Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/08/02/please-do-not-blow-into-the-nintendo-cartridge.html
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Tradition!
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eeeeewwwwwwwwww. 
I don’t think I ever did that with the cartridge based systems I had growing up.
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I was hoping for some new insight into the problem. Like, at this point, has anyone ever bothered to test just how much saliva would get deposited inside a cartridge and if that quantity would really be sufficient to cause appreciable corrosion? Or is that just a line that everyone’s going to repeat forever?
On a related note, many years after I purchased it, one of my 3DS cartridges started failing a while ago. (This is a not-unknown and deeply concerning problem, but so far it only seems to mainly affect a very small number of titles.) I tried to call customer support about getting a replacement and the representative on the line had the nerve to suggest that cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol could have made the problem worse…!
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A little moisture makes the game go. I eventually scrub it with alcohol and q tips when I had the time.
I also use dish soap and tap water on my CDs.
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I remember sending my Nintendo in because it didn’t seem to work. I don’t know if it just got dirty, or if it really had something wrong with. They sent it back with a little stick thingy you could use to clean the cartridge contacts. I, uh, used fish tank water, but it was a really clean tank.
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I thought we were supposed to tap them on our heads before locking a loading a game.
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When i was an accordion repair apprentice, the head repairperson taught me not to blow into a reed to clear it, because the moisture in my breath (not spit) could condense & eventually cause rust.
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This is the absolute best possible start to any sentence in the history of forever, and I thank you for that.
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My friends were fans of blowing. I forbade it on my carts. Mine rarely failed. Some of theirs rarely worked. To be fair: mine saw less use than theirs, but still…
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Has anyone done a study if canned air works better?
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it should in theory; canned “air” is usually very dry. or you can go all the way mcgyver-style:
I use a 20 lb tank of CO2 with a compressed air nozzle attached. No propellent, no moisture.
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I always wondered if the tiny bit of moisture actually did help bridge a weak contact at the sacrifice of the long-term health of the pins.
Also, this is why the lightning cable is the dumbest, crappiest connector of all time. Exposed freaking pins? And then I’m supposed to insert those corroded pins into my device? Seriously, Apple?
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So it was the modeling of the NES after a familiar consumer electronic, the VCR, that likely led to connector pin issues and, indirectly, the need to blow on the cartridge in order to play a game. When they switched to top-loading for the SNES, there was absolutely a reduction in read issues. So I wonder, and I suppose I won’t find an answer here, if in the regions where they used a top-loading Famicom they developed a blow-to-play for their fewer read errors or if there was never any need whatsoever.
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I think you’re on to something, and having to insert, then push down the cartridge is unique to the NES (and bizarre in retrospect). This video mentions how that design causes problems, and was fixed in the top-loading version:
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I don’t have an NES to test it, but apparently the “push down” part doesn’t actually do anything but give a satisfying tactile sensation. If you just pushed the cartridge in without pressing it down it would still work fine, based on what I’ve heard.
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It also mimics the VCR, which was important because Nintendo wanted to sell a consumer device known as an “entertainment system” and not merely a short-lived toy-like device like the consoles preceding it. So everyone was familiar with the fact that VHS go into the VCR and lock in lower than their initial placement. Well, NES cartridges are no different.
I’m so glad we’re mostly beyond the need to dress game systems up like other devices.
