If you've read our previous feature on how gaming hardware is slowly but surely dying, you'll recall that we gave a special shout-out to the creepy crawlies who love to get inside your consoles and make them their home (and cause significant amounts of damage in the process).
If that's the kind of thing that makes you scream and leap onto the nearest available chair, then you might want to navigate away from this page because the story we're about to recount isn't going to be much fun for bug-haters.
Australia-based YouTuber and vintage hardware restorer RyanUkAus recently posted a video about a rather alarming discovery he made in his workshop, which is where he keeps some of his retro gear. While tidying up one of his desks, he disturbed a Dreamcast controller he'd had in his collection for a few years. This triggered a wave of Australian black house ants to appear and swarm the work surface.
After cleaning up much of the horde, Ryan was brave enough to open up the pad and – well, we'll let the video speak for itself here. The controller had essentially become an ant colony, complete with flying ants and larvae.
The YouTuber believes that a previous owner of the pad may have split something sugary on the pad or used it after consuming a sweet treat, and that is what attracted the ants to it.
Amazingly, Ryan was able to restore the pad – and the ants did their bit to help. He took the controller outside and placed it next to a clump of leaves, which, he reasoned, would be a more suitable home for the colony.
Incredibly, the ants agreed and duly removed all of the larvae to the new location – effectively cleaning up the controller as they went. The following day, Ryan reports, the pad was practically clean; even the PCB remained in good condition, despite the proximity of "ant juices" (Ryan's scientific description, not ours).
As you can see from the video, the pad was restored to full working condition. Teamwork makes the dream work.