One day I realized I could breathe new life into NES consoles that nobody loves.
Maybe nobody ever loved them in the first place, which would explain how they got this way.
Or, maybe they were loved just a little bit too much in some cases...
I try to keep a console original if I can, but if there are cosmetic problems I paint.
I do not use bondo or epoxy to fix cracks or rebuild areas that have been chipped off. I
use real ABS plastic and melt it together to create one uniform piece so that old cracks
do not reopen, and pieces do not chip off. I clean them inside and out, and run them through
rigorous tests before I consider them complete.
I picked this one up randomly on eBay after lowballing a Best Offer listing. It appears
the previous owner was playing Ninja Gaiden and made it to Level 6 before putting a fist
through the top of the console. I'm not going to judge. I repaired the huge crack and rebuilt
the chipped corners. This was my first one ever, and where I developed my techniques:
Black and White NES
Another lowball Best Offer listing. This one was cracked on the top, next to the vents, and
missing the door flap. I got a new one from China, and fixed the crack. Unfortunately, I could
not fix the OEM 72-pin connector in this one, so I added a Blinking Light Win, and also put in
a new blue LED. This is now the console I use day to day:
White and Blue NES
I picked this one up in a bundle of as-is consoles. It was covered in years of dirt, and
was missing plastic where the door flap is located. It also had stickers on it. Whoever did
this should be punished. I fixed, cleaned, painted, and added a green LED. Behold the end result:
Metroid NES
This came in a bundle of 4 from Quebec. When I received it, it did not boot games and
the spring mechanism would get stuck. After a thorough cleansing, and adjustments to the
misaligned spring mechanism, it worked. Wounds were also patched, and a Gold LED added:
Zelda NES
This was in the same bundle as the Zelda NES. It also didn't boot games, and had severe
damage to the top part of the shell. I replaced the 72-pin connector with another OEM one,
patched the cracks, and rebuilt the missing chunks. A nice purple LED was then added:
Purple NES
Another from Quebec, this one had sticky controller ports and permanent marker all over
it, but games functioned perfectly somehow. It wasn't possible to clean off the marker no
matter what I did, so I decided to paint and replace the LED with a purple one:
White and Black NES
This came from a guy in Quebec who calls his business "Angry Greek Games". Haggling with
him was an interesting experience, but I got a good price in the end. It wasn't in that bad
of shape, but needed wounds to be patched and the connector cleaned to play games again:
Clash at Demonhead NES