How to change a Snes game-save battery!

A

Apossum

Guest
Every Snes game owner will run into this at some point, especially since the dates on many game batteries expire around this year, or in the case of games like Mario World, have already expired. That doesn't mean they are 100% dead, but chances are, they are almost dead.

Found these instructions in another thread, originally posted by Cornfedwb (who got them somewhere on google) and figured we should have a fresh post for this topic. I cleaned it up a bit and added a note or two.

If you are the original author, PM me so I can give you credit! (or delete this, if it's a problem.) I have edited and bastardized this heavily, based on my own experience.

Most importantly:
----- IF YOU HAVE A BETTER, EASIER WAY TO DO THIS, PLEASE POST IT SO I CAN FIX THIS FAQ! ----
Any help will be much appreciated.


DISCLAIMERS(for reals yo): YOU WILL LOSE YOUR SAVES WHILE DOING THIS, NO MATTER WHAT! I take no responsibility for your messed up games-- this is a risky procedure -- you should practice on something cheap and easy to find(like Super Mario World which is at just about every pawnshop) before you go and fuck up that pristine copy of Chrono Trigger ;-) This procedure is risky like a cheap ass hooker.

-------------------------------

What you need and where to get it:

1. 3.88 mm security bit. You need this to unscrew the funky
hexagon-shaped bolts on SNES carts. Here's a good deal on those, courtesy of kdunn77: http://mcm.newark.com/NewarkWebCommerce/mcm/en_US/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=22-1145&N=0 for $3.68.

2. Watch battery size CR2032 You can probably get this anywhere
that fixes watches; I got mine at Radio Shack, paid $3. (ed-they are out of stock online, but are at most stores.)

3. A basic soldering iron, nothing fancy. I bought a kit at radioshack for $8, came with a 45-watt iron.

4. An X-Acto knife, or some kind of scraping razor. It just
needs to be a VERY thin knife, one you don't mind getting stained up. A kit with a variety of blades can also be found at Radioshack, for around $4.

5. Some Electrical tape. (courtesy of Beerguy961) also at Radioshack.


SNES Procedure Walkthrough

--Clean your hands thoroughly first.

1. With your SNES cart lying face-side up on a table, you'll see the two
hexagon bolts on the bottom two corners. Use your 3.88 mm security bit to
remove these bolts.

2. Lift the cart's front cover by pulling up, toward you. You'll see the
backside of the game's board. Lift the board out. Try not to touch anything
but the edges any more than you have to.

3. On the other side of the board, you'll see the battery on the top left corner, a silver circle about the size of a nickel. The battery is soldered onto connectors above and below, at two points on each connector. The next step is to break these solder points (carefully!) (Edit: I have found that my copy of Final Fantasy 3 has 4 solder points on each side, but all my Nintendo made games have only 2. YMMV.)

Getting the battery out (by Slo):
Changing these batteries in snes cartridges is simple, ive just done one. One thing i should point out tho is the battery terminals ARE NOT soldered to the battery they are spot welded on, you CANNOT unsolder them. Trying to do so is dangerous as the battery could explode. You simply have to prise and break them off, this isnt easy and to save risking damaging the cartridge pcb its easier to unsolder the battery terminals from the board first (take note which way round it goes here) and clamp the old battery in a vice or hold with pliers then try to force off the terminals. Another point I should mention is when fixing the new battery in place electrical insulation tape will lose its grip with age and go manky especially with heat from the console, so i chose to use sticky labels to wrap around the battery.

As long as you unsolder the battery terminals from the board first there is zero chance of damaging your cartridge as long as you dont drop blobs of solder all over it but and i cant stress this enough make sure you take note of the battery polarity.

6. Either solder the New battery back on if you know how or tape it into place. To tape it, take a 2 inch piece of tape and place it under the bottom connector. Place the battery in between the two connectors and wrap the tape around it as tight as possible. You can even double up the tape, to make sure the battery won't go any where.

