Game Boy: How to repair defective games

Martin Jud

14.5.2019

Translation: machine translated

If even blowing no longer helps, you need to find another remedy. With just a few tools, you can bring your broken Game Boy games back to life.

I've been in Game Boy fever for some time now. Even though my soldering and tinkering skills are still in their infancy, I love getting hold of old "broken" consoles, refurbishing them and modifying them with backlighting, Bivert chips and other things if necessary.

In the meantime, I have also managed to infect some of my work colleagues with the fever. That's why I know, for example, what Simon Ballisat's favourite game is: "Gargoyles Quest".

Since I'm buying games for myself anyway and I'm in a good mood, I get him his favourite game without further ado. I really hope he'll be pleased.

Game broken?

When you buy a 29-year-old game, it's always a lottery. Sometimes you're unlucky and the game doesn't work. When you switch on the Game Boy, it looks like this:

We knew how to fix this problem when we were kids: Heedfully blow into the Game Boy cartridge once, then blow into the Game Boy's game slot again and hope that all the contacts are dust-free. This usually helps.

However, in the case of Gargoyle's Quest, this trick is useless. Although the Nintendo logo appears correctly after the blowing action when switching on, it does not continue after that.

If blowing doesn't help, rubbing helps

If there are too many deposits on the contacts of the game, the only thing that helps is cleaning.

To do this, you need the following:

• 3.8 mm security bit screwdriver
• Isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
• Cotton buds

You can get the isopropyl alcohol from a pharmacy. I was lucky and got a litre straight away. I have enough in stock for a while - a thimbleful is usually enough for a game. However, I had to explain what I needed the alcohol for. My colleague Kevin Hofer was less fortunate recently and had to make do with a decilitre. Whether it's because he looks less trustworthy, I can't say. It could also be because he was in a pharmacy in Bern and I was in Zurich.

Once you've got everything you need, open the game cartridge.

As you can see from the dark spots on the contacts, this game has some deposits. These are now being dealt with.

Now dip the cotton swab into the isopropyl alcohol...

..and rub gently, but still with a little pressure, over the contacts of the game.

As you can see, thanks to the rubbing alcohol, the cotton bud picks up the deposits from the contact. Repeat the rubbing process until the cotton buds no longer turn dark in colour. With Simon's Game, this takes around five minutes.

The game should look something like this after editing. Now you can screw the cartridge back together.

Yeah, the good thing is working again! So it can now join Simon's Game Boy, which has its permanent place in the guest toilet. I really hope that the location will be good for the game. Next time he can clean the dirt off it himself. He knows how to do it now.

Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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