N64 cartridge dead for good?

That looks really bad, like the cart has been exposed to something corrosive, or just humidity/moisture. Since it's mainly the contacts, maybe it was "blown" into over the years and breath did this...

Anyway, you can try to fix, but I would just get a new cart, and swap the guts if the case of this cart means something to you.

 

Brasso is very good to clean theses pins. plus you should clean the pins on the console it self since all the dirt will be inside that aswell.

 

Alright.. Thanks everyone for the help you gave me. At this point it seems that it's something I won't be able to fix. At this point a board or ROM swap are my choices, I'm leaning more towards a board swap.

 

Do this. It's almost surely a cut trace that just needs patching up.
N64 carts are designed in a way that often causes this exact defect.

 

As bart_simpson mentioned, it can't hurt at this point to try the Brasso cleaning. I've used it to rescue a number of abused old carts with much success. Normally a hi-poly eraser and some elbow grease is enough, but that's a lot of gunk on those contacts. This is my procedure:

1. Clean each contact with a very small amount of Brasso and a cotton swab. You want to brush down away from the PCB one contact at a time. Do not brush/wipe side-to-side (at any step). I generally rest the PCB on something like a disposable shop towel and brush the Brasso down the contact and onto the towel. Do one side of the cart at a time, using a clean swab to remove as much remaining Brasso as possible when you finish each side. Be careful not to get any up on the PCB. If there is still any significant amount debris, repeat, but one careful pass should be all that's needed. I'll make one final pass with dry swabs or a cotton pad to remove any visible remaining Brasso.

2. Using a lint-free disposable lens cleaning cloth and a small amount of windex/similar (on the cloth itself, do not spray on the cart), go back over each contact to remove any remaining Brasso and other debris. Again only wipe down each contact away from the PCB and not side-to-side. Make sure not to leave any residue on the leading edge of the PCB.

3. Repeat step 2 with a fresh lens cloth and 91%+ isopropyl alcohol.

4. Gently wipe down the contacts one last time with a fresh dry lens cloth.

5. Inspect the cart to make sure it's clean and dry and that all Brasso/etc has been removed. From this point on, do not touch the contacts or blow on them. Use compressed air or a clean dry lens cloth if there's any loose debris that needs to be removed.

Whether it works or not, pull the cart back out and re-inspect it. If it's got crap on the contacts again, you're going to want to clean the cartridge socket - I don't have any useful advice there, as I haven't needed to do that myself.

I only use this on seriously dirty carts when it's pretty much "nothing to lose". The worst condition cart I've rescued looked a lot like yours, a copy of Gunstar Heroes with some bad soda/juice damage I picked up on the cheap.

 

I wouldn't trust that cart even if you got it working but did you actually do any troubleshooting, like tracing with the multimeter?

 

I had a snes do that , it was from a heavy smoker. I put the chartraige in and out of the console about 10 time (with it turned off) and it worked fine after that....

 

I'm going to vote for the "broken track" theory - I've seen this quite a few times on N64 carts, where some liquid has got trapped underneath the plastic spacer that fits just above the edge connector and eventually etches the trace away. Whatever got on that connector was corrosive enough to almost completely remove one of the edge connector contacts, so it would certainly be able to etch through a trace.

I still think swapping the parts to another PCB is a better option, though.

 

Sir this is why the sticker says "do not blow on the cartridge".

 

I see some traces that clearly look to be broken. Those need to be fixed. Ill circle the ones that I think look bad later.

 

Did you have any luck with this?

I had a similar issue with a SNES Super Mario World cart. I recorded the troubleshooting and repair of it. Broken traces are often the culprit. Trying to repair the trace is a heck of alot easier than doing a full Rom swap.

Video below in the link. It's a little sloppy (first time I've attempted it), but this was probably a more extreme case than what you have.