ELi5: why did old cartridge games not boot up properly and people would end up blowing on them?
In: Technology
Speaking specifically of the NES, the console and every game had a microchip in them that had to be able to talk to each other and, if they weren’t able to, the console would reboot. This usually causes a “boot loop”, flashing the power light and TV screen.
People believed that taking the cartridge out, blowing on them, and reinserting it cleaned dust or something off and allowed it to work. However, it was most likely just re-seating the cartridge that fixed the problem.
The NES has a design flaw. They designed it to be more like a VCR with the front loading as an effort to get around the stigma about video games from the crash of 1983 by selling it more like the “entertainment system” it was named rather than a video game console. However, the front loading design made it so the connector in the console would wear out over time, making it less reliable.
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