My Zelda II save game from 1989 still works!

[Gentlegamer]

So recently there was a sensation in the Zelda fan community over the revelation of the official Zelda timeline. Reading over the timeline and the reaction to it got me nostalgic, so I got out my copies of Zelda I and II to mess with on my NES.

The copy of Zelda I was from a friend abandoning it in my possession long ago. It still has my save game from a couple years ago when I put a new 72 pin connector in my NES. It's the original battery.

But even more delightful is the save file on my copy of Zelda II. I got Zelda II in January 1989. Over the next several months, I battled through that fairly tough game, helped by hints in Nintendo Power or friends who were also playing. I finished the game in fall 1989. I fairly sure I never really played it again, having moved on to other games, or even put it in my NES.

Well, that save game still lives, 20 years later! I put my Zelda II cart in and lo! there is my game with level 8 in everything and a little Triforce under my name! Simply amazing! So now I have a good reason to replay it without having to grind my levels. Should be much easier than I remember it! I just hope that battery can hold out for one more play through!

I thought I'd share this little delight with you all. Have any of you experienced something similar?

[NE146]

Grinding levels is relatively easy if you remember to max out the "gems placement" at the end of each stage (i.e. don't waste them).

You should be at least attack level 6 at the end of the first dungeon. And you should use the 2nd dungeon gem to max out your attack to 8. :)

[Gentlegamer]

I don't have to gain any levels because my save game lets me start with all the levels I had before (8/8/8) as well as the upper thrust and down thrust techniques. :)

[DDCecil]

Off topic kind of, but I have a copy of Link with some strange stats that were on the game when I bought it, I haven't deleted it yet, and don't think I ever will. The spell costs are all over the place! Not sure if the original owner used a game genie or if something glitched.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/3038/picture763j.jpg

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1496/picture762o.jpg

[NE146]

I don't have to gain any levels because my save game lets me start with all the levels I had before (8/8/8) as well as the upper thrust and down thrust techniques. :)

lol.. I think you're right. It's just been so long, and in the times that I HAVE replayed through Zelda 2 it's been from scratch.

Wow.. Did not know that (as of late) :p

[skaar]

Lol Goku Jr.

Yay Zelda II!

[Baloo]

I've had my save file go bust twice, once it just straight up disappeared as I got to the 4th palace, the second time it glitched out and gave me a couple weird spells...right as I crossed the continent.

Needless to say, I wanted to pull my hair out, and I think after that I've only gotten past the 1st palace now.

[Sunnyvale]

I had a weird glitch on Ultima IV as a kid. I never deleted it tho, cause I had letters in the gold column. Spend and spend, never ran dry. I wonder who has that cart nowadays, and if it still has that file...

[Sabz5150]

My copy of Starflight (Genesis) still holds its save game from when I was sixteen, which is awesome since it is an open-ended game. Same crew, ship, modifications and of course my majority stake in pretty much everything. I also destroyed the Brain world and haven an extra Black Egg remaining. Sweet!

[thegamezmaster]

The save files are still on both zelda's and got them when they were release too. Wow.

[rbudrick]

Grinding levels is relatively easy if you remember to max out the "gems placement" at the end of each stage (i.e. don't waste them).

You should be at least attack level 6 at the end of the first dungeon. And you should use the 2nd dungeon gem to max out your attack to 8.

Can you please explain this? It sounds very interesting. I've never heard of this./

-Rob

[NE146]

Can you please explain this? It sounds very interesting. I've never heard of this./

-Rob

At the end of the dungeon, when you put the crystal in the statue it fills your experience meter to the next level needed. If you have 580 exp points and the next level is 600 points, then that is a waste of a good opportunity. It's far better to put the crystal in when you have little exp, and the next level is high.. e.g. 5000-7000 points.. i.e use it to get a shitload of exp at once. I don't know if that makes any sense. :)

What's key to know is you don't HAVE to put the crystal in at the end. You can jump right over the middle section of the statue, and leave the dungeon. That way the dungeon doesn't turn into a "rock" and you can re-enter and grind out levels.

