It Finally Happened... (Game failure in spite of cleaning/fixing)

[Draven]

At around game 150 or so in my collection I finally got one that doesn't work. No amount of cleaning, taking apart, etc., could fix it. The game was Dragon Spirit for NES. Not being a huge fan of overhead shooters I'd guess I'm not missing much, but it's still $4 lost. Anyone else ever get anything only to find out it doesn't work when you get it home? At what point in your collection did it happen?

[Jorpho]

(Your thread title doesn't work either. :p )

[Sabz5150]

I've been fiddling with a copy of Zaxxon for the Atari 2600. Nothing I do seems to make this game work.

[Aussie2B]

That sucks; Dragon Spirit is an awesome game. Quite possibly my favorite shooter.

I've had a few dead games out of the thousand I own. A couple I brought back to the store and exchanged. I've had more problems with discs than carts. Stinks buying a game only to discover a crack through it at home. With cartridges, it can be hard to tell if there's really no saving them. I bought a Battletoads that I thought was complete toast, and no amount of cleaning with alcohol made any difference. I couldn't get any graphics to appear on the screen at all. However, months later I learned of the eraser method, and surprisingly quickly, it came back to life.

[Draven]

I tried the eraser. Didn't help. The title screen loads (but it's skewed). I press start and hear some music but the screen is black. One advantage of all this is that I used the 'melt a piece of plastic to use as a 3.8mm security bit'. It worked well enough to remove the screws but I had to do it 3 times (after taking out one screw it rounded off). Gonna try it later with harder plastic.

[Rogmeister]

I seem to recall having a catridge once that wouldn't work...but I can't remember what it was now. Much more recently I got a GameCube disc that wouldn't work. I got some kind of read error...that was for SSX 3.

[Sabz5150]

I tried the eraser. Didn't help. The title screen loads (but it's skewed). I press start and hear some music but the screen is black. One advantage of all this is that I used the 'melt a piece of plastic to use as a 3.8mm security bit'. It worked well enough to remove the screws but I had to do it 3 times (after taking out one screw it rounded off). Gonna try it later with harder plastic.

I would highly suggest dropping for a pair of the security bits. Once you get 'em, you'll be surprised how much you wind up using them... and how much of a time (and patience) saver they are.

[FxMercenary]

get that cleaning kit solution off ebay too, that stuff CLEANS!

Ive bought over 150 nes games, took them all apart and used the cleaner, no bad games yet!

Athena game me some trouble, but i got it to work in the end

[Draven]

What type of solution is it? i've seen the de-oxidizer from Messiah, but never knew anyone that tried it. Maybe I'll give it another shot. And I agree...I do need to get the security bit! Are there any stores that sell one? I called Radio Shack and asked for one and the girl said "Uh.......no." I knew she had no idea what I was even talking about but didn't even ask. Just assumed they didn't have it. What great customer service these days!

[Aussie2B]

Hah, I thought my Athena wasn't working, but it's got such an unusually long start-up time that it turned out it was just my impatience all along.

[Daria]

Hah, I thought my Athena wasn't working, but it's got such an unusually long start-up time that it turned out it was just my impatience all along.

Huh, my Athena's busted too. I wonder...

I had the same problem with Princess Tomato, the game starts off with a blue screen. I flipped my system on and off a few times trying to "fix" that one.

[Sniderman]

It Finally Happened...
You kissed a girl?
LOL


Sorry, but incredibly vague subject titles are a no-no. I have fleshed it out a bit for you so people know what the hell the thread's about before plunging in.

[DigitalSpace]

Earlier this year, I found a copy of Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES) for a buck. The cart was in great shape... or so I thought. I took it home, and it wouldn't play. Tried cleaning it, but no luck.

I took it back for store credit, and as I was looking for something to spend the credit on, I spotted Ogre Battle: Limited Edition for the PlayStation. Disc only, but also a buck. Bought it, and it worked just fine. :)

I finally added a working copy of Quest of the Avatar to my collection earlier this month when I found it for $3.95.

