I rescued a copy of Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt recently

[BoringSupreez]

There is a short version at the bottom for lazy readers.
I saw a copy of the aformentioned game sitting at Salvation Army for $2. I figured "why not" and bought it. Now here is the reason I call it "rescued". That games was SO dirty, SO finicky, and SO hard to clean that I'm sure that many people would have thought it was broken after 5 minutes of it not working. I cleaned it with rubbing alchohol before attempting to play the first time. 10 minutes of fiddling with the NES later, I decided to try cleaning it again, scrubbing harder this time. It turned out that there was corrosion or something on the connectors, so the game was a lot dirtier than it looked at first. 10 more minutes of fruitless fiddling later, I was almost ready to call it quits and throw the game in the trash. I decided to try cleaning it one more time. I scrubbed really hard, and got even more dirt that I hadn't realized was there. Then, after 5 minutes of fiddling once more, I saw the beloved game select screen appear on my TV. A hard earned session of Mario Bros. was then played truimphantly by me.

Short version: I got a dirty cartdridge, cleaned it with much frustration, and finally got it to work.

[Hobie-wan]

This is where having a bit to open up the game helps. Its sometimes hard to see the corrosion when you're looking in the end of the cart and you can't get it cleaned as well as when you have the bare board out with the contacts on something flat.

[BoringSupreez]

This is where having a bit to open up the game helps. Its sometimes hard to see the corrosion when you're looking in the end of the cart and you can't get it cleaned as well as when you have the bare board out with the contacts on something flat.

I really wish I had one of those, but I just don't know where to buy one. I wish Nintendo had just used philips head screws.

[fvgazi]

I don't know if this is a great idea, but any time i've had a hard time cleaning a game i've used sandpaper. I open up the cartridge with a gamebit and the gently rub the contacts with very fine sandpaper. I finish it off with rubbing alcohol and usually the amount of dirt that comes off is much more. I've done it with over 20 games (some which seemed unsavable) and it worked.

[Hobie-wan]

I bought my bits on ebay, but they were from The Electric Quarter

I wouldn't use sandpaper except as an absolute last resort. Getting the cart open, then using electrical contact cleaner (as opposed to alchohol) and a white plastic eraser is much safer. For ones with a clump of corrosion, I've had luck with gently scraping with a very pointy probe instead of resorting to sandpaper so I was only attaching the damaged part instead of removing metal from contacts that were fine.

[fvgazi]

This is where having a bit to open up the game helps. Its sometimes hard to see the corrosion when you're looking in the end of the cart and you can't get it cleaned as well as when you have the bare board out with the contacts on something flat.

I really wish I had one of those, but I just don't know where to buy one. I wish Nintendo had just used philips head screws.

If you want a gamebit you can use [ http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/repair ... plies.html ]. I've purchased games, consoles, and repair supplies from that site. I've also received great service and fast delivery. You could always search other places.

You'd want to get both bits. They are about $5.00 each and I forget which size is for cartridges. They come in handy for so many systems though.

[jfe2]

If you want a gamebit you can use [ http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/repair ... plies.html ]. I've purchased games, consoles, and repair supplies from that site. I've also received great service and fast delivery. You could always search other places.

You'd want to get both bits. They are about $5.00 each and I forget which size is for cartridges. They come in handy for so many systems though.

I just picked up the NES repair kit (which includes the bit to open the NES and games), the bit for the Genesis cartridges, Super Metroid, and NBA Jam TE all for about $45. Thanks for posting that site!