How do cartridges get so nasty?

[shootingstar]

I have been a cartridge gamer since I was a kid. I have always kept my games stored in a drawer or cabinet. I have never had any issues with cartridges getting so dirty the system can't read them.

But ever since I started collecting older games off of ebay and amazon, it seems like every game needs a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol to work. I'll clean the contacts and the Q-tip turns black. How do you do that? There's not enough space to stick your fingers right on top of the contacts so I have no idea how it gets like that. I'm not even going to go into the cartridges that have gunk stuck all over them... yuck.

[Rev]

People don't take care of their games. I have gotten significantly better at cleaning games over the last few years. Every cartridge I own I clean the contacts, clean the case, remove stickers, goo, market etc from, and they all run like new. That is the nice part about a lot of cartridge games, usually they'll work if you clean it right. It is crappy how little people take care of their games though. Going to used game stores you often find games with stickers and marker all over them, rust on the contacts and worse...

[Hardcore Sadism]

People smoke around electronics and for the life of me I don't understand how this isn't common knowledge to some people I've bought games from, if you smoke, plastic will DEFINITELY absorb the residual tars, and even possibly break down the plastic. I think if Nintendo and other companies went with 3M materials we'd have cleaner cartridges second hand. Though, I've seen contacts where the oxidization process has seemingly corroded the contacts to an intermittent or even inoperable state!

[Verm3]

I've been amazed at how scratched some CD's, DVD's etc get. It sometimes looks like someone must have deliberately.

I have received second hand CD's, DVD's etc that look like the promo images disc cleaning websites use: http://azuradisc.com/c.274982/site/wefi ... es/cd3.gif

I dislike disc cleaners

[Rev]

Yeah... I hate buying discs without checking them out first. I'm one of those annoying people at the game stores who literally opens up all disc games at the counter and makes them buff any that have a scratch on them... It seems like people use their games as Frisbees...

[Wallyworld]

I have been a cartridge gamer since I was a kid. I have always kept my games stored in a drawer or cabinet. I have never had any issues with cartridges getting so dirty the system can't read them.

But ever since I started collecting older games off of ebay and amazon, it seems like every game needs a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol to work. I'll clean the contacts and the Q-tip turns black. How do you do that? There's not enough space to stick your fingers right on top of the contacts so I have no idea how it gets like that. I'm not even going to go into the cartridges that have gunk stuck all over them... yuck.

Best way to clean the cart is unscrew it and rub the contact of with a art eraser. This removes dirt and oxidation without damaging the boards.

[Rookie1]

For the life of me, I cant figure out how ADULT owned games get so scratched. If I give my son 10 seconds with a DVD he will absolutely destroy it.

I have DVDs that I purchased 15+ years ago, and they are as good as the day I got them. I have friends though that absolutely destroy their disc based media. Cant figure out how it can get so messed up going to a box to a player back to a box? Weird!

As for carts,I dont know how some end up looking like trash. As for the connectors, whenever you have electrical contact like that it creates a black residue for various reasons. You will see it on just about any type of electrical connection. Thats why contact cleaner is at every hardware store.

[Tron]

I think people like to place their cola drinks right next to their cartridges. Then when they spill their drink it goes all over their games.

I use a non abrasive metal polish. It works so much better then just rubbing alcohol. Of course you have to dissemble the game to do that.

[VideoGameCritic]

I'm with you guys. I am really careful with my stuff and it is pristine.
When I look at the used discs at GameStop some of them look like they've been put through a grinder.

I think the worst was went a bought a bunch of Atari cartridges from a flea market WAY back in the day (late 90's maybe).
They were so disgusting I think I went through a whole box of Q-Tips (with alcohol).
You need to keep rubbing until the swabs stop turning black, but it can take a while!

[Rev]

Yeah worst set of cartridges I ever got was for the sms. I bought a big lot off of ebay and most of them had what felt like oil or something inside of them. I went through a massive amount of qtips but they all eventually played. The one nice part is I know I can usually get a cart to work even if it is on bad condition. Discs are much harder so I'm more careful on those.