Earlier this week, iFixit released a PSA on whether or not game cartridges can be fixed by blowing into them, per the traditional retro gamer's mindset— and while they do indeed conclude that cleaning tools are better than simply blowing on the cartridge, there is more nuance to cartridge-blowing than the iFixit blog post may lead some to believe.
First and foremost, though, let's discuss why iFixit and other parties it cites—as well as Nintendo long before them—warn against blowing on cartridges to dislodge dust and other debris from their enclosures. The long-term concern has always been that accumulated moisture in the user's breath, particularly careless spittle, can cause corrosion to build up on the contacts of both the cartridge and the console/handheld's cartridge reader over time, eventually forcing a full cleaning or replacement with enough accumulated corrosion.
