When buying used carts...

[wiggy]

How OCD are you about cleaning them up?  Personally, I can't stand all the stickers, BBQ sauce, Pepsi, etc that ends up on these carts, but I'm not one to pass up a decent deal.  So, I've found that I spend entirely too long cleaning the damned things in order to keep them from tarnishing my collection. 

I bought 10 carts today.  Spent about 2 hours disassembling and cleaning them.  My arsenal of cleaners and tools just seems to keep growing as I've started to add to my cart collection for the 1st time in about 10 years, which of course means that I just spend all that much more time fiddling with them.  Here's what I'm talking about.





Luckily they all cleaned up pretty well with minimal amounts of torn labels and whatnot.

[TyrannicalFascist]

Pretty much every used cart I pick up gets a thorough outer cleaning with the Mr. Clean magic eraser, and a I go through quite a few Q-tips to clean the pins. Haven't opened any up yet. I need to pick up some Goo Gone to finish one of them and my Sega CD too.

[WolfAlmighty]

If it's salvageable (meaning no MAJOR damage to the label or case) I definitely clean them up as best as possible.  I got a Snow Brothers cart that was great except it was owned by a smoker so the entire thing had a yellow film over it.  It took about four cotton swabs dampened with alcohol to get the yellow off, but it's all good now.  I also got a cart of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Mindscape) which was dirty and simply covered in rental stickers and price tags, both old and new.  The game didn't work, either.  I spent about an hour and a half getting all the labels off, then taking the cart apart and cleaning not only the contacts, but also all the goop between the contacts which was shorting it out and causing it to malfunction.  Was it worth it for a $4 game?  No, not really.  However, it's in beautiful condition and plays the first time every time and since it was technically a freebie (the guy threw it in with the auction I bid on for Last Crusade) I really can't complain.  Now we just need a cover for it.

But overall I'm quite picky about the cosmetic and functional condition of my carts.  My stuff doesn't have to be mint, but it does have to look very nice with no more than a few minor flaws or it gets put in the pile to resell until I can find an upgrade.  Definitely any game I put into my 'collection' will not have any dirt, grime, or rental stickers anywhere on them.

[Pikmin Overlord]

I am beginning to believe that all collectors must have some sort of OCD. I have to think that the majority of people who visit this site do, as they feel the need to case their games and print out corresponding cover art. I'm certainly one of those people, and I thoroughly enjoy it.

That being said, I obviously embrace my OCD and definitely care about cleaning all of my carts. I find it a little therapeutic to be honest, and I am always happy to see a game that was a disaster look like new again.

For me, the label is the selling point. If it is in good condition, the I can usually do anything with the cart. This past weekend I picked up a bunch of NES games, including Taxan's G. I. Joe, which had writing all over it. Luckily, the games were cheap, so I grabbed a couple that were in great condition and just swapped the labels after heating them up with a hair dryer. Now it's like new!

[wiggy]

@TyrannicalFascist - Wait 'til you crack one open for the first time.  You're gonna be like "Eww, that's nasty!", and all of a sudden you're gonna want to pop open all your old carts LOL!

Luckily, I've been opening every cart and cleaning it (whether it needs it or not) just before I case and shelve it.


@WolfAlmighty - I'm the same (doesn't need to be pristine).  I used to insist on my games being pretty much perfect, but that was before I bought used games, which was like 20+ years ago.  

That copy of Glover in the pic above literally had 5 stickers on it  


@Pikmin Overlord - It's definitely satisfying to get 'em all cleaned up and working properly!  And yes, asking you guys how OCD you are is like asking Stephen Hawking whether or not he has any interest in stars  

All collectors = OCD

Us = Super Mega OCD

 

[Moviefan2k4]

I'm not extreme over it, but when I buy a used game, I clean it both inside and out. No dirty games are going near my refurbished systems. I take the carts apart, and use Brasso for the contacts, followed by a 1-to-1 mix of alcohol and water afterward. As for back stickers, I usually just remove them if they're in too bad a shape. Rental stickers are always removed very carefully, and I haven't had to make a new front label yet.

