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[SD-Ness]

If I'm not mistaken, cartridge games are only playable for several years. Thus, it would be logical to conclude that carts from before the NES era are probably not playable and that stuff after the NES era (SNES, Genesis, N64, etc.) will become unplayable in a couple of years. (Of course, the "life" of your cart is probably determined by how you well you take care of it.)

I'm wondering this because I've been in an "it's time to buy the classic games you missed and play them on their original consoles" mood lately. There are so many games that I want to play for the '90s and late '80s. (I'm not a huge fan of emulators.) Anyway, I was thinking about buying some of these games and then realized that they're all going to die eventually, which makes the purchases kind of pointless.

All games, I assume, will be digitially archived eventually. Virtual Console is the first attempt at this. What do you think?

Perhaps my cash would be better spent on CD games for PS, PS2, GC, XB.

 

[CajoleJuice]

Yea, I read a thread where people were saying that they do die, but after 15 years or so. Most of my NES games still work though. With SNES and Genesis you should be safe for a while, I'd think.

 

[Limedust]

The only thing that usually dies in a cart is the battery backup, if it has one, and for NES/SNES/GB games I believe Nintendo will change them if you send them in.

 

[joelseph]

I was under the impression it only happens to carts with internal clocks?

*edit* beaten!

 

[levious]

they only would die if they're overly exposed to the elements or something. I even have an old Donkey Kong Colecovision cart that's in horrendous shape that still works.

there's no reason to think that your cartridge would just stop working someday, especially if you take care of it.

Only concern would be battery backup on some snes carts.

 

[Lee N]

Perhaps my cash would be better spent on CD games for PS, PS2, GC, XB.

CDs corrode over time.

edit: old thread on the subject:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114304

and wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_rot

 

[davepoobond]

iirc, cartridges use batteries to save your save files. once they die, you can't save anymore...so it kinda defeats the purpose of saving anymore, and unless you can play through a whole game without dying or taking a break, good luck.

 

[radios shipping overview]

CDs will eventually deteriorate and stop working. Same with DVDs. But I don't think you're going to notice a difference between how long your carts last and how long other media does, as long as you take care of it all. Clean the contacts on your cartridges and store them properly to keep them from getting corroded. Back-up batteries tend to die after five to fifteen years, but these can be replaced. If it's a non-Nintendo cartridge, you'll have to open up the cart and replace the battery yourself. It can be a bit of a pain, but if you have any experience with a soldering iron, it's not too hard.

 

[bob_arctor]

You mean die as in the internal battery dies or die as in it becomes some sort of liquified goo at a certain date? If it's battery, there's plenty of faqs to show you how to replace 'em. So far my SNES collection is fine and my sister's beat-up NES Zelda still saves as well.

 

[Ynos Yrros]

Every data storage "dies" after some time. BD-R discs are best public available storage devices in that case, as they can hold data for around 50 years.

 

[Corwood Rep]

Does it really matter anymore with the widespread distribution of ROMs, though?

 

[Kobiekun]

iirc, cartridges use batteries to save your save files. once they die, you can't save anymore...so it kinda defeats the purpose of saving anymore, and unless you can play through a whole game without dying or taking a break, good luck.

The batteries in the majority of game cartridges can be replaced with basic screwdriver skills and in Nintendo's case, a triangle-head screwdriver.

Does it really matter anymore with the widespread distribution of ROMs, though?

Yes it does.

 

[aku:jiki]

Virtual Console is the first attempt at this.

It is? 15 years of ROM dumping, classics collections for every console known to man and Live Arcade totally had me fooled. I feel like a chump.

 

[TheCardPlayer]

Holy crap. When I was little, I used to rent Breath Of Fire and it would never save my game...



The mystery is solved.

 

[Beer Monkey]

A small amount of old cartridge games used EPROMs instead of masked ROMS, and those can die. I used to open a lot of 2600 cartridges and you do see the occasional EPROM.

Newer homebrew/indie releases can have the same problem. Battlesphere for the Jaguar is on EPROM. If you aren't doing a huge run, making masked ROMS isn't feasible.

Note that this has nothing to do with game saves on NES/SMS cartridges and the like, that's another whole issue.

 

[Ikaris]

The answer to all your problems:

http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/blowme/

 

[Lee N]

The answer to all your problems:

http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/blowme/

Blowing into cartridges is incredibly stupid as moist actually increases the oxidation. It might work for the moment but it will get worse over time.

I still have my original NES with lots of games and it still works perfectly, I've never had to blow into it or the cartridges.

Some games might need cleaning, but blowing into them will not make it better.

 

[MoxManiac]

Just wanted to point out that the lifespan of commercially pressed discs is far longer than recordable media of the same kind; I think commercially pressed discs concievably have a lifespan of 70-100 years or more if properly taken care of (no extreme temps or humidity)

The only thing that usually dies in a cart is the battery backup, if it has one, and for NES/SNES/GB games I believe Nintendo will change them if you send them in.

