How long will the save battery last in DS games?
I am just curious if anyone knows the approximate life of whatever battery is inside DS cartridges that have a save. I realize that I certainly don't have to worry about it any time soon but was just thinking of my collection today and thought I would ask. Also, what type of battery is in a DS cartridge and would it be replaceable if it ever did die?
Thanks for your thoughts!
The DS games use flash memory, not battery saves. IIRC, that should mean they have a virtually unlimited lifetime.
Oh, wow. I had no idea.
Just goes to show that I only play them...I don't know anything technical about the games.
I'm not sure but I believe GBA carts also use flash memory.Originally Posted by smork
I believe now the newer games use flash, but older ones did have a battery inside the cart.
My Room of Doom:
http://videogamecollectors.com/gallery/SuperMarioFan
Which ones? This is the first I've heard of batteries in GBA cartridges. Where would it even fit?
"One of the ways I gauge a DS game is by recharges. "...Tycho (Penny Arcade)
As far as I'm aware, all GBA cartridges with save functions use batteries. The batteries used for saves aren't very big, theres room for one even in a GBA cart.
So, I think we established that the DS games use flash so no worries of a battery failing.
However, the GBA carts still seem up in the air as far as saves. Does anyone know for sure? I also have GBA carts in my collection and while I definately have more DS titles, I would also like to know about GBA. Thanks again!
Last edited by philosophyst; 08-28-2007 at 04:38 AM.
Looking at my copy of Pokemon Emerald right now. It has a battery.
Anyone know or have an educated guess of the life-expectancy of the batteries in GBA carts? Also, do you think it's replaceable if it does die.
Again, this is all something I'm not worried about for the near future but have just been looking at my collection and while I now feel better about the DS carts being flash and not having to worry about it, it would be nice to know about the GBA batteries. Thanks as always,
Jeremy
I would assume that battery replacement on a GBA cart is similar to NES/SNES/GB/any other carts.Anyone know or have an educated guess of the life-expectancy of the batteries in GBA carts? Also, do you think it's replaceable if it does die.
Again, this is all something I'm not worried about for the near future but have just been looking at my collection and while I now feel better about the DS carts being flash and not having to worry about it, it would be nice to know about the GBA batteries. Thanks as always,
Jeremy
You may have to be a little more careful when removing the old battery and soldering the new one, as it's raised above a chip on the board.
Should be fairly straight forward.
Use this page:
http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/...cending&page=1
I wonder if it's still a CR2032? I guess the GBA carts are big enough to have one of those in them. I didn't see anything in the thread about GBA but that is probably because none of those have died yet. Anyway, this is all good news and it sounds like I'll never really have a problem with my DS/GBA collection. Thanks to everyone who posted.
I can't see what it is, but it's not a CR2032, might be a CR2025, but I'm pretty sure it's smaller.
Google is your friend.
I think that's a unique case though, since Pokemon Emerald has a built-in realtime clock. I'm pretty certain that battery is used solely to keep the clock powered.
I imagine that it's probably the case that the early GBA carts used batteries but these were soon replaced with flash memory, but I have absolutely nothing to base that on.
That's what I've always thought too. I'm pretty sure Pokemon has the battery for the internal clock only. No other GBA cartidges have them.I think that's a unique case though, since Pokemon Emerald has a built-in realtime clock. I'm pretty certain that battery is used solely to keep the clock powered.
I imagine that it's probably the case that the early GBA carts used batteries but these were soon replaced with flash memory, but I have absolutely nothing to base that on.
"One of the ways I gauge a DS game is by recharges. "...Tycho (Penny Arcade)
Good intentions, but lots of misinformation in this thread.
Some GBA carts use battery backup, some use flash memory. Castlevania Circle of the Moon, one of the earliest GBA games, uses a battery. Advance Wars uses flash memory. This does not account for the use of a battery in such applications like the internal clock in Pokemon games.
Most lithium batteries have an official life expectancy of 5 to 10 years. Generally manufacturers err on the conservative side when they make those estimates but let's consider there are still some NES carts out there which will hold a save on their original battery.
DS cards without a doubt use flash memory. It's small and very cheap these days.
Flash memory in general is rated for ten years data retention by most manufacturers. This is how long before the electric charge that holds the data starts to decay. But don't panic, because you can always 'recharge' this data by simply saving again. As well, I imagine the official estimate is a conservative one because there are eeproms out there with 20 to 30 year old data on them.
There is one small caveat to the use of flash memory- you can only write to it so many times. That number is rather astronomical though, somewhere in the range of several hundred thousand instances, so you'll probably never encounter the issue. And if you did, the game could always be repaired by replacing the faulty flash chip. That would require some experience in surface mount soldering (which I can do, neener neener) though I have no idea how someone would go about opening a DS card.
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