My Blue and Red games still save, but Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal don't. Gen 2 used more battery life to maintain the clock, and Yellow just has a smaller battery (1616 compared to 2025). Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald on the other hand don't require the battery to save, so the files don't get wiped from running dry. Thanks for the walkthrough on replacing these!
nice job, the saving feature in the gen 3 games arent actually tied to the battery in the cartridge so those are more future proof. its too bad the older ones have this prob
understandable if you dont have solder tools. but if you do you can just heat up the old solder and the clamp will come right off... then you clean it all off and then re solder
@@TRal55 It isn't. Batteries don't have any data storage capability. What happens with what you're speaking of is that the chip where the data is stored will lose power when the battery is swapped. Perhaps if you played a bit, saved, then swapped the battery within a couple minutes the data may still be there and the electricity may not have fully dissipated, but even that's highly unlikely.
If you break the prongs off completely (I did on accident on my crystal) can you use electrical tape in place of solder to hold the connection? Trying it now, but my saves dont hold long (They usually delete an hour or so later). Not sure if electrical tape can hold the connection...?
It's not the most ideal or clean way but as long as you're not trying to sell it as "restored" and are just doing it for your own games it's not a big deal. It can fail however if you aren't extremely careful though
If you're reading this, DO NOT use this method. Do it the right way. (i.e. with a soldering iron) If you can't solder, or simply don't have the necessary tools required. Find yourself a local game shop that will do it for you. Or you risk damaging both your physical game cartridge, and your precious save data. But whatever you do, DO NOT do it this way.
I’ve done it with my Pokémon Gold as well as Pokémon Crystal game and it’s worked perfectly ever since. As did my friends. Of course there’s some risk involved but if you take your time with it, it works. Not everyone knows how to solder, has the resources to do so, or has access to someone who knows how.
0:39 gen 2 has the clock system (with real time), so the battery last much less
This is pretty neat, I've never changed a battery on any Gameboy games before
That was my first time as well. I’m glad it worked out. I’ve been reliving Pokemon Gold for a few weeks now!
@@vintagepokeopenings178 My favorite Pokémon game has to be Platinum
My Blue and Red games still save, but Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal don't. Gen 2 used more battery life to maintain the clock, and Yellow just has a smaller battery (1616 compared to 2025). Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald on the other hand don't require the battery to save, so the files don't get wiped from running dry.
Thanks for the walkthrough on replacing these!
Thanks so much for the info, I wasn’t aware!
Perfect comment
Emerald require it. It has battery.
This is a great job of documenting all of the steps! Thanks for putting this together!
Hopefully it’s helpful!
nice job, the saving feature in the gen 3 games arent actually tied to the battery in the cartridge so those are more future proof. its too bad the older ones have this prob
Yes I’ve only had to replace my gen 2 batteries, gen 1 has held up fine
understandable if you dont have solder tools. but if you do you can just heat up the old solder and the clamp will come right off... then you clean it all off and then re solder
Soldering is probably an easier and more reliable method, I just didn’t have solder tools and I wanted to do a demonstration for those who don’t.
Question -- if you replace the battery with a cartridge that still has an old save file, will that erase the save file?
The save file is associated with the battery, so if you replace the battery with a new one you won’t have your old save file.
@@vintagepokeopenings178 Dang that stinks! It's so weird that the actual save file is saved within the battery? Fascinating. thank you!
@@TRal55 It isn't. Batteries don't have any data storage capability. What happens with what you're speaking of is that the chip where the data is stored will lose power when the battery is swapped. Perhaps if you played a bit, saved, then swapped the battery within a couple minutes the data may still be there and the electricity may not have fully dissipated, but even that's highly unlikely.
If you break the prongs off completely (I did on accident on my crystal) can you use electrical tape in place of solder to hold the connection? Trying it now, but my saves dont hold long (They usually delete an hour or so later).
Not sure if electrical tape can hold the connection...?
While I can’t say 100%, I don’t think the electrical tape will be able maintain the save file as long as the prongs would. Prove me wrong please!
Wow i never even knew they came with batteries LOL TIL
They’re ancient relics! 😂
This work for gameboy advance games?
It does, but I believe the GBA games take a different type of battery
you should do a stream
You’re right I should! What should I stream?
@@vintagepokeopenings178 old poke games
Bad practice.
Not at all
It's not the most ideal or clean way but as long as you're not trying to sell it as "restored" and are just doing it for your own games it's not a big deal. It can fail however if you aren't extremely careful though
If you're reading this, DO NOT use this method. Do it the right way. (i.e. with a soldering iron)
If you can't solder, or simply don't have the necessary tools required. Find yourself a local game shop that will do it for you. Or you risk damaging both your physical game cartridge, and your precious save data. But whatever you do, DO NOT do it this way.
I’ve done it with my Pokémon Gold as well as Pokémon Crystal game and it’s worked perfectly ever since. As did my friends. Of course there’s some risk involved but if you take your time with it, it works. Not everyone knows how to solder, has the resources to do so, or has access to someone who knows how.