Castlevania freezing

[Firebrand118]

So iv'e had this copy of castlevania for years and I recently have been playing it alot trying to finally beat it but it keeps freezing, specifically at or shortly after the battle with death. Everything just stops and the note that was playing at the moment of the freeze just continues forever. As you can imagine this is extremely frustrating. I have tried cleaning it several times with the alcohol and q-tip method, each time pulling out a small amount of gunk but it keeps happening. I ordered a bit so that I can open the cartridge and my question is, what method of deep cleaning would work best with this issue. Will cleaning it deeper even help? The game consistantly works the first try putting it in the console so I can't imagine it is that dirty. I am playing on an original toaster NES with a fairly new 72-pin connector.

[FoxNtd]

Will cleaning it deeper even help?

I'm not sure what to say about this situation since your game actually runs when you try to turn it on. However, I can say from experience that yes, cleaning it deeper can help. I've had a game from a friend that would not start even with cleaning, but after taking the cartridge out of the shell, and being able to clean deeper, it then worked on the first attempt. We were able to beat the game too so the game was certainly revived.

I've done this twice, the second time being the opening of a very old dirty SFC cartridge. Opening it and cleaning it was the way to get it to work again.

Moral of the story, if an ordinary cleaning didn't work, open it up and clean deeper, definitely worth a shot!

[Gameguy]

If you can open the cartridge up, clean the connectors with an eraser. The white Staedtler erasers seem to work well for this.

I'm not sure if that would fix your problems for sure. You mentioned that you have a new pin connector, most replacement connectors aren't as good as the original ones.

[Firebrand118]

If you can open the cartridge up, clean the connectors with an eraser. The white Staedtler erasers seem to work well for this.

I'm not sure if that would fix your problems for sure. You mentioned that you have a new pin connector, most replacement connectors aren't as good as the original ones.

hmm that is an interesting point, I do have another NES I picked up for $1 at the salvation army it just takes a few tries to get games to work on it, maybe I will try to get that far on that NES to test if the new pin connector is the issue.

[Blitzwing256]

I had a copy of contra (same company) that you could play through just fine, however once you beat the first loop and went back to level one and tried to beat the first boss, the game would freeze in a wierd rainbowesque screen every time. i know as a fact the cartridge was dropped hard on pavement by a "friend" who I lent it to (worked fine before) excessive trauma can damage the chips (very unlikely). Like the previous posters said I'd crack it open and make sure theres nothing gross and growing on the cartridge first.

[Firebrand118]

well I plugged in my other NES and sure enough it froze about halfway to the grim reaper :(. This really sucks, iv'e been trying to beat this game all my life and when I make a serious effort to finally do it the game won't allow it. everytime I close my eyes I see this

http://i.imgur.com/IWLWU.jpg

Just laughing at me..

on the plus side I have become extremely good at the first 90% of this game having had to play through it so many times in the last couple weeks, it's like a speedrun until I get to death. I'm considering just buying a new copy at this point even though the copy I have is my childhood copy. But if it doesn't work it doesn't work.

[MottZilla]

This problem is not due to a dirty or damaged cartridge at all. This is a known issue with version PRG0. Under certain circumstances the game can lockup. I think it might be related to having a large number of objects on the screen, such as when you have the III icon and the Holy Cross and alot of enemies and 3 crosses flying all over the screen. But I do not recall the exact issue. The good news is PRG1 fixed this issue. So you may just want to find the revised version cartridge. Otherwise perhaps try avoiding filling the screen up with tons of enemies might help.

So it is not your system or cartridge is at fault, it is a well known programming problem. The bigger problem is as far as I have seen, there is no indication on the cartridge itself if it is the original or revised version. The only way to tell is to open the cartridge and examine the ROM chip label. It will clearly say either NES-CV-0 PRG or NES-CV-1 PRG. Good luck!

[-dustburn-]

Unreal. This happened to a buddy of mine and I about a year and a half ago. We tried SIX times that night to beat it and it did the exact same thing. You might even be able to say it crimped our style that night. Extremely aggravating!

[PreZZ]

Mine freezes sometimes in the last stage when i get the hidden meat in the clockwork part with the little monkeys jumping around

[Guntz]

Just to confirm what Mottzilla said.

https://tcrf.net/Bugs:Castlevania_%28NES%29#Cartridge_Versions

[Edmond Dantes]

Well they DO say Death is as cold as the grave... maybe Simon Belmont just needs a jacket?

[Aussie2B]

Just to confirm what Mottzilla said.

https://tcrf.net/Bugs:Castlevania_%28NES%29#Cartridge_Versions

Oh man, I never knew that the invisible staircase in Rondo is a reference to a glitch in the FDS version of Castlevania. That's so clever.