» Don’t Care What These Nerds Say Blowing In The Cartridges Helped Nintendo Games Work And Anyone Who Disagrees Is A Nazi Barstool Sports: Philly

Don’t Care What These Nerds Say Blowing In The Cartridges Helped Nintendo Games Work And Anyone Who Disagrees Is A Nazi

Mental Floss – When I was a kid with a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), sometimes my games wouldn’t load. But I, like all kids, knew the secret: take out the game cartridge, blow on the contacts, and put it back in. And it seemed to work. (When it failed, I’d just keep trying until it worked.) But looking back, did blowing into the cartridge really help? I’ve talked to the experts, reviewed a study on this very topic, and have the answer. But first, let’s talk tech. …[lots of words and pictures]…So the Answer is No. So, dear readers, all signs point to no: blowing in the cartridge did not help. My money is on the blowing thing being a pure placebo, offering the user just another chance at getting a good connection. The problems with Nintendo’s connector system are well-documented, and most of them are mechanical — they just wore out faster than expected.

It’s very simple — it worked. Case closed. This is speaking from literally years of field testing and independent research. No blow — didn’t work. Blow — worked. Nothing could be simpler to understand, nerds. A placebo effect? Kiss my ass.

You want science? Blowing eliminated the dust particles from blocking the copper game receptor chip things that made the game work. IT’S SCIENCE. Contra can’t Contra if there’s dust in the cartridge. Blowing was a quick way to clean it out for those of you too chicken shit to take a Q-Tip and some alcohol to the chip like I used to.

Don’t get me wrong — I didn’t read this article. WAY too many words and from what I can tell they used a lot of convincing supporting information which I don’t particularly like since it usually only works against my argument. But I’ve played Nintendo, jerks. Telling me blowing doesn’t really work is like telling me unplugging the internet and plugging it back in doesn’t really work. Total nonsense.

By maurice posted September 26th, 2012 at 9:59 AM

Top 2 Comments

24 comments Sort by Popularity Sort by Date

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by pippenainteasy on September 26, 2012 at 10:01 am
gotta blow.
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by spghost on September 26, 2012 at 10:05 am
This is a RARE occation in which i admit to agree with you Mo, Sometimes blowing into the cartridge was the only way it would turn on.
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by asdasdasd on September 26, 2012 at 10:06 am
definitely worked, so did the q-tip trick
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by chicagomatt on September 26, 2012 at 10:09 am
Of course if worked. These guys are idiots.
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by worstcommentyet on September 26, 2012 at 10:11 am
These Scientists better check their hypotenuses! They severely underestimated how much dust and grime were on the cartridges. Kids are filthy little mongrels.
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by jim dandy on September 26, 2012 at 10:13 am
Blowing was obviously number 1 but a solid tap into the system was essential
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by edrooney on September 26, 2012 at 10:16 am
Mental floss, take your fictional facts and go fuck a non existent 10 and tell your ubergay friends about how the bags of sand felt. No blow, no Mario. That's solid rock fact.
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by johnnymanchuk on September 26, 2012 at 10:23 am
this study literally insults me
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by cantgetthestinkout on September 26, 2012 at 10:25 am
Did anyone ever pop the cartridge up and down a few times while it was in the Nintendo? That worked pretty well too.
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by southiestoolie on September 26, 2012 at 10:30 am
Yes @cantgetthestinkout... or the alternate blow into the cartridge approach where you put the game under your t-shirt?
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by cantgetthestinkout on September 26, 2012 at 10:39 am
@southiestoolie No, but I'm impressed.
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by 28ontheway on September 26, 2012 at 10:42 am
A. funny shit....i still hate you
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by neil_ on September 26, 2012 at 10:54 am
I like to blow
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by Tha_Dro_Man on September 26, 2012 at 11:15 am
wish somebody told me q-tip and alcohol trick. i used to just straight lick it. i was not a bright child.
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by ecu1205 on September 26, 2012 at 11:19 am
@southiestoolie, I thought I was the only gamer that did that. The shirt added the spit filter so that you didn't get the inside of the cartridge wet.
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by southiestoolie on September 26, 2012 at 11:59 am
@ecu1205, it also allowed you to create more heat in the cartridge, thus making it work
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by dewittt on September 26, 2012 at 2:03 pm
Definitely worked. Fuck these guys
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by Boo Radley on September 26, 2012 at 2:18 pm
A
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by wick_for_the_kill on September 26, 2012 at 2:23 pm
70% of the time, it works every time
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by Boo Radley on September 26, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Also, mo you are the whitest black dude ever, from what I can gather you had an identical childhood to me. And I grew up in the country
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by above_the_clouds on September 26, 2012 at 4:53 pm
N64 is still my most played console. Mario Kart, Blitz, NBA Hangtime, Super Smash, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, WCW vs NWO, Tony Hawk, etc.Get the fuck out of here if you claim blowing doesnt help. Only 2 things in the world blowing solves, and one of them is Nintendo games.
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by kumbayamylord on September 26, 2012 at 5:22 pm
Everyone knows that the wiggle left/right method while the games in the console, was the only way to properly start Nintendo.
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by mikehawkinya on September 26, 2012 at 5:43 pm
also the wedging the cardboard holder on top of the game worked when the console was half way to the grave
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by TheUglyShtick on September 26, 2012 at 6:23 pm
I just used another game (bubble bobble) reverse cowgirl to hold Contra down.
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