save game corruption

>>3873164
This is why I never beat FF1 on NES. First time got to the fire cave and it happened. A couple years later I started another game and got to mirage tower and it happened. After that I vowed never to play the game again since I didn't even like it all that much. But I eventually did on GBA.

>>3873164
this is why emulators > retro consoles

though I don't think it was quite a big deal for anything after gen 3 as games with built in battery saves were becoming the norm

>>3873164
The way old cartridges actually save games is a specialised type of RAM with an attached battery. If the save file is completely gone when you power off the system and on again, odds are the cartridge's internal battery is dead. I think they're CR2032's if memory serves, try opening up the cartridge and replacing it.

Or use an emulator, shit's easier.

>>3873252
I lost my data on a repro cart of Earth Bound fitted with a new save battery
I can't think of any other reason for it to corrupt itself other than a power surge

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9KB, 100x130px

>>3873252
If you put a new battery in an old NES cart will it restore old saves? This sometimes happened to me with old Genesis carts, it was always a fun surprise.

>buy used cart from pawn shop, looks empty
>saves not working, replace battery
>hey look! a completed SFII save file waiting for me!

>>3873270
nah bro
once a save file is wiped it is gone forever
like if you do a bad solder job on your battery and it makes contact and saves one day, you could drop your game and disturb the contact then lose your game the next
think of it like a watch, if it has a functioning battery it will keep time
but if the battery dies then you will need to reset the time each subsequent battery swap

I had some godly Pokemon Red data on my old GBC, and I ended up catching the Missing No. glitch pokemon on it.

It didn't have too much of an effect on the actual gameplay itself, but when checking the computer for data from previous Elite 4 victories, it would show a very random assortment of championed Pokemon, different from any I'd captured.

My only gripe with battery backups is that the battery is usually soldered onto the board. In some cases, you have to de-solder the entire unit and replace it with one that actually allows battery swapping.

>>3873270
>This sometimes happened to me with old Genesis carts

This could be a default / debug file that's written when the battery is replaced. Some games even shipped with these types of saves already on the cart. Although the save was usually "blank" for all intents and purposes, and possibly couldn't even be loaded up and played from.

>>3873331
No these were most definitely people's saves, it happened half a dozen times over the years. I found an almost completed Light Crusader save as well. I know it's a known effect because I've brought it up here before and people knew what I was talking about. Just wondering if it happened with NES as well.

>>3873164
>how long did it take you to realise this shit wasn't a joke
Never because emulation was created long before any of my games with batteries in them started shitting the bed.

>>3873164
That's what you get for playing on shitty nintendo consoles.

>>3873270
>being that kid in 2017
Pretty sure that only happens if your dad works at Nintendo

>>3873883
Yeah that was 15 years ago or so when I was collecting physical stuff.

My Chrono Trigger cart would resurrect old saves out of nowhere.

>>3873164
My FF1 cart man...
>Playing on RGB modded toploader
>Good progress, just got job change
>Toploader shit itself
>Bust out old toaster
>hard as heck getting it to work
>get teh black screen of death that apparently wipes saves
>no save data
>play 5 hours
>battery in FF cart apparently dies over night
>replace battery
>put it in backwards by accident
>play 3 hours
>come back and save is gone
>refight battery
>finally beat FF1
It seriously took like 50 hours total.

I lost a 100% Kirby Super Star file before. It was the only one of the three files that got erased. I also lost an Actraiser save before, but that was because I was dicking around with a Game Genie. I also lost a FF4 file the same way.

>>3873196

Last time I played through that game, it happened to me on the final battle. :(

I didn't mind too much because I'd finished it in the past and was just messing around with a weird party, and I had already proven to my satisfaction that this party was strong enough to win. But it did kinda suck.

>>3873912
And still telling the same old porkie pie you were 15 years ago. lel

>>3873164
I had the good luck to never have that happen other than a case of dead battery on a single Shining Force game.