It's a fairly simple soldering task if you want to do it yourself. Although if you ever want to send it to Nintendo (or whoever) and they can see that it's been tampered with, they may not touch it.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I don't see why they would "die" after a specified amount of time. I can see the contacts getting oxidized and then having shitty conductance as a result. If you take care of them, they should last a very long time. And I would think you could replace the battery in them if you can open the cart.

 

[oBa]

If I'm not mistaken, cartridge games are only playable for several years.

Someone should inform my working collection of Atari 2600, 5200, Coleco, and Intellivision carts to stop working pronto then!

 

[radios shipping overview]

The answer to all your problems:

http://www.bustedtees.com/shirt/blowme/

No.

+

 

[the year 20XX]

BD-R discs are best public available storage devices in that case, as they can hold data for around 50 years.

We'll see in a year.

edit: what's the deal with arcade boards dying? I've heard a little about that before.

 

[borghe]

only carts that rely on batteries have a chance of going.. and even then it is just the battery. so carts with clocks or battery backed up memory. NVRAM/EEPROM carts in theory will eventually no longer be able to save, but PSOne mem cards and all SNES/Gen games that use that are still fine.

the game cartridges themselves will be able to play until they eventually corrode/oxidize.. which should be decades. it is just the ability to save we are talking about here. battery backed up systems can just have the battery replaced.. nvram/eeprom systems are screwed unless you know how to surface mount new chips.

 

[Lee N]

No.

+

jiji speaks the truth.

 

[TheIkariWarrior]

aside from battery backup, cartridge based consoles and cartridged based games last longer than disc based games/consoles. discs get scratched easily and the consoles break down.


my Atari 7800, Master System and games all work fine. my battery on Phantasy Star only died a few years ago (2003-2004?) and I had that game since 1990, it came out in 1988.


for the NEXT generation of consoles, I so badly want the industry to ditch optical disc drives and optical disc media. no I do NOT want games to be downloads, i want physical copies. what I want is something solid state that's FAST and that LASTS.

even though I take good care of my CD and DVD based games, they still end up with scratches and the consoles you play them on eventually die.


and so ends my mini rant.

 

[flammie]

Only the batteries and the exposed contacts should have any issues over time. The ROM should last as long as a CD/DVD.

 

[Tritroid]

Well the batteries in Zelda 1 still work fine, or at least mine does, and it was the first cartridge to use battery saves. So when those start dying, the other cartridges will probably follow in succession.

 

[MoxManiac]

aside from battery backup, cartridge based consoles and cartridged based games last longer than disc based games/consoles. discs get scratched easily and the consoles break down.


my Atari 7800, Master System and games all work fine. my battery on Phantasy Star only died a few years ago (2003-2004?) and I had that game since 1990, it came out in 1988.


for the NEXT generation of consoles, I so badly want the industry to ditch optical disc drives and optical disc media. no I do NOT want games to be downloads, i want physical copies. what I want is something solid state that's FAST and that LASTS.

even though I take good care of my CD and DVD based games, they still end up with scratches and the consoles you play them on eventually die.


and so ends my mini rant.

Unless they develop a radically new technology, solid state memory will always be way behind the curve compare to optical media in cost/size. It just isn't feasible.

 

[jaypah]

the 2600 games still work fine so if they do die it'll take ass long time.

 

[Yoshi]

aside from battery backup, cartridge based consoles and cartridged based games last longer than disc based games/consoles. discs get scratched easily and the consoles break down.


my Atari 7800, Master System and games all work fine. my battery on Phantasy Star only died a few years ago (2003-2004?) and I had that game since 1990, it came out in 1988.


for the NEXT generation of consoles, I so badly want the industry to ditch optical disc drives and optical disc media. no I do NOT want games to be downloads, i want physical copies. what I want is something solid state that's FAST and that LASTS.

even though I take good care of my CD and DVD based games, they still end up with scratches and the consoles you play them on eventually die.


and so ends my mini rant.

Take care of your games. No CD/DVD based game I own is scratched...

 

[Angelcurio]

My Ninja Gaiden 2 and Megaman 3 nes cartridges are still kicking butt

But the "Polystation" where i used to play them died a long time ago. It belonged to one of my neighboors that was actually expecting a playstation as a gift :lol

 

[Parch]

I'm not a big fan of optical media either because of their fragility. Cartriges can take a huge amount of abuse and still work. Discs are much more fragile. If you take care and "baby" your discs they will continue to work fine, but it's not always up to you.

If you buy used, it is much more likely that a disc game will be DOA compared to a cartidge game. If it's a rental, it's almost assured that a disc will be scratched. It's not just poor care, sometimes a console can scratch or even destroy a disc. I've never heard of a console damaging a cartridge game.

 

[Beer Monkey]

the 2600 games still work fine so if they do die it'll take ass long time.

Got a Tron Deadly Discs? Reactor? Gangster Alley? A fair amount of those are dead because they mostly used EPROMs instead of masked ROMs.

And beware if you collect protos.

But yeah, most will be OK, because most used masked ROMs instead of EPROMs.

(not to be confused with EEPROM game save cartridges, totally different thing!)

 

[speculawyer]

carts with battery back-up will die after a few years.

carts with flash memory will die after enough uses.