So in the 1st dungeon which is relatively short, using the method above (not putting the crystal in) this allows you to grind a little and level up your attack. Once you get all the side rooms, you can just repeatedly make a straight beeline through the 1st dungeon over and over again, never putting in the crystal. If you ignore your magic & health.. keeping them at level 2 max (and using the fairy next to the elevator to heal each pass through) you can quickly get the attack level to at least level 5. Then you can put in the crystal to get it to level 6. That's all.

(..course you can grind it to level 6 and put in the crystal to get it to level 7, but I find that takes a little longer than I like to keep going through the 1st dungeon. LOL)

[Oobgarm]

Wow, that's really cool. I never thought of that.

Looks like I know how I'll be leveling when I play through it again.

[thebeyond105]

those little batteries in the game have a long shelf life I guess. I still have my saves from a few old games also.

[Genesaturn]

It always brings a smile to my face when a game around 20 years old (take or give) can still save games. I just recently picked up a complete copy of Shining Force and was super excited that I can save my data!

[Edmond Dantes]

For me, games retaining their save data 10-20 years later is not unusual. I've only had two games in my possession go defunct--one was Sonic 3, which I somehow broke thru abusing the debug cheat. The other was Ultima: Runes of Virtue, which had a dead battery when I got it (I might try my hand at replacing it).

For some reason, all my NES games still have working batteries, and to my knowledge I've never had to replace any.

[Genesaturn]

For some reason, all my NES games still have working batteries, and to my knowledge I've never had to replace any.

Jealous. Both my copies of the original zelda won't hold a save anymore

[XYXZYZ]

Both of my original Zelda I & II cartridges still hold their saves. Actually, the only battery cart I own that won't hold a save anymore is Super Mario World. The battery in the Zelda I cart is 25 years old...

[Bloodreign]

Both of my original Zelda I & II cartridges still hold their saves. Actually, the only battery cart I own that won't hold a save anymore is Super Mario World. The battery in the Zelda I cart is 25 years old...

I'm in the same boat, my Zelda saves work fine still, but my SMW battery went belly up a few years ago. Perhaps the battery in SMW wasn't of the same quality as the Zelda titles.

[Genesaturn]

Probably a stupid question, but are the cartridge batteries replaceable? I've never tried before.

[Edmond Dantes]

Probably a stupid question, but are the cartridge batteries replaceable? I've never tried before.

I've heard that they are. If its anything like replacing the battery on the Sega CD's internal ram, its just a matter of swapping out one watch battery for another.

But I've never done it either.

[Sunnyvale]

Probably a stupid question, but are the cartridge batteries replaceable? I've never tried before.

Not a stupid question. And here ya go ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXBrAJIbfg

[Polygon]

All of my games with batteries still work. However, one of my N64 memory cards with all of my San Fransisco Rush saves was empty recently when I tried it out. That kind of pissed me off.


Not a stupid question. And here ya go ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXBrAJIbfg

Also, here's where you can get the batteries. If you don't want the ones with the solder tabs you can find them at Radio Shack, Walgreen, or your local grocery store. However, have the bit to take the game apart is nice.

No, solder tabs: http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/products/160-NES-Repair-Tools-&-Kits/496-Nintendo-Game-Battery-Replacement-Kit/

With solder tabs: http://www.nintendorepairshop.com/products/160-NES-Repair-Tools-&-Kits/1862-Nintendo-Coin-Game-Battery-with-Solder-Tabs/

[Gentlegamer]

I should check the battery in my other NES games . . . I think my only other cart is Shadowgate.

In a similar vein, I still have the boxes and manuals to all the NES and SNES games I bought or were given as gifts. In my Castlevania II box I found a scrap of paper with a password on it: it's my end of game password with all items from when I played through over 20 years ago. Simply amazing.

[kainemaxwell]

Cool. Never finished Zelda 2 when I was younger (think only Zelda game I've actually played I never finished). Maybe go back to it sometime via roms, dunno I'd want to play entirely through again.

[Genesaturn]

Thanks for the info on changing NES batteries. That is awesome...and depressing...over the years I've traded/gave away quite a few old cartridges in which I couldn't save. I would of saved some money by replacing batteries rather than hunting the game down again.

