DS games that wont hold saves - anyway to revive them?

[Curlypaul]

My daughter has a couple of DS games that wont hold their saves anymore. They are def official games and they did used to work, but for some reason they wont. Are they dead or is there a way to bring thme back?

[Purkeynator]

My daughter has a couple of DS games that wont hold their saves anymore. They are def official games and they did used to work, but for some reason they wont. Are they dead or is there a way to bring thme back?

Oh wow, I had no idea DS carts could die, I thought they had flash memory that could be rewritten hundreds (if not thousands) of times. Very bad news...

[Hobie-wan]

If they've been static zapped it can kill the flash chip, or even the rom portion.

[Curlypaul]

oh yeah, never thought of static, I assumed the most likely case would be my youngest one pulling the cards out with the system on, but they could also have rubbed them on the carpet.

When I try and save something on there, it seems to have worked and I can see the save file and reload it - until the DS is switched off and then its gone again.

[Hobie-wan]

Hmm, good point on pulling them out while the system is on. Maybe see if the games have a 'reset to factory default' option that wipes saves and see if that helps in case that sort of does a format on the chip if they got corrupted?

[MrPopo]

Honestly I think you're probably screwed.

[Bradtemple87]

I had no idea these would potentially die out

[Ivo]

I have a potential relatively cheap solution - get a flashcart and download replacements of the particular games that are wonky. Personally I feel that is no problem ethically as you have original copies of the games.

It is not quite the same as you won't be able to have one kid playing one while another plays the other (unless you were to get more flashcarts), but it may end up cheaper than buying 2nd hand replacements of the malfunctioning carts.

Ivo.

[Curlypaul]

Yeah this is true, however, I cleaned the pins on one of the games and that seems to be ok now. Hadnt noticed how filthy they were and its odd that the game loaded fine, just wouldnt load the saves. Must have had the wrong spec of grime on the wrong pin.

The other game was Nintendogs, which has a factory reset function. That seems to have done the trick there as well.

The kids are bugging me about flash cards since most of the kids at school have got them so I will eventually let them have some. Its not that I get particulary upset at the whole ethical/theft issue, but I think its important for kids to learn that out and out piracy is questionable and they should think about it and come to their own conclusons

Thanks for the advice everyone, I now have a happy little girl

[Hobie-wan]

Woo, awesome. Now get her something small to keep the games in when not at home so they don't get dirty again.