I need advice on getting games to fire up.

[jdc]

I've just taken a feverishly growing interest in retro game consoles over the course of the past year. I'm really enjoying the hunt for some of yesteryear's great gaming experiences. I have several clean Genesis units (including one sealed set) and an exceptionally clean NES.

What do you people suggest for when you score a cartridge game, get your treasure home, eagerly pop it into the machine....and it won't fire up. I have one of those little game-cartridge cleaning "sticks" from an NES cleaning kit, practically worn smooth from previous users. I've tried rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip....and have blown into the cartridge before putting it into the machine. The cartridges eventually start to "warm up" and might come on after several resets and re-insertions. It can be frustrating.

Is all of this due to either improper storage or lack of use by the previous owner of the cart? After regular play use will they eventually "come around" again and fire up with just normal insertion? How do you people with those enviably large collections remedy this?

I just found Zelda2 Link's Adventure....and we tried for ages last night to get it to fire up....but the best we got was a solid blue screen. I returned it and exchanged it for Shadowgate....which fired up no probs.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[jonjandran]

Look in the Restoration Society Forum for your answers. :D
It is an absolute must to clean the contacts good before you try to play the game.
There are many different methods, use a white eraser. Dremel tool, Alcohol , sandpaper.
But you will find many threads discussing that in the Restoration Society Forum .

[Masco73]

You need to get yourself the 3.88mm security screwdriver bit to open up your NES carts. You can get them off ebay or through MCM electronics. When you get it open just scrub the contacts with a white eraser. This has worked every single time for me and I have done it to hundreds of carts. They come out looking like new.