Pro tip: Even if your soldering iron is at the proper temp it will not properly melt the solder if the tip is not clean. Make sure you clean the tip of your iron with a sponge or a brass sponge. Also, make sure you clean off the left over Flux with isopropyl alcohol.
i remember changing my silvers battery when i was around 10 yrs old. I didn't know anything about soldering so i pried the tabs off the battery and stuck a new watch battery of the same size inbetween the tabs and used electric tape to hold it tight. I was a very lucky person i didn't break anything. It was my favorite gamboy game. played it to death.
This is still awesome to read. I just recovered my Pokemon collection and found Pokemon Blue and Silver. I have to change my battery on Pokemon Silver :D
Thanks for making this video. I remember having to do this 4 years ago to fix my cousin's crystal version and the only videos i could find at the time were these kids prying the arms off the battery, putting a new one in, and covering it in electric tape. Good to have a professional looking video now.
I'm so glad you made this video, even 4 years later this is helping people so much!! I can finally get my GameBoy games working again!! Well I mean the saves working again. 😅
Fantastic video! Found my old Pokemon games (Blue, Silver and Crystal) and not a single one could save properly. Fixed all three with the help from this video :) Thanks alot!
Thank you for this. I have the Golden Sun collection, and they won't save. However, with your method, I can finally play those games on my ds lite again. Thanks for this!
@Dad_Shoes What happens when the battery dies. Does your saved game still exists just without the ability to saved? Or do u lose everything when the battery dies?
There's a failsafe way of retaining your savefiles and it's rather cheap too, there's a device called the Monster Brain (it's normally a cheating device made exclusively for Pokémon) that can back up save files, and the way the memory is stored on the Monster Brain is through flash memory so you don't have to worry about the save deleting itself from the Monster Brain, it costs about $10, not sure which sites sell it though. It's pretty good to have if you need to back up your saves before the inevitable battery death or that one moment in which the battery shorts and somehow deletes your save file (I've seen that happen numerous times). Generally speaking, it's good to have one on hand, especially if you feel like your internal battery is about to die.
Really love these types of videos. Love seeing the systems taken apart and games as well. Did you ever take apart a dream cast? I would love to see that video or see you do one.
I love loving in the future! Thank you for this video! I literally have Pokemon Silver and found it while moving out of parents and loaded it EMPTY FILE and wouldnt save I was like noooo but this will make it playable again yay
The batteries for Red, Blue, and Yellow actually outlast the Gold, Silver, and Crystal carts. GSC have an RTC circuit attached to keep time, which means their drain is much quicker. RBY will last around 20 years, but GSC will last only 10-15 years.
⚠️⚠️⚠️ When you're done you should use some rubbing alcohol and a q-tip to remove the leftover flux on the board. Flux is mildly acidic and over time will eat into the board. ⚠️⚠️⚠️
Nice video. I just did my donkey kong. I like to use soldering wick and suck the old solder right off the board. Eliminates the risk of solder splattering on other components.
Spawn Wave! I'll do this on the Gold version! Funny thing is that my yellow version is 5 years older (20 in total) and it kept my game over the decades!
Yellow is the worst. You're guaranteed one useless pokemon for the first gym battle, plus, if you really are trying to catch them all, you need to catch a second one because you can't evolve him. He also takes up a slot better served by something like Zapdos, who outclasses it in every single stat.
Gonna try this for fun even though you can easily emulate these games these days. Nothing quite beats the authentic feeling of having the little handheld in your hands, though. The resolution always looks wonky as well if it's not on a gameboy. Thanks for the little tutorial
I melted a plastic pen on a candle and pressed it against the screw and used that as a screwdriver. Then I just taped on a new battery. Budget, but it works 😄
Haha oh wow! My Pokemon Gold didn't save either but my problem was a little different. I looked into the connectors and I had something stuck on the pins which I think was the problem. I did go back and get it exchanged. But this is still an awesome vid Jon!
Well the battery in Pokemon gold and silver drain a little faster then red and blue. I have my copy of red and the battery is still good, but the one from my copy of gold died and I had to change it. The reason is because gold and silver have a real time clock that uses more of the battery then red and blue. So expect the battery to last about 8 to 10 years not 15. Also make sure you get a quality tabbed battery that will also affect how long the battery lasts.
I remember just lifting up the tabs and replacing the battery itself on my copy as a kid, put it back up with some tape lol and now I’m thinking on doing the same with this copy of Saphire I just got
If you dont have a soldering iron keep in mind you can use electric tape to fix it as long as you dont break the metal contacts when you remove the original battery
Where's the best place to buy the batteries I'm not to big with buying repair stuff but I recently got a copy of pokemon yellow and I would like to try it out
hi! im waiting for a gamebit to arrive to replace the battery of the gold cartridge i just got. I have a question thogh. Does thegame warn me about the battery running low? so i know when to change it again?
Hello, Spawn. I have all three of the gen 2 games (Gold, Silver and Crystal) and have replaced the battery in each of them. The results are that each of them save for a little while while playing through the game (either saving a set amount of times, or for a set amount of time), but end up wiping the saves automatically when playing long enough after turning the game off. Any ideas on further fixes? I would be eager to hear your thoughts.
