). nintendo just wanted to be different.

[gunstar9]

also, Nintendo didn't have the money to produce cartridges for the NES at launch, so they used famicom games and built converters into those large grey shells.

[klopek007]

Highly appropriate use of Rush. I laughed when I heard the opening notes playing.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

why would you take a cart apart? and why use an eraser??? The eraser leaves pieces everywhere.. Insane. Go to biffsgamingvideo on youtube and I show the proper professionally way to do it. It's not a big deal.

[gunstar9]

Good job advertising yourself. You would want to take a game apart because there can often be dirt on the pins that rubbing alcohol will not remove. You can also find dirt and even dead bugs on the insides of cartridges and on the board. erasers make a bit of a mess, but is worth making your old games work again.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

(thanks, I try to plug myself when I can). As far as taking a cart apart, why? Who cares if there are bugs inside? What matters is the contacts on the end that will make contact with the console. You could paint the inside and it wouldn't matter cause they don't make contact (hmm, maybe I'll do a video about that). All that matters is the contacts.

[gunstar9]

sometimes pins get so dirty that rubbing alcohol alone will not clean off all the dirt. in VERY rare cases I have taken fine grade sand paper to pins because of crud that just would not come off. I once had a lot of games I restored that were roach-infested. not only did they smell bad, but two of them would not work no matter how clean the pins were. I don't think that's a coincidence. Also, putting stickers inside of games you restore resale helps you track down stolen games.

[BiffsGamingVideos]

I have never heard of anyone EVER putting stickers inside of carts to track them down in case they are stolen. On most games, like Atri 2600, this would require destroting the label. I have a $10,000 video camera and I don't do that. Yeah, i could see you knocking on some kids door and asking to open up all of his carts to see if they are stolen.

[gunstar9]

so there was this incident where a kid stole a game from the store I work at, another employee didn't know it was stolen, and the kid brought it back and traded it in for another game. that's when I started putting stickers in and making sure inventory is well-kept = to catch anyone who steals a game from us and brings it back.

[gunstar9]

oh, and Atari 2600 games are some of the only we've had through that we cannot disassemble without using a hairdryer to take the label off to reach the screws. we've only done this in a few rare cases in which rubbing alcohol wouldn't get the game working. gamebit, triwing, torx, and philips head usually keeps us covered for disassembly.

[jackingoffkills]

@BiffsGamingVideos

that would never hold up in court.. "how do you know the game was stolen?" "well i tampered with it opened it and put a sticker in it" defense "he could have put the sticker in AFTER he opened the cart AFTER it was traded in..

[aibomart]

You do realize that it says on the back "Do not clean with alchohol"

[klopek007]

Years ago when NES was fairly new, I ordered a cleaning kit manufactured by Nintendo. The solution definitely smelled similar to rubbing alcohol, and came with little brushes designed to fit the contacts. Who knows, maybe it had a secret ingredient, or maybe they just put the warning on the back of the cartridge so people would buy their cleaning kit.

[gunstar9]

just distilled water with rubbing alcohol... they wanted you to buy their official cleaning kits, so they didn't want people just buying rubbing alcohol and doing it for the cheap.

[michael2244]

wait so the game will still work even if its not pushed down? i saw that at a friends house before and was like wtf

[Poketrader18]

Can you do all this with SNES/N64 games as well?

[TheRightToArmBears]

Yes, however, use "Brasso" brand metal polish and q-tips instead. The problem with the eraser is that it leaves a huge mess and can potentially leave flakes in crevases of the circuit board that the toothbrush cannot reach. Avoid using alcohol because a.) there is a label on the back of you cartridge that warns against it, and b.) this does not prevent oxidization from harming your pins. "Brasso" costs about $2.50 and if you use it in correct proportions (a few dabs per game) it'll last forever!

[TheRightToArmBears]

1. Dip a q-tip inside the Brasso, covering about half of the cotton.

2. Completely cover all pins on one side of the game, and let the Brasso sit for a minute or two (like you would with wax on a car).

3. Using the other end of the q-tip or a tissue, completely remove the dried Brasso

4. Repeat until you are in disbelief about how shiney your old game has become, then follow the same steps for the other side!

This method involves fewer steps and is safer/cleaner!

[Poketrader18]

Sounds good, I'll do that. I'm refurbishing a whole NES(cleaning inside and out of NES, new 72 pin, cleaning controllers, and all games before I put them in the system).

[gunstar9]

rubbing alcohol is fine to use and safe. it is often used to clean PC parts and other electronics. it dries fast and I've never heard of it harming elecronics. erasers may leave a bit of a mess, but it does the trick for removing heavy dirt that rubbing alcohol won't.