7. Turn the board back over (battery-side down) replace it into the back
cover of the cart. The slots it fits into are arranged so you won't be able to
re-insert it upside down, so if you're having trouble putting it back in, turn
it over!

8. Place the front cover of the cart over this. Remember the hooks that slide
into the back cover? They make it so you have to angle the back cover down &
away from yourself. Replace the 2 hexagon bolts. If the board still rattles,
you might need to tighten the bolts down a bit more. If you taped the battery in, it'll probably be a snug fit.

9. Pop the game into your SNES, play long enough to save. Turn the machine
off, take the game out and throw it around. Tap it on a table, drop it, rattle it, be rought with it but don't break it! This is just to test how secure your battery is in there. If you plug it back in and still have your save, congrats. Chances are, your battery is secure for the next 10 years.

That should do it-- discuss below!

(Pics coming, eventually)
 
thanks a lot, i dont look forward to doing this to all the games i have... if anyone has pictures i think itd be helpful to post some on the OP
 
I'm going to do it tonight on some games-- I'll take some pics of the process, hopefully they'll come out (and hopefully I won't fuck it up :) )

I'll need some place to host em long term-- my photobucket album fills up too fast.
 
You might want to mention in the OP that your saves will be lost if you do this, just so someone doesn't complain about it later. Other than that, great article!
 
[quote name='Apossum']I'm going to do it tonight on some games-- I'll take some pics of the process, hopefully they'll come out (and hopefully I won't fuck it up :) )

I'll need some place to host em long term-- my photobucket album fills up too fast.[/QUOTE]

imageshack.us yo
 
Done and done! Looks like I'll need to pick up some supplies tomorrow. All I have is an ancient soldering iron with old razors--can't even cut through the first point.
 
Okay-- 4 copies of Super Mario World later and I've had my first successful swap.

For a guy who has never soldered before, this was a pain in the ass. That's because the soldering on the old battery doesn't exactly cut like butter. I had to put a ton of pressure on each connection, and snapped a few blades in the process.

For my successful swap, I just taped the contacts around the battery, made it real tight, and added 2 layers of tape, so that it would fit snug in there. After I did that, i tested it, and it worked. Not content with that, I tossed the cart around, on the floor, smacked it against my leg, shook it up, etc. and tested it again-- still good.

I'm going to update the tutorial later, with a more "realistic" approach.
 
and now i'm finding my copy of FF3 has 4 solder points on each side, instead of 2. That's just great.


Edited the faq for clarity.
 
[quote name='Apossum']and now i'm finding my copy of FF3 has 4 solder points on each side, instead of 2. That's just great.


Edited the faq for clarity.[/QUOTE]

NOOOOOO - not FF3! J/K - Thanks for this info, I'm sure it will come in useful at some point!
 
Kuma, you forgot the question mark at the end of the question there.

Anyway: Most GBA titles (at least originals) don't use batteries any more, so it's a non-issue, but I don't know of an easy way to check whether a certain game uses batteries (other than to open it).
 
sorry bout the question mark but its 6 in the morning and sleeping is the one thing i forgot to do today.

anyway good to hear on the GBA games though. I would have to commit bloody murder if i lost my Fire Emblem saves.



? for good measure
 
[quote name='Kuma']sorry bout the question mark but its 6 in the morning and sleeping is the one thing i forgot to do today.

anyway good to hear on the GBA games though. I would have to commit bloody murder if i lost my Fire Emblem saves.



? for good measure[/QUOTE]


Well, I really don't know if any of the fire emblem games use batteries. But if you like a game, it's a good idea to plan to complete it in the next 5 years just in case.

(and it's great you know about question mark. Believe it or not, I was just mentioning it because the schools no longer seem to teach about it, so some people actually don't know they should use it).
 
[quote name='Kuma']sorry bout the question mark but its 6 in the morning and sleeping is the one thing i forgot to do today.


anyway good to hear on the GBA games though. I would have to commit bloody murder if i lost my Fire Emblem saves.


