mrkent

For all of you who owns one of these could tell me if the video games saves data onto the cartirdge? I think I'm trying to make a decision to pick one of these up eventually.

Thanks.

focker

Yes, games that require saving have batteries in the cartridges.

Captain Harlock

The cartridegs almost always have a small battery in them. After about five years in storage I took out my SNES and hooked it up and to my suprise my saved game of Super Mario World was STILL there!!

If you're worried about the battery going kaput if you buy one of these games, however, don't despair. I have read about procedures which you can undertake to replace the battery in the cartridge. I don't have any info on the proper procedure yet but when I do I'll post it.

superboyreturns

You can also still send them into Nintendo to get the battery replaced, or take them into an authorized Nintendo repair shop.

There are two ways the game saves: either with battery back-up or it saves to an EEPROM.

Gideon68

EGM mentioned they would have an extensive procedure on replacing the battery, March 2002 Issue (I think, definitely Mar Iss, unsure about year), but they haven't followed up. I sent an e-mail asking about it, but they never responded either to me or through the mag.

Was it actually printed and I just missed it or did they drop the ball?

menaz

I assume it is not something difficult. Take the game apart which usually requires buying a tool that can remove the security screws Nintendo uses.

flux=rad

The battery replacing procedure seems fairly complicated to me. The batteries are usually soldered in place, so it's not as simple as opening up the game and replacing the battery like you would a watch. It does use a standard, easy-to-find battery. It's the same one in the Sega Saturn and most watches.

When the battery dies in some games, the game won't play at all. In most games, though, you can play and just not save without the battery. This isn't a huge problem, since 99% of the games I've tested still have working batteries. I think the games still have a few years. Interestingly enough, I've seen more SNES games with dead batteries than I have NES (I know that not a whole lot of NES games have batteries...but this still seems impressive).

If someone has some instructions on how to replace the batteries, I'd love to see it. I have a few games that need new batteries.

maneesh

I think that was GamePro.

-Maneesh

Gideon68

Can't be, I stopped subscribing to Gamepro in the mid '90s and haven't read an issue since. Gamepro may have had a similar article though.

menaz

If anybody can tell me of a cheapo SNES game that uses a battery, I wouldnt mind buying one, going through the whole procedure then writing a tutorial for it.

milo bloom

I once bought a used copy of the original Zelda for the NES, and it wouldn't save the game. So I opened it up and discovered the battery contact wasn't contacting. So I bent it into shape and it worked.