Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [Ever wonder what the inside of a Nintendo looks like?]

So we totally found Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game for the original Nintendo (NES) this past weekend at a used book/cd/game/underwear store down in the Boogie. In case you weren't aware, this was only the greatest game ever made. So we got it out to play and Shasta McShazbot if the thing wouldn't work! Super Mario started to work for a minute, then it quit. So, thinking back to my Nintendo playing days, I remembered that when all else fails, just blow into the game cartridge. That used to always fix it! So we did. And for the first time in my game playing experience, it didn't fix anything! So being the electronic whiz that I (nathan) am, I decide I can take it apart and re-route some wires or solder the circuit board or something. After all, I have learned a few things since I was 6 (but as you will soon find out not too many). So anyways I take the Nintendo to the kitchen table and get out the ole' tool box, all the while Carrie giving me that "what are you doing now? do you seriously think you are going to fix a Nintendo? you are only gonna break the thing" look. But I feel confident in my skills. So I take out all the screws and lift the lid cover. I am confounded by a number of brightly colored wires and some sort of green circuit/motherboard thingy (see below). Hmmmmmm......what to do?

Screws removed. Begin confused "I have no idea what I am looking at" face.

Still haven't figured out what I'm looking at. My first thought is to dust off the connectors where the game cartridge plugs into the Nintendo. I get a q-tip, rub down the connection areas really good and plug the Nintendo back into the TV to find out that it still doesn't work.

Put the game cartridge in and plugged the Nintendo back up to the TV, but all I see on the screen is........

Nothing. At this point, I'm a little discouraged, disgruntled and overall saddened by the fact that I may never again play my favorite game. Through a little tinkerin' I somehow figure out that when you plug in the game and push it all the way down into the Nintendo it will work. But the cartridge holder is spring-loaded so it pops the cartridge back up to whatever level it is supposed to be at for the Nintendo to read it. I guess ours is just old and messed up, so it needs its cartridge all the way down to play. But how do I keep the thing compressed all the way down? If I have to hold it down the whole time with my finger during gameplay that will seriously inhibit my ability to beat Bebop, Rocksteady and Krang. And what about Shredder? He's gonna get away with kidnapping April O'Neil and Master Splinter. Seriously, I'm gonna need two hands to beat that perp. Then, a revelation...

I see a little bag of Bananagrams sitting by the TV (basically just a smaller game of Scrabble or something, I have never played it). So i get out 4 scrabble squares and wedge them between the game cartridge and the top of the cartridge holder. I realize I still need just a little more pressure to keep the game all the way compressed, so what better to use than the zipper thing on the plastic bag holding the rest of the scrabble squares? I press the power button and....

It works!!!!! Time to tear me up some Shredder!