Nes games that barely work

[CloudGamerX]

I've had alot of problems with NES games not working for me at all in the past. I do the usual eraser and rubbing alcohol/cotton swab combo and for the most part that works. but when contacts are really messed up, i use a dremel with a small special polishing tool and 99.99% of the time that works. if that doesn't even work, i check the board for any cold solder joints and touch up. I also check if any of the diodes or resistors are broken or popped in the board. if they are, i replace them.

[BadChad]

I just got it to boot but wont work. If i presd dtart as soon as i turn on the console it loads the title screen then freezed. I think my old copy used to show dome glitched, then nothing. Ishould not keep trying i guess. Maybe that game got damaged by trying so much i dont know. I better take it to someone else to. Check this out, or eait to retron 5 to finally release

It could just be that your NES is having troubles playing Return of the Joker for whatever reason. From what I understand, that game is the only game released for the NES in the US that uses that particular board. People actually use it to make repro copies of Mr. Gimmick because it's the only donor board that can get it done. And maybe your NES is having trouble running that unique board/mapper. Try someone else's NES if you can and see what happens. Seems a little too unlikely that both your copies would have the same issue after buying another copy. There's gotta be something going on with your NES that doesn't like this particular game is my best guess...

I've had similar issues with pirate multi-carts on the NES. I have about 5 different ones, and for whatever reason they only seem to work on one of my NES's. I've tried them on my spare NES I have in the closet as well my roommates which both work perfectly and no matter how hard I try those pirate carts wont work. But then pop them in my main NES, and they work perfectly every time. Not sure what makes that NES more reliable, but something is going on with the others that isn't allowing them to boot those pirates properly.

I also had a similar issue where if I pressed the start button as soon as I turned them on in the other NES, I would see the game start ad then it would reset.

[lcvolt]

I just got it to boot but wont work. If i presd dtart as soon as i turn on the console it loads the title screen then freezed. I think my old copy used to show dome glitched, then nothing. Ishould not keep trying i guess. Maybe that game got damaged by trying so much i dont know. I better take it to someone else to. Check this out, or eait to retron 5 to finally release

It could just be that your NES is having troubles playing Return of the Joker for whatever reason. From what I understand, that game is the only game released for the NES in the US that uses that particular board. People actually use it to make repro copies of Mr. Gimmick because it's the only donor board that can get it done. And maybe your NES is having trouble running that unique board/mapper. Try someone else's NES if you can and see what happens. Seems a little too unlikely that both your copies would have the same issue after buying another copy. There's gotta be something going on with your NES that doesn't like this particular game is my best guess...

I've had similar issues with pirate multi-carts on the NES. I have about 5 different ones, and for whatever reason they only seem to work on one of my NES's. I've tried them on my spare NES I have in the closet as well my roommates which both work perfectly and no matter how hard I try those pirate carts wont work. But then pop them in my main NES, and they work perfectly every time. Not sure what makes that NES more reliable, but something is going on with the others that isn't allowing them to boot those pirates properly.

I also had a similar issue where if I pressed the start button as soon as I turned them on in the other NES, I would see the

Yeah, i feel like thats the case. I have opened it and the contacts look perfect on both of them

[Ozzy_98]

  The only thing funny about that cart is it uses the FME-7 mapper, other than that the boards the same one used for all MMC3 mapper games.  It works a lot like an MMC3 with extra sound hardware, but only Gimmic has the sound hardware, and it requires the extra channels on the Famicom.  So using Joker for Gimimc means you can get the jap version with no sound effects, or the modified us prototype dump.

  Double dragon II uses the standard 128/128 mem, MMC3 used by a ton of games, nothing special in it.

[lcvolt]

I also realized that this is my only sunsoft game so far (which is weird, ireally like sunsoft games). As far as i know, they have special sound chips (cuz their music is so awesome lol).

[Ozzy_98]

The sunsoft games don't normally use special "sound" chips, except for gimmick.  They're just different memory mappers.  That's the only cart with the FME-7/Sunsoft-5 chip in on it released in the US, and it doesn't have the sound hardware add-on. 

Most likely a few of your pins are dirty\bent, so games that don't need the pins make contact, a few that are used for this mapper are not working.   So while it seems like everything works fine, it doesn't.  And unless you're taking the carts out of the casing, you're not seeing what the pins of the game really look like.  Just cause you run a qtip over them and it stays clean doesn't mean the carts clean.

[lcvolt]

I actually open them. The pins look really good. Yeah, the memory mapper seems to be the case, since the console doesnt serm to acess to the game. I fixed my connector some years ago, and it didnt work either, but perhaps y messed up somewhere

[CloudGamerX]

Worse case scenario, the ROM chips might be defective. if that's the case, the game is practically a donor board for Mr.Gimmick now.

[lcvolt]

maybe the new one might be a donor game, but my old copy has been with me since i was like 4 or 5. i used to play it on the same console and all.

[CloudGamerX]

well overtime, the ROM chips might have worn out. if nothing works, well you got 2 donor games. Buy yourself some EPROMs, program Mr.Gimmick in them, and have fun. Or if you really want to play Return of the Joker again, you could program the EPROMs to run Return of the Joker.

[Ozzy_98]

Not sure how a rom can wear out seeing how they have no moving parts.  And using RotJ for Mr. Gimmick means you can get the one without soud effects, or with the US protptype's de-tuned sound. It doesn't have the right chip for full sound (And you'd have to mod your nes anyways).

[lcvolt]

Yeah iheard about the mr gimmick thing. I find it kinda lame. Rotj is starting to be considered uncommon and now they are being used for repros. Then rotj will be rare and who will be
The next donor?

[Arseen]

Yeah iheard about the mr gimmick thing. I find it kinda lame. Rotj is starting to be considered uncommon and now they are being used for repros. Then rotj will be rare and who will be
The next donor?

PAL version of mr Gimmick...

[quickfingers818]

I don't know if any of you guys have ever come across this problem, but for the longest time my copy of Tengen Tetris never played right on my original nes and I always thought that unlicenced carts always had trouble playing on nes consoles. It played just fine on my top loader for some reason.

[lcvolt]

Did you mod the lockout chip? Does the console blink when you try that cartridge?