Why are NES carts always so dirty?

[stalepie]

I mean, what's wrong with people?

[Casati]

They store their NES contraband in the ground, or so it seems. :roll: I know what you're saying.

[o.pwuaioc]

Ugh, I feel you on that. I got what I thought was a pretty good deal on an advante, four score, satellite, and a few games, and they were all dirty or rusty. And it's not just NES carts, either! I received a 7800 lot, and the console, joysticks, games, and even the box it was shipped in all reeked of cigarette smoke. Gross.

[SpaceHarrier]

Old stuff gets relegated to the garage, basement, or attic for alot of people. These places are not well climate controlled, most of the time. Dust piles on then gets wet, games get dumped in boxes with stuff they shouldn't be stored with, containers get spilled on there. Then there are just accidents, spilling a soda on the coffee table where the games are stacked up or whatever. After all, I have an NES cart that was leaking... something. So I know what you mean.

Oh yeah, and americans treat their belongings like shit in general. There's always that.

Atari carts are the ones that get me. The labels, sheesh! They all look like they were soaked in grease.

[tabor62]

I mean, what's wrong with people?
The thing is, back when the NES first came out, no one thought to keep their boxes and manuals because they didn't think they would be worth anything. The same goes for the condition of cartridges. As children, all they thought of was playing it and not keeping it in the best condition.
If that doesn't answer your question then completely disregard everything I just said.

[skaar]

Check out the houses a lot of people live in. People be dirty, yo.

[Griking]

I mean, what's wrong with people?


Because they're 30 years old and were generally played with by kids.

Add the fact that many have been stored for 10-20 years in a damp basement or attic before being given to the Goodwill or hrown in boxes and sold at tag sales or flea markets.

Originally nobody thought that some of them would be valuable collector items.


Oh yeah, and americans treat their belongings like shit in general. There's always that.

Nice generalizing there. :roll:

[ccovell]

The thing is, back when the NES first came out, no one thought to keep their boxes and manuals because they didn't think they would be worth anything. The same goes for the condition of cartridges. As children, all they thought of was playing it and not keeping it in the best condition.


I always kept boxes and manuals... not because I ever thought they'd have "value". Conversely, why would you throw out something that you or your parents just paid money for? Something that explained how to play the game if you got stuck, and featured cool cover art in many cases? Am I alone/insane on this one?

[stalepie]

It's how popular they were. The most popular system of any time has the dirtiest carts. They get passed around the most, sold for the lowest prices.

[Duke.Togo]

The worst is when there are droppings on or in them. G-d I hate cleaning that stuff. Good news is the stuff is really resilient and generally cleans up well. At least dirty=profit.

[stalepie]

The worst is when there are droppings on or in them. G-d I hate cleaning that stuff. Good news is the stuff is really resilient and generally cleans up well. At least dirty=profit.

You mean you buy a game that is only in "acceptable" condition and then shine it up and it's now in "very good" condition? (I was wondering about that myself, doing that).

[Aussie2B]

I always kept boxes and manuals... not because I ever thought they'd have "value". Conversely, why would you throw out something that you or your parents just paid money for? Something that explained how to play the game if you got stuck, and featured cool cover art in many cases? Am I alone/insane on this one?

Not that I disagree, but did you really keep every bit of packaging of everything your parents or yourself bought? I mean, it's easy to understand why people would throw out boxes. Cool cover art or not, people see it just as disposable packaging. I mean, even the companies publishing the games did. Just look at how Super Nintendo boxes are marked as recyclable. I know that's what I did. I broke the boxes down right away and shoved them in my bag of paper waiting to go to the recycle bin outside. Sure, I regret that now, but I wasn't a "collector" then. I bought the games to play them. I kept the manuals because they contained useful information that I may want to reference from time to time, and I even kept the plastic baggie or cover because that kept the game clean, but the box, cardboard tray, assorted generic inserts, etc. all got tossed, being viewed just as useless as the plastic wrap that covered the box.

Go figure that less than 10 years later I would even try to preserve the plastic wrap on boxed games by using a knife to cut it open at the flap, leaving the rest of the plastic intact.

[stalepie]

Wait, some of you answer this: Are Atari carts just as dirty? I'm a little too young to know.

