SNES game cartridges out of battery?

[SOSTrooper]

I'm trying to revive my collection of SNES games. I found out that a few of the games cannot keep a saved file anymore. I'll save a game, then power off SNES, power back on, and the saved game will not be there. Anyone tried to replace battery on the cartridges? I fear that soon my precious FFIII saved games are gonna go out the window too.

 

[amnesiac]

AFAIK they use a lithium battery with a shelf life of about 5 years. You can try cracking open the cartridge and seeing if it's a standard button cell and get it replaced.

 

[Dufman]

Originally posted by: SOSTrooper
I'm trying to revive my collection of SNES games. I found out that a few of the games cannot keep a saved file anymore. I'll save a game, then power off SNES, power back on, and the saved game will not be there. Anyone tried to replace battery on the cartridges? I fear that soon my precious FFIII saved games are gonna go out the window too.

i am curious to this as well.

i have a lot of good snes games that i want to play, but i dont wana waste the time, and not have them saved

 

[Rogue]

I recommend just downloading Snes9x and the ROMs that you own and playing them like that. I've been doing it and it's great fun. Best thing about that way is that you can save the game as you would to the game cartidge battery or you can save the game to your hard drive exactly where you want to stop playing and without having to get to the "save points" in the game.

 

[Supermercado]

I've never heard of the battery dying, but I suppose it's perfectly possible. As far as I know, though, I've not lost any of my saved games on any of my old SNES games. I've had some of those games for almost 10 years.

 

[Placer14]

There's a key you can buy that opens the cartridges and you can replace the button-type battery in them. It's a proprietary key. I just don't know where to find them these days. Very easy to replace, I've done it myself.
Feel free to google it sometime.

http://forums.gamespot.com/gamespot/board/message?board.id=classic&message.id=413

This might work to unscrew the screws on it. Found that info here.

Now do some of your own searching. If you need more help, PM me.

 

[SOSTrooper]

I have a collection of all the worth-playing SNES games on my computer already I'm just wondering if anyone has done such a thing. I might pass my SNES collection down to my younger neighbors or cousins or children :Q since SNES is the perfect approach for younger kids.

 

[Rogue]

Hell, I think most SNES games are better than most current gen consoles. I get a lot more enjoyment out of playing them than I do the latest games. I can't wait for the Gameboy adapter for my Gamecube so that I can play some of those SNES throwback games. I hope that thing adapts the graphics well for today's TV's though.

 

[clicknext]

I also say just go and download the roms. I've downloaded the roms for all my old favorites and my SNES is packed away tight down in the basement. I like playing on my comp more than the SNES because it actually looks better with that crazy filtering stuff in the emulators, and the emulators (snes9x, zsnes) are pretty mature now, so you won't get many weird bugs. Playing with a good gamepad is good too. =)

 

[Ichinisan]

You can back up your save to a PC if you have one of those hong-kong backup devices (these are usually used to create ROM image files from cartridges). You can then use a Gamebit screwdriver to open the cartridge (www.lik-sang.com) and replace the battery. I have seen websites which offer the service, but I don't remember how much they charge. You can buy an identical replacement battery on eBay. Once the battery is replaced, a backup device can write the copied save data back into the cartridge's SRAM.

Backup devices are expensive, unless you see one at a yard sale where someone doesn't know what it is. I think www.superufo.com is that last place that still sells brand-new SNES backup units.

Common:
Super Wild Card
Super Magicom
Super Fighter Card (?)
Multi Game Doctor
Super UFO Drive
Professor SF

They usually plug into a cartridge slot and have a floppy drive for transferring data to a PC. Some have CD-ROM drives or parallel interface cables.

 

[StageLeft]

God this is sad, SOS

 

[tw1164]

This right?

Gamebit

 

[Ichinisan]

No. That one opens the console unit. The smaller one opens cartridges.

 

[BG4533]

Originally posted by: clicknext
I also say just go and download the roms. I've downloaded the roms for all my old favorites and my SNES is packed away tight down in the basement. I like playing on my comp more than the SNES because it actually looks better with that crazy filtering stuff in the emulators, and the emulators (snes9x, zsnes) are pretty mature now, so you won't get many weird bugs. Playing with a good gamepad is good too. =)

Can you or anyone else here suggest a good, cheap game pad?

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Thrustmaster Dual Analog Firepower Something Something.

 

[Thegonagle]

It's totally possible for the batteries to die. They're also very easy to replace, if you've figured out how to use a soldering iron. You just need a special NES security bit (usually the smaller of the two sizes they use), and a new 3v lithium battery with solder tabs.

This is obviously a procedure for people who actually prefer to play their console video games while relaxing on the couch, instead of sitting at the computer desk battling with emulator software.

Originally posted by: Ichinisan
No. That one opens the console unit. The smaller one opens cartridges.

That's really expensive. I remember my boss ordering small bits that fit in our Skil Twists from a place called MCM Electronics for a few bucks each. I think you need to call to order from these guys, but the phone number is on the website, www.mcmelectronics.com. It's 800-543-4330. You can probably order lithium batteries with the solder tabs from MCM as well.

 

[Ichinisan]

Originally posted by: BG4533
Can you or anyone else here suggest a good, cheap game pad?

The Adaptoid N64 USB Adapter

The N64 controller has a great layout for arcade games with the standard 6-button layout. It also lays out perfectly for NES, SNES, Genesis, and GBX emulation.

Without optional driver:
1. Standard DirectInput compatible Plug-and-Play gamepad
2. Axes can be swapped between the D-Pad and the Control Stick on-the-fly without entering game configuration

With optional driver:
3. Controller Pak data can be copied, replaced, edited, erased, or stored as files on a PC
4. Rumble-Pak works with DirectX Force-Feedback compatible Windows games
5. Direct-access API allows emulators to bypass circle-square-circle axis conversion. Similar adapters for N64/PSX suffer from decreased thumbstick precision due to conversion. The API also allows N64 emulators to access the controller and special N64 devices directly
6. Every function is fully programmable and can even be used to controller Windows