Broken SNES Games

[Ziggy]

Ah, that's a shame. If you're 100% sure everything was cleaned properly, and other carts with the extra pins work fine, then the problem is probably something with the cart. Unfortunately, at that point, finding the problem requires some more advanced skills and tools/equipment. I'm not just gonna assume you don't have them... Do you have experience repairing electronics and working with surface mounted ICs?

[arcadifvid]

thanks ziggy. unfortunately no i dont have experience in that field. ill probably just end up getting another copy unless by some miracle this thing works again. ill see if could try it on another unit and different model too.

[Ziggy]

Trying it on another console isn't a bad idea.

If you end up replacing it, throw the broken one up for sale.

[arcadifvid]

ok this is interesting/annoying. i was able to get another copy of yoshi's island. the interesting part , the inside is a bit different. the FX chip looks bigger, more square shaped, that other cart had it a bit rectangular. must be a revision of some sort.
the annoying part, it also doesnt work! the very same symptom. nintendo presents.. then poof forever. cant be a coincidence. so obviously it must be my console. what in the heck? a defect that makes a very specific game doesnt work...

[Tanooki]

It's possible. There's the mystery behind some 1CHIP SNES systems causing problems with games like super ghouls n ghosts and pocky and rocky where they supposedly spazz out and don't work. I have that style system, and they work for me so it could be a version of the 1chip board with some other processor on there(or version of it) causing a combo where it fails. You may have a bad luck board vs that game, or it's in trouble.

[arcadifvid]

hi guys.. me again..
something ive been experiencing for a while now but never bothered until now.
some games particularly ones with mode 7 effects i think has some issues. they appear to have problems displaying on my tv in that theyre very... whats the word... rough ? they dont animate well on screen ? as if its stuttering

some examples include:
contra 3's top down levels. its hard to move around as the screen keeps "shaking"
un squadron's win screen after finishing a level, when the plane flies its as if it "teleports"

i know there's some more just cant think of it at the moment. or maybe its not particular to mode 7 .. im not really sure as TMNT4's throwing at the screen effect looks ok.

it happens with or without going thru a framemeister. also i noticed playing contra 3 on wii's virtual console doesnt have the same issues.

i'm almost ready to give up on this particular sfc unit i got as its easy to replace anyway and the load of issues i had so far (if indeed because of a bad unit). but for personal sentimental reasons, im still holding on it.

[Soldier Blue]

Has anyone had trouble with Doom for the Super Nintendo? I have a copy that won't load past the title screen and I've tried it on 2 different working SNES systems. Strange thing is that the pcb looked to be in mint condition when I popped open the cart. Any thoughts?

[Ziggy]

Has anyone had trouble with Doom for the Super Nintendo? I have a copy that won't load past the title screen and I've tried it on 2 different working SNES systems. Strange thing is that the pcb looked to be in mint condition when I popped open the cart. Any thoughts?

Being that it's a Super FX game, it has those extra pins on each side of the pain connector. Since most games don't have these pins, they can go unused in the console slot for long periods of time. That leads to these pins becoming dirty while the main pins are fine. Make sure these extra pins are clean. Obviously on the cart, but also make sure they're clean on the console's cart slot.

One thing I should stress is that "looks clean" doesn't mean clean. I've had this happen several times in the past. One good example is when I couldn't get my NES PowerPak to boot. Since it's a newer cart, the pins are all very shiny. They looked VERY clean, but the cart wouldn't boot (I hadn't used it in a long while). Even after I cleaned it once, it still wouldn't boot. I had to clean the pins a few times, and it's been working perfect ever since.

hi guys.. me again..
something ive been experiencing for a while now but never bothered until now.
some games particularly ones with mode 7 effects i think has some issues. they appear to have problems displaying on my tv in that theyre very... whats the word... rough ? they dont animate well on screen ? as if its stuttering

some examples include:
contra 3's top down levels. its hard to move around as the screen keeps "shaking"
un squadron's win screen after finishing a level, when the plane flies its as if it "teleports"

i know there's some more just cant think of it at the moment. or maybe its not particular to mode 7 .. im not really sure as TMNT4's throwing at the screen effect looks ok.

it happens with or without going thru a framemeister. also i noticed playing contra 3 on wii's virtual console doesnt have the same issues.

i'm almost ready to give up on this particular sfc unit i got as its easy to replace anyway and the load of issues i had so far (if indeed because of a bad unit). but for personal sentimental reasons, im still holding on it.

It could very well be the console, a specific area of the PPU or RAM that effects mode 7. I would test said games out on another (known working) SNES to rule this in or out.

[Tanooki]

I have to agree with post your comments there.

As to the first I've had that, but I've also just had come across 2 used games in the last 20 years (licensed/legit) that just failed to work either right off, or moments after the title. The first was a River City Ransom in the 90s from Funcoland. It would hard freeze like 95% of the time once you were in front of the school and moved around for a few moments, the other 5% choked after you panned to the next area to the right. And then the other case was just a dead game no matter what kind of cleaning was attempted, even screw it it's dead take some sandpaper to it and see what happens dead.

And on the second one, that I've actually seen it before. The root cause there is probably right, something beginning to fail within the system itself that controls those aspects of it. I've seen that with mode 7, but also a more common thing where like a certain color or an audio portion is just wrong no matter the game, no matter what you do with it or the hardware. Stuff can oddly fail in mysterious ways. But as noted, without another SNES to test it'll be hard to rule out what it is but that's the way to do it.

[Soldier Blue]

I'm fixing broken games and it feels great! This thread and the connector cleaning guide has helped me so much. I've fixed countless carts because of them! You guys have my thanks.

Now here is one I fixed myself with some additional outside research. My latest fix is a copy of Mortal Kombat II for the SNES.

This one I winded up not loading past the dreaded black screen. What I did was use a silver conductive pen to repair the broken traces on the board. I made sure the connector pins were getting good connections with a conductivity meter. Then I blowed the dust off of the pcb board with a air duster. Works perfect now!