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How are those save batteries doing?


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I loaded up my SNES Chrono Trigger cart yesterday for the first time in 6+ years and all my saves are still around, and new save files still work. Hell, a Zelda 2 cart I own still has working saves. I know that save batteries can eventually fail, but my NES and SNES collection has yet to have a battery-backed up game that can no longer save. Does anyone have any stories related to battery backed up old games no longer saving correctly? I would've thought those batteries would've started failing by now.

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I had to replace a Leaf Green battery last year

my Silver battery died as well, but I don't have the right driver to open the cartridge

Link's Awakening is kinda iffy. It lost it's data once already, but it keeps new saves I put on it

Wario Land 2 is dead

most everything else I can think of is fine yet

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I had to replace a Leaf Green battery last year

my Silver battery died as well, but I don't have the right driver to open the cartridge

Link's Awakening is kinda iffy. It lost it's data once already, but it keeps new saves I put on it

Wario Land 2 is dead

most everything else I can think of is fine yet

That's odd, because I have all those games, and only the Silver cart is dead. This is due to the game using an internal clock powered by the battery that also powers the save game.

When was the last time you played your Leaf Green and Link's Awakening carts? For that matter, is Link's Awakening the original or the DX version (GameBoy Color)? If it's DX, then the battery shouldn't ever be a problem, as they switched to newer roms. If it's the original, then it still shouldn't be a problem, because I have games that are older than that and still work.

That's really weird.

My Pokémon Gold cart still holds save games. Awesome.

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That's odd, because I have all those games, and only the Silver cart is dead. This is due to the game using an internal clock powered by the battery that also powers the save game.

When was the last time you played your Leaf Green and Link's Awakening carts? For that matter, is Link's Awakening the original or the DX version (GameBoy Color)? If it's DX, then the battery shouldn't ever be a problem, as they switched to newer roms. If it's the original, then it still shouldn't be a problem, because I have games that are older than that and still work.

That's really weird.

tbh leaf green I got off of ebay and it was dead then

I replaced the battery with a CR1016 and I don't expect that to die for a good 8 or 10 years

LA is original but it has a save on it from a year ago so it may not have been a battery thing that wiped the saves

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I should check out my batteries and see if they need replacing. I've been using emulators to save time and trouble for the last couple years. Replacing a battery shouldn't be too big of a deal though - I had to replace the battery in my SR module on my piano and that was a lot more complicated than a game cartridge and it worked out fine.

You might need some special tools though.

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tbh leaf green I got off of ebay and it was dead then

I replaced the battery with a CR1016 and I don't expect that to die for a good 8 or 10 years

Hmm, LeafGreen uses CR1016? Good to know. I've only seen CR2025 in GB/GBC cartridges, and actually never opened GBA cartridges.

I havent had any battery issues other than my PK Silver one, but like it was said earlier, that generation had their battery issues because of the internal clock quartz crystal that needs power.

What puzzles me more is that I've yet to figure out how the NeoGeo pocket keeps its saves. Took one cartridge open one day and discovered that it didnt have any battery, the internals were rather simple actually. So I assume it has a non-volatile memory of somesort.

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at least, I think I put a 1016 in there. 1032's are way too thick and 1025's are still pretty thick as well

Oh, I see.

Btw, I've noticed that most of the batteries are welded onto their "legs", so either you have to get it off with brute force, or solder it off the PCB and find a replacement battery with similar legs.

Anyone seen other type of ways that they've been fastened?

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As far as I know, all the battery-powered cartridges I own still hold their savegames. The oldest one I have is my NES Ultima III cartridge; it's getting close to twenty years old, and I was playing it just the other week with no problems. I also have an original version Link's Awakening, Final Fantasy Legend II, the gameboy Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Land I and II, an original Zelda that belonged to my cousin, and a Dragon Warrior that I bought used last year.

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Well, that's probably it right there. eBay. I don't know why people buy games off of eBay with the rampant pirated copies that flood the place.

Did you ever make sure it was an actual Nintendo cart?

I bought it used. Who the hell would sell a fake as used on ebay?

Anyway, the PCB has the nintendo logo in gold lettering on it, I dunno how more official you have to be.

And it works just fine after I put a battery in it. Hell you don't even need a battery for the saves since they'd moved to non-volatile memory by then, it's only for the RTC

besides, I know what a fake ebay entry looks like thank you very much

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Randomly lost data in an FF2 (4) snes cartridge several times for no clear reason but it would continue saving data normally after the losses. Also lost it once with a Super Metroid cartridge that I bought on ebay which had me wondering if I'd bought a faulty cartridge for a while, though I never had any more problems with it.

I would be curious to load up my snes cartridges now and see if they're all still hanging in there though.

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Only my Pokemon Gold and Silver died on me. I know about the clock issue in those games, but it's really a shame. I guess I'll have to invest in one of the DS remakes :(

To echo what a lot of others here have indicated, I think all of my NES games with batteries still save. Same for SNES and GB, except as noted above.

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wow, I'm kinda glad I stumbled onto this thread.

I have a megaman battle network 2 game I bought some some time ago that after a certain point in the game, it would eraser any and all saved data (game would work fine though). So now I figure it might just be the battery.

Try to finish it, it's a really great GBA RPG with equally awesome music.

Anyway, all my batteries are fine.

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I bought it used. Who the hell would sell a fake as used on ebay?

Anyway, the PCB has the nintendo logo in gold lettering on it, I dunno how more official you have to be.

And it works just fine after I put a battery in it. Hell you don't even need a battery for the saves since they'd moved to non-volatile memory by then, it's only for the RTC

besides, I know what a fake ebay entry looks like thank you very much

Not saying you didn't know any better, just speculating on the cart.

The thing is, the batteries in GBA games should last for the better part of a decade, not only a few years. I suspect then that the original battery was faulty at manufacturing, or the previous owner somehow fried it (Tampering? Bad power supply from the GBA? Maybe he thought it would be cool to look inside his game?).

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