Cartridge battery database
Game Boy Advance games with batteries
2001–2006 · Typical cell: CR1616 · 9 of 15 listed cartridges carry a battery
This is the console where the internet gets it wrong most often. The Game Boy Advance moved saves to flash memory and EEPROM, which hold data with no power at all, so the vast majority of GBA cartridges contain no battery and never did.
The exceptions run a real-time clock. Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald carry a CR1616 whose only job is keeping that clock ticking. When it dies your save file is completely safe — what stops is time: berries never grow, the tides never change, daily events never come round. A new cell brings the clock back without touching your Pokémon.
Battery purpose
Showing 15 games
Dead save battery?
If your retro game no longer saves — or you're worried about losing a decades-old file — I can replace the cartridge battery properly, with a tabbed cell soldered to the board and save-tested afterwards.
Game Boy Advance battery questions
Does a dead battery erase my Pokémon Emerald save?
No. Emerald stores its save in flash memory, which needs no power. The CR1616 only runs the in-game clock, so a flat cell stops berry growth and time-based events while your save file stays exactly where it is.
Do Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen have batteries?
No. They have no real-time clock and save to flash memory, so there's no cell inside them to fail.
Is it worth replacing a GBA clock battery?
If you want berries, daily events and the tides working again, yes — and unlike an SRAM cart there's no risk to your save while it's done. If you don't care about time-based content, the game plays fine without it.
Looking at another system?
The full database covers NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Genesis and 32X in one searchable table.