[AO007]

I just clean the contacts with wet cotton swabs, as well as try to clean any writing or whatever, again with cotton swabs.

Sticker residue seems to come off over time after much scratching, and cotton swabs.

[irvgotti452]

Yeap. Its that bad lol. I've gotten a shit ton of genesis games and a bunch of the ones I inherited did not work. So I've taken it an extra step and swapped out a bunch of old capacitors on the boards along with the regular ocd cleaning...they now all work. It even extends to consoles and other parts such as resistors on gb games etc...Yea...lol

[Harp00nX]

Every cart I buy no matter how clean it looks gets took apart and scrubbed and any clean up needed done along with the connectors steel wooled and cleaned before they go anywhere near my cart slot.

[zakurowrath]

I've actually started doing it myself because alot of my carts are used and have that familiar dirt or sticker residue. I'd love to get some steel wool or something to polish the contacts in the near future, not to mention replace capacitors and put in battery holders for save game batteries. What sucks is when your SOL getting a game that used to be a Blockbuster rental, damn stickers cover all the artwork so it's a pain in the ass to get off. Even thou my WWF No Mercy cart has almost no finish, it's still better than that old sticker that used to be on it.

Ask for consoles, the most nastiest thing I ever seen was when a friend of mine asked me to fix her SNES. I opened it up and almost puked. There was pet hair, mold, dead roaches, spiders, bug shit, you name it. Any time I get a used console now, I take the whole thing apart and run the case through the dishwasher in super hot water to make sure whatever is there is gone for good.

Speaking of capacitors, I really need to get my Genesis recapped so it lasts longer and preforms better. Also a few consoles that need battery holders for the BIOS settings and clock I need to get on that as well 

[wiggy]

I've been sorta looking into high gloss adhesive inkjet paper for that reason.  Some of my games are in pretty dire need of new labels, and I'd love to be able to just crank out some replicas.

I worked in used game retail for years.  Man, the number of LIVE cockroach infested Genesis units I've seen.  Opening an Aldi bag to see a little family of those things crawl out from almost every opening and the pepper-like scattering of roach shit in the bottom of the bags was about favorite thing about that job.  I always dreaded the random Aldi bag full of who knows what that would get plunked down on the counter.  Ick. 

And for some reason, it was almost always the Genesis.  No idea why.

There was a clear orange N64 once with a live infestation.  I was like "WTF, you don't see what's going on in that thing?  And you thought I would want to give you actual money for it?!"  The store was in a rather unsavory part of town, so take that as you will.

[Moviefan2k4]

How would roaches get into a video game system, anyway? My only guess would be the game slot, because everything else is tightly screwed together.

[wiggy]

Roaches can get into pretty much everything.  They are able to flatten themselves into damn near nothing.  Just one more reason they've been and will be around forever.  Little bastards...

[irvgotti452]

Roaches can get into pretty much everything.  They are able to flatten themselves into damn near nothing.  Just one more reason they've been and will be around forever.  Little bastards...

This is true. I've cleaned out a sega saturn and 2 n64's with bodies and cracked eggs (YUCK!). They can really get in there and mess things up.

[madrocsz]

I too worked in game retail for a bit, similar stores, as much as I love carts, from the work perspective discs are way better lol.

I cannot say I am too picky about the carts I get, I have gotten some steals on some pretty beat up carts just so long as I felt it was either worth having a tad of dmg (on label maybe) or if I knew I could clean them up.

Tip - NES/SNES bits are best few bucks you can spend to be able to open the carts

Just dont be an idiot like me and get mega man 7 and x3 for cheap w/ poor labels and then decide to get the label off I would just set the top cover in goo gone for a few minutes. Melted cases and while 7 was easy to replace case, x3 has that huge chip and had a tough time retrofitting it into another cart, very upset about it.