Gameboy games cannot save

Retrocomputing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for vintage-computer hobbyists interested in restoring, preserving, and using the classic computer and gaming systems of yesteryear. It only takes a minute to sign up. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. But recently the game does not save any more, the saved position is reset. How do such old Nintendo GameBoy games store save files, what could cause this sudden failure and how could I fix this?

Gameboy games use a CR battery which over the years eventually dies stopping games from saving and causing previously saved games to disappear.

Note however while the game is powered you can still save, however once you power down the save will be gone. In order to replace the battery you must open up the cartridge with a 3.

Next you have to carefully pry the connectors loose from the existing battery since the original battery is actually soldered to the connectors. A common method on replacing the battery is to use an adhesive preferably electrical tape to hold the new battery in place.

It's important to note you do not want to remove or break the current connectors, if you do so you will need to buy a complete kit which requires you to solder new connectors in place. Once replaced you can continue to save games again, however down the road in years you will have to replace the battery again.

To avoid losing your saves forever there are some great resources on actually transferring your existing saves to your PC. Gameboy games use CR battery, which will die and take all the data with it:. It's lost for good. Saved games back in those days were preserved through the use of a battery right in the game pack, not stored on the gaming device itself like it is today.

And when that battery dies, so does the saves with it. Repair of this device is straightforward. Jasmine jasminet. My gameboy color will play games fine, I'll save the game to continue later, when I turn it on later, there is nothing saved. Is this the game or the gameboy? I am having the same problem on Mario Land 2. I have replaced it with the correct CR battery, tested both contacts after installed, have confirmed it's getting the 3volts needed, yet it still is not saving. Can anyone shed some light on this?

All forums explain how to replace the battery, which I have done, but it still is not saving. The problem is with the game cartridge itself. The circuit board in the cartridge has a memory battery located inside that needs to be replaced. Every battery that I have seen on the circuit boards needs to be soldered in place. Finding a new battery may be a problem however. Finding a battery isn't a problem actually.

EBay has plenty of sellers that have the correct battery. Search for "CR gameboy battery" on eBay for the original ones and "CR gameboy advance battery" for those.

You'll need a soldering set and possibly a female torx bit to get into the older games or possibly a tri-wing screwdriver. Just look at the back of your game to see what you'll need to open it up. Bean beanking. The issue is not with the console, but with the game itself.

Certain gameboy games, especially gameboy color games, contain save files that are reliant on a soldered-in battery within the cartridge. This means that if the battery inside the cartridge dies, the board will lose its ability to retain and overwrite a save file.

Don't worry, though! This is a very common issue with these games as they are years old, and their battery life is estimated at years in most cases. Dead save batteries are especially prominent in games like Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver, due to the internal clock function these games possess.

The internal clock tends to drain the battery over time. But other games are just as prone to losing their ability to save over time. There is an easy remedy to this, though. Simply replace the battery in the cartridge, and you will be able to enjoy your games again!

There's a complete list of games that lists the basic characteristics of all Gameboy games, and there are a total of that use passwords as a method for saving and loading game state. Game Boy does not offer a built in save either, so it's normal for Tetris not to save anything at all.

I can't find a list of any gameboy games that don't use a battery for saves. As for the gameboy color there are a few games that have persistent save with no battery. I don't know what they are.

It's already been answered that Tetris doesn't have any save abilities. Use save states with an emulator or take a picture with your phone to save your high score.

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What you're asking is well-defined, but hard to find in the question.