A recent Sega Dreamcast test shows why you should stop retrobrighting your old game consoles
A 10-year study on restoring yellowing retro video game consoles has finally reached a verdict: Retrobrighting vintage video game consoles accelerates their degradation over time, making the restoration technique a double-edged sword.
This comes from retro tech YouTuber Shelby Jueden, who goes by Tech Tangents online. Shelby recently noted that he had been treating consoles, such as the Sega Dreamcast, with hydrogen peroxide and leaving them out in the sun as early as 2015.
Shelby did this to restore the Dreamcast to its original cream-colored glory. However, he noted that, over time, the restoration attempt accelerated the onset of yellowing and made it more pronounced than on untouched consoles after 10 years of shelf life.
He detailed the whole process in his video “Retrobright Damages Plastic – 10 Year Test.” He disassembled the Sega Dreamcast and used the classic retrobrighting technique. He coated the top and bottom parts, except for the lid, with Hydrogen Peroxide and exposed them to UV light.
Retrobrighting visibly lightened the Dreamcast’s discoloration, which he considered a quick win. But after reassembling the console recently, he noticed that the lid was pristine compared to the retro-brightened top and bottom panels of the console.
Jueden stated in the video, “Retrobrighting degraded the plastic more and caused more yellowing than if it had just been left alone.”
He explained that the yellowing doesn’t occur solely from UV light exposure, but from a host of factors, including heat, oxygen, and brominated flame retardants added to ABS plastic housings from the 1980s and 1990s.
For further explanation, hydrogen peroxide merely reverses photo-oxidation by breaking down chromophores, but it doesn’t stop polymer degradation, which makes the fix potentially more harmful to the console in the long run.
Shelby’s results aren't a one-off incident. While some retro enthusiasts swear by this method for its immediate results, it isn’t foolproof, as the whitening is often uneven. Jueden concluded, “The answer is retrobrighting doesn’t work. The plastic still yellows, and you can end up with it looking worse than if you just left it alone. Entropy wins sadly.”
Retro collectors have been adopting gentler alternatives to retrobrighting, like vinyl dyes and hydrocarbon-based goo dissolvers, which alleviate yellowing without forming peroxides, or straight-up sanding away at consoles. At the end of the day, yellowing consoles are inevitable, and the march of time demands respect.
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