I started up pokemon crystal and walked out of mom’s house and saved, then turned my gb off because the battery was low, but I turned it back on to check the save and the save was there. After letting it charge for an hour I went to continue and the save was gone. I assume this means I need to replace the battery in the cartridge? I haven’t done much with gb games as it was a little before my time but this seems to be a common issue with the older games. Mostly just looking for a second opinion, ty in advance.
#Game save disappeared
odd summit
prime rootBOT
I started up pokemon crystal and walked out of mom’s house and saved, then turne...
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split light
Gen 1 (red blue yellow) and gen 2 (gold silver crystal) pokemon games use a battery to keep the save file on the chip - It's called a SRAM chip
Gen 2 games all have a depleted battery if the battery wasn't replaced because gen 2 has real time clock (RTC) to keep track of time - It is used for things like berry re-spawn
RTC drain the battery a lot quicker than the SRAM chip, hence why gen 2 with original battery all need to be serviced to have enough juice to keep the save file
So in your situation, yes you need to replace the battery
This problem does not occur on gen 3 as the save is FRAM based, which means the save doesn't need power to stay on the chip
The RTC function will still need a battery replacement - You'll be prompted a message on start up screen
odd summit
Gen 1 (red blue yellow) and gen 2 (gold silver crystal) pokemon games use a batt...
Okay thank you for confirming, if I replace the battery and make a save will I lose it if the new battery ever dies in the future?
odd summit
They are both second gen btw
split light
Yes, the battery holds the save from the eternal void of the abyss 😱
odd summit
Okay thank you for all the help, I appreciate it
split light
If you want to keep your save file secured you can buy a gbxcart to download it on your computer
That way if you ever need to replace the cell or if it dies, you can restore it
odd summit
Okay if the battery dies could I then back it up onto my pc or do I need to do it before it dies? I’d image before but I saw a youtube short will looking at battery replacement stuff that made it seem like you could still back it up after the battery died
split light
Before it dies.
No electricity = data bits go back to 0