What's your most messed up but still working game/console?

[Hobie-wan]

What's the most messed up, broken looking, dog chewed, run over, or jerry rigged piece of gaming stuff you've got that still works?

A friend of mine had her SNES stuff in the shed, which leaked during a hurricane a few years ago. She gave me all the games and I went about cleaning them up, and eventually got them all working again. Mario Kart was pretty scary inside though.



That orange spot northeast of the battery used to be a diode. The wires rusted through and the glass shell was rattling around in the case. Amazingly it worked without the diode, but the battery was obviously long dead. I replaced the diode, but haven't gotten a new battery in it since the PCB fills the shell and you can't fit a battery holder inside. Even though the stickers had gotten wet too, they looked ok, just normal wear.

Who else has ugly but working stuff? Anyone with a yellow SNES system with a hole where something got dropped on it, or something worse?

[Ziggy]

I have fit really thin battery holders into a SNES case when the PCB took up the entire space. I've also read on a forum, some one got a battery holder thin enough that could be soldered to the PCB and fit inside the case. More over, you can purchase batteries that already have the clips on them (just like a SNES battery).

*revised

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I have a Atari that's completely destroyed, chipped and cracked (the actual board), but it still plays games after messing with it for 30 minutes.

[Navin_Johnson]

My wife just picked up my first SNES and games for $20 at a garage sale (bless her - a few years ago she picked up my PS2 w/ network adapter at another garage sale for $15). The SNES games themselves were easily worth the money, but the SNES only powers up intermittently. It has some cracks in the shell and looks like someone dropped it down a flight of steps. In any case, hopefully I'll get it open soon and maybe something is just loose that can be secured.

Besides that I have an xbox (received free) with a somewhat flaky drive and my two dreamcasts (one free) need their gdroms adjusted.

[Hobie-wan]

I have fit really thin battery holders into a SNES case when the PCB took up the entire space. I've also read on a forum, some one got a battery holder thin enough that could be soldered to the PCB and fit inside the case. More over, you can purchase batteries that already have the clips on them (just like a SNES battery).

Yeah, like many others, I've got a pile of battery holders scavenged from dead PC mobos. I haven't come across the really thin ones. I have seen the batteries with the leaves on them though, but where's the fun in that? I need to find the page I saw once that showed you how to make a spot welder.

Though I don't actually like Mario Kart for SNES (I know, heresy), so fixing it to save times isn't a high priority. Chrono Trigger that was part of the water damaged lot? That was cleaned and a battery holder added first.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, I have a lot of battery holders from old PCs myself. I picked up a bunch of low profile holders, but they aren't thin enough to solder to the board, but after a little modification I am able to fit them inside the case on top of the PCB. Like I said though, there's even thinner battery holders out there. I'll have to pick some up one day because I haven't been able to find CR2032's with clips for a cheap enough price.

A spot welder on the other hand... I would love to have if only for replacing game cart batteries.

And I'd like to point out, the battery doesn't just save times in Mario Kart. It also saves the trophies. So if you wanna play Special Cup, you'd have to get a gold trophy in the other three cups every time you turn the game on. But if you're not a fan of the game, I guess it doesn't matter.

[Anayo]

I have a copy of MERCS for the Sega Genesis where the plastic case is actually cracked and the microchip on the inside is exposed. It works fine though.

[andymol21]

I took a Classic Gameboy from my school which they were using as an example of how technology has moved on through the years. It has one line of broken pixels down the screen and is a little bleached from sitting under lights for 5 years, but after a quick blow it ran my copy of Super Mario Land 2 on first try.

[Luke]

The majority of my Genesis EA sports titles sound like maracas, but other than that, I try to keep my games as clean as possible.

[MrPopo]

My copy of Shining Force 2 has a piece of plastic inside that rattles.