[stalepie]

Hmm my copy of Star Luster doesn't have the least bit of luster to it. It's covered in grime. It's going to take 45 minutes to clean this one. And yet my two Famicom carts of Spelunker are relatively clean...

[stalepie]

On one of my Spelunker carts the guy (kid? ) poked a deep hole into the forehead of the pink demon on the cover. Like he stabbed it with a ball point pen or something. Must have hated him.

Reminds me of this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/170598662718?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Someone hated Mike Tyson! haha

[Emperor Megas]

I always kept boxes and manuals... not because I ever thought they'd have "value". Conversely, why would you throw out something that you or your parents just paid money for? Something that explained how to play the game if you got stuck, and featured cool cover art in many cases? Am I alone/insane on this one?Same here.


Not that I disagree, but did you really keep every bit of packaging of everything your parents or yourself bought?Yeah, pretty much. I don't know if he did, but I always kept everything. Now, I wasn't the best when I was young at storing it all, or keeping it in pristine condition, but I usually held onto everything. I think it started with The Transformers' boxes. They were just so damn cool to me. I felt like I had "more" toy by having the boxes. They had these cool invisible stat graphs that you could use a clear red piece of celluloid to view. There was no way I was throwing that out.


Go figure that less than 10 years later I would even try to preserve the plastic wrap on boxed games by using a knife to cut it open at the flap, leaving the rest of the plastic intact.I do that as well. :)

[otaku]

As others have stated I believe this issue to be due to people generally being piggy. Children are a factor of course a huge one. Age is an issue and not everyone cherishes these things like we do. Even gamers for the most part don't care about things like packaging or long term care of consoles.

[Aussie2B]

Well, I wouldn't automatically associate throwing away packaging with dirty games. I'm sure plenty of complete NES games still need a good cleaning, and people can be clean and keep their games in good working order even if they did throw away all of the packaging. I mean, all of my childhood games that I bought new have stayed perfectly clean, even though I threw away boxes, because I kept the plastic bags/sleeves, and even if someone threw away those too, you can store completely loose carts in a drawer or tub or whatever and keep them perfect.

Also, from the perspective of mainstream society, keeping every bit of packaging could be viewed as untidy, akin to hoarding.

Of course, it is fair to say that people who treat their games like shit probably would discard or destroy the packaging too.

[AceAerosmith]

I enjoy buying games off eBay "Like New" condition from "Child-free" homes that show up scratched to hell. "What the fuck? Did you use the thing as a coaster or for trap shooting?"

Too many people don't value what they own or place different values on things. That's why you see great cars parked in front of shitty houses. At least it's that way in parts of St.Paul.

[SpaceHarrier]

Nice generalizing there. :roll:

Am I alone on this one?

Maybe it's just because I'm so anal about my own belongings. My NES games that I've had since I was a kid still look fresh from the box. Walking into a Gamestop is an experience in horror for me; just look how many brand new games have a generic box! How does this happen? Of course we collectors take good care of our stuff, but there is a whole lot of 'everyone else' out there using loose music CDs as the floormat in their car, or balancing an uneven Christmas tree stand on an Xbox (wish I had taken a picture of that one).

I used to shop at this japanese second-hand shop in Little Tokyo. They specialized in imported, former-rental music CDs and videogames (Super Famicom through Playstation 2). I was always amazed when I'd buy a CD that was a previous rental, and it had nary a scratch on it. Their loose Super Famicom games had no label damage, and many of them still had the box, in good condition! Now granted, this is just my experience and perhaps I generalize too much. I've watched quite a few youtube videos of second-hand shopping in japanese electronics stores and the quality far exceeds the finds here. Surely kids there play games too, but I didn't see the kind of filth overall that games here suffer through. I'm not just talking Super Potato, but more generalized stores like the Super Hard Off chain which carries everything under the sun. I had heard others generalize that in japan they tend to take better care of their stuff, and from what I've seen, it appears to be so. Hence where I derive my general idea of how people here in America treat their stuff.

Again, yeah, probably generalizing and also relying on anecdotes. I guess that's just how I see it.

[substantial_snake]

Every single time a thread pops up like this I am reminded of a friend's little brother.

