Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit Open NES SNES Nintendo 64 & Game Boy Games

by Classic Game Source

Product Features

• 2 Versions: Black or Silver in Color
• Black version is made of tempered steel. Silver version is nickel plated for corrosion resistance and is made of stronger heat treated, hardened steel.
• Opens games for Original Nintendo (NES), Super Nintendo (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), Virtual Boy, Original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Sega Game Gear.
• Generous 5 cm in length.
• Allows for opening and internal cleaning of games as well as battery replacement.

Product Details

• ASIN: B000F8GWH2
• Product Dimensions: 2 x 0.2 x 0.2 inches ; 1 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #831 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Made from strong heat treated, hardened steel. Comes in black version or silver colored versions. Silver colored versions are nickel plated, and are made from heat treated, hardened steel. Thus, the silver version is of the 3.8mm security bit is much stronger than the black version. The bit measures 5 cm (about 2 inches) in length. Bit will fit any standard 1/4" screwdriver handle. The 3.8mm security bit allows you to open Original Nintendo (NES) games, Super Nintendo (SNES) games, Nintendo 64 (N64) games, Virtual Boy games, Original Game Boy games, Game Boy Color games, and Sega Game Gear games. Opening those games will allow you a greater ability to clean games to restore functionality. Additionally, it'll allow you, when necessary, to access a game's battery in order to restore save game functionality.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nifty, durable, fits. I'm pleased., November 11, 2011

By 

Jared from Utah - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit Open NES SNES Nintendo 64 & Game Boy Games (Video Game)

After reading the negative reviews that said this tool stripped easily (or came pre-stripped), I hesitated to purchase it. But it also had a 4 & 1/2 star average rating and other raved about it. After searching for a tool without the controversy and finding nothing, I bought it -- with a little apprehension.

It came. I've used it. It's perfect.
I can only think of two possible explanations for the few negative reviews: either they got a defective unit, or the company fulfilling it listed a cheaper version under the same product. Keep in mind that there is at least one other version of this product -- a black one, of poorer quality (according to what I've read online) and then this silver-colored one -- which is great. I bought mine from JJ Games, so they sell the silver-colored one for sure.

Now the "common" knowledge that nobody ever mentions: I drove all around my city to find out that the "screws" that seal most NES cartridges are specially designed so that the common person cannot open their games (lame, I know). The tool that opens them is made specifically for the job so don't go trying to find one at any store selling regular tools (or even specialist tools).

Okay, so the tool...
It's well-built and I can tell it will last a long time. To my surprise, it had extra room after sliding into those tiny holes in the cartridge -- it was not a tight fit as some reviews warned. The tip is magnetic, which I found myself caring about more than I thought I would after using it. And as no surprise, the tool itself can be picked up by magnets, so you can get a magnetic handle for it, since it's missing the groove that some hex tools have that let it "lock in" to a quick-change screwdriver handle or drill (darn). By the way, you don't NEED a handle. I opened many games and none of them had the screws tightened very tight. In fact, when closing the game, you should stop tightening as soon as the screw lets you know it's done turning. Snug, but not tight, and you'll avoid stripping the plastic.

Okay, so a handle: I looked all over my local Lowes and Auto Zone with no success. They all had heavy, monstrous handles that came apart, and were filled with tons of bits and room enough to stuff a backpack inside. After much searching online, I found a simple, magnetic handle with a hex end. It's still on the way, so I can't know for sure it will be perfect (the hex area it slides into seems a little short, designed for the small screwdriver bits), but I've got my fingers crossed. It was a Craftsman magnetic screwdriver handle (9-43373). I tried to order it here, but Amazon says it's no longer available -- so I bought one in a buy-it-now on ebay for under 11 US bucks after shipping.

This is the end of my review of the product. Now I'm going to explain how to make NES games work like new once again for those customers who are buying this so that they can open their games to clean them so that they will work. There are 3 things I did that I recommend you do.

1) clean your games
2) replace the 72-pin connecter your games plug into inside your NES
3) (a little more involved) neutralize the lockout chip which causes the infamous "blinking light" syndrome so that your NES will work the first try, every time. This last step isn't entirely necessary. If you have a clean cartridge and clean NES and you're putting in legitimate cartridges, you'll rarely get the blinking light, if ever. Still, I didn't want to ever see it again.

Here we go...
If you're opening your games so you can clean them -- but you're new to doing it, I'll share some information that took me hours of scouring message boards to find out. I read dozens of methods of cleaning games before deciding to go with the one that seemed to me to be the most recognized method. There's a huge debate on the "best" way and I'm sure there's other good ways, but I tried this one and it worked beautifully for me. In fact, to my delight, I cannot get my games to NOT work. I can move them around inside the NES without it messing up the game I'm playing.

First, I scrub the brass connector in the game cartridge with a rag dipped in Brasso, a brass-cleaning and polishing product I found at Lowes. (Don't sniff it, it's VERY STRONG). Also, use very little of it -- I squeezed one drop onto the corner of my rag for each side of the cartridge connector. Once the connectors looks clean (the gunk & corrosion is gone), I scub off the Brasso with 70% rubbing alcohol. I heard that alcohol stops the Brasso from continuing to eat away at the brass (the YouTube video actually said to dilute the alcohol half-and-half with distilled water, which I did, but after a while I just got lazy and stopped diluting it. The alcohol evaporates quickly and I don't see it staying on long enough to corrode the connector). After the connector is "rinsed" with the alcohol, I wipe it off with a clean rag that doesn't leave particles (such as cotton). This resets your games to like-new once again. Unfortunately, you now need to replace the connector that the game plugs into inside your NES because if you don't, the corrosion in there will quickly undo all your work by corroding your game again. There's a great video for that on YouTube. Just search for the words: replace 72-pin NES connector. It's not hard, you just unscrew your NES, take it apart, and the 72-pin connector just pulls off and you put a new one on. Just make sure you buy a decent quality one. Mine was $10 after shipping.

One last thing I did while I had my NES apart -- I broke the 4th pin from the left on the lockout chip, which is on the motherboard (make sure you understand how to work with circuit boards -- mainly that you don't touch the circuit parts without discharging static electricity first or you can fry your board. Some people wear a wrist strap for this, but I've gotten adept at doing it without. Just try to keep your hands on the edges of the board, don't touch this middle parts) You can find video tutorials on neutralizing the lockout chip by searching YouTube. What this does is force the lockout chip to always think that the cartridge in your NES is legitimate. Why is this important? Because when the NES thinks it's not, you'll get the flashing red light. So by doing this, I have made it so my NES will never blink at me again (yay!). The only trouble I had was figuring out how to break that fourth "pin". It's a tiny band of metal running from the chip to the motherboard. What I finally found worked was I pinched it hard with small needle-nose pliers until it was like a thin wire. Then I broke it with a little leverage using a tiny flathead screwdriver from one of those tiny screwdriver sets.

There you go. I hope this saves some people some time figuring it all out.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Credit to Amazon!, February 15, 2007

By 

J. Boroi "Nintendo Collector" (PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit Open NES SNES Nintendo 64 & Game Boy Games (Video Game)

NES Security Bit arrived extremely quick and works great. High Quality tools!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware of cheap imitations!, December 27, 2006

By 

Daniel Carman (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Steel 3.8mm Screwdriver Security Bit Open NES SNES Nintendo 64 & Game Boy Games (Video Game)

This tool works great on all my old NES games. I had purchased a similar bit from another online retailer, and the bit turned out to be junk. It stripped out with practically no effort, making it nearly impossible to remove the security screws from NES cartridges.

I wish I had found this deal on Amazon.com sooner--this one works perfectly every time!