Nintendo's carts are virtually indestructible.

[Urzu402]

It takes a lot to destroy one.
Seriously, I have an SNES cart that was chewed up by a dog, still works. Also I have an N64 cart that fell off my shelf and it broke open, still works and holds saves. Anyone else have miraculous stories of terrible things happening to games and then they still work?

[jammajup]

There are not many opportunities to destroy one thankfully-ithink you have been a little unlucky for those events to happen,they are quite strong though.The only problems i have known are carts not startting due to a dirty edge connector,i dont recall ever knowing of anyone with a genuine faulty Nintendo cart unlike the Genesis (MD).
Good news for Nintendo collectors :-)

[Baloo]

Nintendo products in video gaming is like the Technics of turntables. Virtually indestructible stuff.

The biggest example:


Hit by a bomb in the gulf war, still works.

[MASTERWEEDO]

Here's the pictures from my flipped Explorer. I had about 50 NES games in the back of my Explorer when the wheel bearing went and took me into the guardrail....I was in cruise control at 70mph. The gamers were all over the hillside and down the road, some quite a walk away. When i finally got home, all of the games i found worked.

[Nebagram]

I'm a pad-thrower. When I get pissed off, I let joypads have it. I've completely totalled 2 Dual Shock 2s this way, and a sixaxis pad really didn't last very long at all.

By comparison, I've treated my 2 Gamecube pads to no end of abuse over the past eight years and they're not even scuffed. Virtually indestructible.

[JSoup]

My Gameboy has been through all manner of abuse over the 20 some odd years I've had it, still works just fine. My old PSP, however, was fucked after if fell off a table and hit the carpeted floor, three feet down.

[Swamperon]

Even their consoles are pretty indestructible. My Gamecube has suffered some serious knocks and falls and still works perfectly. The N64 is almost impossible to break.

The Wii and DS on other hand... are a little less durable

[Rickstilwell1]

My neighbor left a Game Boy Color game (Zelda: Link's Awakening DX) in his jeans with a buttoned pocket. They went through the wash and the game still worked although the label was faded and it needed a new save battery to replace the waterlogged one.

[Enigmus]

I've run multiple GB and DS games in the washer, and they all work fine (except the ARDS. That one froze every time I entered codes).

[Bandicat]

One time I was playing Super Nintendo when something spooked my cat. He went tearing across the room and got tangled up in one of the cords going to the Super Nintendo, causing it to go flying violently off the TV stand it was on. Donkey Kong Country kept playing without missing a beat.

[Icarus Moonsight]

N64 carts especially. Those are some tough and rugged cases. One of the few well designed aspects of the 64 IMO.

[MachineGex]

Here's the pictures from my flipped Explorer. I had about 50 NES games in the back of my Explorer when the wheel bearing went and took me into the guardrail....I was in cruise control at 70mph. The gamers were all over the hillside and down the road, some quite a walk away. When i finally got home, all of the games i found worked.

I am glad you are OK. How long did it take to find all your games? I got into a car accident and a cup holder flew over 300 feet and hit a farm house.

[skaar]

My friend's mom through his SNES off a 14th floor window when he wouldn't stop playing to take out the trash. It skipped across the parking lot when it hit the ground and the case cracked open. We ran down there (with the trash) and the game FF3 IIRC) had flown out, system cracked and a big gash in the plastic.

Took it upstairs, still worked

Super glue, good as new.

[Greg2600]

Couple years ago I found a Super Mario World cart on the side of the road while riding my bike. It had clearly been run over by a car. Front of the case was broken but cart worked perfectly.

Another was around 18 years ago, we're walking home from Junior High, and see three morons stomping, yet stomping on an old Coleco Telstar. They simply could not get it to break apart. We took it home and it still worked fine, and didn't have much external damage. Unfortunately, my friend's mother threw it out! That wasn't a Nintendo product but still pretty amazing.