How to Clean Nintendo Entertainment System Cartridges
Tools
These are some common tools used to work on this device. You might not need every tool for every procedure.
Background
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES-001) is an 8-bit game console released by Nintendo in 1985 and discontinued in 1995.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was the best-selling console of its time and developed the business model of software licensing for third-party developers, which prohibited companies from selling games unless they were licensed by Nintendo.
Companies like Konami, Tecmo, Taito, Enix, and Square developed a large portion of the games for the NES. The Nintendo gave birth to many popular game series, such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man, Metroid, Dragon Quest, and Final Fantasy.
The most often replaced NES parts include the power/reset button and connectors, accessory port cover, game cartridge tray, and controller port.
Identification
In most of Asia, the NES (Model No: NES-001) was released as the Famicom. The differences between the exteriors are rather obvious, as the NES has a front-loading cartridge slot while the Famicom has a top-loading slot. A new model was released in 1993 in the United States, known as NES-101 or NES 2.
This new model was exactly the same as the original, it just had a "new look," including the same color scheme, but a red power switch instead of a power button. The NES 2 also used a top-loading cartridge slot, which gave it the nickname "top loader." It also lacks the Lockout chip found in the original NES and removed the RCA jacks.
Troubleshooting
You can find a number of hardware problems using the Nintendo Entertainment System troubleshooting guide.