? for good measure[/QUOTE]

Flash memory isn't going to last forever either. I lost all my data on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon when I had more the 95% of the game complete. It was a legit copy I bought at Circuity City too. The cart won't save anymore. I really wish GBA games had removable storage like memory cards.
 
Flash memory is guaranteed for tens of thousands of writes at the very least.

Do you know if this game uses batteries or not?

Edit: It looks like this title uses SRAM, which means there's a battery somewhere there. Sorry.
 
Reality's Fringe said:
I hgeard if you play your SNES games once a month or so that the battery retains ebough of a charge to keep/add saves. Any validity to that?
Click to expand...

I can't imagine that being true, unless turning on the game would somehow recharge the battery or reduce the rate of energy loss for a certain period of time after the game was turned on.

Looks like I'm going to lose my FFIII data that has two Economizers. :whistle2:( And I found them within 10 minutes of each other. During my 2nd and 3rd play through, I couldn't find one.
 
get your CR2032 batteries in bulk off Ebay. They fit in all kinds of stuff and they're cheaper than buying them 1-2 at a time. I paid $15 for 50 of them.

They work in Dreamcast VMU's
Sega Saturn and Dreamcast CMOS battery
Various kids books and small toys
digital thermometers
along with SNES carts.


Just FYI, they're probably the most popular small battery and it's shameful for people to have to buy these for $3 each.
 
[quote name='eldad9']Well, I really don't know if any of the fire emblem games use batteries. But if you like a game, it's a good idea to plan to complete it in the next 5 years just in case.[/QUOTE]

Heh, I was thinking the same thing when I saw he was worried about Fire Emblem.

I've tested and played many NES and SNES games with batteries that still save fine. So really you can get a few decades+ out of one if you are lucky.
 
Good tip about buying the batteries in bulk. If you go to a specialty store, usually they do overcharge you if you buy a single battery. It's one of those high margin items for a store..
 
Could someone post a new link for the 3.88 Security bit I tryed to follow the other links but got an error and tried to go the MCM website but cant seem to find it anywhere. I need this badly to re-battery some of my old SNES carts SMW to start but most notably FF3, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, and ChronoTrigger. Thanks guys
 
I don't understand how long these batteries last: My copy of tecmo super bowl or legend of zelda for the nes are still able to save. I've been the only owner and I definitely have not been under the hood messing around.
 
[quote name='LSDaemon']Could someone post a new link for the 3.88 Security bit I tryed to follow the other links but got an error and tried to go the MCM website but cant seem to find it anywhere. I need this badly to re-battery some of my old SNES carts SMW to start but most notably FF3, Secret of Mana, Super Metroid, and ChronoTrigger. Thanks guys[/QUOTE]

I couldn't find it on the above site, but there is a seller on ebay that sells them - I bought one from him a while back - he has a bunch of the security bits (3.8, 4.5 & triwing) in his ebay store & bundles of all of them together -

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Electric-Quarter

just the 3.8mm gamebit -

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-SNES-N64-Game-Cart-SCREWDRIVER-BIT-Repair-Mod_W0QQitemZ8223241558
 
Huh... I changed the battery in Lufia but it still won't retain saves. I played through the intro, saved, reset, and my saves were there. After that, I took the cart out, tossed it around, tried playing again and my saves were gone.

Maybe my cartridge is just screwed.
 
i have the same problem with my PS IV. I have to find a place that has the holder i can solder in there, then all i have to do is slide the battery into it and seal it up and play my heart out. Though nothing will give me back my 15 hours i played before the battery went dead. I just bought the game acouple of months ago. Its crazy the way the batteries just go out sometimes.
 
nice just found a two prong battery holder on ebay, ill see if its a rip and replace or if its going to need some modding to get it on. I want to get the bits to to get into all of my games but for now if i have to get into them its the old way of burning a stick of plastic and shoving it in a cheap game that has the fit, then if it wears out do it again. Its not as good as the bits and i will be picking them up soon.
 
[quote name='Lizard Axe']Huh... I changed the battery in Lufia but it still won't retain saves. I played through the intro, saved, reset, and my saves were there. After that, I took the cart out, tossed it around, tried playing again and my saves were gone.

