Clean your Cartridge Contacts

Have you got a cartridge that constantly throws glitches at you – or worse yet, won’t start at all? If so, it’s probably because of dirty metal pins. Let’s get them shiny and new again…

If the metal pins on your cartridge are difficult to access, you will need to open up the casing.

You might even want to do it just to be thorough. Depending on the system, you may need a specialist tool – most Sega and Nintendo carts require a 3.8mm or 4.5mm ‘Gamebit’ screwdriver. Wet one end of the cotton bud with isopropyl alcohol. You don’t need an awful lot of it – just enough to ensure that the whole surface is dampened is fine. If you use so much that it’s dripping, you just end up running the risk of leaving excess moisture on the cartridge pins. Starting from one end of the cartridge, rub the wet end of the bud vertically up and down the pins a few times. You only need to cover the shiny metal area – anything under the green solder mask isn’t going to make contact with the cartridge connector anyway. Once you’ve cleaned the whole connector and thoroughly blackened your cotton bud, wipe over the pins with the dry end of the cotton bud to pick up any excess moisture then leave your game to dry. We’d recommend you leave it for at least 15 minutes.

Pop the cartridge in the system and test it out! Your game will probably work a lot better – but if it doesn’t work, start from step three again. Particularly grimy carts may well need a few cleaning runs, but we’ve even had success with Neo-geo MVS carts covered in arcade crud.