You remind me about Atari XL/XE game "Inside", which was fighting some dust balls or what? inside the Atari. If a circuit was broken you had to fly there and fix it, but when for example Pokey was broken the music was distorted, Antic - the screen was distorted etc

This is wonderfully nerdy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsSg110yJZg

Or a "tin whiskers" version, where just playing the game gives your player damage--even when the machine is powered off.

Or a "tin whiskers" version, where just playing the game degrades the machine--even when powered off.

A bit like psDooM