Nintendo 64 memory card problems

[samurai cop]

Hi, sorry for not posting much but I'm more of a lurker. Anyway, I got quite far on Mystical Ninja Goemon and saved the game. I've played it a couple of times since then with no issues. Now, the memory card data won't load and whenever I try to load it now it just reads new game.

I've accessed the memory card data on the N64 and it shows the Goemon data still on the memory card, but it won't load on the game. Any idea what it could be?

[Betagam7]

Hi, sorry for not posting much but I'm more of a lurker. Anyway, I got quite far on Mystical Ninja Goemon and saved the game. I've played it a couple of times since then with no issues. Now, the memory card data won't load and whenever I try to load it now it just reads new game.

I've accessed the memory card data on the N64 and it shows the Goemon data still on the memory card, but it won't load on the game. Any idea what it could be?

Are you using a third party card. That might be it. Never use a third party card, they are horrible. I've bought several back in the day that literally came apart in my hands and almost all of them corrupt.

[PartridgeSenpai]

N64 memory cards have always been wank. The resale store owner in my town literally just gives them away usually because they're almost always helplessly broken. I was lucky enough to find one that works really well, but every single one I owned when I was younger died instantly and never worked.

[samurai cop]

Hi, sorry for not posting much but I'm more of a lurker. Anyway, I got quite far on Mystical Ninja Goemon and saved the game. I've played it a couple of times since then with no issues. Now, the memory card data won't load and whenever I try to load it now it just reads new game.

I've accessed the memory card data on the N64 and it shows the Goemon data still on the memory card, but it won't load on the game. Any idea what it could be?

Are you using a third party card. That might be it. Never use a third party card, they are horrible. I've bought several back in the day that literally came apart in my hands and almost all of them corrupt.

Actually, the first one I used was a third party memory card and the exact same thing happened. So I switched to an official Nintendo one and it's doing it again. Also switched controllers and it's the same thing. I don't know what it is

[Betagam7]

Hi, sorry for not posting much but I'm more of a lurker. Anyway, I got quite far on Mystical Ninja Goemon and saved the game. I've played it a couple of times since then with no issues. Now, the memory card data won't load and whenever I try to load it now it just reads new game.

I've accessed the memory card data on the N64 and it shows the Goemon data still on the memory card, but it won't load on the game. Any idea what it could be?

Are you using a third party card. That might be it. Never use a third party card, they are horrible. I've bought several back in the day that literally came apart in my hands and almost all of them corrupt.

Actually, the first one I used was a third party memory card and the exact same thing happened. So I switched to an official Nintendo one and it's doing it again. Also switched controllers and it's the same thing. I don't know what it is

You have to bear in mind the age of these things and their overall cheap quality. It's a shame that so many publishers abused the existence of Data Paks to use them as glorified saving devices instead of what they were intended for (taking personal game data to play on a friends system), just to save a bunch of dollars on putting a damn battery inside the cart.

Are you getting any particular message?

[samurai cop]

When I hit load data it just says "memory card can't be loaded" or something like that, and then just shows new game. But the data is still on the memory card? I started thinking if it was the cartridge but it doesn't have a battery so that doesn't make sense, so I don't know. Appreciate it though

[Tanooki]

Spitballing here, but have you tried to clean the contacts both on the card and the cartridge slot in the controller itself? Have you tried another controller in case something is just fouled up in there too?

I'm suspicious of that more than anything, if the game contacts were funky loading/saving would be the least of your concerns as it wouldn't probably get far enough to screw that up.

[samurai cop]

Spitballing here, but have you tried to clean the contacts both on the card and the cartridge slot in the controller itself? Have you tried another controller in case something is just fouled up in there too?

I'm suspicious of that more than anything, if the game contacts were funky loading/saving would be the least of your concerns as it wouldn't probably get far enough to screw that up.

Yeah, I always clean the contacts of my games. I didn't clean the contacts of the first memory card but after I lost my first save I cleaned the contacts on both memory cards and re-cleaned the cartridge. And yeah, I swapped the controller. Maybe the battery in the memory card is dead.

[Ziggy587]

If you can see the save file on the memory card when you're in the memory card manager (hold start when turning the console on) then the battery in the memory card is probably OK.

It could be that the save file IS there, but corrupt, so the game sees it as a "new game". Can you create another game save file?

[ElkinFencer10]

....I'm starting to think I'm the only person on these forums who's never had an issue with his N64 memory cards....