How did you blow your NES cartridge?

by Alexander Sliwinski { Oct 28th 2006 at 9:30PM }

Gamers from the first Nintendo era know all about blowing that NES cartridge. There was something stupidly magical about blowing the cartridge and suddenly it all worked. For those too young, here's a quick breakdown: Before PlayStation and Super Nintendo -- there was the NES, which universally had an issue that you'd stick in a game and get a blank or messed-up screen. Then you'd proceed to take out the cartridge and using various blowing techniques get the thing to work again.

Beyond1nfinite has written about various techniques he recalls from the "old skool." We certainly recall "The Harmonica Blower," who would blow into the cartridge like it was a harmonica and get spittle on the insides. Another one that brought back memories was "The Banger," who wouldn't blow, but just bang the cartridge, although can't remember that ever working. The most frighting one on the list is "The Alcoholic." Did people really ever put alcohol on a Q-tip to clean their cartridge? That just sounds like crazy talk.

Anyway, the protocol around here was to blow and then follow it up by putting the cartridge almost all the way in. Then press down and make the cartridge pop in the rest of the way. Worked every time. Anybody remember other techniques?

Tags: blow, NES, nintendo entertainment system

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

Jason @ Oct 28th 2006 9:36PM

Yeah...the general blow from left to right usually worked...also blowing into the actual NES tended to help the situation out.

Blow from left to right...then a quick blast to remove any remaining dust. Because lets get real those black plastic covers...they just never worked or I never used them.

Great memories...shame I sold my NES for $10 back in 1994. Dammit.

arronx @ Oct 28th 2006 9:38PM

sometimes if you would push the game a little to the left or right after blowing in it would work too

Jay6x6 @ Oct 28th 2006 9:39PM

Had to stuff a 2nd cartridge in to keep the contact tight, & yes alcohol worked good for cleanin'...

nonesuch @ Oct 28th 2006 9:39PM

After you blow out your cartridge and insert it, hold it down and stuff another cartridge on top of it. This holds the first cartridge down onto the contacts when they wear out.

jacob @ Oct 28th 2006 9:42PM

use your teenage mutant ninja turtles T-shirt as a filter while blowing. the true magic trick to all (s)nes problems.

Crazylink @ Oct 28th 2006 9:40PM

What do you mean before SNES? It had the same problem.

Kye @ Oct 28th 2006 9:50PM

I agree with the Joystiq protocol, however at my house we pushed it in almost all the way, then diagonally down and in.

I can also confirm that the alcoholic method did actually work.

Oh the many asthma attacks! - Great memories :)

potato @ Oct 28th 2006 9:42PM

umm I did that with a snes and I did harmonica but I did use alcohol as well.

David @ Oct 28th 2006 9:44PM

"Did people really ever put alcohol on a Q-tip to clean their cartridge? That just sounds like crazy talk."

You call yourself a gamer? Nintendo even had a cleaning kit that would have a foam "q-tip" and alcohol. It works well. I used the "left to right" blow, with the final blast blow. Then if that doesn't work then use the alcohol. It's also how I got several dates. :)

suicidesnowman @ Oct 28th 2006 9:51PM

Awesome...I've used all four techniques before; but the final touch on my NES was to insert the cart all the way to the left, press down to seat it and then smack the NES as hard as I could on the left side to slide the cart to the right. Ninja Gaiden was worth the extra work you had to coax from a NES...

Bravado @ Oct 28th 2006 9:50PM

Used to have similar techniques for my 64 too. I always hated blowing in the system too but it attracted dust pretty hardcore.

lordroba @ Oct 28th 2006 10:02PM

If I got the flashing blue screen, I would do the harmonica blow, then if that it still didn't work while the cartridge was in, I would put my finger in between the wedge at the top and jiggle it back and forth a few times while holding the reset button. If it still didn't work I would repeat the same process, but also blow inside the system too. This wasn't a very good idea with games that saved though. I once had a Final Fantasy file where I had just beaten the sky tower. I used this technique, and to my horror, my save file got erased :(

Slashbunny @ Oct 28th 2006 9:52PM

Blowing on cartridges puts moisture from your breath on the contacts and corrodes them over time. There was nothing wrong with the cartridges to begin with, assuming they weren't extremely dirty- and blowing isn't going to help in that case. It was the connectors in the NES which became worn and separated. The cartridge connector slides between two of the NES' connectors, which are stationary. When you push the cartridge down, it makes contact with the NES' connectors. Over time, these get worn and aren't as "springy" anymore, and contact is never made. The Famicom and NES2 don't have this problem, obviously. The reason Nintendo did it for the NES was because they thought the American audience wanted a more "professional" looking device, and not a "toy".

Why did blowing work then? Good question. Maybe the moisture from your breath bridged the connection between the cartridge and NES? Maybe it did nothing and you just needed to seat the cartridge a different way since the connectors were worn? Regardless, you are only doing damage, even if it "works".

