There’s a fine line between retro-inspired devotion and, well, rendering several hundred dollars’ worth of electronics temporarily useless with a can of Krylon. The gaming world just witnessed one fan’s journey from wistful homage to, as Game Rant describes it, “absolute disaster”—all in pursuit of a banana-yellow cartridge aesthetic that only makes sense if you spent your formative years blowing dust out of N64 slots.
Spray Paint Dreams, Digital Nightmares
To appreciate this saga, it helps to remember how, in gaming’s less HDMI-infested days, color was often the lone differentiator between your prized cart and your friend’s bland gray library. Donkey Kong 64’s canary casings and the legendary golden Legend of Zelda carts weren’t just status symbols—they were beacons of playground pride. It’s these memories that inspired Gardner, known online as gardnerhartung, to customize his brand-new “Donkey Kong Bananza” cartridge for the freshly minted Nintendo Switch 2.
According to Dexerto, Gardner meticulously disassembled his game, taped the label, and reached for the yellow spray paint. The plan was to give this Switch 2 cartridge the eye-popping hue of its primordial N64 ancestor. The only snag? Unlike the chunky, half-visible carts of yesteryear, Switch 2’s diminutive game cards disappear entirely into the system once inserted. This seems to undercut the visual impact, but nostalgia rarely lets practicality get in the way.
Trouble in the Slot
The story continues as both outlets detail Gardner’s fateful attempt to reunite his yellow cartridge with his Switch 2. After the paint job dried, optimism met the cold physics of tolerances and thickness. Even a microscopic layer from a spray can, it turns out, can turn an otherwise slick bit of consumer design into an unwillingly permanent feature. Gardner’s own videos, highlighted by Game Rant, captured the moment the cartridge lodged itself firmly inside the console, beyond simple retrieval.
Attempts to extricate the now-ensnared Bananza quickly escalated. As Dexerto explains, Gardner first tried prodding with pliers—unsuccessfully—only to literally snap off the top of the cartridge. In his own words, “I actually just broke the cartridge,” delivered with a wry laugh that feels all too familiar to anyone who’s watched a DIY project go very wrong. Game Rant also notes that with Switch 2 consoles still scarce and highly coveted, the audience’s sympathetic discomfort was palpable; the idea of effectively bricking your new hardware over a shade of yellow feels especially grim in 2025.
When Nostalgia Outpaces Prudence
Neither outlet descends into ridicule. Game Rant notes that Gardner is hardly the first to mix reverence for the past with DIY bravado, nor likely to be the last. In fact, it’s half-jokingly suggested that enthusiasts seeking a throwback custom touch stick to personalizing their game cases and not tampering with modern cartridge engineering.
This is more than fodder for a “look at this fail” tweet. If anything, it’s a neat little case study in the tension between tactile memory and digital reality. People crave a bit of quirk and personality in their tech—especially when nostalgia is involved. But just because something was charming and functional in 1999 doesn’t mean it translates seamlessly to the streamlined world of 2025.
A Lesson in Moderation (and Sandpaper)
At the end of the day, there’s something endearing about Gardner’s journey from concept to chaos, all in the name of a banana-yellow homage. His matter-of-fact narration and the gaming community’s fascinated horror make it less a tale of hubris, more a gentle parable about boundaries—technological, archival, and nostalgic.
Would the Switch 2 have fared better with an officially sanctioned line of colored cartridges? Possibly, but Nintendo seems content to leave the past… well, in the past.
Maybe there’s a middle ground in all this. While DIY is fun and nostalgia is powerful, a little archival restraint isn’t the worst idea. If nothing else, there’s always a lesson lurking behind every can of spray paint and every brick—a lesson, it seems, in which a touch of yellow can go a very, very long way. Would you risk it all for a vintage vibe, or let your memories stay safely sealed in the past?
