Cart a little...loose?

[CDink]

I finally snagged a copy of Final Fantasy III. I paid $50 dollars for it(shudder)...the cart looks great...sticker is good...nothing else on it.....but...it seems..loose, like i can move the two halves of the cart...I don't really know another way to explain it...plays well, but I'm just concerned this is some kind of issue? Like, does that mean the cart was opened? Is it possible it's bootleg?

[Xeogred]

Not a bad price for that one (what I paid for mine), but yeah the cart sounding loose is a bit funky. Not sure what to say, I just checked mine and it's not like that at all.

[CDink]

Not a bad price for that one (what I paid for mine), .

Well, that makes me feel better.

but none of the other carts in my collection are loose like that.

[CFFJR]

Maybe somebody opened it at some point to replace the battery and the screws have since loosened a bit.

[Ziggy]

Took me a second to figure out what system you got it for. SNES, right? lol. Anyway, yaeh, I know EXACTLY what you're talking about. I have a number of carts that are loose like that. If you shake it back and forth, you can here the PCB jiggle back and forth inside. Sometimes, if you tighten the security screws, it'll tighten the cart shell and hold the PCB tighter. Unfortunately, sometimes tightening doesn't work. I suppose at that point you could open the cart and stick something in there so it don't move around. Not that big of a deal though, unless it really bugs you out.

But like I said, I have a number of carts that are loose like that, so don't think it's a bootleg. And it doesn't mean that some one once opened it (although that still could have happened, but a loose PCB isn't evidence of it).

At first I thought you were talking about FF3 for the Famicom (and thought $50 was ridiculous) because this rattle effect happens often with Famicom carts.

[emwearz]

Yea, a couple of my SNES carts have the old 'rattler' PCB. Nothing to worry about.

[SwooshBear]

I once borrowed my friends copy of Super R Type and it did the same thing, but it plays fine so I wouldnt worry. I've never seen that happen before with any of my Snes games so I was kinda caught off guard at first.

[Dylan]

My copy of FF II (IV) is like that also. After reading the responses here, I think I'm going to try and tighten it sometime. I also have a copy of Mega Man 2 in which I think one of the capacitors broke off of the PCB, because there's something small inside of it that rattles around. Maybe I'll open it up and take that out.

[MrPopo]

My copy of FF II (IV) is like that also. After reading the responses here, I think I'm going to try and tighten it sometime. I also have a copy of Mega Man 2 in which I think one of the capacitors broke off of the PCB, because there's something small inside of it that rattles around. Maybe I'll open it up and take that out.

It's probably not a cap, since that should cause it to have odd behavior/not work at all. It could be a piece of one of the plastic posts inside. I had that happen to my copy of Shining Force II. Years later when I finally got a game bit I was able to open it up and take out the bit of plastic.

[Ziggy]

^ Yeah, it's probably a piece of plastic that broke off.

After reading the responses here, I think I'm going to try and tighten it sometime.

Yeah, you just need a gamebit/security bit for it. You can usually get them for a few bucks shipped on eBay. Tightening it might not work, but it's still an easy fix. Just open it up and shim it with something (that doesn't conduct electricity, of course).