Life of Cartridge Batteries

[DiogenesDirac]

How long are they expected to last? Are they hard to replace?

[Flake]

How long are they expected to last? Are they hard to replace?

Your mileage will vary. I have had Hobie-wan replace six gameboy batteries for me. Some were nearly dead and a couple almost had a full charge, even after nearly 20 years of gameplay.

Replacing them is not hard if you know what you are doing. If you are like me and you don't, there are a lot of people who will do it for you for a fair price, such as the aforementioned Hobie.

[BurningDoom]

I always wonder how these things differ so much. I played my Legend of Zelda NES cartridge all the freaking time. And to this day, the game save system still work. Yet I hear about people's Pokemon's gave save batteries going out, a lot.

[Hobie-wan]

Yet I hear about people's Pokemon's gave save batteries going out, a lot.

Later Pokemon games have a clock that keeps time so the battery is having to run that as well as keep the memory. Even with a battery that's much larger than a watch battery, it will still last a lot shorter than a game that's only keeping some memory charged.

I think some people's cart batteries die sooner due to storage conditions. Getting too warm or cold is bad for batteries and of course some areas have a bigger problem with static electricity.

[KDub]

Also batteries vary in volts, materials, etc etc. Those super cheap mega multi packs on ebay are cheap for a reason and they won't last. Some carts had nicer, stronger batteries in them from that start and because of that they will last a lot longer.

[Zing]

I remember Nintendo claiming five years. Here it is, 20+ years later and all my NES, Game Boy, and Super NES game batteries still work.

[Retrozoa]

Yet I hear about people's Pokemon's gave save batteries going out, a lot.

Later Pokemon games have a clock that keeps time so the battery is having to run that as well as keep the memory. Even with a battery that's much larger than a watch battery, it will still last a lot shorter than a game that's only keeping some memory charged.

I think some people's cart batteries die sooner due to storage conditions. Getting too warm or cold is bad for batteries and of course some areas have a bigger problem with static electricity.

Yeah, all my pokemon gold/silver saves are long gone. My copy of blue still has its save though. Heck, my old copy of Dragon Warrior still saves.