Old game cartridges have an irritating tendency to accumulate grime when they’re not being used, particularly in the area where they connect to the console. It’s tough to say why- perhaps the electrical transfer that occurs there when they’re plugged in makes them uniquely suited to gathering up dust. Usually, blowing on them will be more than enough to keep ‘em clean. Occasionally, however, a cartridge might get particularly filthy – and blowing on it simply won’t help. It simply refuses to play nice with your console, and it seems as though nothing you do will get it working again.

Before you give it up for lost and toss it in the trash, why not try cleaning it?  It’s a surprisingly simple process. All you’ll need is Isopropyl Alcohol and a box of Q-Tips.

Take a Q-Tip, dip it in the alcohol, make sure there’s not too much dripping off of it, then rub it along the cartridge’s jack (the part which plugs into the console itself). Make sure to gently scrub the metallic segments of the cartridge- that’s the place where dirt tends to interfere with the connection. Once you’ve wiped it down enough that you’re confident the grime’s gone, flip the Q-tip over and make sure to clean off any excess alcohol- leaving anything on there could potentially degrade your game over time.

You’re going to want to follow a similar process for the console itself. After making sure it’s unplugged, and blowing off any excess dust, use a rubbing alcohol swab to clean in and around the game port. Again, you want to wipe off any excess fluid once you’re done with the cleaning job. To be safe, you should also give your console twenty minutes or so to dry off before using it after cleaning, as well.

That’s pretty much all there is to it.

Image Credits: [Vintage Game Spot]

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