Can we Save This $2 Japanese Copy Of Kirby on the Game Boy?!?

Have you ever tried to get something on the cheap that you knew was broken but you thought you could fix? I've done it many times in the past when it comes to video games and game systems. Sometimes a game just needs to be cleaned. Sometimes a system needs a part replaced. Recently, I saw a Japanese copy of Kirby for the Game Boy for under $2. The listing said that it did not work, but I had confidence that I could get it working once again. Let's see if we can Save This $2 Japanese Copy Of Kirby on the Game Boy.

Once the game arrived, the first thing I did was just throw it in one of my systems. As expected, it did not work. From here I grabbed a 3.8 mm game bit and opened up the game itself. Unlike other game cartridges, Game Boy cartridges only have one side of pins to them. Upon inspection, these pins were pretty rough-looking. The first step was to take a 1Up Cleaning Card and isopropyl alcohol and try to clean the pins. One of the cool things is the fact that 1Up Card offers a mini-size card designed specifically for Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games. I gave it a thorough scrub and cleaning, put it in my system, and still nothing.

Now it was time to roll up my sleeves. The next step in the cleaning side of things was a solution called Bright Boy. This was something that was discovered back in the late 1990s when I was competing in the Tamiya Championship Series. The crew from the Northwest in Burien, Washington discovered Bright Boy would do a great job cleaning sealed endbell motors that we used as spec motors. I placed a few drops on the pins, gave it a scrub with a cotton swab, and got a lot of dirt off of it. After the Bright Boy, I once again used a 1Up Cleaning Card to clean the pins and remove any residual material left behind. I put the game in my system, and still nothing.

The last step was to break out the soldering iron. Our good friend John Riggs has done many an open cart surgery where he has reflowed the solder on the chips inside of a game. I grabbed some no-clean solder Flux, applied it to the pins on the chips, applied a little bit of solder to my soldering iron tip, and reflowed the solder on all of the pins. Once this was done, I took a little bit of isopropyl alcohol and cleaned up any flux residue left on the board, reassembled the cartridge, and put it in my system.

Upon flipping on the power switch, I saw the Nintendo logo. Then I heard the music. It had worked! I managed to resurrect this copy of Kirby for the Game Boy, and in the end, all it took me was about 15 minutes of labor and $2. This is such a fantastic game, even all these many years later.

Let me know if you have had similar success saving a game that no longer worked when you got it. Have you had other similar experiences? Share what games they were and how you got them working again in the comments!

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