Question about Sega Saturn battery back up

[LINK398]

I'm fully aware what battery the Sega Saturn uses to back up save files and how to replace it and such but I was curious in a possible alternative to buying the Sega Saturn official back up cartridge or an action replay. How about buying multiple CR2032 batteries and just swapping them out for different games and different save files. Could that work? It would be much cheaper until I buy a back up cartridge later on.

[Superman]

Are you talking about the on-board storage for the system?

If you are, changing batteries on the system wouldn't do anything. The batteries only put out the power to hold the information when the system is off.

The storage space holds only a certain amount of information and that is it. You don't get a new set of storage space for each battery. If you put a different battery in, you would just get the same data that is already present (if you don't lose it in the swap).

[theclaw]

You need a back up cartridge. The 4-in-1 Action Replay can only archive files, it doesn't save or load while playing.

[Rickstilwell1]

There's also the fact that the batteries don't live very long when the system is unplugged and not getting current into the battery. Totally removing the battery is even worse. If you are relying on battery saving and working on a long game you better be sure to leave the system plugged into a socket and leave the battery in. And make sure that you will try to finish the game within the year.

The best thing is to get a backup cart and copy your save to that every time you think you're taking an extended break from playing the Saturn. Also it is better to never try saving directly to the memory cart while in game, because if your disc fails to load a point where the game is saving, forcing you to reset the game, you will corrupt your memory cart and have to re-format it, losing your data for ALL your games. This happened to me once during Sonic Jam when Carnival Night Zone failed to load and I was stuck with a black screen.

Leave the system plugged into an active outlet (if it's a surge protector don't turn that off), save to battery, copy to memory cart.

I don't know but is there a DEX Drive equivalent on the Saturn for backing up memory cart save data to a PC in case a memory cart dies?

[LINK398]

Yeah I was talking about switching the little battery in and out. Ok now I know but anyway it sucks I don't know what to do. Either get an official battery back up cartridge which is more towards the expensive side or buy an Action Replay because if I was to buy a back up cartridge I always thought I should just get the Action Replay so I could play imports as well. Unfortunately that cartridge messes up the cartridge slot so I'm not sure what to do really

[wiggyx]

Yeah I was talking about switching the little battery in and out. Ok now I know but anyway it sucks I don't know what to do. Either get an official battery back up cartridge which is more towards the expensive side or buy an Action Replay because if I was to buy a back up cartridge I always thought I should just get the Action Replay so I could play imports as well. Unfortunately that cartridge messes up the cartridge slot so I'm not sure what to do really

Get an official backup cart (also it's not battery backup cart, which is why it's so vital; it won't lose your save files because of a failed battery). The action replay is great, but it has serious drawbacks. As others have pointed out, you cannot save directly to it. You can only swap files to and from it while using its own proprietary menu/interface. So you'll be swapping saves files to and from quite often if you plan on playing a number of games since the Saturn's internal memory is pithy at best. The other issue is the touch cart slot on the Saturn. The PAR connector is thicker than any of the 1st party parts which employ the slot. It will wear the slot out a lot sooner than an original mem cart will. They're also not the highest quality product. I've had several fail on me over the years and a friend had one that started smoking during a game of X-men vs SF :/

If you want to play imports, either get a JP Staturn or a mod chip (which allows you to play backups, which can easily be patched to work with a US console).

[Rickstilwell1]

Expensive? Hmm I only paid $10 for my official RAM cart a couple years ago. I guess I got lucky?

[BlastProcessing402]

I use an Interact Memory Card Plus, because it's one of the few (or maybe the only) that allow direct saving and import loading, and I needed both of those for Fire Prowrestling S which needs more save space than can fit on internal memory.

I know Interact has a (deservedly) bad reputation, but this never gave me much of a problem (unlike the PSX Interact card I have).

Before that I was using a GameShark, which didn't allow direct saving, just copying the saves over from internal or vice versa. That was a huge pain.