Cartridge battery database
Genesis and Mega Drive games with save batteries
1989–1997 · Typical cell: CR2032 · 34 of 37 listed cartridges carry a battery
Sega's battery carts are easy to spot on a shelf because they're mostly the RPGs and the strategy games — Phantasy Star, Shining Force, the Koei catalogue — plus the sports titles that track a whole season. Inside, the usual arrangement is an SRAM chip with a CR2032 wired across it.
Mega Drive boards vary more than Nintendo's did, and some cells are fitted in holders while others are soldered in. Anything listed below as varying gets read off the actual board before a replacement goes in.
Battery purpose
Showing 37 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.
Genesis battery questions
Which Genesis games have save batteries?
Phantasy Star II, III and IV, the Shining Force games, Sword of Vermilion, Starflight, the Koei strategy titles and most sports games with a season mode. Action and platform games generally use passwords or no save at all.
What battery does a Mega Drive cartridge use?
Typically a 3V CR2032. Some boards use a holder and others have the cell soldered directly, so a replacement should match whatever the board was designed for.
My Shining Force save keeps disappearing — battery or contacts?
If the game boots fine but forgets your progress after a power cycle, that's the cell. If it struggles to boot or locks up mid-game, that's the contacts and needs a clean instead.
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.