Newer GBA cartridge is messed up.

[shootingstar]

My Megaman Battle Network 6 cartridge does not save properly anymore. When I bought it brand new, I played it all they way through and left it in the drawer where all my GBA games are kept for the next years. I decided to play it again, so I played it a little and noticed that the game would tell me the game had failed to save. I would have to re-select the option sometimes multiple times to get it to save, but when I turned the system off and back on, my data was still retained, so I assumed it worked fine.

That is not true, as I turned it on today and my data had been lost. I have heard that newer GBA carts such as this one do not have a save battery and use a different method to save the game, even though older GBA games have a battery. Anybody know anything about this problem?

[tortimer]

Bump... I'd be interested to know more about this if true or otherwise.

[Rookie1]

If its a battery save, could just be a bad battery. If its not, I have no idea.

I did (unknowingly) buy a bootlegged Zelda Minish Cap a a few years ago, and had a similar issue to what youre having. When playing, it would say that it saved and I could see the save state and continue from it if I exited the game for some reason. Once I turned the power off, however, all my data would be lost.

[Rev]

Found here:

http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questio ... -some-time

Only certain Game Boy Advanced cartridges use a battery backup. A GBA cartridge can contain either EEPROM, SRAM, or Flash RAM. Only the SRAM variant would need a battery backup. So for most games it is not a problem.

The only games I know of that use battery power to hold save data are as follows:

Baseball Advance
Boktai 1, 2 and 3 (JP)
Bomberman Tournament
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire II
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Dragonball Z Collectible Card Game
Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak
Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land
Krazy Racers
Lego Bionicle
Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge
MegaMan Battle Network
MegaMan Zero
Metroid Fusion (Only some use a battery)
Metroid Zero Mission
Monster Rancher Advance
Monster Rancher Advance 2
Pokemon Emerald (Not for saving, but to power the Real Time Clock)
Pokemon Ruby (Not for saving, but to power the Real Time Clock)
Pokemon Sapphire (Not for saving, but to power the Real Time Clock)
Super Dodgeball Advance
Warioland 4

So only a battery backup would be for SRAM games while everything wouldn't require it to save.

[scotland]

This is good information, Rev. Thanks so much. I have a few of these, and its nice to know that a battery backup may be needed at some point.

[shootingstar]

I had forgotten about this thread. Anyway, an update:

I took the cartridge to a classic game store in my area that replaced save batteries. Lo and behold, it is one of those cartridges that does not have a save battery, but rather a Flash RAM. The clerk told me that there isn't anything that can be done. Oh well, guess it is what it is.

[VideoGameCritic]

I guess the best you can do is use an AC adapter and keep the system plugged in! Might not be a terrible option if you can finish the game in a week or two.