Will my game hold a save even without a battery as long as the system's still turned on?
So I've been wanting to back up my old Pokemon Red game (or at least save my team) and I'll have the means to do so within a few days to a week. The save battery still works fine, but I'm a little paranoid that it'll decide to finally die on me before I can make my backup.
I know that save files only last for as long as the game has a power supply, so once the battery dies they're gone forever. But if I were to leave the game running on a Gameboy SP that's plugged into an outlet and constantly charging, then would by save file be fine even without a working battery? (At least until I next turned off the system, of course.)
Best Answer
Yes, if your console is powered on.
As far as I experienced and as the internet tells, the save game will not be lost, as long as the cardridge is in your GameBoy AND it is powered on (like being on the title screen of the game). Only plugging a loading cable in it will not do this work.
As reference I take this guide, where the writer replaces the battery while having the cardridge plugged into his GameBoy, powered on, and not losing his save state.
If you're really that paranoid about losing your save state, I'd recommend you to buy two accessoiries: The "Mega Memory Backup Cartridge" and the "GB USB Smart Card 64M". With these two tools you can save your save states onto a memory card and then archive it to your PC. You also would have the advantage to play your save state onto several emulators and then switching it back to your original game cardridge, if you want. If you need further information, this guide is about backupping a GameBoy game to your PC.
Pictures about "Will my game hold a save even without a battery as long as the system's still turned on?"
Why do Gameboy games stop saving?
Gameboy games use a CR2025 battery which over the years eventually dies stopping games from saving and causing previously saved games to disappear. Note however while the game is powered you can still save, however once you power down the save will be gone.Do Gameboy games save on the cartridge?
Many game boy games save the files on the cartridge. The cartridge is able to save games because of the battery inside every cartridge. If the battery inside the cartridge dies, the gameboy board will not have the ability to save or overwrite a saved file. This is something that upset quite a few gamers.How Long Will Retro Game Save Batteries Last For?
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