Chew before you swallow.: I love having a clean library.

Media Library, that is.

It feels good to be done with the Game Cleaning Project. The project took longer than it should have, but it feels good to know that my games are clean and shiny – almost like new. I would have been done if school projects, and studying for tests, didn't interfere with my free time!

About a six weeks ago I opened all of my Nintendo game cartridges to clean the copper pins. I thought I had all of the necessary tools to do so, but I didn't. I only had a rubber eraser to clean the copper pins. I realized that after trying to clean one game using the rubber eraser that I would be literally be rubbing upon those cartridges for hours, if not days. So I had Riley drive me around the shopping district on Prospect Ave so I could find some official electrical contact cleaner. I did find that stuff, but only in spray or towelette form. I didn't want those: I wanted the paste that I saw on the internet. Hell, that DeOxit paste wasn't even found on Amazon.com. Eventually, I discover that I can use Brasso, so I bought some from the grocery store.

Between Tuesday and Wednesday I completely cleaned my entire NES, SNES, and N64 collection. I also cleaned the plastic shells since some of those were filthy, too. Much to my surprise, the N64 games come with additional signal shielding. Some of those signal shields were filthy, as well. Now, I just didn't use Brasso to clean the games, I also used window cleaner to buff the contacts, and then I used a completely clean t-shirt to rub off any residue that might have been behind from the previous two steps. My thumb on my right hand was numb and tingly near the end of this cleaning process. Some of my games were so dirty they required multiple passes to lift off the grime the previous owners deposited. There were two games – Heavy Barrel and Super Mario All Stars – that had to be seen to be believed. Gross. Since almost all of my games were bought used, I wonder how the previous owners allowed them to get that dirty in the first place? What were the previous owners like? Were they just dirty people, and didn't care for their media libraries?

Of course, I'm still wondering if using Brasso was a good thing for my precious games. I emailed a YouTube user, since he featured that technique in one of his videos, and asked him if that was safe. He came back to me and said it was. Of course...he is just a YouTube user, not a professional electrician, so he could be parroting what someone told him was safe. Hell, DeOxit and Brasso could have the same ingredient list. I don't know. It isn't uncommon to have companies re-brand the same compound into different products for similar purposes. While I was enlisted in the Marine Corps, I learned that oven cleaner works wonders on ceramic bath tubs and bathroom tiles. Later on, I used Scrubbing Bubbles, and discovered that cleaning compound smells exactly like oven cleaner, only less intense. Whodathunk?

Anyway, I'm glad I won't have to go on a huge cleaning excursion like that ever again. From now on I'll just clean the games as soon as I buy them.