Maybe my cartridge is just screwed.[/QUOTE]


that's because it got detached from the battery after you threw it around ;) you need to reattach it tighter next time.


also, sorry for the empty promises for pics and all that. I kinda don't play regular snes any more or have any games...after going through the battery changing process, I decided that it was easier to DL a rom, rather than potentially break a good game.
 
I've never attempted to open up a SNES game, but I have opened up a Legend of Zelda for NES. Rather than taking the battery out, I taped two wires to the battery clip (one on top and one on the bottom). I then taped a battery to the opposite ends of the wires and put the game back together. And now it saves like new. Again, I'm not sure how much free room is in a SNES game as there is in a NES game, but this method would probably avoid loosing data saved on the game and bring life back to it if caught before the battery completely went dead.
 
3. A basic soldering iron, nothing fancy. I bought a kit at radioshack for $8, came with a 45-watt iron.
Click to expand...
That's pretty high wattage which isn't used for PCB work. For soldering things onto a PCB, I'd try to get at the most 20w, 15 if you can find it.

4. Plug in your soldering iron, wait for it to heat up(it'll change color when it's done.) Set your razor against it, for a minute or 2. Slide the hot razor between the battery the top connector, push it against the first solder point. You will need to find a safe and comfortable position to push from-- you will need a bit of leverage, but also be careful of your fingers and chips on the game. Be VERY patient-- with enough reheating, pushing, and some cutting, the first point will come loose.
Click to expand...
I don't know what this looks like, but if there's room it's possible to use a desoldering braid to wick the solder away. That might make things easier to cut through, or you might not need to cut it at all.

6. Either solder the New battery back on if you know how or tape it into place.
Click to expand...
Be careful if you don't know how to solder, especially with a 45w iron. Batteries aren't meant to be heated, so it could leak maybe even theoretically explode.

here's another FAQ about it, but it's not too clear. I think it basically says the same thing(except he is saying to pry the battery off without heating or scraping, which seems a little crazy)-- but he seems to be against the idea of taping it back
Click to expand...
Taping batteries on isn't a very reliable way of maintaining electrical flow through for a circuit. If one contact point misaligns, there goes your game saves. The fact that you have to tape it so the battery does not lie horizontally can also cause shifting due to gravity.

just out of curiosity... how long should the GBA batteries last
Click to expand...
Not all GBA games use battery-based saving (SRAM). However, it's likely to use the same lithium battery technology, so several years at least.

Anyway: Most GBA titles (at least originals) don't use batteries any more, so it's a non-issue, but I don't know of an easy way to check whether a certain game uses batteries (other than to open it).
Click to expand...
Some do, so it is an issue. Since you own the game, you can legally download the ROM. If you use a ROM editing tool, it will tell you the save-type of the game. If it's SRAM it's battery based, Flash or EEPROM you're pretty safe for the next several thousand saves.
Flash memory isn't going to last forever either. I lost all my data on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon when I had more the 95% of the game complete. It was a legit copy I bought at Circuity City too. The cart won't save anymore. I really wish GBA games had removable storage like memory cards.
Click to expand...
Memory cards are also flash memory based. Although, you could've backed up the save to another card before it died I suppose.
Flash memory is guaranteed for tens of thousands of writes at the very least.

Do you know if this game uses batteries or not?
Click to expand...
The guarantee is more conservative for game-related memory cards and game cartridges. Usually they say at least 1,000 rewrite cycles, but these are all estimated based on accelerated lab testing. Quality control isn't perfect either, so it's feasible for a cart to fail long before 1,000 saves are done. Additionally, most game-related guarantees are time based first and foremost, and most of these warranties are less than a year. So by the time you get to your first ten thousand writes, the warranty is pretty much dead.

