Saturday, August 11, 2007

The invincible SMS!

About a year ago, I was at a yard sale and I found a dirty Master System, dirty is just an understatement, actually it was filthy as hell, as if someone just left it there in the rain for months, then some dogs took it and buried it with some dead animals and then someone dug it up some years later, I didn't even consider buying it at the time, but I asked the price to amuse myself anyways.

It was $1.50, still didn't seem worth it, but then the seller said I could take it for $1, still made me think about it but what the heck, I got it. I left it in my car, in the sun the whole day. When I got home, I opened it, cleaned part of it and decided to take it to my parents' house to finish there, but it took a fall on the way. I took a peek and the LED had come partially off and everything inside was bent. That made me put it in the trunk and forget about it for months until I cleaned my car and put it inside a box, making me forget about it another few months.

So finally, a year and a half later, I opened the box and saw it there, no screws and all forgotten, so I decided to check it out.

Just to give you an idea of how dirty it is, here's a picture, notice the thick coat of dirt near the card and cartridge ports, I removed some dirt with my finger to make the difference more noticeable, there's also lots of lint everywhere and to top it off, the edges are entirely rusty.



Seemed like a lost cause, but I still had to give it a shot. I didn't even bother putting it back inside the casing, I just plugged everything in and crossed my fingers.


The game I tried was Ganster Town, the box has a cute picture of a kid firing a machine gun.


So here it was, the moment of truth, after all its been through, will it work?

It did! A truly amazing feat, but now, does it work with cards? The card made a scratchy sound because of all the dirt in the slot, that made me doubt that it would work.



But it works too! Both on the first try! I didn't see that coming. This poor SMS has had a very though life but its still kicking, unlike my Xbox that died on me just when I was about to beat Jet Set Radio Future, but that's a story for another day.

Now to finish cleaning it up, hoping I don't forget about it again.

3 comments:

gnome said...

You're absolutely lucky, 1$ poorer and have just written a fantastic post. Not bad really...

Unknown said...

..this shouldn't be working.. your using magic aren't you.. go on we won't tell anyone.. a gaming miracle if ever i saw one....

..alright i figured it your using mirrors... im right ain't I? huh! well? well? thats it isn't it. .mirrors....

excellent post porroe

Caleb said...

I recently found a SMS in a similar state at a Garage sale.

A quick clean and it was working good as new.

Gotta love these retro consoles!

I would like to see an Xbox 360 last in conditions like that.