Save battery replacement
Mail-in from anywhere in the United States, or drop it off at an event.
Nothing stings like a 40-hour save file that vanishes overnight. Cartridge saves from the late 80s through the early 2000s rely on a coin cell soldered to the board, and those cells last about 15 to 20 years. Almost all of them are now overdue. I fit a fresh tabbed cell, keep your existing file where the board allows it, and test it before it ships back.
- Fresh tabbed lithium cell soldered in with correct polarity
- Existing save preserved where there's charge left in the old cell
- No glue-and-hope battery holders or pressure contacts
- Real-time clock checked on Pokémon Gen 2 and GBA titles
- Save written, powered down, and re-checked before it goes back
The games that need it most
Pokémon leads the list by a wide margin — Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal all store their save in battery-backed memory, and Gen 2 uses the same cell to run its day-night clock.
After that it's the RPG and strategy shelf: Chrono Trigger, EarthBound, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Harvest Moon, Phantasy Star, Shining Force, and every sports title with a season mode.
Rule of thumb: if the game has a save slot instead of a password screen, there's a cell inside it and it's been running since the nineties.
Keeping your existing file
A dying battery can often be swapped while the board stays powered, which carries the save across intact. A dead one can't — that data went when the voltage did.
So the timing matters. If a cart still holds a file you care about, that's the moment to send it. Tell me in your ticket which files you want kept and I'll treat those carts first, with the honest caveat that not every board cooperates.
Done properly, not quickly
Batteries stuck on with glue, tape, or spring pressure work loose and fail, usually right after you've sunk another twenty hours into the game. A tabbed cell soldered to clean pads is the repair that lasts.
While the shell is open, contacts get cleaned too — there's no sense sending back a game that saves reliably but needs three tries to boot.
Questions people ask
Can you replace the battery without wiping my save?
Often, yes. If the old cell still holds a charge, the board can be kept powered through the swap and your file survives. If the cell is completely flat, the save is already gone — so send it in while it still saves if the file matters.
Which battery does my game use?
Most SNES and N64 save carts use a CR2032 with solder tabs; Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles typically use a CR2025 or CR1616 depending on the board. The right cell is identified from your actual board, not guessed.
How long will the new battery last?
A fresh lithium cell should run comfortably past a decade under normal use — the same timescale as the original, which is why so many carts are failing now.
My game saves fine but the clock is wrong — same fix?
Yes. Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald run a real-time clock off the cell. When it dies, saves may survive but berries stop growing and daily events stall. A new cell brings the clock back.
All work is carried out under the repair authorization & risk acknowledgment.