When I was a kidskin with a Nintendo Entertainment System ( NES ) , sometimes my games would n’t load . But I , like all Kid , knew the secret : take out the game pickup , mess up on the contacts , and put it back in . And it seemed to work . ( When it die , I ’d just keep trying until it act upon . ) But appear back , did blowing into the pickup really help ? I ’ve talked to the experts , reviewed a written report on this very theme , and have the answer . But first , have ’s talk tech .
Famicom, NES, and Zero Insertion Force
The NES console table marketed in the U.S. search very different from Nintendo ’s original Famicom console table sell in Japan . The Famicom ( forgetful for Family Computer ) is shown above — it featured a top load design in which you get up the cartridge into a slot on the top . ( It also feature a snazzy cherry - and - ointment color scheme that to my optic looks a bit like Voltron . ) By putting the pickup in on top , the label on the Famicom magazine served as a kind of billboard , advertising the game presently being played . When Nintendo created the NES for the US , a major design change was to set that cartridge expansion slot late inside a VCR - style gray box ( shown below ) . It was similar technology , but shroud in a room that American consumers might get into was more like a familiar videocassette recorder — and more significantly , different from biz consoles like the Atari 2600 , which were old news . Nintendo wanted to be new , and good — so it enshroud its slot .
What Nintendo tried to emulate was a " Zero Insertion Force " ( ZIF ) connection — a phrasal idiom that vocalize like a spoilt jest about job in bottom , but is a substantial engineering notion . AZIFconnection is one in which the user does n’t directly press the magazine into its legion connector — noinsertion forceis exerted by the user . This is a good thing from an engineering standpoint because users can do things like push too hard , and finally connectors that require this kind of contact wear out . A typical mid - to - former 80s VCR is a variant of ZIF design : the tape drop dead in the front , then the car grabs it and mildly pulls it into piazza . That ’s a pretty indestructible design . That ’s not what the NES had , though . Its slot required interpolation force , and it was buried inside a box — make it arduous to furbish up when thing went wrong .
In the NES , the user unfold a front flap , slid a cartridge into the machine , and the interpolation force occurred at the back of the machine , where the ( hidden ) cartridge slot survive — pin within the pickup jam up against the slot in the back . Then the substance abuser pushed the cartridge down ( again emulate the behaviour of a videocassette recorder ) and powered on the console . This little ritual felt very solid , but over time the cartridge slot got dirty , its springs wear out , and the cartridge themselves get cheating . All of these factor worked together to cause poor contact between cartridge and slot , which meant your plot just did n’t work — the machine could n’t communicate with the cartridge over a bad connection , and defeat ensued .
Metal Versus Oxygen: FIGHT!
Nintendo plan its NES connector using nickel bowling pin bent into a position so that they ’d give slightly when a cartridge was stick in , then leap back after it was removed . These pin became less live after repeated use , which make it hard for them to firmly grasp the game magazine ’s connectors . To make things bad , the cartridges themselves had Cu connectors . Copper tarnishes when endanger to airwave , causing it to spring up a distinctive patina . While this patina was often not bad enough to cause problems , an overzealous tyke ( ahem , like me ) might notice this core and ( ahem ) attempt to take it using all sorts of thing from eraser to steel wool to solvent ( side - note : my father , being a computer guy cable , had access to a sorcerous substance called Cramolin — on the face of it worth its weight in gold , it could clean anything ) . Enough rabid cleaning could bankrupt a connector , rendering the cartridge unplayable . I cognise this because I did it .
Blowing into the Cartridge
When matter went wrong inside your NES , the trouble was ordinarily a forged connection between the magazine and its slot . That could be due to tarnishing , corroding , crud in various places , imperfect pin in the slot , or other issues . The symptoms of a bad connexion could admit the secret plan not start up at all , the console table demonstrate a blinking visible light , or the biz starting up with refuse all over the screen ( below , a picture ofZelda IIshows this form of startup glitch ) . To combat these problems , in the mid-1980s my friends and I somehow learn this secret : if we take out the cartridge , blew in it , and reinserted it , it worked . And if it did n’t work out the first time , it eventually worked , on the 2nd or fifth or tenth metre . But looking back on it , I wondered : did that bobble really help ? And if it did … why ? Was dot the culprit , and I was blowing it out of the cartridge ? I talk with several experts ( who insisted they were not experts , despite their backgrounds ) to find out .
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First up , Vince Clemente , producer ofEcstasy of Order : The Tetris Masters — a documentary film about players of the classic NES Tetris . Clemente said , " [ shove along in the pickup ] is really terrible for the game and makes the contact rust . You ’re really not supposed to do it . But it works . [ express joy ] " This sums up the problem : although intellectually we knew that blow into electronics was high-risk , we did it anyway . Itseemed to act upon .
So I turned to another government agency , Frankie Viturello , who is one of the hosts of the play show among many other gaming - related projects — he also worked in a game memory board for year . Viturello ’s first reply was : " While I true may have play around in a little magazine - blowing as a uninstructed NES - playing young person , I ’ve long - since been an advocate for not doing it with the posture that for whatever it may do to aid in the temporary functionality of an NES , it in the end opens the door for damage and hurt to the computer hardware . " So I get deeper — in the following mini - interview , I have added emphasis in various post .
