Although the name of the article may sound like an attack against the common sense of many, it is quite common to see people take discs as if they were a cookie or keep the old cartridges of their consoles in storage rooms, piled up like useless junk while accumulating dirt.
We are going to do a small and basic review to show you how to properly preserve your games and how to clean them if necessary, both in the case of discs and cartridges.
Let's start with primordial and very basic rules: always hold the discs by the edge and the hole from the center, never touch with your fingers the bottom layer of these, do not touch the edge of the cartridges with your fingers, never wet the games, to spill abrasive liquids over them or subject them both to extreme temperatures or places with high humidity. Of course, as long as we have the suitable cases and covers, we must keep our games safe in them: discs and cartridges in their cases, and for the latter it is also advisable to use plastic sleeves to keep them safe from dust, the great enemy of electronic products.
First, let's focus on the games on optical media. Is very easy that CD y DVD scratches, so we must always keep them in their cases. Never ever move a console while reading a disc, as the glass lens will take care of making beautiful and perfect grooves that will turn your game into a coaster. Regarding the discs Bluray, it is quite difficult to scratch them, but the most absurd accidents can arise, so still, be careful.
It's advisable remove labels or stickers that have been placed on the screen-printed part of the disc: there is a possibility that they may come off and jam the player on the console. If you have to clean a disc, use a microfine suede, such as those used for glasses, soaked in water and soap. Rub the center of disc out straight. There are people who talk about the toothpaste method to repair scratches, but at the end of the day, it is still another way to clean the disc: if you have a scratched game and the console does not read it, your thing is to go to one store where discs are professionally polishedAnd beware, you cannot give more than three polishes to a game, since this technique what it does is to level the protection layer, eroding it until it becomes more uniform and the reader can read it continuously. And attention, that the top layer, where the screen printing goes it is also very important to keep it scratch-free: the data on the disc is contained between that layer and the bottom layer.
Basically, those are the recommendations that we can give you from here for games on that support. Now we go with the Cartridges, which are a separate issue. The edges of these games should not be touched with fingers, as many instructions point out, more than anything, so as not to accumulate dirt and that the contact with the console connector is perfect (although be careful, physical wear is inevitable over the years) However, if the games have not been in their protective case or have accumulated dirt, we will see that they do not work. The solution is simple. Just use a alcohol swab, which we will rub along the edge. We will repeat the operation until the swab comes out without dirt. There are people who employ pieces of cardboard dipped in alcohol or rub with soft erasers: they are also valid methods, but the first one that I have related to you is usually more effective and simple. Of course, before putting the game on the console, you must let it dry perfectlyotherwise the console will short circuit.
There are extreme cases, and I have experienced them in the first person, of games with a layer of dirt on the edges that does not even come out with the methods of lines above. The solution I found was file with a fine grain nail file- Many NES games that have spent years out in the open have been resurrected in this way in my hands.
With regards to housing cleaning, something that is also valid for consoles and controllers, you can also use alcohol and the rubbing procedure. If we want to remove the yellowish tone typical that sometimes comes out over time, there is talk of a home method that, they say, is effective (personally No. I've tried it): it consists of placing the game casing (without a sticker, which would later have to be reprinted on adhesive paper at a reprographic center or similar, so I would think about it before), the controller or the console ( the latter devoid of any electronic element, obviously) in a container filled with hydrogen peroxide to cover these items. The container must be cfully enclosed and insulated and placed somewhere in the house where the Salt. We will leave it there for 3 days and as if by magic, the plastic will have recovered its original tone and color.
Another tricky issue with cartridge games is batteries that contain the games and housed inside them, which with the passage of time stop working. Finding replacements is very simple, but to open the cartridges we will need special keys or pull the classic homemade bic pen fix. Ideally, if we have many games, we get a set of these keys: those of 3.88 mm will be worth us for NES, SNES and N64 gamesthose of 4.5 mm for Mega Drive and to remove the screws from the SNES, N64 and GameCube consoles. Changing the battery is very simple, and the ideal is to do it as professionally as possible with a soldering iron, but home-made methods are also perfectly valid.
Broadly speaking, these are the tips that we can give you from Mundi Videogames and that we hope they will be useful for you to better preserve your games, especially the older ones, and that when the bug bites you you can use them again and enjoy them like the first day.
what good advice they give us