Cartridge battery database
NES games with save batteries
1985–1994 · Typical cell: CR2032 · 26 of 29 listed cartridges carry a battery
The NES was the first console most people owned where a game could remember you. Nintendo did it with a small amount of static RAM on the cartridge board and a lithium coin cell wired across it, so the chip kept its contents while the console was switched off. That trick is why a gold Zelda cart still has three save files on it — and why those files eventually vanish.
Only a minority of the NES library works this way. Most games of the era used passwords instead, because a battery added real cost to a cartridge. The list below covers the NES and Famicom titles documented as carrying a cell on the board, which is nearly always a 3V CR2032 soldered in place.
Battery purpose
Showing 29 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.
NES battery questions
Which NES games have batteries in them?
Mostly the RPGs, strategy games and sports titles with season modes: the two Zelda games, Final Fantasy, the Dragon Warrior series, Kirby's Adventure, StarTropics, Crystalis, the Koei strategy catalogue and Tecmo Super Bowl. Password-based games such as Metroid and Mega Man have no battery at all.
What battery does an NES cartridge use?
Almost always a 3V CR2032 lithium coin cell, soldered to the board with tabs. A few Famicom boards use a smaller cell, so the board is always checked before a replacement is fitted.
My NES save file disappeared — is it the battery?
Usually. If a game lets you start a file but forgets it the moment the power goes off, the cell has dropped below the voltage the SRAM needs. Dirty cartridge contacts cause boot and freeze problems instead, not save loss.
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.