We used to hang out and play at his house all the time and his little brother had this gameboy pocket (i think blue) that he played with everywhere. He took it everywhere with him and being the little kid that he was at the time he never wiped his nose, with a bit running out seemingly all the time. Well over time it seemed like his poor poor GB Pocket became the receptacle for all of his dried crusty snot he wiped on everything..ever so slowly building up a persistent glaze on this gameboy. At one point I had seen it outta his hands and nearly puked at how much "crud" was lining that damn thing and now I think of all the little kids just like my friends kid brother who do the exact same thing at the exact same age with all of the classic consoles, games, and accessories we all cherish...which are now affordable at cheap prices on ebay or at your local flea market.

And then I break out the rubbing alcohol and scrub down all of my used "good" condition merchandise while throwing up a little in the inside.

[Duke.Togo]

You mean you buy a game that is only in "acceptable" condition and then shine it up and it's now in "very good" condition? (I was wondering about that myself, doing that).

Yes. I've picked up several local lots that the games were ugly looking to begin with, and after a thorough cleaning look great. I don't turn away this stuff since you can negotiate a low price for it and use it for trades/sales. A lot of dirty carts will clean up very well if you take the time to do the job thoroughly.

[ccovell]

... it's easy to understand why people would throw out boxes. Cool cover art or not, people see it just as disposable packaging.

...inserts, etc. all got tossed, being viewed just as useless as the plastic wrap that covered the box.

SpaceHarrier, you're not wrong in your generalizations. Look at the above quote; it's a generalization too. "people see it just as" and "being viewed as" means it's a number of people, hence, cultural (or at least in a large group around Aussie), meaning many of us Westerners view too many things as disposable and do not treat our stuff with care.

It is a cultural thing. Japanese people are anal about cleanliness, paperwork, etc. No harm in saying it. :)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Atari carts are the ones that get me. The labels, sheesh! They all look like they were soaked in grease.

For the most part, the glue/adhesive that was used on many of those labels at a manufacturing level has had a natural reaction over the course of time that causes damage similar to what you describe that's beyond our control.

Depending on the storage situation, either it dries up and becomes non-adhesive or it bleeds through the labels.

NES games, not so much if at all. Dirty/damaged carts/labels are typically user-error.

[Rickstilwell1]

If everybody had the special gamebit screwdriver needed to open up the games, they would never be so dirty, but almost nobody has one. Only people like us have them or even know they exist for public use.

[Dire 51]

I've watched quite a few youtube videos of second-hand shopping in japanese electronics stores and the quality far exceeds the finds here. Surely kids there play games too, but I didn't see the kind of filth overall that games here suffer through. I'm not just talking Super Potato, but more generalized stores like the Super Hard Off chain which carries everything under the sun. I had heard others generalize that in japan they tend to take better care of their stuff, and from what I've seen, it appears to be so.
You should see some of the Famicom games I've received. It took quite some time to get them to play properly - the Q-tips I used would come out absolutely black on the first several swipes, and some of them still need to be cleaned repeatedly to get them to work consistently. The cart exteriors were noticeably dirty too. And it wasn't just one or two games, quite a few of them were in that shape. It made me wonder exactly what they were doing over there with these games.

Anyway, regarding keeping boxes: I didn't really start doing that until I got my first NES in '89. Before that, I used to take my Atari boxes, cut them up, and make poster collages out of the box art, which were then hung on the walls in my room. I regret doing that now, but at the time I looked at them as being disposable.

[Doonzmore]

On a related note as a Gamecube collector what annoys the hell out of me is inserts with stains on them. Do people use the cases as coasters or something?

[8bitgamer]

In my experience going to garage sales, etc., I've noticed that NES games tend to be dirtier, grimier, slimier, etc. than SMS, Atari, Genesis, etc. Not exactly sure why.

[Aussie2B]

SpaceHarrier, you're not wrong in your generalizations. Look at the above quote; it's a generalization too. "people see it just as" and "being viewed as" means it's a number of people, hence, cultural (or at least in a large group around Aussie), meaning many of us Westerners view too many things as disposable and do not treat our stuff with care.