I hgeard if you play your SNES games once a month or so that the battery retains ebough of a charge to keep/add saves. Any validity to that?
Click to expand...
It's not true. These types of lithium batteries are not designed to take a charge.
Looks like I'm going to lose my FFIII data that has two Economizers. :whistle2:( And I found them within 10 minutes of each other. During my 2nd and 3rd play through, I couldn't find one.
Click to expand...
If you're really worried about it, you could try wiring another battery up before removing the original, then replace the original with yet another battery, then removing the wired battery. That way you maintain the flow of electricity.

I don't understand how long these batteries last
Click to expand...
Yeah, they do seem to be inconsistent. I still have NES games that retain saves. The only thing I can think of is temperature. If you live in a temperate climate year round, it's better for battery longevity. Extreme weather (both cold and hot) will affect a battery's performance.

Huh... I changed the battery in Lufia but it still won't retain saves. I played through the intro, saved, reset, and my saves were there. After that, I took the cart out, tossed it around, tried playing again and my saves were gone.

Maybe my cartridge is just screwed.
Click to expand...
I think it's likely what Apossum said, the battery became loose.
Is there any way to back up my saves, like you can with a PS2 mem card? And about How long do SNES batteries last?
Click to expand...
No. And it varies wildly, several years at least, sometimes more than a decade.
I've never attempted to open up a SNES game, but I have opened up a Legend of Zelda for NES. Rather than taking the battery out, I taped two wires to the battery clip (one on top and one on the bottom). I then taped a battery to the opposite ends of the wires and put the game back together. And now it saves like new. Again, I'm not sure how much free room is in a SNES game as there is in a NES game, but this method would probably avoid loosing data saved on the game and bring life back to it if caught before the battery completely went dead.
Click to expand...
This is a good way to maintain power flow while replacing the battery. However, I don't know if there is a detrimental effect to leaving a dead battery connected. I don't think there is but it's possible.
 
If you are very, very careful you can open most SNES games with an ordinary precision size flat head screwdriver. You simply align the the flat head into one of the notches on the star and carefully and forcefully yank counter clockwise.

That is what I used to unscrew Super Mario All-Stars and Mario World. I replaced the batteries with standard watch batteries (if I remember right). The original batteries did have to be carefully removed as they were sodered in place.

Off topic note:

However, another problem with old SNES games is capacitors going bad. This causes some strange video effects in many games. I don't know how to test capacitors and I wouldn't mess with them unless you know what you are doing. To replace them you have to have the precise voltage and microfarad capacitance.
 
I have a quite extensive collection of Nes and SNES battery based RPGs, and I dont believe I have lost any data yet. I put in a lot of time to getting almost everything in FF3 and lvl 99 everyone so I hope I dont loose all this stuff.
 
[quote name='Otherguy676']I have a quite extensive collection of Nes and SNES battery based RPGs, and I dont believe I have lost any data yet. I put in a lot of time to getting almost everything in FF3 and lvl 99 everyone so I hope I dont loose all this stuff.[/QUOTE]

Like it was written in the OP, as soon as the battery dies, or you change the battery, all that stuff is long gone, so it's inevitable, sadly enough. I've got a ton of saved games from when I was a kid and it's sad to think they will all disappear.

I've got a ton of NES / SNES games (mostly RPG's) too and I'm *this* close to selling them now, while the batteries still work, and let some other fool figure out what to do when the battery eventually dies. Once the battery dies, I'm not going through the effort to replace it, and these games will be worth $0 when it does die.

I figure all of this stuff will show up on the Virtual Console anyways.

Like Apossum wrote, this process looks to be a hassle and it's alot easier to wait on the VC or wait for companies to just port the really good games over to the VC, the GBA, something.

This whole battery idea, I guess companies didn't think we'd still be playing NES / SNES this far into the future.
 
Is the same thing going to happen to PS1 memory cards? Will those just dissapear too? I have some genesis games I might have to check on, I don't even remember if those saved or if you wrote down passwords, LOL.
 
As much as I'd like to replace all the batteries in my SNES and NES games, I'm scared of screwing it up. Instead I just emulate the games and back up the save files on my computer.
 