Higgins : " How did this lore about blow into the magazine spread across the US ? "
Viturello:“It was very much a hive - mind form of affair , something that all kids did , and many still do on mod cartridge based system . Prior to the NES I do n’t recollect hoi polloi blowing into Atari or any other cartridge - based hardware that antecede the NES ( though that likely verbalise to the general dependableness of that ironware versus the dreaded front - loading Nintendo 72 Pin connectors ) . I suppose it has a mass to do with the placebo effect . US NES hardware need , on most game , optimal connectedness across up to 72 pins as well as communication with a security system lock - out chip . The theory that ' dust ' could be a lawful inhibitor and that ' blowing it out ' was the solution , still sounds silly to me when I say it out loudly . "
Higgins : " Why would blowing into the cartridges have any effect ? It feels like it work , sometimes . "
Viturello:“While there are some collectors / enthusiasts who will defend their perspective that the wet in human breather will likely causeno damageto an NES cartridge , based on what I ’ve personally see over the retiring 20 long time , I not only disagree with them , but feel powerfully that the connection / correlation coefficient between gasconade into an NES magazine and the potential for prospicient - condition effect including wear , corrosion of the metal contacts , mold / mildew growth , is sound logic .
" So , WHY does boast into a pickup have any burden ? I ’m not a scientist and I do n’t have any real empirical evidence , but I ’m glad to speculate . The most sane explanation — in my opinion — are : 1 . ) The act of removing , blowing in , and re - sit down a cartridge most likely create another random opportunity for the connection to be better made . So removing the cartridge 10 times and putting back inwithoutblowing on it might net the exact same result as blowing on it between each time . And 2 . ) The moisture that occur when you boast into a cartridge has some case of immediate effect on the electrical link that pass . Either the wet helps to eliminate / move any debris / chemical buildup that has take place when the striking and the thole - readers rub together , or the wet increases conductivity to a academic degree that it can send the datum through any subsist matter that was previously interfering with the connection . Those are my best theories . "
Higgins : " What about other way could you make a pickup work when it was misbehaving ? I ’ve see about stacking an superfluous cartridge on top of the one you ’re playing , to draw it down . "
Viturello:“Things like pressing down on the cartridge just helped with the connection because everything was horizontal in the pin - connecter . Downward pressure pressed the cartridge pin more firmly against the connector and eliminated some possibility for a lost or weak joining . "
Studying Cartridge-Blowing
Viturello actuallyconducted a nonscientific studyon this very subject . He took two very similar transcript of Gyromite , off the plastic cartridge shell to expose the contacts ( making them leisurely to photograph ) , and proceeded to mishandle on one of them ten times a mean solar day ( all in one go , to assume a avid untested gamer ’s efforts ) , for a month . The second copy was a control — it did n’t get the blow treatment . The blown and non - blown games were stored in the same locating in his house , so in theory , this test should reveal the visual effect of repeated flub on cartridge — though they do n’t admit functional results attempting to playact the game . There is at least one exit with the methodology of the tryout : the magazine weren’texactly identicalto start with ( they search to me like slightly unlike revisions of the same circuit board ) , so it ’s theoretically possible that the contacts were coat otherwise between revisions . Still , it ’s the good evidence we have , and the results are super unadulterated .
When youread the cogitation , you could see the cartridges at the origin of the test and after a calendar month , and it ’s moderately gross . It ’s unclear what the result is — whether that ’s copper patina , mold , or what — but it come along that some effect occurred . See also : This guy wire ’s response to the studyrelating the story of an extreme case of N64 cartridgelicking .
Nintendo Weighs In
In a brief note on itsNES Game Pak Troubleshootingpage , Nintendo say :
So the Answer is No
So , devout readers , all augury designate to no : bluster in the cartridge did not help . My money is on the tout thing being a pure placebo , offering the substance abuser just another luck at have a honorable connection . The problems with Nintendo ’s connective system are well - documented , and most of them are mechanically skillful — they just wore out quicker than expected .
Having pronounce that , it ’s reliable that kids can be grubby , and getting crud into the pickup or slot was a real trouble — I suspect that most of that skank was not just dust , though , and call for a more thorough cleaning than a dampish mouth - blast could provide . In fact , Nintendo release an officialNES clean Kitin 1989 in an attempt to keep both the slot and cartridges unobjectionable . Ultimately , Nintendo redesigned the NES cabinet , issue anNES 2console in 1993 that ’s usually known as the " top longshoreman . " Its primary feature?A top loading expansion slot . It was more like the original Famicom , using a time slot that carry up well to blackguard . likewise , the SNES ( Super Nintendo Entertainment System ) was a top dock worker .
Fixing Your Old NES & Maintaining Your Games
If you have an NES with connector problem , it can plausibly be repaired , and you might even be capable to do it yourself . ascertain outiFixit ’s repair guidesfor some common repair , including a comparatively easy one — fixing the springs that hold up the cartridge slot . While mine never broke , I had a bunch of friends with idle springs . We can prepare it !
And when I require Viturello about scavenge cartridges , he told me :
Viturello:“The respectable method for cleaning game cartridges are : isopropyl alcohol and swabs or , more recently I and others have identify that non - conductive metal polish such asSheila Shineor Brasso isveryeffective and also helps to protect against some of the element that would otherwise cause that rude tarnish that occurs through even exposure to the elements and stock employment . "
