Retro Game Resurrection Oil Liquid

[Retrospectives]

So what is this? Well, is a type of oily liquid that is aimed to prevent the oxidation of sulfide and other bad parts that will become bad due to age of the gaming cassette itself. It is used not only in FC but can be used in other systems as well. It also act as a protector for the copper/silver plated pins, which makes the contact both stronger but also more durable.

I found that the absolute best way (and recommended) to use it was mainly to first clean the contacts with some type of ethnanol/alcohol like isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip gently cleaning each pin of the cassette in a up and down movement rather than side to side, and then let it evaporate for some hour just to be sure is not wet when returning back.

After that. Open the bottle itself, as it contain a small little brush (built into the screw top), then use it very gently to apply a small thin layer of this oily liquid. Wait another few hours, and then it should be good to go.

I got some really hard to work games to work with this liquid. Not only do I know that my cartridges are clean, but also once dry, it tend to create a sort of coating which makes the cassette both easier and smoother to push in/take out.

Cons: If using too much of this, it will leave "traces" on the plastic which you can wash off later with a q-tip and alcohol. Especially visible is on black cartridges, and it will give a sort of "different" feeling when inserting/ejecting the cartridge. Overall is not a bad feeling though, and knowing the game will boot up almost instantly makes it worth the "different" feeling.

Also one final negative aspect is not related to this one, but when cleaning with ethanol/alcohol, be careful not touching the PCB layer itself, but rather gently clean the pins, because especially if dealing with oldest FC games from Nintendo, or especially pirates and unlicensed originals, the quality is really not that great even for earlier pirates or unlicensed originals and the green PCB might actually tear away if not being gentle. As long as traces are not hurted it should be fine, but overall is always good to have caution in mind.

This product has become very popular in Japan, and is sold by mainly Amazon, but there are reviews out there from anywhere from enthusiasts like myself to professionals which praises this product since it can not only resurrect but also letting you know that your already working cartridge will work for a longer future of time.

The product is made by a company named columbus circle: http://www.columbuscircle.co.jp/products/?id=1448359381-277202&;

And is being sold mainly on Amazon but can be found a little here and there in Japan webshops.

Amazon link is here: https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%83%90%E3%82%B9%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AB-%E3%83%AC%E3%83%88%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E5%BE%A9%E6%B4%BB%E5%89%A4-%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%82%AB%E3%82%BB%E3%83%83%E3%83%88%E7%94%A8/dp/B018JLLG54/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531147765&sr=8-1&keywords=%E3%83%AC%E3%83%88%E3%83%AD%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E5%BE%A9%E6%B4%BB%E5%89%A4

And finally a picture of the product.

[P]

This is interesting, but I'm interested in how it works. Generally anything that leaves something behind, like what brass cleaners do, is bad for the contacts. Using oil is confusing to me. Does it increase the conductivity of the contacts somehow?

[Retrospectives]

This is interesting, but I'm interested in how it works. Generally anything that leaves something behind, like what brass cleaners do, is bad for the contacts. Using oil is confusing to me. Does it increase the conductivity of the contacts somehow?

I am not sure oil as in pure oil was the correct definition, maybe lubricant would be more suitable? Sorry my English is not top notch.  Anyway, I read many reviews, and on the bottle it literally say is not harmful to apply, so I suppose they had in mind especially due to Retro Games, or yeah that is what the name of bottle suggest. I have impression is something similar to WD-40 all purpouse cleaner but I actually not knowing the exact ingredient.

Thing to be cautious about is not to put too much and not too deep. Only on the contacts and really not so deep that it touched the PCB itself, then should be safe.

Yes, it increases the conducitivity of the contacts, that is one of the main selling points. With "Revive" I suppose they mean that even the most worn down "no matter how much cleaning" done, it can fix this issue due to it obviously made conduction increased. Actually is cheap so I suggest you try buy a bottle or I can send to you a mini sample so you can try yourself if you have really dirty cartrdige somewhere that refuse booting. But I suppose you are not that guy who let you cart sit there and being dirty ehehe. 

[P]

Yeah I'm sure it's not harmful considering its made for cartridges. From your explanation it sounds like it both protects the pins from future corrosion and increases conductivity of corroded pins somehow.

All my games are in Sweden so I can't really try it out, but thanks anyway. I might look into it in the future.

[Retrospectives]

Caution is good. We know is indeed good for cartridges to revive and that they make real work. But what we know about 20-30 years? Nothing. So while right now it seem like good solution, I want more guarantee it works over longer time. Not that I doubt it very much, but at same time, is not very toxic it seem and by taking care of collection is possible notice if something go wrong, or simply just stay up to date with latest news.

If worst scenario, people will talk about it, so I feel rather safe to be honnest.