Tull @ Oct 28th 2006 9:53PM

All the way up to Sega Genesis I've used the same technique. Take a deep breath, position the cartridge at about 45 degrees from your mouth, blow as hard as you can. I never moved the cartridge from left to right, and its always worked. =D

Crosswayboy @ Oct 28th 2006 9:53PM

If the left to right blow failed to work then a few good hits o' the reset button usually did the trick.

Or sometimes a simple blow from the right or left side would be required and would also go a ways to protect those circuitboards from unwanted spittle.

KR @ Oct 29th 2006 12:18PM

aaahh yes... first you would proceed in using a shirt and cover the opening to where you were gonna blow... sometimes even licking the shirt to moisten it...

Wiggling the cartridge inside the nes while switching it on and off sometimes got it...

and finally the worst and dumbest... leaving the cartridge in the freezer for a couple of minutes (I swear)...

all techniques did not garuantee success but that is pretty much the order I followed!

Chris Lawton @ Oct 28th 2006 9:59PM

I held the cartridge vertically and did a quick blow from bottom to top. That was just for good measure, though, because if you really wanted the game to work, you stuck the cartridge just far enough in to where you could press it down. Sometimes the edge of the cart would snag on the edge of console and you'd hear a sound like plastic breaking. If you heard that, you knew you did it right.

Of course, at one point, my brother and I opened it up and physically bent the connectors in the console down. It made it harder than hell to put the cartridge in, but it worked every time.

Corpsegrinder @ Oct 28th 2006 10:01PM

I used the blowing technique, sometimes through a tshirt. I also used the alchohol trick. Another technique I used was to hold down the reset button while pushing the power button. Anyone ever hear of that trick?

Thomas @ Oct 28th 2006 10:01PM

I started with blowing.. Blow the Cart, then inside the unit.. That all stopped when I got one of those Carts with a handle that was a cleaning kit.. It was either red or orange and had a clear door where the label would be.. Inside that contained swabs for cleaning Carts and a lil bottle of Alcohol.. *not the drinkin kind btw, same stuff you used to clean cassette decks* Also the Cart itself was used for cleaning the NES..

JPRacer @ Oct 28th 2006 10:01PM

Used the blow technique until my dad showed me the alcohol one.

hyperion @ Oct 28th 2006 10:03PM

the harmonica blow combined with a piece of paper to hold the cartridge down was a personal favorite. if that didnt work, it was broken tooth pick time

Aughndibi @ Oct 28th 2006 10:11PM

I can admit to trying every one of these except for the temperature sensitive thing. Alcohol and Q-tips usually seemed to work the best.

Papa Slick @ Oct 28th 2006 10:14PM

I used "the harmonica" with nearly perfect result. I also used a technique that incvolved pushing the actual cartridge deeper into its casing before shoving the the game into the system that was the last resort fix. If that failed, then it was just just destined to not work in the nes anymore. Twice the above methods failed, keeping me from finishing final fanatasy. Fie on you, finnicky nintendo gods!

Sam @ Oct 28th 2006 10:16PM

I remember blowing on the cartridge, blowing into the Nintendo, and doing the "insert cartridge almost all the way in" thing.

Dan @ Oct 28th 2006 10:30PM

I had one of those cleaning kits with alchohol and foam swabs. I think I got it at a garage sale. It was kind of annoying to bother with that every time a game didn't work, though, so I'd use the harmonica technique first.

Kind of off-topic, but this remindss me; when did people stop selling their old games at garage sales? That used to be a great way to pick up some old gems.

lumpdeez @ Oct 29th 2006 6:13PM

My friend used to blow into the cart then follow up by licking it. I never let him borrow any of my games.

Mabui @ Oct 28th 2006 10:42PM

Yeah, I'd blow it, you start a little slow at first, moving up and down, and a little bit side to side, than you work on the slot some, nudging it open and working good on the inside before you stick it in....

Well, that little joke just ruined all my child hood memories of gaming.. :/

otakucode @ Oct 28th 2006 10:21PM

I spent many a while blowing in cartridges... maybe that's why I can hold my breath for so long now... But I also had a couple cleaner kit things near the end. Swabs with alcohol, and also a thing that was like a fake cart with a white plastic (or some material) edge instead of contacts. It frequently came out dirty after putting it in the NES and pulling it out.

Nowadays, when my NES starts to act up (what, you don't still play a real NES on a tube TV only used for old game systems?) I just buy a new part for the NES. You can get all sorts of repair stuff for cheap off of eBay. The metal part that the cart connects into inside of the NES is easily replaceable. For carts like Zelda and such, you can also get replacement batteries for inside the carts.

eppyjerk @ Oct 28th 2006 10:23PM

Sure there was the blow. We also place the catridge in, pushed it all the way to the right and pushed down while pushing right. But what I find fascinating is the fact that this happened to everyone, not just the kids in my circle and gradeschool.

