What causes damage to some of the old game cartridges?

Blowing on the contacts! So many people blew on them and it corroded the contacts. Never, ever do that, lol.
 
Dust and humidity. Oddly enough, i always blew my cartridges and it was always fine, i still have my SNES games working 100%.
 
Laifot said:
Dust and humidity. Oddly enough, i always blew my cartridges and it was always fine, i still have my SNES games working 100%.
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You're lucky in that respect, then. Usually it's just a matter of time when people blow on them.
 
Cam said:
Pre-internet usage days for me, otherwise I would have Googled that back then and known.

Always seemed to do the trick though!
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Brasso and q-tip do the trick so much more efficiently and effectively ;)

But you're right, you don't know what you don't know and I was just as guilty in my younger days of ruining cartridges by blowing into them.
Cedric said:
Some people don't know how to blow without spitting their mouth empty, lol.
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This right here! SOO easy to damage the contacts with spittle/moisture
 
Dust, humidity, and mishandling. I used to blow on the contacts with no problems, so I don't think that causes issues.
 
Laifot said:
Dust and humidity. Oddly enough, i always blew my cartridges and it was always fine, i still have my SNES games working 100%.
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Another factor is time. It's been 30 years since they've made cartridge games. Everything went directly to disc in the 2000's.
 
MrDawn said:
Another factor is time. It's been 30 years since they've made cartridge games. Everything went directly to disc in the 2000's.
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Nintendo 64 did not do that change. Nevertheless, it died out as soon as it was 5 years old. What didn't die was the good ol' game boy! 1989-2003 !! that life span was huge.
 
Tbh, they’re pretty hard to damage, unless you leave them in a very humid environment.

Just a little bit of Brasso, and all of my carts still work.
 
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