Problems with my copy of Chrono Trigger

[Cornjerky]

I recently bought a copy of Chrono Trigger on SNES. It works, but the game didn't save properly. If I were to just turn it on and save, the next time I went to the save menu the save would disappear. Sometimes it would make a save that saved at the trial but I could tell the data was corrupted (I wasn't at the trial, incorrect levels, max HP/MP). But if I were to play the game for awhile then save, the save would be fine and I could restart and play it again. That save would disappear though if I were take it out of the SNES or turn it off.

So I then opened the cart to try to change the battery and found that most of the actual game was missing. Usually the game fills up almost the entire cart, but this barely went an inch over the contacts. It also has an EPROM. I'm fairly sure that this is a pirated copy, but I want to know if there's any hope that it'll still work. Do you think if I were to change the battery it would end up saving, or is there no chance it'll work properly since part of the game itself seems to be missing?

I've tried to find some information about my situation online but have had no luck so I came here to ask for some help. If you can offer me any advice or information about this, thank you so much!

[Hobie-wan]

If you save then reset without turning the system off and it reloads ok that way, then perhaps replacing the battery will work. Its possible that temperature or crappy assembly could have zapped the eprom though. But yeah, you got a boot.

[jfe2]

Can you post some pics of what the cart looks like on the inside? I'm guessing Ziggy would probably be able to tell you if it looks legit.

[MrPopo]

Can you post some pics of what the cart looks like on the inside? I'm guessing Ziggy would probably be able to tell you if it looks legit.

An EPROM is pretty distinctive; the little window on top gives it away. Since he mentioned it has an EPROM it's guarenteed to be a boot.

[Cornjerky]

I'll post some pictures when I can. I had to borrow a thin screw driver to open it because I don't have a security bit so I have to find something around that size to get it open again. I can tell you though that the EPROM it in didn't have a window, it looked more like this.

[BigTinz]

Can you return it?

If you bought it off ebay you can tell paypal/ebay you were sold a fake game.

[Cornjerky]

I bought it at a garage sale and the guy won't give me back my money. He insisted that I try to change the battery and that should make it work. I'm trying to find that screwdriver now so I can open it and get pictures.

[Ziggy]

So I then opened the cart to try to change the battery and found that most of the actual game was missing. Usually the game fills up almost the entire cart, but this barely went an inch over the contacts. It also has an EPROM. I'm fairly sure that this is a pirated copy, but I want to know if there's any hope that it'll still work. Do you think if I were to change the battery it would end up saving, or is there no chance it'll work properly since part of the game itself seems to be missing?

You're in luck, this is right up my alley. First off, do you have a camera or cell phone you can use to take a picture of the PCB and post it? Not all SNES PCB's take up the entire cart shell, in fact most don't. From what I've seen there are three size SNES PCB's, Chrono Trigger is the medium size. But we'll be able to help you much better if we can get a picture of it.

I'm also just flat out curious what it looks like. Chrono Trigger is a 32Mbit game, so if it is indeed an EPROM it would have to be a 27C322 which is said be complicated to wire in 8-bit mode (it's a 16-bit chip). I don't think a pirated cart would bother with the complications of that. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of it having a 27C801, which means you only have a 1/4 of the game data. Can you look at this EPROM and post any print you find on it? It could be something like 27C-080 or 040 or 801 or 401.

Second, do you have a volt meter (or can borrow one)? You can test the battery with to see if it even needs to be changed. It should be a little over 3 volts, anything under 3 and it definitely has to be changed. So this way we can at least rule that out.

And in case you can't get a pic of it, I'll tell yeah what should be on the board (in addition to the EPROM). There should also be a chip that kinda looks like an EPROM which is the SRAM and there should also be two small 16-pin chips (the MAD-1 and lockout chips) that look almost exactly like this...



How does the label look? Usually you can instantly spot fakes by the labels.

[Ziggy]

I'll post some pictures when I can. I had to borrow a thin screw driver to open it because I don't have a security bit so I have to find something around that size to get it open again. I can tell you though that the EPROM it in didn't have a window, it looked more like this.

While that could be a OTP EPROM, official Nintendo mask ROMs also look like that.

I bought it at a garage sale and the guy won't give me back my money. He insisted that I try to change the battery and that should make it work. I'm trying to find that screwdriver now so I can open it and get pictures.

Well it might be a real cart, that's what the mask ROM should look like anyways. Look for the things on the PCB I mentioned in my above post. Get a picture of it, if you can, and we'll go from there.

[vlame]

So I then opened the cart to try to change the battery and found that most of the actual game was missing. Usually the game fills up almost the entire cart, but this barely went an inch over the contacts. It also has an EPROM. I'm fairly sure that this is a pirated copy, but I want to know if there's any hope that it'll still work. Do you think if I were to change the battery it would end up saving, or is there no chance it'll work properly since part of the game itself seems to be missing?

You're in luck, this is right up my alley. First off, do you have a camera or cell phone you can use to take a picture of the PCB and post it? Not all SNES PCB's take up the entire cart shell, in fact most don't. From what I've seen there are three size SNES PCB's, Chrono Trigger is the medium size. But we'll be able to help you much better if we can get a picture of it.

I'm also just flat out curious what it looks like. Chrono Trigger is a 32Mbit game, so if it is indeed an EPROM it would have to be a 27C322 which is said be complicated to wire in 8-bit mode (it's a 16-bit chip). I don't think a pirated cart would bother with the complications of that. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of it having a 27C801, which means you only have a 1/4 of the game data. Can you look at this EPROM and post any print you find on it? It could be something like 27C-080 or 040 or 801 or 401.

Second, do you have a volt meter (or can borrow one)? You can test the battery with to see if it even needs to be changed. It should be a little over 3 volts, anything under 3 and it definitely has to be changed. So this way we can at least rule that out.

And in case you can't get a pic of it, I'll tell yeah what should be on the board (in addition to the EPROM). There should also be a chip that kinda looks like an EPROM which is the SRAM and there should also be two small 16-pin chips (the MAD-1 and lockout chips) that look almost exactly like this...



How does the label look? Usually you can instantly spot fakes by the labels.

babe, you can write me a wall of text any day. <3