NES - A couple of questions

[SlowCoder]

I was working on a couple of NES consoles today, and came up with a few questions.

 

- Why are three NES cartridges so big? The actual board inside is only about 1/3 the size. Seems like a lot of wasted space and plastic.

 

- When a NES cart didn't work, the first thing people did was blow it. I only really remember that "solution" for NES owners, and not really any other console. Why does blowing the cart seem to be primarily NES?

 

- During troubleshooting today, I was looking for a way to test whether the 72 pin connectors were bad. Is there a good method for testing it to see if it needs to be replaced? I'd considered wiring up a nonworking cart, connecting the top and bottom pins, and inserting it into the connector, then testing the top and bottom pins of the connector with a voltmeter for continuity. I currently don't have a nonworking cart with all of the required leads, though. Has anyone come up with another method for testing?

[Rex Dart]

1) Gives the impression of greater value?

 

2) Other systems had their carts blown on, but the design of the original NES caused a lot of issues, so "the fix" was more prominent there.

 

3) Guess you could build a big honking continuity tester with an LED for each connection.

[+Random Terrain]

You couldn't blow Atari 2600 cartridges at the beginning because most of them had that flap thingy. It wasn't something most people thought to do. It might have to do with the generation of kids that used the NES. When my dresser and other flat surfaces were dusty, I got a damp rag and wiped away the dust. But when my younger step-sister saw dust on her dresser, she blew it away using her mouth. It seems most NES kids were filthy, lazy mouth blowers and used the technique on everything.

 

 

Why so big:

 

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?72131-Why-is-the-NES-cartridge-so-big

 

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=7&threadid=44691

 

 

 

Blowing-related:

 

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?117240-DP-MYTHBUSTERS-Blowing-in-NES-Cartridges

 

http://www.quora.com/Nintendo/Why-did-blowing-on-Nintendo-cartridges-make-them-work

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/28/how-did-you-blow-your-nes-cartridge/

[+asponge]

Blowing-related:

 

http://www.digitpres...-NES-Cartridges

 

http://www.quora.com...-make-them-work

 

http://www.joystiq.c...-nes-cartridge/

 

The first link is correct as to why blowing into a NES cartriage made it "magically" work. It was the moisture or spit, depending on your technic, that made the cart work. The "confirmation bias" theory laid out in the second link is fun, but ultimately inaccurate. As a kid I would purposefully "spit" into the cartriages while I was blowing in order to make them work. Frankly, it did the job every time.

[sqoon]

1. Nintendo intended the NES front loader console to look somewhat like a VCR to be a trojan horse and fool retailers into allowing these into their stores. They did not want small cartridges ala 2600, CV, INTV, because those would be conspicuous and scream "video game". Also, Nintendo always thought ahead with their cartridge based systems, and allowing developers extra room inside the cartridge shells for larger pcb's had its advantages. There were some later cartridges that used at least 2/3 the internal space with larger boards and more chips. Also, some early NES games were Famicom games with converters inside the cartridge. Those needed the extra space as well.

 

2. I think for many, blowing into the cartridge somehow seemed like getting dust or dirt out of the way. I think the end result was more psychological than actual results. If Nintendo was honest from the get go and did not put the warning on the back about not using alcohol to clean the cartridges, everyone would have been better off.

 

3. New pins are only needed in rare cases. In most cases, taking the console apart and running sandpaper and alcohol-soaked toothbrush between the system pins makes it work nicely. There are some where this does not make cleaned cartridges work, and if there is nothing more than a solid pink, blue, or gray screen, then a new connector is needed.

[31336haxx0r]

I aquired a rather dusty 2600 Jr. with cartridges. It didn't work at all, no matter what cart used. Blowing into the 2600 made some carts work. Blowing into the carts made all of them work.

[Arkhan]

like Sqoon mentoined, early NES games had converters in them.

 

If you take a famicom cart, shove a converter into it, and lay it on an NES cart, it is a perfect fit.

 

Also, they're big to fit in the stupid ass front loader, which is one of the dumbest pieces of shit ever made for video games. If it wasn't spring loaded and games just slid in, it'd be way better.

 

 

 

Blowing probably works because the spit flying out of everyones mouth while blowing causes some accidental hoojoo in the machine.