a word of warning on those "new" 72 pin connectors

[gbpxl]

I don't know the source for those 72 pin connectors that you see on eBay- I bought a couple and they were vacuum sealed with no packaging material, cardboard box, etc so it looks like they dont cleaned one from an old NES and vacuum sealed it.

well anyways, a lot of these 72 pins are much tighter than the original ones and it can be extremely difficult to pull a cartridge out. I highly advise against bending the pins in your current 72 pin connector

I believe the best way to increase functionality is 1) q-tip and rubbing alcohol directly on the contacts of the cartridge itself, and 2) the officially licensed NES cleaner that you move back and forth to clean the 72 pin connector- make sure you use rubbing alcohol. or 3) just get the top loader

I had to pull a game out of my console using a pliers once- it left some scrapes on the plastic.

[techwizard]

cleaning only helps so much though. if the pins are loose, no amount of cleaning will help because the pins aren't even touching the cartridge connector properly. i agree the new ones can be pretty tight but after a few uses they go more or less back to "normal". there's nothing wrong with the bending up the pins trick but it's a temporary fix at best.