CMR

Try spraying some contact cleaner, deoxit, or lacking any of that, WD40 down into the switch first.  Give it some presses to work the stuff down inside of it and see if that helps.  Also take a close look at the wires attached to that switch, and make sure it's not breaking or coming loose.  Those switches are pretty robust.  I doubt any of them are used up on a console joystick.  That thing looks brand new.

If you're feeling really frisky, you could even drill out the rivets and take it apart.

What brand or type of epoxy would you recommend for something that is going to take a lot of stress or need screws threaded through it?

7 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

I dug around on my phone, and here are a couple of repairs using the materials discussed that I happened to already have photos of.

This was a little crank arm that was part of a Fisher Price record playing carousel that I picked up for my daughter, since she loved the record player but didn't have the grip strength to wind it yet.  The handle had been previously snapped in half, then very badly superglued together again, and was barely together in the package when I opened it, then literally falling apart as I pulled the packing paper from around it.  I cleaned up the edges (removing superglue, its residue, and any other debris hanging out), then applied 2 part epoxy between the pieces and held them for ~5 minutes for the first set to kick in, mixed up some more, and added a second coat above and below the break all the way around, keeping it as thin as I could without disturbing the cure of the first repair, then allowed the whole thing to cure fora bit more than a day.  I reinstalled it the following evening, and it's been rock solid ever since, despite being at the less-than-tender mercies of my then 3 and 7 year old kids.

These next photos are of where I repaired and rebuilt the handle and catch portions of my kids' Fisher Price Sesame Street playset, as well as repaired a decent sized stress crack in the roof of the building.

I started out with the missing retaining peg, drilling a couple of small holes in the plastic, cutting (and bending) some bits of metal paperclip, then mounting them firmly i the holes with a little 2 part epoxy on the ends to keep them in place.  I then mixed up a bit of Milliput, applied it all over the frame I'd created, as well as up the side of the remaining plastic around it a bit (after scuffing the plastic slightly), shaped it to get it as close to the other side as possible, then left it overnight to cure.  The next afternoon, I lightly sanded everything to smooth out the seam between the original plastic and repair (as well as to help match the lines of the cutout of the original plastic below it) and called it a day.

For the other side, I did much the same, drilling small holes on each side of the area where the plastic used to retain the handle's pin was broken off, cut and bent some bits of metal paperclip to make a cage roughly the same size and shape as the other side but also small enough to fit within, then mixed up more Milliput and applied it over the whole thing, making sure to move the handle around a lot as I worked to make sure that the putty didn't adhere to it.  I left it overnight, and after it cured, went after it with some files and sandpaper to finish getting it into the right shape and down to a size that, via eyeballing it, closely matched the other side.

I tested it gingerly at first, then with a bit of gusto, shaking it around, then gave it to my kids to play with.  Although I never got around to painting it to match the plastic as I'd intended, the repair has held up to this day, without a single crack, chip, ding, etc. to show for it.

And as for the crack and gap in the roof, you can see it reasonably clearly in the second photo, then see where I epoxied it shut and filled in the gap at the edge in the fourth photo (and also see the ratcheting clamp I held the crack shut with while it cured at the edge of the shot).

I thought Bowser's Fury was an excellent example of what an open world 3d Mario game could be.  This reminds me I need to buy the new Kirby.

5 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

Ok, that was your issue.  Milliput is basically a modeling clay that cures and hardens once it's mixed, but isn't nearly as versatile or useful as a true epoxy.  The next time you go to fix something like this, use a "normal" 2-part epoxy, allow it the full amount of time to cure (typically ~24 hours, but can be up to 48-72 depending on the formula), and then made any last minute adjustments (sanding/shaving any excess bits) before buttoning things up.  This type of epoxy will end up as strong as or stronger than the plastic that you were piecing back together and, if you apply a little extra over top of and/or around where the breaks being bonded back together are, will provide a bit more reinforcement to prevent repeat breakage.  The stuff will have a minimal amount of flex to it if you really press on it, but won't be brittle, so it will allow for normal usage of things that don't have an extreme amount of constant mechanical stress.

With that being said, I recommend you absolutely do not use any of the stuff that is specifically labeled "for plastics," as while it might be formlated that way, it tends to act more like superglue, which ends up very brittle under mechanical stress, and will usually break/shatter very quickly again.  The handful of times I tried out the "for plastics" stuff, it didn't want to stick to or bond with any of the different types of plastics I used, even after I scuffed up the surfaces a bit, while standard 2-part epoxy (either the truly clear stuff, or the stuff that turns a bit yellow) worked without a hitch.  Another thing to avoid would be JB Weld or anything with the JB Weld brand, even their "normal" 2 part epoxies.  Standard JB Weld is said to stick to anything, will cure and initially hold up, but will be very brittle in the long run, especially under mechanical stress.  I had a latch in our screen door's handle/lock mechanism that broke and kept having to fix it about every 4-6 weeks because the JB Weld just wouldn't hold up to the stress and would crack, then crumble into dust and gum everything up every time.  I've tried their "for plastics" and standard 2-part epoxies as well and found that they didn't hold up any better, so best just to avoid them, as you'll only be paying more for their name, and then ultimately having to re-do anything that you've repaird with them after it experiences minor stress.

Milliput can be great for fixing stationary plastic bits on things like toys, models, etc., and can even be used for some things that have stress applied to them so long as they're supported within (like having rebar within concrete), but shouldn't be used in anything by itself if there's going to be any sort of mechanical stress involved.  I fixed my kids' Fisher Price Sesame Street playset using Milliput and was quite happy with the results, but I also used cut, bent, and embedded bits of metal paper clips to form a cage around the area that needed to be replaced, and only then pushed in and formed the clay to replace the broken off and missing bits.  Had I used Milliput alone to make the replacement bits or stick together bits that were left, it would have broken off really quickly due to its brittle nature.

