What retro things have you done today?

Alexrose1uk said:
Looks awesome for what it is!
My big retro thing for the week was I unpacked all my SNES stuff the other day and cleaned it all with IPA. Took me hours as you'd probably expect of scrubbing to remove the years of dirt, permanent marker name tags on the top, general grime etc, most of the cartridges have discoloured at this point and some have stains in the plastic itself, but everything looks better and fresher and less grimy than it did, and I given the grime off the contacts, I can't help but think they should read better. All 44 games worth of it :)

The downside was I went to test everything at the end of the day, I'd already sourced a TV with the appropriate connectors, only for my chinese aftermarket PSU to go pop almost immediately on powering up the console, so I've had to order another one before I can go through and retest everything. The PSU went pop pretty immediately so it was obviously on the edge after multiple years in storage, I doubt it's damaged anything, but still bloody annoying. On the plus side before the pop, the TV did switch into RGB SCART rather than SVideo mode, so it confirms at least one of the cables I had WAS an RGB SCART cable :)

What I will do when the new PSU comes as well, as this gave me time to think about it, is I'll use one of my cheapest cartridges as a cartridge slot cleaning tool to get some IPA into the actual cartridge slot in the console. Now I've seen the dirt off the carts, I can't imagine it won't help the console too (not sopping wet but a nicely IPA damp/wet connector into the cartridge slot 10-15 times to break down any gunk) and then let it dry before testing the machine and all the games :)
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You can buy cartridge cleaners. I'd probably try a toothbrush with IPA or an old credit card wrapped.
 
I have Rise of the Robots. The credit card is probably worth more even expired :D

I did give it a wipe with a IPA dunked earbud the other day, but I didn't go at it as I didn't want fibres to come off. I have an old toothbrush head that is soon to expire I might clean and try giving a go with IPA, I'd just be worried about bits of it coming off. I'd consider a cartridge cleaner if I was working on multiple consoles or feel like I'd need to do this regularly but feels like a good one off clean should sort it for quite some time.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
I have Rise of the Robots. The credit card is probably worth more even expired :D

I did give it a wipe with a IPA dunked earbud the other day, but I didn't go at it as I didn't want fibres to come off. I have an old toothbrush head that is soon to expire I might clean and try giving a go with IPA, I'd just be worried about bits of it coming off. I'd consider a cartridge cleaner if I was working on multiple consoles or feel like I'd need to do this regularly but feels like a good one off clean should sort it for quite some time.
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Just buy a toothbrush, they're like a quid :p.
 
In all honesty I'm just joking, pretty sure I've got a spare one around, just wasn't sure it was the best method given the risk of bristles coming off, and figured using a very low value cart was a better choice. :)

I'm looking forward to the new PSU coming so I can go and test it all TBH. Before everything went away, everything worked perfectly, but that was a few years now, so I want to check every game, and a bit of extra time on the games where I need to test the save battery.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
In all honesty I'm just joking, pretty sure I've got a spare one around, just wasn't sure it was the best method given the risk of bristles coming off, and figured using a very low value cart was a better choice. :)

I'm looking forward to the new PSU coming so I can go and test it all TBH. Before everything went away, everything worked perfectly, but that was a few years now, so I want to check every game, and a bit of extra time on the games where I need to test the save battery.
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lol. I'm sure you'll be able to get the bristles out with some canned air or something. I don't know if firm would be best?

What PSU did you go for?
 
Just a generic one off eBay to be honest from a large retro reseller who seems to have sold a load of them with positive feedback. Looks like a slightly different design to the one that went pop which is a little reassuring. That one had worked fine previously, but seems limited lifespan was built into it.
I'm kinda hoping it'll arrive before the bank holiday, but really don't know yet as...Evri :D

Was this one:
 
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OpenToSuggestions said:
Picked up Golden Axe 3. Not a cheap one! Japan only release.

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Nice!

I've had to stop my Dreamcast PAL collecting as all the ones I need are the ones that are starting at £40-£300... and I find it difficult justifying that on a seldom played collection!
 
