I am stuck on what I should do with my old Pokémon games. I plan to hold onto these games, not play them, and pass them down. In a perfect situation, I would like to keep them untouched, but I know that batteries can be a hazard, and they can eventually corrode/leak. This leads me to the question of should the original batteries be removed for storage? I am aware the cr2025/cr2032 batteries “rarely leak” but what about over 50, 100, or even 200 years? wont these batteries eventually corrode/leak? I have a copy of pocket monsters green in first print, and it still has the battery from 1996. I stare at it and wonder, what should I do?
Purchase a GB Operator (or another equivalent item), create backups of your saves, then get the batteries replaced. You can either do it yourself (requires a gamebit screwdriver + soldering iron kit and a bit of know how) or you can have somebody do it for you. My local retro game store does replacements for 10 bucks a pop.
With new modern batteries in, you could then use the save device to upload your data back onto the cart. You’d realistically not have anything to worry about in your lifetime.
Are you playing with your games? If so, like tstark said you can dump your roms+sav files and periodically replace batteries.
If it’s only for collection, it’s better to not mess with cartridges. There’s no need to be paranoid: if well stored at room temperature those batteries don’t leak
I have an operator, and I’ve already backed everything up. the problem is the sentimental value of keeping the game untouched for collection purposes. however, these batteries do leak. rarely, but they do. My problem is if I am to keep these safe, and passed down for generations to come, wont the coin cell eventually corrode?
Well, nothing lasts forever. Yes, the batteries are the most likely part of the cartridge to fail first, or leak. I’d be surprised if there are any GSC carts around with their original batteries still functioning, for example.
I bought a GBOperator earlier this year and it is so nice. I’ve replaced a lot of batteries from these games and the worst corrosion I’ve witnessed was still easily cleanable with a little bit of isopropyl alcohol. I would leave the games untouched if you don’t plan on playing them. If the people in 50,100 or 200 years want to play these games they’ll have to replace the battery anyway
I mean, you’re kinda asking for two opposite things. But if you truly want to remove the batteries go for it.
Imho the best way to approach this question is learning from other serious game collectors and see what’s the gold standard there: are they removing batteries? I don’t think so, but we could be wrong.
Also, 100-200 years in the future is a crazy time span, at that point you have to start considering for plastic degradation, label discoloration, glue failing and so on. It seems a bit overkill, considering that we’re talking about mass produced items. Entropy will inevitably catch up to everything.
ive sold many hundreds of these carts and none of those batteries really leak. unless it is the old save file you are trying to preserve rather than the game itself, there is no need to change these if you are worried about leakage.
the battery in your old game is almost certainly dead by now, so if you ever want to play it you would need to change it then. but whoever inherits them will also need to change the batteries every 10 years or so in order to actually play them
Gone. Older cartridge games (Gameboy, Super Nintendo, Genesis, etc) that had the ability to save were only able to because of the batteries. Replacing the battery won’t bring back your old save, once the battery dries up, it’s gone. You’ll be able to start a fresh file if you replace it. Just an unfortunate reality of the tech at the time. Thankfully the GBA games only used batteries for real time clock management.
Luckily there’s no shortage of devices built for emulation and backing up saves these days.
ya the save file dies with the battery unfortunately. actually one of the easiest ways to check if you have a dead battery is that new game is the only option and if you save and reload it is still the only option. i used to replace all of them anyway coz some of the old batteries only had maybe 0.1-0.5 V left even if they were still working.
(FRAM mod: de-solder the original memory chip in the cartridge which requires a battery to save and replace with one that doesn’t. Doable on all versions EXCEPT Japanese Crystal due to it using a special memory chip which doesn’t have a replacement.)
Will have to find collectors who have exactly the same mindset though, I would imagine the majority of “serious collectors” these days to just collect sealed or graded copies which you won’t be able to even see the cartridge in the first place.
Mostly true for Pokémon-related games unless you’re talking about Pinball, whose early lots use the same battery-powered memory.
(Peek into the top of the contact - if the white letters printed on circuit board says AGB-E06 then the cartridge is using battery-powered memory. All others like E01 to E05 or Y11 are fine.)