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My handhelds are slowing die even without much use

The only thing that‘s really bad if it breaks are DSs, even today in 2024 nothing plays DS games as good as original hardware. The other platforms, well, it‘s nice to play on them, bur for playing games you don‘t really need the devices as they can be easily emulated.
3ds plays ds as well as the original hw
 

Nitty_Grimes

Made a crappy phPBB forum once ... once.
I hope the Steam Deck 2 is released before the battery wears out.
My PSVita battery went all fat and bowed out the shell.
I removed the battery and took it to BestBuy and put it in the battery disposal box.
I still have the Vita though I don't know if it works. Plugging it in with no battery doesn't do anything.
How old was your Vita? I still have and use my launch day Vita and never had any battery swelling.
 

Crayon

Member
Ice got a Gameboy color, maybe a pocket, and an advance so but I haven't tried them in a long time. I do have a neo Geo Pocket, wonderswan, and lynx that i play regularly and those work perfect after replacing the lcds.

Anyway, that sucks! I found at least one place online that does retro console refurbs. I can't remember specifically, but I was looking into some preventative maintenance and the price wasn't crazy.
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
How old was your Vita? I still have and use my launch day Vita and never had any battery swelling.
It was a launch Vita and this happened around 2022. So 10 or 11 years.
It happened while it was sitting in a case in a drawer.
The Vita was a traveler. It went on several overseas trips during its life.
 

kiphalfton

Member
Wait until it happens to your ding-a-ling.
Sad 90 Day Fiance GIF by TLC

Woman in that gif sure isn't helping.
 

protonion

Member
I sold most of my old systems the last years. Boxed and handled religiously.

-Gameboy. Dead vertical line of pixels.
-Gba. Wouldn't turn on. Though I was told this is easily fixed by the buyer.
-Dsi. Perfect.
-3ds xl. Perfect.
-Psp. Perfect
-Psvita. Perfect

I managed to get one of the last available 2ds I could find as I have a nice collection there. I hope it lasts.

As for consoles.

-Nes. Difficult to read the cartridge but can be fixed I was told.
-Gamecube. Dead laser... It had minimal usage. What crap this system was...
-N64. Perfect
-Snes. Perfect.
-Ps1. Perfect
-Ps2. Perfect. Insane usage.
-Wii. Problematic laser...
-Ps3 slim. Perfect.
-Ps4. Perfect.


From my experience Sony is the king of hardware quality.
 
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KXVXII9X

Member
I checked my old MGS Peace Walker Themed PSP the other day and the battery was bulging out which pushed the back plate off. I had a potential bomb lying around.
 

REDRZA MWS

Member
Batteries only hold charges certain period of time. Good luck with EV that only go 300 miles. The power grid goes out or gets attacked you ain’t going nowhere.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Batteries only hold charges certain period of time. Good luck with EV that only go 300 miles. The power grid goes out or gets attacked you ain’t going nowhere.

So if your entire country's power grid goes out indefinitely - so nothing has power, least of all EVs, no heat, no ac, no electricity to charge your phone, nothing, in 10.000s of miles in every direction, and to top it off, your country is under invasion/attack by other countries, bombs, fire, and just death and more bombs at every corner, you'll be laughing at people who own a single EV and no other cars (before you and they both get exploded in to the afterlife)? I guess that's one weird doomsday scenario you got lol.
 
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Krathoon

Member
It does sound like the OP is in a humid environment. My stuff works fine. The only problem I had was the batteries in the PSPs going bad. They had crap batteries.

The GBAs work fine. They are built to last.
 

Krathoon

Member
I need to find a better battery for my "fat" PSP. The replacement I got barely fits. Bad design.

People do refurbish GBAs. You may be able to find someone to fix your old GBA up and give it a new battery.
 
