Nintendo Entertainment System

The only video games console i had when i was younger was the good old Atari 2600. However YouTube has got me interested in some of the early consoles so i thought i'd have a look at one of the iconic 8-bit consoles, the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES. Released in our part of the world in 1986 and is credited with helping to restart the US video games industry after the crash in 1983.

I picked this one up on ebay, listed as faulty and with very yellowed plastics, i paid £20 for it with one controller & a power supply.

It was a simple fix to get it working, simply clean the notorious 72 pin cartridge connector. Then it was time to try out the Retrobrite process to restore the yellowed plastics. The picture above is as i received it and below after Retrobrite. There is a video of the process here.

Although it was working the cartridge connector was a bit iffy and as they only cost £8.99 on ebay for a new one i decided to replace it. For anyone who has not seen inside a NES here's some pictures.

Here is that connector which causes all the problems. The bottom half of the connector plugs onto the main PCB and the cartridge plus into the top half.

After doing some research i discovered that there was another official controller for the NES, the so called 'Dogbone' controller. This certainly looked a lot nicer to hold than the standard controller. So after a bit of searching i managed to acquire one from Japan. However this was another item desparately in need of Retrobrite, before and after shorts below.

One final change was to replace the damaged cartridge door. So here is the finished console hooked up and working siting alongside its somewhat newer brother.

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