This is such a huge problem for retro gamers. Any games on optical media, even those that aren't particularly old are at risk. As the article mentions, it's doubly infuriating given how optical media was marketed as more durable than cartridges. Meanwhile, a bunch of my Dreamcast and PS2 games have disc rot, while all my carts are still 100% playable.
Besides disc rot, optical drives are also at high risk of the laser dying - this has happened to a PS1, PS2 and Dreamcast of mine.
For these reasons, the most serious retro gamers I know are modding their optical drive systems to replace the CD drive with a SD-card based optical drive emulator.
Anyway, thank heavens for emulation and the homebrew fan community. Without them, so much of video game history would be lost.
I have not come across a Dreamcast game with rot. I have some early games which were just pressed badly and the top player in completely pealing off but it was not rot.
The Saturn Discs on the other hand I have come across more than a few with rot.
Besides disc rot, optical drives are also at high risk of the laser dying - this has happened to a PS1, PS2 and Dreamcast of mine.
For these reasons, the most serious retro gamers I know are modding their optical drive systems to replace the CD drive with a SD-card based optical drive emulator.
Anyway, thank heavens for emulation and the homebrew fan community. Without them, so much of video game history would be lost.