But plain old ROM carts should last a long long time.

IMHO.

 

[Schnicktick]

a triangle-head screwdriver.

Where do you get them? A pal is looking for one since he needs to drain some water from inside his DS.

 

[Kobiekun]

Where do you get them? A pal is looking for one since he needs to drain some water from inside his DS.

It's been a long time since I ordered mine for NES carts. The drivers themselves are commonly referred to as Gamebits or Triwings (not sure if these are two distinct heads, or two names for the same thing). Feed either of those terms into Google and you're sure to find what your friend needs.

 

[Koren]

Where do you get them? A pal is looking for one since he needs to drain some water from inside his DS.

I got mine on Lik-sang

But I think you can find them in other shops, like Play-Asia.

Edit : Yep !
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-19-49-en-15-screwdriver.html

 

[Tain]

Half of the time I start to play an old cartridge game on an actual system, I wind up wishing I played it through an emulator anyway. Way better image and no worry about losing save data, let alone other dirty cart problems.

Spoiler

Goddamn Super Metroid and FF6.

 

[btrboyev]

my original zelda cartridge from 87 still allows me to save...

 

[BocoDragon]

Half of the time I start to play an old cartridge game on an actual system, I wind up wishing I played it through an emulator anyway. Way better image and no worry about losing save data, let alone other dirty cart problems.

Spoiler

Goddamn Super Metroid and FF6.

Yeah... I'm used to playing emulators on a Media Center PC, and going back and playing games on an actual SNES with S-video was surprisingly disappointing.

Anyway, if you're playing a cart game picture quality shouldn't really be a concern.

 

[Thaedolus]

Half of the time I start to play an old cartridge game on an actual system, I wind up wishing I played it through an emulator anyway. Way better image and no worry about losing save data, let alone other dirty cart problems.

Spoiler

Goddamn Super Metroid and FF6.

That's weird, Super Metroid and FF6 still work for me. And I've played Super Metroid more than any other battery game I have.

BTW, my Zelda 1 and 2, as well as Final Fantasy still work. I wonder what conditions accelerate battery loss?

 

[dbish]

My copy of Zelda I I bought used just had the battery die about a month ago (when I was in the last dungeon too, SAD!). So I guess it's only a matter of time before the other batteries start dying (Yoshi's Island...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!).

But the games themselves work fine. Unlike my Xbox. Screw disk based systems.

 

[Tain]

I lost my Super Metroid save right before 100% completion. It's not a long game, though, so I should probably finish that some day. The battery probably works, but that wasn't the first time I've lost data.

Also, my FF3 cartridge, no matter how much cleaning is done, and no matter the SNES, gives crazy vertical lines all over the place. It usually happens after a few minutes of play, strangely enough.

maybe someone's pissing in these things when I'm not looking or something.

 

[GoutPatrol]

Half of the time I start to play an old cartridge game on an actual system, I wind up wishing I played it through an emulator anyway. Way better image and no worry about losing save data, let alone other dirty cart problems.

Spoiler

Goddamn Super Metroid and FF6.

My Super Metroid cartridge died about 5 years ago, while my FF6 one works fine.

I haven't played my Intellivision games in a few years, but they all worked then.

 

[BocoDragon]

I'm pretty sure 9/10 problems with old cartridge games can be fixed with a new pin connector.

Even losing the game saves.. I believe they tend to get wiped when the game isn't seated properly when turned on, or becomes unseated when powered. A new snug connector would fix this. (or a new battery, if it isn't saving at all)

This is very simple stuff to fix folks.

 

[ShowDog]

The battery in my FF6 is toast. I've had to use all three save slots for the same save over the years to ensure my level 99 mega cast of characters don't get wiped out, but at one point I did save inside Kefka's fortress. Unfortunately, that is the only save that survived, the other two slots were wiped out. I will never be able to venture into the outside world again! I would love to replace the battery in the game but it looks like a pain in the ass, they're soldered in unfortunately. I may try it soon though, because I just discovered I do have the necessary tool to open the cartridge.

My Super Mario World battery is pretty much useless as well, taking the game out of the system will delete all the files. I'm pretty sure my Super Metroid works though.

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

I've never had much problem with cartridges, the usual blow works.

I've got a few Saturn games that are pretty much gone though, I have to smear ear wax and anal grease on them to get them working.

 

[Tain]

This is very simple stuff to fix folks.

It's also very simple to emulate and get better image quality and have a more compact game playing area, though, so I'm not gonna bother. Unless someone wants to make/give me a SNES to BNC RGB cable.

 

[Sapiens]

Sorry, but most cartridge based systems have copper connectors, which, over time, will degrade.

The move you use them, the worse it will get.

I've heard that a cart game should last about 25 years or so.

In the case of TG16/PCE, where they used gold connectors, your mileage may varry.

So, youre considering pending a bucket of cash on Neo Geo home carts, it wouldnt be a wise investment.

Not that I advocate the open distribution of illegally dumped roms, but thank god for their existance.

 

[Shard]

CDs corrode over time.

edit: old thread on the subject:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=114304

and wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD_rot

Entropy, you just gotta loathe it.