Super Star Wars cardridge broken?

[GoodNoodle]

Hey,
a good friend of mine found an old Super Star Wars cartridge for SNES and gave it to me, sadly when I pop it in, it won't respond to any controller.
Is the card completely broken, or can I repair it somehow?

[P]

Do you get a picture at all? Does the game freeze?

I bet it's not broken, dirty carts is a very common problem while broken carts is a very rare problem.

[GoodNoodle]

I get a picture and it even moves, but it doesn't react to any control input, that I press.

[P]

I see so you see the splash screen, title screen etc. It doesn't sound like there's a problem with the game, but something is wrong with the input. Do all buttons on the controllers work in other games?

My SNES controllers have problems with unresponsive START and SELECT buttons, for some reason these rubber buttons have worn out more than the plastic buttons, even though they are used far less in games. Cleaning doesn't help either so I suspect the rubber is worn out and isn't pushing down on the membrane switches properly, maybe you have a similar problem.

[GoodNoodle]

Everything works fine in any other game, just that one won't work.

[P]

Hmm that's strange. It's not like only the input code can just break like that while everything else is fine. Unless some kind of piracy protection routine or something is triggered for some strange reason.

Do you hear sound? I think there should be sound on the title screen.

Also what region and model is it on the SNES? PAL SNES systems have a kind of region protection that prevents using NTSC controllers. But in that case the controllers shouldn't work on any game.

Try pressing START many times (if that's the button that starts the game), my START button randomly works, and sometimes I have to push many times before anything happens, while other times it works right away.

Also cleaning the cartridge pins with 90+% isopropyl alcohol and letting it dry is always worth a shot on cartridge games.

[GoodNoodle]

I play a PAL game on a PAL console and it is real.
I just cleaned the contacts with polishing paste.
I have no idea what it could be.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I assume your gamepad is an official PAL controller?

Does it have the SNES logo to the left of  the "SUPER NINTENDO" text?


Seeing as you can play other games, it shouldn't be the case that you have an issue with controller region-locking: http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=controls:snes_con_region_fix
But it does exist.

Either way, do you have any other controllers to test this with? I once had a faulty GameCube controller that would always read the 'R' trigger as being held down.

[P]

Ah yes third-party controllers are sometimes only working with certain games because who knows why. The model number on the backside of the controller should say "SNSP-005" I think (it does on mine).

Yeah one thing is to try it with other controllers so you can rule out the controller.

Another thing to try is switching out the AC-adapter for a new one with the same specs. Unstable power supply is a common problem and it may produce very unpredictable problems like this.

I just cleaned the contacts with polishing paste.

I recommend cleaning it with pure alcohol.

[GoodNoodle]

Oh thanks! I'm using a third party controller, that might be it.