r/snes • u/Ok_Country_1284 • 10h ago

SNES graphic glitch (help troubleshooting)

Gallery image

Gallery image

I've been experiencing this issue with graphics on my SNES here. You can kind of see how the image looks sort of distorted, or "doubled" at parts, on the island.

Is this related to the 62 pin connector, or some deeper problem within the console itself? Has anyone else ever experienced this type of graphical glitch?

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3

u/NoMarionberry8131 9h ago

First, does this happen with every game? And if so, is it always foreground sprites that corrupt? Or do you see it in backgrounds too? I repair these almost exclusively now. The SNES has two picture processing units. One handles foreground, the other does backgrounds. If this is a foreground issue it would be tied to PPU1. That is, if it’s not something else. If you’re comfortable taking your SNES apart you can get down to the board and the cartridge pin connector pops right off. You could try scrubbing it with a toothbrush and some isopropyl alcohol, including the pins on the board. If it’s dust or something, that’ll get rid of it. If that still doesn’t help, then it’s PPU1 going bad on you. 😕

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u/Ok_Country_1284 9h ago

it happens exclusively on the intro to this particular game, so far. tbh it seems a lot like it's happening just to the foreground sprites now that you mention it that way.

3

u/NoMarionberry8131 9h ago

That’s good news then! If it’s only on this game, it’s more than likely something with your cartridge pins. This might sound crazy but if you open the cart up to get to the pins, using a rubber eraser across them works miracles! A q-tip and alcohol works okay too. Anyway, if your other games look fine then it’s nothing serious with the console. If you have Star Fox, try that one too. There’s a chance that something is going on with the SuperFX chip. But if that plays fine then never mind and I’d focus on those cartridge pins man. 👍🏻

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u/Ok_Country_1284 9h ago

thanks for your insights.

1

u/NoMarionberry8131 9h ago

You’re welcome. If you run into more trouble with it, hit me up! Good luck!

3

u/mysticjazzius 8h ago

This is very possible hardware failure. It's hard just from an image to declare what it is without knowing the behavior of the console, but it could be PPU failure. Can't say for certain though

2

u/Boomerang_Lizard 9h ago

Like the other guy said, if you see similar graphical glitches with other games, then it is likely a faulty chip on the console. If the problem persists after some basic cleaning, and continues to be with only that one game, then the problem could be the cart itself. Ideally you would want to try with another game that uses that same graphics mode as the cart in question, but not everyone has the means to do so.

In a way if it's only the cart then this is good because it means your console is working properly. A cart is easier to replace than a console.