August1997
STAR* TECH JOURNAL
Enzo
1
s
Tech
Tips
"Hey Enzo, I can't find the self-test button on this Captain Fantastic!,,
Douglas 'Enzo' Mccallum • Shiawassee Technical Services • Lansing, Ml
So, You REALLY WANT To GET INTO NINTENDO REPAIR?
Nintendo Repair: I opened my
big mouth and suggested
Nintendo repair as a way to pro-
mote your business. Some of you
showed an interest, so I feel obli-
gated to let you know something
about such activity.
Above all, the first thing I would
suggest is take it one step at a
time. Each market is different.
Before you go out and buy every
schematic and part imaginable,
make sure there will be an inter-
est in YOUR area. Parts and sup-
plies can be had in two or three
days tops, so start out ordering
to satisfy your immediate need.
If the project starts to build speed,
then is the time to consider keep-
ing stock. Some brands and
models are popular in some area
while others are more popular
elsewhere. Keep an eye out for
local preferences. The ultimate
consumers are in your store ev-
ery day, the kids. Ask them what
is popular where you are.
The coin op repairs you do are
in the industrial/ commercial sec-
tor, which is to say if it breaks,
you fix it. When you venture into
Nintendo repair, you are also
wandering into the ,consumer
neck of the woods. What that
means is you now have to con-
sider pricing. You will hear the
age old question, "is it worth fix-
ing?" The correct answer is, "It
is up to you." To be fair though
you need an idea of what the stuff
costs. No one will pay you
twenty bucks to fix a twelve dol-
lar joystick. You need to do some
initial research.
Ask the kids. Where is the best
place to buy the game systems,
the joystick, the software. Go
there and take notes. Depend-
ing on the size of your commu-
nity, you may or may not have a
big electronics mega store. Best
Buy, Circuit City, your local ver-
sion of the store that advertises
heavily selling appliances, TVs,
stereos, and the like. Failing that,
K Mart, Target, Wal Mart. Make
a list of the systems and what they
cost locally. There are a number
of systems: Nintendos, Super
NES, Gameboy, Sega Genesis,
others. Check out the control-
lers. There are joysticks up to the
very fancy models, and there are·
simple controls that are just
handheld packs the size of a
Hershey bar. The cheaper ones
are the most common. The first
home joystick I fixed turned out
to be a Wico product once I
opened it up. Make notes of the
cost of controllers.
OK, now put up a sign, "We fix
Nintendo." That is probably suf-
ficient. There are a number of
brands, but to Mom and Dad
they are all Nintendo. The kids
know better, but they will ask if
you fix their brand. MCM even
sells a sign for twenty bucks.
Whoa!!! The response is over-
whelming, what will we do with
all these repairs?
Like anything else, most repairs
are simple. I won't go over the
electronics, you have the same
things as in the big games, power
supply, logic, program, display.
Mostly what breaks are the things
the customer can get his hands
on. Controllers wear out contacts
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