[Immutable]

I once found a nonworking NES title (Baby Boomer), so I openned it up to clean it... and there was a couple of dead, small insects in it...

Yes, some NJ fleamarkets will sell you the fleas.

[StakeRaiser]

I've had a Jetsons and Power Punch 2 carts that looked to be in pristine condition, and they would not work at all. Nothing I did to them got them going, alcohol, eraser, nothing

I've had games that looked like hell,(like a dirty Donkey Kong Jr) had to clean for 10 minutes to get all the garbage off the connectors, and they work fine

Sometimes I wonder if the later release games just weren't built as well as the earlier carts

[Videogamerdaryll]

Strider

Excellent condition NES cart,would not work..opened it up to find a few pins on a chip corroded..

I think i still have it somewhere.

[dao2]

my copy of mario kart 64 ;p after sitting in my utiliity room forever it somehow got one of the contacts corroded, bad enough that cleaning wouldn't fix it no more :(

[RASK1904]

I have ran into my share of games that don't work. But usualy I can get them to work. I do have both the keys. One for Nes and one for Snes(this one works for lots of stuff). If you buy the Snes one get the long one. You'll need it to get into the systems. I use rubbing alcohol and Q tips. I also have this very very very very (very) fine sandpaper? cloth? stuff. DON"T USE SANDPAPER!!! I got this off a guy here in San Diego. It's nice. In my time I have also ruined a few games. I think RISK for genesis. I don't know what I did but it would always go to some rom check screen. It happens. Welcome to the club.
Thanx RASK1904:rockets:

[Draven]

You kissed a girl?
LOL


Sorry, but incredibly vague subject titles are a no-no. I have fleshed it out a bit for you so people know what the hell the thread's about before plunging in.

Thanks for letting me know, Sniderman. Gotta watch us Newbies. And yes, I have kissed a girl, but not recently. Being married and collecting video games has a tendency to put a damper on that. After inspecting the game it looks like the connector pins are almost worn out (they look brassy near the center). Someone must have loved that game!

[MachineGex]

Have you ever tried an emory board on the cart's pins? I use a cardboard emory board on the real dirty carts (for few minutes), then I clean it real well with a Q-tip & rubbing alcohol. Works great. Give it a try, cant hurt.

[Jorpho]

I also have this very very very very (very) fine sandpaper? cloth? stuff.Crocus cloth?

[Zap!]

Back in the day, I bought a Tomb Raider game for the Dreamcast new. A few weeks later, it stopped working. What can cause a GD-ROM to stop working when it was still new? Don't say bit rot. It was in my room with all the other games, under ideal conditions.

[FamicomFreak]

I have a copy of Battletoads that doesn't work.

[Famidrive-16]

Back in the day, I bought a Tomb Raider game for the Dreamcast new. A few weeks later, it stopped working. What can cause a GD-ROM to stop working when it was still new? Don't say bit rot. It was in my room with all the other games, under ideal conditions.

I thought a copy of MvC2 was completely dead and it wouldn't load on my DC, although I bought a new system from a Craigslist ad and it worked fine. DC games are the weirdest.

Not entirely 'dead' but my NES Rocky and Bullwinkle game won't read controls properly anymore, when you start the game Bullwinkle just moves right and doesn't respond to controls. I haven't taken it apart or anything but I've given it a number of good q-tip blabbablalbbla cleans and it still won't budge.

[Octopod]

I bought a bunch of ex rental nes carts from a small mom and pop store a couple years ago for a buck a pop. When i was testing out carts i put Zelda in and i got a screen for SMB/Duck Hunt. I was all ... what the hell...Took me about 2 seconds to realize some kid had swapped out the boards however many years ago so he could keep Zelda. I thought it was funny though. I guess technically it worked but still...

[Daria]

I thought a copy of MvC2 was completely dead and it wouldn't load on my DC, although I bought a new system from a Craigslist ad and it worked fine. DC games are the weirdest.

Our Dreamcast won't play Soul Calibur. Thought it was the game at first but after trying two other copies and a second Dreamcast we discovered that the game works great, the Dreamcast just won't play any copy of Soul Calibur.