I hope this helps.  If you need or want to see any examples of things I've fixed with "generic" standard 2-part epoxy, let me know.  I think the biggest one was the internal mounting points for the wing extension gears on one of my vintage Imperial Shuttles; here is a video of someone showing one of those doing its full wing drop, so you can imagine the stress of those ~1/2 lb wings dropping and then coming to a sudden halt.

LOL, you really wanted to talk about epoxies didn't you?  Thanks for the advice.  One of the reasons I went with milliput was because I could mold it easily.  If I ever did it over again, I would probably just use JB Weld.

3 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

What do you mean by "epoxy paste?"  What, specifically, did you use?  I tend to be a big fan of epoxies for long lasting, permanent repairs, and have to date not had a failure out of one.  There are, however, some products labeled "epoxy" and popular in the public consciousness that are absolute garbage, especially for things that have any level of mechanical stress put upon them (which a power port would, however little, every time a cable was inserted and then removed).  Would love to know the product at-hand to see if I can help prevent a similar outcome in the future.

I used something called "milliput" because I thought I needed a black color, and I didn't want to spend a fortune.  Turns out color didn't matter because that port is surrounded by the case plastic.  I don't know why, but I thought it would be seen from the back.  I pre-drilled the holes, but it was still too hard, and the screw threads wouldn't cut into it.  Once it cracked, it just started crumbling.

Show off your fixit skills in here.  I'll start with a simple one.  It's a Sega Saturn power supply.  I had to replace the switching transisitor, and I also swapped the broken power cable socket from another broken machine.  The one in the pic is one I tried to fix using epoxy paste, but it didn't hold up.

They seem to get a lot of love on the Gameboy subreddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/

Awesome.  Has anyone ever seen a Contra III proto where  the player's characters had their colors changed to green?  VG&CE did a review of the game back in the 90's that had this color difference.

https://archive.org/details/vgce_92-03/page/n35/mode/2up

I found this:

https://gamex.gg/list-of-n64-colors-for-cartridges/

How are the controls on this remaster?  Are they still like the GameCube's, or can you undock the remotes and use them like the will nunchuck combo?

I thought F-Zero X was a fantastic racing game.  I wish we had gotten more N64 games that had focused on fast gameplay and solid framerates. 

Yea, I've never seen any NP strategy guide with spiral binding before.  All the ones I have, including this one, are square backed and glued.

3 hours ago, Webhead123 said:

Yeah, Life Force (and all the Gradius games) are incredibly fun...for about 10 minutes and then I just hit the wall of what I call the "Gradius loop" and just die over and over and over. I enjoy them immensely but my level of ineptitude is equally immense.

I prefer Salamander's power up system a lot more.

If I had a bigger dong, I wouldn't even wear any.

Here is a couple of things I've picked up in the past few months.  It's funny.  Growing up, I wasn't much of a Trek fan, but now I like it more than Star Wars.  I've got a few more things to show off, but I haven't had the chance to upload them yet.

I would use a silicone based grease or lubricant instead of lithium. 

If anyone needs help with the barrels in Carnival Night, I'm here for you.  8/10 with S&K.

Pretty awesome!  You can count me in.  Looks like I'll be kickstarting another project despite myself.

11 hours ago, Tanooki said:

This is kind of a side thing maybe, but can you explain to me why this 2 pin mod there in the image above is necessary?

 

And is it needed if you're running a HiDefNES kit (or AVS, Noir) which is already setup to handle the expanded audio? Or just needed for stock hardware?  From what I've seen as I have that kit in my top loader, the audio just works.  I have to go into the menu, select to use VRC6 etc audio with the checkboxes, and it works.

For the HiDef NES mod Kevtris emulated the VRC6 and other expansion audio chips on the HiDef fpga.  For a standard top loader, the expansion audio pins are missing from the cart slot completely.  This mod shifts audio output from it's normal pin to another pin that does have a connector pin in the cart slot.  I can't remember what this pin was originally for, but it's essentially unused for the most part.  That cart slot pin is then connected to a point on the RGB mod board that mixes the audio back in with the consoles audio out.  There is also a resistor and a wire that needs to be connected like in the front loader, and that's what Voultar's board is supposed to do. I think newer N8 Pros have this mod built in.

You also have to do the two pin mod above on 72pin to 60pin adapters if you want expansion audio from famicom games.

9 hours ago, olddb said:

Thank you. Yeah, Final Fantasy Adventure is of the games we tried to emulate. 

Did you had a chance to play the demo?

Your website won't load for me.

Looks cool.  I get a strong Final Fantasy Adventure vibe from it.  Very strong.

9/10

A lot of the abilities were cool, but some of them like the ones Gau and Strago used were just too cumbersome to get or make use of because it was so hard to get good abilities.  And if you did get them, they were buried under heaps of crap.  It was easier just to turn them both into magicite wizards.  Magicite breaks the game completely later on.  Any strategy you might employ becomes completely unnecessary.  Still a great game.  From the stand point of the graphics and art, nothing else at the time could hold a candle to it.

I tried mine and it works perfectly.  I've got expansion audio and everything.  I don't really have a clue what could be wrong with yours.  Here's a pic of my N8 cart and how I modded it.  I don't know if my pins match yours or not, I didn't count them.

Sorry, I didn't get to try it out.  Maybe tomorrow.

I always liked Galleon.  It controls like crap, but it was still a pretty cool semi open world style game.  I liked Gunvalkyrie also.