Pokémon fans around the world are devastated to find out that all of their old Gameboy cartridges will soon be wiped clean of their saved games. To ensure all that hard work and time isn’t lost forever, the internet has shown that it’s not too late to save them all.
Inside every Nintendo Gameboy cartridge is a small battery that keeps them powered at all times, as this was the easiest way to store files when the GB, GBC and GBA were released (this is visible on the transparent cartridges like Pokémon Crystal where you can see the flat disc battery).
However these batteries typically last for about 15 years and seeing as Pokémon Red/Blue was launched in North America and Australia in 1998, fans are worried that the clock is ticking.
However, a new tutorial by Nintendo handyman Adr990 shows that there is a simple way to replace cartridge batteries without losing your saves. Adr990 himself claims it’s so easy that he’s “actually surprised no one tried this before”.
“As a game cart with a dead battery still does save your game as long as it is in your console playing, it means that the SRAM is powered. The SRAM keeps your data, and has to be powered all the time to keep the data,” the YouTube video explains.
“So, as the console powers the SRAM, you can just get the battery, and replace it while it’s on! Just make sure the battery is in there securely before you power off the console. Then take the game out for a few seconds, and plug it back in the console.”
Depending on what battery you use, the replacement should hold for another 10-20 years. Adr990 recommends a 2032 4v Coin Cell Battery.
Other courses of action include trading your old Pokémon into newer versions and leap-frogging them to the current generation of games.
As many cartridge based titles have batteries for storing user data, gamers everywhere should make sure they maintain their collections.
When speaking about collections, you can’t overlook a series like Pokémon. Even in our current generation, communities across the globe continue to treasure these old school classics.
Source: xbigygames.com
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Nice. Will do this with my Red and Blue since my Red has a complete Pokedex. But in regards to your idea of “leapfrogging” the games: you can’t trade Pokemon from Gen 2 to Gen 3 unfortunately 🙁