How are your games with batteries in them holding up?

[shopkins]

Last time I checked I still had NES games with batteries that worked. I wonder how long they will hold out? What games do you have that have still working batteries and which ones have died? The only one I have that I know has problems is Mario's Picross for the GB, it's unstable with saves for some reason.

[dreamcaster]

Got dozens of the things and all of them still save perfectly fine. Oldest would be the NES Zeldas I have.

Got a dodgy N64 Controller Pak, though they were problematic even when they were new.

[obesolete]

I haven't had any die on me yet. *knocksonwood*

I had a Zelda 2 that I thought had a dead battery... but it turned out that every time it ran through the game genie it got wiped. =(

[dreamcaster]

Not sure if this is a problem in the rest of the world, but most of the Pokemon Gold/Silvers for GBC that got shipped to Australia have had their batteries die. Some of them died so early that people often claimed it on Nintendo Australia warranty.

I think Nintendo got a really bad batch of batteries for those carts.

[shopkins]

I'd always heard that, for example, the Zelda batteries were expected to last five years. Does anyone have an explanation for why they've lasted four times that? Other than Zelda magic, of course.

[Aussie2B]

Does anyone have an explanation for why they've lasted four times that?

Because it's just fear-mongering. When it comes from game companies, they just want to cover their asses and also to encourage people to buy the exact same game over and over every time it gets ported to a new system. When it comes from gamers, it's because they're only passing along whatever myths they hear without having enough actual experience with classic games to know that the vast majority of game batteries still work fine. I mean, every gamer big on collecting should prepare for the day in which they'll have to change a battery because it will come sooner or later, but it's not something to be worrying about whatsoever.

As for my own personal experience, I couldn't say how many games I have that have batteries, but with a collection of 1100+ games and over half those being carts (and most being post-crash), I'm sure I have tons. And out of those, I've encountered only ONE dead battery, that's it. It was also dead when I bought it, so who knows what it went through.

[Oldskool]

Yeah I can't believe that my Zelda 1 cart for the NES still saves. It's insane.

[jb143]

Because it's just fear-mongering. When it comes from game companies, they just want to cover their asses and also to encourage people to buy the exact same game over and over every time it gets ported to a new system.

I wouldn't say it's fear mongering. I seriously doubt that Nintendo planned on porting the Legend Zelda to future consoles at the time. From what I understand, at first they were actually a bit afraid of the game not even selling that well. Batteries, like other electronics parts all have minimum and maximum ratings and some fail prematurly for whatever reason. The batteries would have been rated to last at least that long but it's not like they had the ability or time to test it and see just how many years they would last. That would just be silly. 5 years would just be a best guess based on the info they had. Probally more, but theyprobally said 5 just to play it safe.

When I remember first reading the 5 years thing I don't remember thinking "Oh no! What Am I goign to do after 5 years?" but instead, something along the lines of "Cool! I'll still be able to play it in 5 years!"

Anyways, my original Mario Land 2 had it's battery die and a Legend of Zelda that I picked up years ago. My original Zelda still saves though.

[fairyland]

Not sure if this is a problem in the rest of the world, but most of the Pokemon Gold/Silvers for GBC that got shipped to Australia have had their batteries die. Some of them died so early that people often claimed it on Nintendo Australia warranty.

I think Nintendo got a really bad batch of batteries for those carts.

Those pokemons has an internal clock that is always draining off the battery and thus lowering the life of the batteries greatly. Nearly all of the used ones I find in the wild has dead batteries and won't keep the save. Outside of that, I never had any dead battery based games. The NES carts I find to resell are some 20 years old and are still going strong somehow. I'm wondering WHEN they will EVER die out.

[pepharytheworm]

I have only had two dead batteries Secret of Mana and Yoshi's Island. I replaced them though.

[todesengel]

All my battery backed games still save fine as well. For when the do eventually go out though what would you guys/gals say is the best way of going about replacing them?

