Quote Originally Posted by Metalwario64 View Post
That could be a problem, though I'm pretty sure it doesn't relate to yours.

I strongly advise against using polish to "clean" cartridges. Polishes are abrasives that wear down slight layers of the surface their intended for away to buff out scratches and other dinks. Using that on the thinly plated cartridge contacts can strip that gold plating away, exposing the raw (nickle?) contacts, which can cause more harm than good, such as hastened oxidation. I imagine overuse of Brasso could even wear down the contacts themselves.

Just stick with alcohol for standard cleaning, and use erasers to clear away thicker grit and dirt on the contacts. I'd only recommend polish for extremely oxidized and damaged contacts, but even then, it's not to different from using extremely fine sandpaper. In fact extremely fine sandpaper might not quite be as damaging as Brasso.

It's disheartening seeing so many videos and "tutorials" recommending Brasso to clean your contacts with, not knowing that it's damaging these games that aren't being produced anymore. It seems more and more I see or hear about people using Brasso on their games, and it makes me cautious about buying used games that might have worn contacts from a seller who didn't know how to clean the games properly.
Wrong!

Different polishes have different levels of abrasion. Also, the contacts are not plated in gold. At least that's the general consensus. Now, I've had ISO (rubbing alcohol) be ineffective at cleaning many games. I've cleaned ALL my cartridge based games using metal polish and as long as I take care of them correctly, I shouldn't ever have to again. Also, polish is nowhere near the same level of abrasion as using fine grit sandpaper. Now, I've never used Brasso. I use a polish from the Nintendo Repair shop. It's very thin and it works great. What's disheartening is people making claims against a process without any proof. And anyone that would claim that ANY grit of sandpaper might not be as damaging as polish, well I would say their OPINION is very suspect as they obviously don't know much. If you're going to make these claims, I suggest you post proof that Brasso is actually causing the failure of a game. Also, as I said, not all polishes are the same. Some polishes are meant for certain metals. In Brasso's case, brass. Also, pencil erasers? I bet you think using WD-40 is a great idea too?

All of my games work and they've all been cleaned using polish. In fact, my NES game all work first time, every time since cleaning them. When before they had a lot of problems working. Also, the NES is untouched internally since the day it was opened for Toys R' Us. It hasn't even been cleaned. Here's some picture evidence of a copy of Megaman 2 which had some heavy corrosion and it required a lot of pressure, and two passes to get it off. From looking at them, the so called "gold" is still there.