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Intellivision 1 Nintendo 0


Sir Jay

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So I bought a Nintendo so I could play some of the games I had as a kid with my son. Most of the games would play with some effort, but not all of them, so I replaced the 72 pin connector. Even after that, I still have to work quite hard to get the games to work. With my childhood intellivision all I have to do is stick the cart in and maybe wiggle it a little or pull it out slightly. One more reason I love the Intellivision most.

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So I bought a Nintendo so I could play some of the games I had as a kid with my son. Most of the games would play with some effort, but not all of them, so I replaced the 72 pin connector. Even after that, I still have to work quite hard to get the games to work. With my childhood intellivision all I have to do is stick the cart in and maybe wiggle it a little or pull it out slightly. One more reason I love the Intellivision most.

Yep the plight of the toaster lol, it is just a terrible mechanical design. I bought a new 72 pin myself for diagnostic purposes on a faulty unit, didn't help and I hear the quality isn't quite as good as the originals jsyk.

 

I have the same advice about cleaning carts too. If you want to get hardcore with cleaning get a security bit to open the carts so you aren't coming at it through a narrow hole. With the board loose you can do all kinds of things with ease.

 

If you still have the original 72-pin you could try tightening it up with a safety pin or something equally small to bend the pins back a little till it grips the carts more. Also wiggle techniques work on NES too.

 

My only gripe with the Intellivision cart hole is how tight it is since it scrapes the cart shells, been thinking about taking a small grit file to it to make it a little wider.

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I lucked out and found a NES with a really good original connector that works just about every time.

 

I heard in the past that the quality of the aftermarket replacement connectors is inferior to the original, they can be very tight/stiff for example. Is this still the case?

 

Depends on the quality of the generic replacement. You are correct that most are tight fits.

 

Also, there is the Blinking Light Win, a high quality replacement connector that works so well because it doesn't require you to push the cartridge down.

https://www.arcadeworks.net/blw

Edited by KreatorKat
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I've definitely used q-tips and alcohol and cleaned all the games and the board where it connects with the 72 pin. The new 72 pin connector is definitely tighter, but that is the point, right? I have a twenty games and have been able to play them all, but it just seems like a lot of work compared to my intellivision. It really makes me appreciate the ease of the Inty cartridge port. A little wiggle and you are all set. Seems like Nintendo could have at least matched 10-15 year old technology. Although, to be fair, I don't remember having all this trouble as a kid.

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Ironically, I find the Intellivision to be generally the worst of the pre-crash systems. It's a lot more finicky than the 2600, O2, Colecovision, etc.

 

But yes. Nothing beats the NES for sheer amount of work just to play a game. It's not just the ZIF design, either. The original Famicom generally requires a shit-load of Q-tip+alcohol cleaning for most carts. It's just a really, really sensitive system when it comes to successfully loading carts.

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When they dont work is it a solid screen or a blinking screen with a blinking power light? If it is blinking then there is a pin on the security chip inside the nes to permanently fix that.

Sometimes it's blinky-blinky, sometimes it's garbled graphics, but you are right disabling the region lockout chip can help.

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Depends on the quality of the generic replacement. You are correct that most are tight fits.

 

Also, there is the Blinking Light Win, a high quality replacement connector that works so well because it doesn't require you to push the cartridge down.

https://www.arcadeworks.net/blw

But I like pushing the cartridge down, that's part of the nostalgia. The idea of the 72 pin connector was that it was a type of ZIF or low insertion force connector, and pushing the cartridge down clamps down the connector pins.

 

I have seen people try to revive original connectors by bending all the pins in a little or boiling the connector in water with varying degrees of success.

Edited by HunterZero
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Depends on the quality of the generic replacement. You are correct that most are tight fits.

 

Also, there is the Blinking Light Win, a high quality replacement connector that works so well because it doesn't require you to push the cartridge down.

https://www.arcadeworks.net/blw

 

I have this. It is the way to go. Not only is it a better pin connector, it bypasses the lockout chip. But you should still clean those games good. I take mine apart and clean them good.

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I believe it is a blinking/ flashing green screen. If I see garbled letters and symbols that tells me I am close to getting it to work. I don't love taking the time to get games to work, but I am also cheap, so I would rather spend more money on games, not stuff to make it work better. But, I might pick up a game genie if I can find one cheap. I also need to get a security screw driver, so I can open the games to clean them even better; although, I don't think this is part of the problem at all because I have worked them over with a q-tip really well. Mostly, I am just amazed how the Inty works easier than a system that is ten years younger. I have not heard of the lock out chip or pin, I will have to YouTube that and see what that is all about.

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