The Hunt for the NES

The NES was by far the hardest piece of hardware to come by... sort of. I already had an NES in the garage, but I wasn't about to butcher a fully operational retro gaming system. So I opted to find one somewhere that was no longer working.

After some searching online on various sites like Craigslist I found a posting on Kijiji by someone who lived in the local area who sold NES systems, and guaranteed they would work "or your money back". So I asked if he had any that didn't work. He said he did and that I could pick one up for $15. The only problem was that he was out of town and wouldn't be back for a week. A week went by, and so did various attempts at contacting this guy. His responses were vague and far between. After another week of the run-around I eventually gave up with this poor excuse for a businessman. During this time, all the parts for the PC came in, but I was still waiting for the most important part, the case.

And so, the hunt began again. I went back to Craigslist and did another search. After reviewing a good 150 or so adds of various NES systems for sale (working ones of course) I eventually came to an add for an NES that wasn't working. I immediately sent an inquiry to see if it was still available. Five minutes later I received a response that it was. So after some back and forth emailing, we decided to meet up that evening and make the exchange. He said he found it in his grandfather's garage and brought it home to try it out. Fortunately for me, it hadn't worked!

The NES had seen better days. It was dirty, grimy and had bits of something gooey dripping down one side. It needed a good cleaning. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to the rescue. After a quick scrub down it looked brand new. Most NES systems become yellowed over the years of being exposed to sunlight. I think the grime and dirty garage helped keep the paint on this one protected and pristine.

Next step, gutting the NES's components inside and mock-fitting the motherboard to see what needs to be cut/trimmed/ground/sanded out.