[jb143]

All my battery backed games still save fine as well. For when the do eventually go out though what would you guys/gals say is the best way of going about replacing them?

Probally the best place to start is by searching the "Technical and Restoration" forum way down there at the bottom for your particular game/cart. I know there have been many threads on it in the past and you can probally find something specific to your needs that way.

[pepharytheworm]

All my battery backed games still save fine as well. For when the do eventually go out though what would you guys/gals say is the best way of going about replacing them?

This is where I go to get replacement parts. They even come with a battery holder that lets you easily replace the battery in the future. no soldering anymore. it is only $3.99 w holder $1.49 for just the battery. You do need a soldering gun to get the batteries out and replace them.
http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/repairsupplies.html

But usually I get some crappy Super Famicom game I will never care about saving and its resell value is poor and take the battery from that game. Its usually some parlor game or board game.

[Gameguy]

So far every copy of Zelda I've come across works fine, and those are the earliest games that use a battery. I have to test a couple of games I have though, I have the original Final Fantasy(NES) and Secret of Mana(SNES) that don't have any saved games on the carts, but I haven't tried to save any games on them so I'm not sure if they're really dead.

I've come across several dead Pokemon Gold and Silver carts, I try to stay away from them. I might have come across a dead Donkey Kong Land cart that didn't save, but I really can't remember. The only other game I've come across with a non-working save feature that I can think of is Sonic 3, and that doesn't even use a battery, it uses an FRAM chip.

[jb143]

it is only $3.99 w holder $1.49 for just the battery. You do need a soldering gun to get the batteries out and replace them.
http://www.nintendorepairhut.com/repairsupplies.html

That seems awefully expensive. Digikey has CR2032's for 28 cents with similar holders being less than a dollar.

I also don't understand how their battery and holder together costs more than if you got them seperatly

I guess if that's all your buying though, then shipping will make it less.

[Emperor Megas]

When I remember first reading the 5 years thing I don't remember thinking "Oh no! What Am I goign to do after 5 years?"

That's exactly the first thing that went through my mind when I first read it, actually. I believe it was in the manual for Phantasy Star.

[pepharytheworm]

That seems awefully expensive. Digikey has CR2032's for 28 cents with similar holders being less than a dollar.

I also don't understand how their battery and holder together costs more than if you got them seperatly

I guess if that's all your buying though, then shipping will make it less.

You should mention its 1¢. I don't know why places do that but I see it all the time in retail and fastfood. Laziness I suppose or they are charging a cent for them putting it in the holder for you. Never heard of digikey I will check them out, their shipping must be expensive if more.

[Aussie2B]

Another problem I've encountered regarding the reported lifespan of batteries is that often fledgling collectors deem a battery as dead when it isn't at all. Far too many times I've heard people talking about how they have several games that won't save only to have everything work perfect after they're educated as to how to clean their games and systems.

[PentiumMMX]

With all the games I have, aside from Pokémon G\S\C, I've only seen one with a genuine dead save battery, and that was my old copy of F-Zero. Not that saving was really necessary to play it; all it did was just save your best records in Time Trial mode, so the game was still playable. Everything else works great; all the way back to my copy of the first Zelda.

Also, I typically take information on "This battery will last X amount of years" with a grain of salt; my PC, which the manual stated that it's odd-ball CMOS battery would last 10 years before dying, is nearly 15 years old and still has the same exact battery on it.

[PC-ENGINE HELL]

Just thought Id ad to this even though its not exactly game related batteries, all the rechargeable batteries in my NeoGeo Cd decks had started to leak, so I removed them all. Systems function fine with no batteries present, other then you cant save progress, ect. Might be a good idea for anyone with Neo Cd decks to start checking their batteries. If you actually care to replace them the type is the VG2430, rechargeable 3V lithium battery.
http://www.pchub.com/uph/model/0--21...430-parts.html