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. 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.

[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.

[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.

[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...

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[SpaceHarrier]

Nice generalizing there.

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.