I just got an “old” (toaster-style) NES at a garage sale, and when I try it out, all I get is a flashing on-and-off screen, and the power light flashes on and off as well. Any suggestions?
This is an extremely common problem with old NESes you find at garage sales and stuff. It’s caused by dirty contacts on the unit and/or bent contacts. A bit of history: Before the NES got released in the USA, the videogame industry in the US was in a shambles. Atari, the leader during the early 80’s, was in serious financial trouble, along with Coleco and Mattel’s game division, both of which left the business. When NOA was selling the NES concept to toy stores, the buyers didn’t want to buy any video game system at all, since they thought video games were permanently dead. As a result, NOA designed the NES to be as far disassociated from previous game consoles as possible. It’s not a video game system, it’s an “entertainment system”. It uses “game paks,” not carts, and the NES was designed so that you couldn’t actually see the cart while you were playing. Unfortunately, this design doesn’t really hold up to the ravages of use over a long period of time.
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