I Bought 5 Broken GAMEBOY Games on eBay | How Many Can I FIX?!

I paid £12 for 3 Gameboy Colour games and 2 OG Gameboy Games off of eBay. All sold in a joblot as broken/not working.

I've never opened one of these up before, so let's see how many I can repair!

Hope you enjoy!
Steve

PS. I'm not an expert in repairs at all. I do this for fun, and it may not be the best or safest way to go about repairing broken stuff. I'm pretty good at melting plastic though. Please don't copy me - I'm an idiot.

The magic things I use to break stuff;

Filming equipment;

Links are affiliated where possible to help support the channel.

[jaysjbe]

Had a couple faulty gameboy games that I hadn't bothered to look at, watched your video and it was the same issue. Both now working, much appreciated!

[popcultureexchange]

I own a video game store. As soon as I saw this, I checked my defective games and found several, very nice game boy color titles with the same issue. I was able to easily re-flow the chips and got them running! Thank you for this video for a great perspective on what to look for on defective games.

[Tronicsfix]

Wow, great video. This is fascinating. I'm searching eBay right now!

[--Zook--]

8:55 holy crap those sounds. My dad bought a original gameboy back in 1991 to keep all of us 6 kids and step kids entertained on the flight from Oregon USA to London. I was the only one who cared so I played that game for like 10 hours. Such memories flooding back in.

[MuppleUK]

This is amazing, thank you so much. I've had some parts of my Gameboy collection stop working out of nowhere and I had no idea how to fix it. After seeing your video I grabbed one down and sure enough it had a wobbly connection on that same chip. Two seconds later and the game is up and running for the first time in years. This is definitely important information for gameboy game preservation reasons.

[benironside]

I can’t believe the first thing you didn’t try was blowing it, looking at it confused, blowing it again ..and then moving on to the other fixes 😹

[Actionheld]

I love people with the ability to fix broken things. Good work!

[SparksNZeros]

the design of gameboy carts means that repeateded removal from the system flexs the pcb making the chip legs cracking free from their pads an extremely common occurance. it's sad to think the amount of GB carts that have been binned because of what was likely an easy fix.

[Slade]

There is something so refreshing about fixing electronics like that. Love it.

[markrung]

I can't get enough of your videos - After watching maybe 50 of your videos and having zero knowledge in electronics I feel like I'm learning a new skill haha having never worked on a circuit board in my life! Ah the joys of the internet.

[kennethlum]

Here's my guess for the repeated pin solder failure. The pad at the corner has 2 heavy traces leading from it, leading to a flooded area (possibly Vcc). Because of this additional thermal bridging, you are more likely to get poor soldering at this pad. If that mounting hole diagonally above C2 attaches to the cart case, you also have a nearby source of mechanical stress. Over time and use, I can see these two things leading to a potential failure at that one point.

[DSage]

This is great information to have! That pin will be the first place I look next time!

[endlesswanderer]

It's amazing that after almost three decades, you may be the first person to find this fault in GB cartridges. Or, at the very least, the first to document it. In 4K, no less.

[ChunkySteveo]

Got a faulty GBC game working by immediately going straight for that IC leg and fixing it. A great and simple fix for 'dead' GB cartridges! Thanks

[Mymatevince]

Wow, so many with the identical fault. Excellent video BUT not quite as excellent as that fine tee 🤣 You have never looked so good...Cheers for purchasing one Steve 👍👍👍👍

[cwtang]

It's so statisfine watch this man fixed old klassic good times, he deserve this good rare old Gameboy games, keep going rescue this good old times ^^

[MARCSLASH]

The Toy Story game is Monochrome and Color, a dual mode cart (or type 2 according to Nintendo). I've seen N64 carts with similar fault.

[maxolafmain]

This is one of the most informational videos for repairing these cardridges!!! Thank you so much

[matthewjones]

If Bob Ross did electronics repair, he'd remind me of you. I love it! Awesome work repairing those games and keeping them out of landfills. :)

[oznewton]

Brilliant my friend. It is always a pleasure to watch your videos. You have been doing great work and every post is better and better. Great Job Steven...amazing.