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Wildebeest

Member
Old batteries will often leak and do damage to equipment. If you are storing a system for long term, it can pay to work out if it has a battery and take it out pre-emptively. And I think sone capacitors can just go bad even if not used if they leak.
 

near

Member
Most of my handhelds are still functioning well. My DS Lite is in perfect working order, I still use it occasionally.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
The only thing that‘s really bad if it breaks are DSs, even today in 2024 nothing plays DS games as good as original hardware. The other platforms, well, it‘s nice to play on them, bur for playing games you don‘t really need the devices as they can be easily emulated.
Yup i have a ds lite that doesnt charge, its not the battery or the charger so its probably a blown fuse... have been avoiding repairing that.
 

Krathoon

Member
I find that watch batteries go bad pretty quick. That happened to my Mr. Hanky bobblehead and my dead terrorist bobblehead.

I had a weird thing happen to a dvd case once. It crumbled in my hand. I guess they got the plastic formula wrong. It was really strange.
 
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Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I have a technique that I use.

I pick a game system to focus on, every three months or so. And the systems I'm not using I keep covered in shrink wrap. I leave them hibernating.

Seems to be working so far, I’ve been doing it for decades.

The only game system I keep permanently in use is the PC. But I'm constantly changing it so it usually works just fine..
 
Not gaming related, but my dad's lawnmower lasted over 30 years. It was an orange, small, shitty looking mower too. But it mowed like a champ and was even corded, as opposed to more powerful gas mowers.
My parents refrigerator lasted 35 years before it went kaput. Good luck to one nowadays lasting that long. Everything has short term planned obsolescence now
. (Planned failure by manufacturers)

I went through 4 or 5 ps4s that had hardware failures after a few years. My new launch ps4 was dead on arrival.

Fortunately i pay monthly now for a never ending warranty that covers all my game consoles and tvs. Just have to pay a small deductible if something breaks.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
My parents refrigerator lasted 35 years before it went kaput. Good luck to one nowadays lasting that long. Everything has short term planned obsolescence now
. (Planned failure by manufacturers)

I went through 4 or 5 ps4s that had hardware failures after a few years. My new launch ps4 was dead on arrival.

Fortunately i pay monthly now for a never ending warranty that covers all my game consoles and tvs. Just have to pay a small deductible if something breaks.
Dont forget to check places like Costco. Game consoles have indefinite warranty. And electronics like TVs have 90 day returns, 2 year standard warranty, and extended warranties making it 5-6 years is only an extra $100 or so. My last two TVs from Costco died but the warranty covered me. The last time it happened the re;pair shop couldn even fix it so Costco sent me a new TV of reduced value in today's value 5 years later. That shitty $1800 CDN Sony 900e (worst TV I ever had with many problems) got replaced by an LG $1200 TV which has been perfect for two years.

Game consoles have indefinite warranty because they are classified as toys, not electronics like PCs and TVs.
 
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Dont forget to check places like Costco. Game consoles have indefinite warranty. And electronics like TVs have 90 day returns, 2 year standard warranty, and extended warranties making it 5-6 years is only an extra $100 or so. My last two TVs from Costco died but the warranty covered me. The last time it happened the re;pair shop couldn even fix it so Costco sent me a new TV of reduced value in today's value 5 years later. That shitty $1800 CDN Sony 900e (worst TV I ever had with many problems) got replaced by an LG $1200 TV which has been perfect for two years.

Game consoles have indefinite warranty because they are classified as toys, not electronics like PCs and TVs.
Thank you for letting me know. Just bought an lg oled but ill consider costco next time.

I didn't know that Costco offers free warranty on consoles interesting. Sorry to hear that you had problems with your sony tv.

I pay $15 a month for a forever warranty from Asurion. If my game system or tv breaks i pay $100 deductible at most and they fix it or get me a new tv / console at no additional charge.

Here is the link.


They have 24/7 support too and have been in business for years.
 
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FR1908

Member
My VITA died this way. My Game Gear seems immortal tho, no idea how that thing can still work that well after so many years.
You are very lucky. I have 4 Game Gears and they all have issues. 2 have broken screens, 1 has no sound and the other is very quiet. Some are just blown up capacitors which are easy to repair, but because of laziness I bought an Analogue Pocket for my Game Boy, Lynx and Game Gear games.
 
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