re-capping and other restorative measures

[gbpxl]

That would be correct. You only have to desolder 1 pin though. You can't read the value of a cap with just an ohm meter. You could tell if it's shorted or open maybe but your not going to get an accurate reading without a proper meter.

I wouldn't imagine capacitors that are only a few years old to be too far off though, especially if they've just been sitting somewhere not being used. They do have a tolerance value though meaning that the actual value may be off by a certain amount from what's printed on the cap. In most cases though, a precise value isn't important.

do you know of a good meter for this?

well after re-capping my NES doesnt even power up now. I double checked all my solder joints. only thing I could think of is that it seems like I somehow damaged the pads.

I tried uploading a photo but it failed. whatever

I was thinking of replacing 1 cap at a time, testing, etc etc but it wouldve taken a really long time since there is so much solder you have to blob on top of the board for the geounding. just desoldering it all is a very time consuming process