[BlastProcessing402]

I haven't tried my Zeldas recently, but back about 5 years ago my Zelda 1's battery was still working fine.

Only game I ever had a battery fail on me was Final Fantasy 3, which I bought brand new right when it came out. Lost my save shortly after making it to the World of Ruin. Must've just been a defective cart.

[JSoup]

All my battery save games still work just fine. Although, I've always had bad luck with Zelda 1 & 2. Even when dealing with new copies, I, and most of the people I know, couldn't get a save to last longer than a few plays.

[InsaneDavid]

All my battery save games still work just fine. Although, I've always had bad luck with Zelda 1 & 2. Even when dealing with new copies, I, and most of the people I know, couldn't get a save to last longer than a few plays.

Don't you have to hold reset to have better luck with saving in the early battery back up cartridges? Something about the power off alone possibly giving the cart too much of a shock or something. Wasn't this one of the reasons that if your system / carts were dirty and you got the power up blink you could sometimes lose your data? Probably just a rumor from forever ago but I've always held reset and never had a problem.

The only cartridges I've HAD to replace the battery on were Super Mario All Stars. Funny thing is last time I went to replace a battery on one I had just bought a bunch of batteries with solder tabs. So I go visit my parents and my brother has the bad cartridge, so I brought some tools and the battery with me. I go to replace it and the damn cartridge has a factory installed battery holder, just to slide the old one out and replace it. Since I didn't have one on hand I ended up desoldering the stock holder and soldering in a battery with tabs. LOL I've replaced batteries on many SNES games as a preventative measure, especially if sitting down to get into / back into a big RPG.

[West]

That's actually pretty awesome.

I've got a Link to the Past cart that always loses the saves. I opened it up, and it's obvious that the seller had replaced the battery; but maybe it's just a bad battery. I've not bothered to replace it yet.

I'm too scared to try to replace batteries in my NES games. I've no experience with any of that stuff, and I'm too scared I'll jack the game up for good.

[Sunnyvale]

Don't you have to hold reset to have better luck with saving in the early battery back up cartridges? Something about the power off alone possibly giving the cart too much of a shock or something. Wasn't this one of the reasons that if your system / carts were dirty and you got the power up blink you could sometimes lose your data? Probably just a rumor from forever ago but I've always held reset and never had a problem.

It's no rumor. Says it right on the back of any NES battery save cart.
'The game pak contains batteries. It may be damaged if:
1) Game Pak is removed or inserted with the power on, or
2) The power switch is turned rapidly on ans off.
If you are saving you game information for later play, you must holid in the reset button on the control deck while turning off the power. Failure to do so may result in the loss of your stored game information.'

[JSoup]

It's no rumor. Says it right on the back of any NES battery save cart.
'The game pak contains batteries. It may be damaged if:
1) Game Pak is removed or inserted with the power on, or
2) The power switch is turned rapidly on ans off.
If you are saving you game information for later play, you must holid in the reset button on the control deck while turning off the power. Failure to do so may result in the loss of your stored game information.'

I can't place where I read it, but I remember there being an article a long while back where some people tested this and pulled a statistic showing that holding reset vs. not holding reset didn't make much of a difference. Both methods produced a similar failure rate. I'll see if I can find it.

[Thrillo]

What was up with Zelda II's save system? It was always so glitchy. My Zelda II cart's saves would wig out every now and then, randomly giving and/or taking away items. While it could be hilarious and make some levels dead easy, I kept on losing items which were needed to advance, leaving me hopelessly stranded in the game and forcing me to start all over. After suffering that a few times I quit playing and never managed to beat it, as there was no way I was going to attempt to knock it all out in one sitting.
However, my Zelda I cart didn't suffer from the same problem; the RAM in that saved games like a champ. Did Zelda II use a different MMC with inferior RAM or something?

[Sunnyvale]

I can't place where I read it, but I remember there being an article a long while back where some people tested this and pulled a statistic showing that holding reset vs. not holding reset didn't make much of a difference. Both methods produced a similar failure rate. I'll see if I can find it.

Well crap, that would suck. Nice little 'catch-all' they set up there. 'Oh, your game got erased? Sorry, you didn't push all the buttons in the right order.' :roll: