How do you change the Battery in Pokemon Gameboy Games?

[Rika24]

my Pokemon Blue, Red, Yellow, and Gold still have their save games, but my Silver and Crystal are both dead. i have their save data backed up on an external drive, i just need to replace their batteries.

I've been doing some research via google and youtube, but they use a variety of methods and some are contradicting what others say (some say to solder, others say not to, some say to use glue, others say tape, some say to break the tab holding the battery, others say not to, it's confusing). So are there any people here that have replaced a gameboy battery before that can tell me the proper way to go about it please?

and what screwdriver would work best to remove the screw?

[ninjainspandex]

Always solder, never glue or tape, if that battery loses connection for even a couple seconds, poof there goes your saves.

[Hobie-wan]

You need the smaller "gamebit" tip for the GB/GBC games and a triwing screwdriver for the GBA ones. The proper way is to desolder the old and solder in a new battery so it is secure like the original. People that are just ripping, taping, and gluing batteries in are doing sloppy shitty jobs that are shortcutting the right way to do it.

If you have or are interested in getting and doing it properly with a soldering iron, cool. If you just want it fixed properly, myself or others can do it for you.

[CRTGAMER]

You could go the holder route if you don't want to resolder again. However, I have decades old games that still retain their battery saves.

The new battery mounted in a holder (be sure its solid) soldered in the PCB ensures a name brand battery for long term reliabity and not compromised by direct solder heat.

Game Cart Battery Guide - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=897989#p897989

[Rika24]

You could go the holder route if you don't want to resolder again. However, I have decades old games that still retain their battery saves.

The new battery mounted in a holder (be sure its solid) soldered in the PCB ensures a name brand battery for long term reliabity and not compromised by direct solder heat.

Game Cart Battery Guide - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=897989#p897989

this option sounds the best (i kinda figured the tape method was iffy) but i've never soldered before (or have any clue on how to do it unfortunately, which is why the tape method was tempting).

i already bought the batteries (2 Energizer CR2025 which are what the current batteries are, but i've read they can take CR2032 as well). it says to use a CR2032 battery holder. would one still work for the kind i bought? and which would be best for a gameboy color game? (because it's so much smaller than a SNES game).

[Hobie-wan]

There's no room in a GB cart for a holder. You really need to use tabbed batteries in them because room is so limited.

[Tanooki]

I worried some about it last year with a NES game I had that was dead a few years (bought a Crystalis dead cheap.) I finally decided I'd rather be able to solder my own stuff and bought the basic starter kit at Radio Shack and a set of 2 batteries (tabbed) off ebay for just a few bucks.

It's pretty damn easy and my hands tend to shake at times. All you really need to do is just heat the spot where the tab goes through/to the board and then try and once it's fluid jimmy the battery away, then do the other side until it pops off. Slide the other in, re-apply the existing (or new) solder, and your game is good to go.

True it is that some of the batteries just keep on ticking. I've got the original NES battery going on a launch copy of Legend of Zelda with some very old data on there still. That battery is coming up on 30 years of age soon.

[Sarge]

I did the tabbed battery route with a friend of mine's Pokemon Silver. I wouldn't try to solder to one without them, they can explode if heated too much.

I've still got a Zelda II battery that's ticking away. Not sure how much longer it'll go, but I received that game Christmas of 1990, so that's 24+ years of holding saves.

[Hobie-wan]

The ones that are just holding a save don't take much juice. As long as the cart doesn't end up in extreme conditions, it will last a long time. The ones I've changed either came to me rather dirty like they might have been in a garage, or some that came from a friend that I know got extremely warm and damp as they were in a shed when a hurricane came through. The Pokemon carts after the super early ones that ask you for the time of day are also running a clock. That's why pretty much every one of them has a dead or replaced battery.

[Sarge]

Yeah, those RTCs really drain them fast. I wouldn't be surprised if the size of the SRAM has some bearing on things as well, but not nearly as much as the RTC.