[dragondemond123]

ill try that because the only game i can play for my NES right now is Who framed Roger Rabbit

[arizoniatea]

thanks mayne good stosh

[InvaderTAK16]

Damn, I'll have to use this method next time I clean some NES games.

[CoCoRoAcH2]

great tutorial!!

just a few questions.

why did you use a rubber to clean the teeth? (sorry i wasnt able to understand what you said about it -_-' )

also this method you used to clean NES games can you use it to clean other games like sega games?

thanks a bunch!

[JDoucette]

Thanks for the advice man!

[hoova29]

wish i would have known that back in the day...that was sooo annoying

[clerzerkerTOto7]

Do you mean "COTTON SWAB"???

[gutterguy720]

lol @ rush!

[Phileecheezsteak]

what rubbing alcohol do you use?

[wesgrosscustoms]

lmao nice how you put that rush song in there yo thats mad funny

[squirtIToutHotsauce]

the gamebit screwdriver bit is easy to find. you can google it or just go to newelectronx and get them. they have them all day and have had them for years.

[superwatch7]

I take my cartrages apart.

[TimeandSpaceFilms]

I have never taken my cartridges apart to clean them. I have always used only q tips and rubbing alcohol from the dollar store and my games look and run just like new.

[Moviefan2k4]

For the cosmically curious, the reason why the US versions of NES games are so huge is because the video-game industry crashed in 1982, and Nintendo was worried that simply porting their Famicom system over to the States wouldn't work from a sales perspective. So, they revamped the deck and game carts to better resemble a VCR (or at least, that was the original idea back then).

[ReptileGamer]

try windex...

[SeanEmily818]

Instead of spending a ton of money on some tool they say to use on the sites. Just go to lowes and buy a cheap mini screw driver (flat head) it works perfectly and they're only like 1-3 bucks. ^_^

[SeanEmily818]

I'm so sorry, lol... I was looking at apparently a newer NES game... I went to clean a few others and I noticed it's definately a custom deal. Please forgive my previous post -_-

[hectorjar]

Long live the NES!

[AJxn3]

I've never seen the inside of an NES cartridge before, but my first reaction was...

..That's it?!?

That HUGE ASS cartridge just for that small game chip?!? What a let down.

[Technorg]

same here, but i guess its for the cartridge art

[libraalbert91]

@AJxn3 i knowa right. It looks like a really big GBA game lol

[Jaime8042]

@AJxn3 yea i know right. but why did they have such a huge cartrage with a small chip.

[RaNk323itsmynamegeez]

do you have a cuckoo clock?

[TheMegaFuck99]

oooops wrong video!

sorry!

[TheMegaFuck99]

fuck me? fuck you!

[NightmareKosso]

FUCK YOU

[ReptileGamer]

such strong langwedge...

[JakeProductionsTM]

Wrong spaling

[enforcer2150]

probably shouldn't use water it can rust the connectors.

[xenepp]

sweet

[blahlahaguy]

is it ok to put a wet q tip in with water?

[fatguyintinypants]

wouldnt an eraser scrattch the game and leav shaving all over it

[heysteve87]

Where can I find a screwdriver bit with the right tip?

[aunshi360]

look up how to fix my nes on gooogle there are repair sites were you can pick up the scrdiver for 8 bucks

[chiboribo]

I always just used a q-tip and some water and it worked fine for me.

I have one question. Doesn't that leave eraser shavings and stuff on the connector?

[Amnesiacmidnitetoker]

awesome tip bro.especially the eraser tip never knew about that.thanks again all I need is the screw driver bit thing.

I'm sure is some where on ebay for sale laters oh yeah awesome music too bro! RUSH rules!!

[chiboribo]

you can get them for like, 4 bucks on amazon

[ThisIsGonnaBeCool]

now i wanna ask you: is it really dangerous to use alcohol on nes cartridges? my friend said it will corrode the gold and the graphics will suck, and the game is in risk, and i was real worried. i use 99 percent isopropyl alcohol, and i scrubbed 2 of my games, megaman, and double dragon 2 with cotton swabs and the alcohol. and it does say on the back in bold letters not to use solvents like alcohol and benzene, etc., so is there a risk? is it dangerous?

[Thepaddster]

no risk alot of people on youtube including me have done this method and it works amazing good as new its rubbing alcahol you need for it though

[ThisIsGonnaBeCool]

great thanks.

[RiverCityRandomness]

Not dangerous at all, even the official Nintendo Cleaning Kit (NCK) said that using rubbing alcohol is PERFECTLY fine.

[ThisIsGonnaBeCool]

wow. ok. cool!

