Game Boy Colour game battery

At the end of last year, I tried to play my Pokemon Gold game, only to find that the save file kept self-deleting, because there was no longer sufficient battery life left in the game.

Is this actually the case for all Game Boy Colour games nowadays, or is this a problem specific to the Pokemon games? You see, I'm thinking of purchasing Link's Awakening next month when I have the time, but I'm not sure I want to purchase it if the battery's run down.

This is problem in most cartridge based games, gba, gb, nes, snes, genesis, etc. They all either save to batteries or use passwords. Modern cartridges like those on the DS use flash memory so this is not an issue. But yeah, these batteries will run out of juice and stop saving, the more you play the game the sooner the battery runs out, generally the batteries can last 10-20 years though with normal amounts of play. The can be replaced, but this requires buying a new battery and a gamebit to fit the cartridge and the batteries are expensive unless you buy them in bulk.

I would suggest getting the remake of pokemon gold for ds when it is released.

and about LA, in my experience, most games are not played enough to the point where the battery stops functioning. I have bought a few NES carts at tag sales and they all saved just fine, and those are over 20 years old now.

I own Link's Awakening, and I've gone through the game 5 or 6 times. I'm not sure how many hours that is, but I've never had a problem with the game deleting itself. I have, however, had problems with my Pokemon Blue.

Maybe it's a Pokemon thing? But I always thought my file deleted from the Missingo glitch.

NOW I know what's wrong with my Gold too.

How much do these batteries cost anyways?

Originally Posted by zeldask8r

But yeah, these batteries will run out of juice and stop saving, the more you play the game the sooner the battery runs out, generally the batteries can last 10-20 years though with normal amounts of play. The can be replaced, but this requires buying a new battery and a gamebit to fit the cartridge and the batteries are expensive unless you buy them in bulk.

That's odd, I've heard that the more you play them, the more they recharge (i.e., if you pick up Pokemon every week until now, the battery will still be fine).

Originally Posted by KeeSomething

I own Link's Awakening, and I've gone through the game 5 or 6 times. I'm not sure how many hours that is, but I've never had a problem with the game deleting itself. I have, however, had problems with my Pokemon Blue.

Maybe it's a Pokemon thing? But I always thought my file deleted from the Missingo glitch.

Same here. They must have used a crappy battery in those (or it could also have to do with the fact that Pokemon has a lot more to save).

I lost my Pokemon Gold data recently too, thanks for posting the reason! Meh, 300 hours played and all 251 Pokemon caught... *Sigh*

The internal batteries recharge from the GB/C/A if you play them. The mistake is to not play them, then they just run out. It's a problem for all pre-flash games, but especially with games that are constantly using the internal battery for something (ie, the clocks in the second generation Pokemon games).