Re: Buying an N64 for the first time
Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2021 7:03 pm
Cheeky Devlin wrote:Unfortunately older systems are losing their plug and play aspect. It's rare I find cartridge games (Especially on older systems) work first time now.
If anyone has older carts or systems I would very much recommend giving the contacts on them a good clean. Don't rely on the old "blow in it" as it just shortens the life span in the long run.
Sure, they sometimes need a bit of work, but it's a fairly simple recipe provided the board itself hasn't corroded significantly.
Once you've done that, they're pretty much as good as new.
I suppose an argument could be made, that technically, optical disks have a longer lifespan (about 70 years I think) but good luck finding a working laser etc in a console by that point. All the parts in a solid state console can be diagnosed and repaired one way or another, even if parts need to be swapped.
I have a Yoshi's island cart that freezes on the 2nd world and Mickey's Castel of Illusion that doesn't boot past the developer logo. These are usually corroded traces that need to be diverted or just points reheated.