Losing memory
Hey, I've heard that there is a little battery inside your cartridges that make it able to save your game, but it runs out after 2 or 3 years. Is this true? I've got a lot of games and I don't want them to be worthless. And I've heard about memory cards too, but where can I get them?
- David
The answer to this question isn't as straightforward as one might think. Whilst your right that some GBA games have a battery inside as part of the on-cart save feature, not all of them do. You see there are three different types of saving technologies used in GBA games. Two of these methods, EEPROM and Flash RAM, do not use a battery as the data is written and stored on the memory chip. The method you were referring to is known as SRAM. SRAM is capable of storing a lot more data that EEPROM, but it's cheaper than Flash memory. SRAM is the technology that utilizes a battery to keep the data stored.
You can't tell which type of saving technology is used without opening the cartridge, but it seems that there's a fairly balanced mixture of games using all three. Games that have a simple save feature, such as Doom, Super Mario World and Super Mario Advance, that don't have to store all sorts of inventories and character stats use the small but cost effective EEPROM option. Many games still use the battery backed SRAM, including Metroid Fusion, Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire and F-Zero Maximum Velocity. And finally, the Flash RAM option is commonly used for RPG's as there is much more data to be stored. Some games using Flash RAM are Advance Wars, Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.
To answer your question about battery length, this will only apply to those games that use SRAM. Generally, these batteries last many years; I've still got original mono Game Boy games that are ten plus years old that the save function still works on. What I'm saying is that the batteries should last a lot longer than two or three years, I would imagine five years minimum. Of course, even when the batteries do finally die, the game will still be playable; you just won't be able to save your progress.
As for GBA memory cards, there are a number of third party game save back up devices, in fact I had one for my Game Boy Color. Such devices allow you to download save states from your game cartridge and back them up. I don't know of any licensed third party GBA game save back up devices, but if you search around on the net you should be able to find something. Of course, such unlicensed are not recommended and even licensed third party memory products have the tendency to be very unreliable, so you're probably best off having faith in your GBA cart's save battery. - John
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