“Throw out your isopropyl! Pencil erasers are here!” Well, perhaps not literally, but I thought I’d demonstrate another cleaning method I’d been playing around with. This time it’s a Super Nintendo cartridge, Super Mario All-Stars, with some rather filthy contacts.

Have a look at the difference between the two sides. One was looking distinctly grubby, while the other had already had a going-over with my trusty Faber-Castell pencil eraser. Not isopropyl alcohol, just a pencil eraser! Isn’t that magnificent?

I’d been gently rubbing the contacts to remove some of the stubborn dirt, and the difference in appearance was quite impressive. They went from looking dull and filthy to something almost golden again. I wasn’t entirely sure what metal Nintendo had used on the contacts, but at least they were nice and shiny.

I don’t know why we call these things rubbers in Australia. Apparently that word means something rather different elsewhere. We were so innocent when we were children! Luckily this one even said it was safe for children, so at least the packaging was reassuring.

Of course, an eraser does remove material as well as dirt, so I wouldn’t make a habit of scrubbing the contacts every time a game refuses to start. The metal plating is only so thick, and there’s no sense wearing it away just to make everything look pretty. This was a little experiment with a particularly dirty cartridge, not my cue to attack the entire collection.

I was rather hoping the result might put an end to the age-old practice of blowing into cartridges. You know the one. The game won’t start, so you blow into it and hope for the best, conveniently adding a bit of moisture to the connector in the process. Better to clean the contacts properly, and don’t forget the slot inside the console can be just as filthy.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish the demonstration by showing the cleaned game running. The Super Nintendo I’d been using decided to go one step further and break completely! This was the same console that had previously lost its sound, thanks to a very unhappy S-MIX chip with a rather impressive hole in it.

Now we’d gone from no sound to no picture. Wonderful! I suspect the S-MIX was responsible for the earlier audio problem, but the new video fault meant the cartridge test would have to wait until I’d investigated the console again.

The same sort of dirty contacts can turn up on games for the Mega Drive, NES, Master System and all sorts of other cartridge systems. Whatever you’re cleaning, it’s worth starting with a method that’s gentle enough for the contacts, then dealing with anything more stubborn if you actually need to.

Anyway, the cartridge certainly looks a great deal better, even if the SNES has decided not to cooperate. Next up I’ll have a look at cleaning the cartridge slots themselves, assuming I can find a console that isn’t planning to break!

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