[stonedslacker]

great vid d00d

[spacequestfreak]

I restored a Mega Drive 2 once (I'm Australian) and the expansion slot pins were black, you couldn't even tell that they had been a shiny gold colour, but with an eraser i made them shine once again. I found out that the slot protectors cause the dirt, believe it or not, so I didn't put it back on.

[spartan917358]

dont the oils on your fingers fuck up the circuit board when you hold it with your hand?

[WickedOldWitch]

Nice tips man... just what i needed, hope it'ill work out for me 2

[torturedandgutted]

nice coo coo clock. :P

[blknge]

thanks

[micenovich]

wow!  did you draw those butterflies?

[ultimutegutiarhero]

i tryed and it worked thanks

[nemetroid]

Really, there should be no reason to use a toothbrush on the insides. Every cart I've opened has looked shining brand new inside.

[gunstar9]

You'd be surprised at what happens to games that have been sitting at flea markets.

[ThunderMage]

Well, cleaning with an eraser is certainly a new way to do it. Be careful you don't erase all the data though.

[gunstar9]

lol

[segasonicdude]

Actually it could happen with a eraser

Heat Caused by Friction can mess up the sodering that keep ths connectors attached

[ThisIsGonnaBeCool]

its a shit loada mothafucknbullfuck

[ThisIsGonnaBeCool]

hehe, i dont think i was talking about this video when i commented here, sorry about that, i dunno what i was thinking. great instructions, i actually need to clean 2 of my games i got from barbados, mostly double dragon 2, it just doesnt work at all.. so i wanna clean like this.

[piketamer]

omg,, i got solomons key for the nes that as,nt worked for years,, i tryed your rubber trick and it worked,, thankyou so much for showing this trick, topman excellent

[johneymute]

holy shit, the motherboard in the cartride is so small,that it even fits into a n64 cartride.

cuzz the cartride case of the nes games has so much room for more technology inside.

,m mean if most nes games has such a litle motherboard inside,then why the cartrides needs to be so big,,and why they din,t had choose a frontlouder system wich works with small cartrides? ,m mean in that case it was just a wastle of money.

[jayrod2]

Great tutorial!

[patsupfan]

does this same strategy work on SNES games

[gunstar9]

yeah, it works on just about any cartridge game that you can open.

[nvasj]

o_O |||

[nvasj]

just a question, why do you need to use a rubber?

[gunstar9]

so you don't get it pregnant

[patsupfan]

LOLZ

[howcin]

couldnt that easily scratch it though?

[gunstar9]

No.

[mercserp]

I bought a game bit, but its damn near impossible to get the thing down all the way to screw it out. It is way to tight a fit and i know i have the right one. any adivce

[gunstar9]

I have 2 different ones. They both do the job, but each is a bit difficult to use. It's just a matter of being rough but careful at the same time to get those damned little screws out.

[overmind2]

can I buy a nintendo screwdriver at gamestop or do I have to buy online cause I dont have a credit card

[CrimsonMist]

You would need to shop online for it. PlayAsia and websites like those have them. Sadly that's the only way to get them.

[serjicus]

Killer Instinct and Rush, cool!

Do you think it's a good idea to be quite so rough with the PCB? You might break something accidentally.

[gunstar9]

I'm not that rough. I've cleaned hundreds of games (Game Gear, Genesis, NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Atari Lynx) this way and had no problems.

[link3784]

you dont need a gamebit screwdriver ^^ i used t small flathead and it worked :P

[gunstar9]

That usually is only on the older cartridges.

[djjamout]

man the easy way to clean your nes games with toothpaste brand ultra brite advanced whitening.apply to a rag and rub the toothpaste from side to side.then wipe it with glass cleaner.

[Flegmatica]

Why you used music in backround?

[gunstar9]

Because it's awesome.

[pcdoctor2]

Well I don't have a gamebit screwdriver, but I do have rubbing alcohol. What would you suggest for those that don't have a gamebit screwdriver bit?

[gunstar9]

an eraser small enough to fit in the cartridge to rub on the pins. this is not easy to do (it's what I do to clean Atari 2600 and Famicom games because they cannot be taken apart)

[ApolloBoy]

You can take apart 2600 and Famicom carts, but they're an absolute bitch to take apart.

[pcdoctor2]

What do you mean by you never push the cartridge down in a refurbished NES System?

[gunstar9]

It's quite simple. With the NES after you slide the cartridge in you normally push it down.  When you're put in a new 72 pin connector there is no need to push the cartridge down after you slide it in.

[pcdoctor2]

Do you have a video of replacing connectors in the system? I may need to replace mine.

[serjicus]

That is Killer Instinct music, ain't it?

Cool video.

[Skedarking85]

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr8

[zon100]

nice video.