DsDude @ Oct 28th 2006 10:31PM

"The Nintendo Blowjob"... lol...

Awesome pic...

Reapz @ Oct 29th 2006 1:31AM

My final step, after blowing failed, was to insert the cartridge in far enough that the top end (the bit you hold) overhung the outside of the NES by just a little bit; so it wasn't all the way IN the NES loading bay.

Then push down and the end of the cartridge clips the NES and slots itself in. Hard to explain but it works. It looks like you'll damage the cartridge but it doesn't, and it is (as a last resort) a good way of making it work.

cyberyang @ Oct 28th 2006 10:33PM

Good article.
This really brings back some good memories.

Jonn @ Oct 28th 2006 10:35PM

I'm too young to have to do the NintenBlow. Not on home systems, anyway.

Turo @ Oct 28th 2006 10:38PM

yeah i also used the "harmonica" and the "alcoholic". but when i would insert the cartridge, i gently set on top of where it would be in place without actually being in all the way, and then i would snap it in. However, making sure that it didnt rub up against any side too much helped a ton. it had to go in perfectly and be an even, snug fit all the way around. And it could only be done one way, the blow then snapping it in. If it didnt work on the first try, then i had to start allll over again lol. Man those were they days...:D

K2Valor @ Oct 28th 2006 10:39PM

Put your shirt over the blowing area to prevent spit from entering the electronic area, and then blow into your shirt.
All spit gets trapped in the shirt, and dust is cleaned off.

Obviously the best way

Iced_Eagle @ Oct 28th 2006 10:42PM

I put my t-shirt over the catridge and then did the "harmonica" so it wouldn't get any spit in there. I also then blew the console.

I blew my console fairly regularly ;) *nudge nudge*

zymman @ Oct 28th 2006 10:42PM

Yeah, harmonica blow, nes cleaning kit and all that. At least that problem wasn't as annoying (in the long run) as the limited life batteries in some cartriges like Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. Nothings more obnoxious than having a game become useless because your save will become erased as soon as you turn the system off.

Ryan G. @ Oct 28th 2006 10:44PM

Yeah, I did the harmonica blow if the game dosen't work. However, if it didn't work after that, I used to put my games in my freezer for about ten minutes, then it worked just fine after that.

rokobungi @ Oct 28th 2006 10:46PM

finger across the contacts if that didn't work then
alcohol and q-tips

plus I always put the cartridge in pressed it down and then you slide the cart back to the very front worked every time.. even on my old secondhand (part melted!!) ZELDA 1

Blue Sam @ Oct 29th 2006 12:09AM

I been told that blow is stupid and cause some green stuff grow on metal strip.

The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 28th 2006 11:03PM

1. You guys who blew in your NES carts were pretty foolish. Blowing into them is what made them hard to read, as your breath was full of moisture (spit) and it was corroding the contacts.

2. NAKI and several other companies sold cleaning kits that worked like a charm. A little cleaning solution (similar to the alcohol-based solution used for eyeglasses) and a cleaning wand, and the cart worked like a charm. Hell, even my Atari 2600 carts originally purchased in 1978 are still going strong because of the same maintenance.

3. Remind me not to buy your used NES carts on eBay. They're probably a mess because you never bothered to learn how to care for them.

4. I'm sure you were all kids, and just didn't know better. Still, blowing on the NES carts is like rubbing your DVDs/CDs with your dry shirt, in circles instead of inside to outside. The lesson? LEARN TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR STUFF and it will work for a very long time.

The ZeroCorpse @ Oct 28th 2006 11:04PM

erg. "Like a charm" twice. Sorry. Bad use of cliche. Penalty flag!

Tablis Runed @ Nov 8th 2006 8:47AM

used to blow till i picked up a game genie then i never had problems again

socrates @ Oct 28th 2006 11:13PM

@Slashbunny #12 -

Hey Snooty McIKnowStuff - The point is that the cartridges would get f*cked up anyways (not like we'd blow on them just for fun), and these techniques would allow us to use them after this happened. So thanks for the haughty lesson on how something that we used to do 15 years ago might not have been perfectly theoretically sound. It got the job done. And when the descendent of Ederick the Great needs to level up to get the spell Firemost, someone's gotta step up.

Charlie Smith @ Oct 28th 2006 11:14PM

I retired the blow technique when I realized that if you put the cartridge in a Game Genie the connection worked every time. Still, the blow held greater romantic appeal.

velcrocore @ Oct 28th 2006 11:16PM

Best technique ever:

Game Genie.

Put that between your NES and your cartridge, and your worst game will work every time!

Roxinos @ Oct 28th 2006 11:17PM

I did several things.

1) I licked the cartridge.
2) I blew on it as hard as I could (when I saw stars, I knew I was doin' it right).
3) I put it in the way you said, not all the way, then pushing down to force it the rest of the way in.

Sometimes instead of a constant left-to-right blow, I did an alternating blow from left-to-right.