[quote name='Blackout542']Is the same thing going to happen to PS1 memory cards? Will those just dissapear too? I have some genesis games I might have to check on, I don't even remember if those saved or if you wrote down passwords, LOL.[/QUOTE]
they can flash base and not a battery. PSOne memory card will only die after a certain number of use, and that should be a very high number. Also you can easily back them up.
 
I did this once, and I am pretty handy with a soldering iron. Won't do it again. It gets pretty messy and you can definately goof up. I basically took about an hour and did one of my Mario Worlds.

I tried desoldering, but the contacts are under the clip. Not easy to do. After about 10 minutes of that I ended up just prying out the old battery.

OK, no biggie right, just solder in the new one. OK, not so easy. you cannot heat up the battery too much so you have to get it right the first or second time.

Ended up working, but it was not fun.

As for taping the battery in there. Yeah, right. If you have an old cart you dont care about, go for it, but for the rest of you just forget that idea all together. It will rarely work.

After this, there is NO WAY I am going to open up Megaman 7, Chrono Trigger, or Ninja Gaiden Trilogy.
 
Changing these batteries in snes cartridges is simple, ive just done one. One thing i should point out tho is the battery terminals ARE NOT soldered to the battery they are spot welded on, you CANNOT unsolder them. Trying to do so is dangerous as the battery could explode. You simply have to prise and break them off, this isnt easy and to save risking damaging the cartridge pcb its easier to unsolder the battery terminals from the board first (take note which way round it goes here) and clamp the old battery in a vice or hold with pliers then try to force off the terminals. Another point I should mention is when fixing the new battery in place electrical insulation tape will lose its grip with age and go manky especially with heat from the console, so i chose to use sticky labels to wrap around the battery.

As long as you unsolder the battery terminals from the board first there is zero chance of damaging your cartridge as long as you dont drop blobs of solder all over it but and i cant stress this enough make sure you take note of the battery polarity.

I can give pics or maybe even a short vid to show the process if anyone would like :)
 
To follow up on what a few people are doing. I never mess with the tabs on the battery as they are welded on and make too much of a mess when broken off old batterys. I use old cmos battery holders off of old computer mobo's or off ebay in lots when i do them for people. You have to drill out the solder points sometimes but it works well AND fits in the case when the cart is put back together. Look for these.
Battery_Holder_SMTU1225_300.jpg

137591_062420057021_ExhibitPic.jpg

BH-001-BeCu-s.jpg
 
ok, so im an IT manager, and one of my assignments is to replace about 20-30 of these f-in little batteries in desktop computers every few years. apparently computers piss through them quicker. my idea here, is that the comp motherboards have a small black socket on them, that hold a cr2032 battery in place. im wondering if its possible to replace the cart battery with one of these sockets, then pop a new cr2032 battery in it, and then when it dies in another 15-20 years, its not a painstaking ordeal to switch it out. i say this because i put together collections of NES, SNES, and N64 systems and games, and for the nes and snes this would be a lifesaver not to have to jherry rig this up every time. anyone have experience with this technique?
 
My 1986 LoZ cart still worked 20 years later last time I fired it up (I haven't tested it in probably 2-3 years though)!
 
[quote name='GuilewasNK']Flash memory isn't going to last forever either. I lost all my data on Castlevania: Circle of the Moon when I had more the 95% of the game complete. It was a legit copy I bought at Circuity City too. The cart won't save anymore. I really wish GBA games had removable storage like memory cards.[/QUOTE]


Circle of the Moon was a launch title if I remember correctly. GBA games didn't rid themselves of batteries for a while after launch so that is 99% likely to have a battery which is most likely dead if it was heavily used.
 
im on my 2nd going on to 3rd gold zelda cart. i got one for christmas 1995, tried it, didnt work. we took it back to funcoland (yeah, remember those?) where they got it, and returned it for who knows what. i just got a new one for my collection, same damn thing. so im gonna use it to practice the soldering of the batt holder, and i have a 2nd one on order, that is "guranteed to work" maybe its just the way the zeldas were built? idk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top