Tee Hee Johnson said:
Nice!

I've had to stop my Dreamcast PAL collecting as all the ones I need are the ones that are starting at £40-£300... and I find it difficult justifying that on a seldom played collection!
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An occasional treat I feel is well worth the time, especially when the condition is good.
You are right in saying big spends often are nuts.
PAL Dreamcast is brilliant - On boot you can select 50 or 60HZ. OG Xbox and Gamecube did this too. This means I can focus on the variant I want at the price I want, rather than having to find a version that actually runs properly. Really disappointing that PS2 didn't do this.
 
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I've got a Dreamcast and Saturn, (neither of which I owned as a young 'un) and I only have 6 games for the Dreamcast and 1 for the Saturn. I haven't even started collecting any games because I feel the same. They're just so expensive for something I'll probably only play once lol.
 
Yeah, it's pretty crazy where things have gone. I mean assuming everything still works once I've got the power adaptor in place, even with condition not being perfect it seems like my SNES collection is worth the better part of two grand, which was a bit of a surprise. I knew a few of the games I had were valuable even as slightly worn cartridge only, but the pricing on some of them has definately snuck up considerably over the 5-10 years.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact my Super Mario RPG has a (poorly) reprinted label on the front, that alone with the manual would be worth better part of £200, even with that it's still worth around £80 simply from having a decent condition manual. With the box as well, it'd have been worth around £250-300 or so.
 
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!bluetonic! said:
Just had a browse around Retrofest at the Swindon Steam Museum. It's a grade above my geekiness. Lots of stuff that was just before my time which was good too see. The RM machines were lovely and seeing that blue menu screen again in person was worth the visit. I bought a PicoMem with Sound add on for the 386 I was going to sell. :o

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This year's event is next weekend, 30/31. Got tickets for the Saturday.

RetroFest UK - 2026

retrofest.uk retrofest.uk
 
Latest arrivals, really happy with the condition, already had SEGA Rally but saw a Plus copy cheap so thought I would grab it for 3D controller support (don’t have one yet).

A nice touch that it copes all times over from the other SEGA Rally save file.

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JDR82 said:
Latest arrivals, really happy with the condition, already had SEGA Rally but saw a Plus copy cheap so thought I would grab it for 3D controller support (don’t have one yet).

A nice touch that it copes all times over from the other SEGA Rally save file.
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Sega Rally plays fantastic with the 3D controller, I tried it for the first time at one of the older Play Expo events in Blackpool many moons ago, i've always said if/when I pick up another Sega Saturn i'll definitely pick up a 3d controller mostly for that
 
So as I had an afternoon off whilst the wifey worked; and the new SNES PSU had arrived, I tested my entire SNES collection.
So the faulty console is still faulty, and the controller which belongs with it has a worn out start button, but the working SNES and main controller work. The actual slot, as suspected for a 30 year old console is a little tired, and sometimes took a little finangling and multiple cleans to test everything, but either directly or via the FIRE converter basically every game was tested and found working, including save states for the battery games :) F-Zero was the only game which kinda needs the 1mm trick or to go via the fire slot to boot. Realistically the SNES cart slot is just a bit tired, and maybe if I decide to keep it I'll see if I can find a specialist to take a look/replace the cartridge slot, but I was genuinely glad to find every game basically worked.

The only exception was Super Mario RPG which was crashing (the one with the damaged label) now I don't know if that means the cartridge has failed OR if its just not running nicely via the FIRE converter as it's an NTSC game. The game uses an SA-1 chip so is known to be temperamental to run.

BIG ask, but does anyone in here happen to live within a reasonable driving distance of MK, and have a working NTSC SNES [or compatible aftermarket console] they'd be willing for me to test the cart on?

Would be glad to know if the cart has genuinely failed, or if it just doesn't like the adaptor given how notoriously finicky SA-1 and some of the other special carts can be with adaptors.
 
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I can't imagine going to a place like that. I love retro tech, but retro tech people? No chance. :p

We're different here obvs. :cry:
 
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