It is a cultural thing. Japanese people are anal about cleanliness, paperwork, etc. No harm in saying it. :)

Last time I made the argument that games in Japan tend to be cleaner or more often complete, everybody ganged up on me with stories about all the dirty stuff they've gotten from Japan and how everything reeks of smoke. The only truly safe generalization I would make there is that Japanese sellers that export their games to Western customers (on eBay and the like) tend to pick the cream of the crop to sell. If you compare Japan Yahoo auctions (generally only for Japanese people, with a a lot of small-time sellers just clearing space as opposed to stores) to eBay auctions for Japanese stuff, you'll definitely see a lot more loose and beat up stuff on Yahoo auctions.

And again, I wouldn't equate viewing packaging as disposable to not caring about your things. People are SUPPOSED to view some things as disposable, otherwise you end up as a hoarder, not throwing away anything. I can't imagine anyone here keeps EVERY bit of paper and plastic from the non-food/hygiene products they buy. As a collector, do I wish more people kept the boxes for their NES, SNES, etc. games? Of course, but I don't think there was anything WRONG with them throwing away a box, that it automatically implies that they don't value their possessions. I don't know about you guys, but I've bought plenty of loose carts that were in fabulous shape.

At the end of the day, we should blame the publishers for producing packaging that would be viewed as disposable (and encouraged to be disposed of) instead of making cases that clearly have a purpose and should be saved. Games that came in plastic cases, like Genesis games, are far more often complete. If someone throws away a plastic case like that or, even worse, a jewel case for a disc-based game, then, yeah, you can call him a nimrod for not valuing his things and throwing away something that serves a legitimate purpose.

[stalepie]

And again, I wouldn't equate viewing packaging as disposable to not caring about your things. People are SUPPOSED to view some things as disposable, otherwise you end up as a hoarder, not throwing away anything. I can't imagine anyone here keeps EVERY bit of paper and plastic from the non-food/hygiene products they buy. As a collector, do I wish more people kept the boxes for their NES, SNES, etc. games? Of course, but I don't think there was anything WRONG with them throwing away a box, that it automatically implies that they don't value their possessions. I don't know about you guys, but I've bought plenty of loose carts that were in fabulous shape.

At the end of the day, we should blame the publishers for producing packaging that would be viewed as disposable (and encouraged to be disposed of) instead of making cases that clearly have a purpose and should be saved. Games that came in plastic cases, like Genesis games, are far more often complete. If someone throws away a plastic case like that or, even worse, a jewel case for a disc-based game, then, yeah, you can call him a nimrod for not valuing his things and throwing away something that serves a legitimate purpose.

That's the way I view it too. People have different amounts of space, as well, some living in small houses or apartments, or with a lot of other people, or they have a different emphasis on possessions -- they may not want to have all those big boxes, especially if they're flimsy cardboard, like old PC games.

Others have a tendency to break because of their design, like Saturn and Sega CD cases. If you have a broken one, and you already have other means of storing CDs (your own jewel cases, sleeves, cases) then throwing away a case to one of those games is no big deal, especially if you saw no value in the art or manual.

[stalepie]

In my experience going to garage sales, etc., I've noticed that NES games tend to be dirtier, grimier, slimier, etc. than SMS, Atari, Genesis, etc. Not exactly sure why.

That's what I was thinking too, but haven't had much experience with Atari carts. I just notice thought that Genesis carts DO tend to be dirtier than SNES ones. Did they sell to lower-income families? (Sorry if that's offensive -- I was a Genesis fan as a kid and had upper-middle class background... but I remember SNES being more expensive and seemingly richer families getting them first).

Maybe it was just due to the culture of time, the rad 80s :) We just didn't take things like NES games that seriously. So many of them were bad and we were always blowing on them to get them to work.

[Duke.Togo]

I'd also say that a very large amount of NES games were rentals opposed to Atari and SMS. Rentals are naturally going to have a rougher life. When I was young there was only one place in town that rented SMS games and none that rented 2600, 5200, or 7800.

[The 1 2 P]

I actually like cleaning Nes carts and other old cart based games. But I too have come across some that even the one-two punch of rubbing alcohol and goo-be-gone couldn't fix. I usually pass on those entirely now but if it's an in demand title thats only a dollar I might take a chance on it.