OH MY GOD. Silver was my first Pokemon game and I was not able to save on it. I finished the game multiple times as a kid but I had to leave my gameboy turned on.
Surprisingly I have a Pokémon Silver cartridge from a flea market. A few years later, it stopped saving to the point I played it on my Gamebody Advance SP without turning it off (keeping it charged at night) back when I was a kid. Now I regret doing that because I think that was the reason why my GBA SP only lasts for a few minutes before it needs recharging again, plus its L and R buttons are broken, even though I barely used those (Plus, there are no L and R buttons required for GameBoy games)
dude do you think you could do a PS3 or 360 reballing for the next Tech Wave? i have always wondered how the PS3 and 360 gets the orange light and rings of dead fixed or well maybe that's too much to ask
I’m guessing the battery just needs to be connected to the board in order for it to be accessed by the game? (I’m very new to computing and electronics)
I tried to solder a fake Fire Emblem cartridge when I was younger. The battery was coming of and not making contact with the other parts. I did it terribly and put way to much soldering iron and now it doesn't even turn on. Is it dead forever?
I've changed the battery using your guide, but for some reason...it's still not saving. Any idea why? I've googled a bit and made sure my solder points were shiny, that the battery is set properly (positive side down), and that it's the right battery...it still won't save though. :(
I changed my battery, it saves but the save gets randomly lost after some time. Maybe I don’t have enough salder on the board? The positive and negative part is in the right place.
fun fact: the GSC games were notorious for the batteries dying in just a few years rather than 15+ my beloved silver died in about 5 years or so. my gold and crystal are dead as well.
Did Nintendo cheap out on their battery backups? I'm confused, GB, GBC and even SNES games I've seen with dead batteries but I have a games on the Genesis from 93-94 that still have their save functionally working perfectly. I'm aware they will eventually fail but even 10 years ago my cousin's DKC save completely failed.
MadfireMonkey yea they can erase your saves sometimes when the battery is starting to go bad I've had a save stay for about a week on a very weak battery once I was surprised.
Well do you have a brother or sister? Lol my boyfriend was just telling me a story about when he and his sister first got Pokemon, their mom only bought one copy (Blue), not knowing there weren't multiple save files. So he would play for a while in his Game Boy and then she would erase his file and start her own file and play... Then he would see that his file had been erased and replaced with hers so he would delete it and start his over, and on and on. I asked him, "Didn't you get tired playing the same thing over and over?" And he said yeah, but he thought his sister was doing it on purpose, they were really little and hadn't figured out the one save file thing. Apparently they made it a week and a half before it devolved into punching and the true problem was uncovered and a second copy bought. Which is impressive, they were really well behaved if they made it that long.
Maybe my favorite game of all time. Def one I've played the most and it's strange because it's not as much story driven unlike my other favorite games. Ironically I hate Gen 5 and Black and White has the best story in the pokemon lore. I would also restart the game a bunch of times after I beat it, which is rare I found out but I loved the game too much.
Wish i wouldve seen this video a few months ago. Started a new game because my original one was gone from years ago. When i started playing a new game it would save succesfully as far as turning it off and on again throughout the first day. But then the next day it was gone. Same issue i assume?
Watched this video just trying to find the temperature to use lol, managed to fix Pokemon silver, links awakening DX and Pokemon emerald in a little over an hour and it was my first time soldering
Since Nintendo announced they won't make a revision any time soon and will instead focus on expansion hardware through USB C, I wonder it they'll make some form of the Wii U gamepad device for the Switch for certain games, like Mario maker Like in docked mode it would be Bluetooth or connected to the switch dock and it portable it would clip on and it would kinda look like a DS/3DS
3 years later and this video still coming in clutch. Thanks for the instructions!
The amazon link doesn't work anymore though
Yeah....don't want to mess mine up I'll take it somewhere to see if they can do it
Pro tip: Even if your soldering iron is at the proper temp it will not properly melt the solder if the tip is not clean. Make sure you clean the tip of your iron with a sponge or a brass sponge. Also, make sure you clean off the left over Flux with isopropyl alcohol.
These types of videos are awesome! :D
@5A1F bot probs
@5A1F its the only comment that got a heart like
Dude thank you. You save my childhood game for 8mins and 34 sec. Now I need to order the proper tools to revive my GB Silver fun.
i remember changing my silvers battery when i was around 10 yrs old. I didn't know anything about soldering so i pried the tabs off the battery and stuck a new watch battery of the same size inbetween the tabs and used electric tape to hold it tight. I was a very lucky person i didn't break anything. It was my favorite gamboy game. played it to death.
This is still awesome to read. I just recovered my Pokemon collection and found Pokemon Blue and Silver. I have to change my battery on Pokemon Silver :D
My Pokémon yellow battery is still good, and blue. I can’t believe it
@@Biowolf626 My yellow still works too lol
@@savagemathorror4671 Same my yellow is good but my gold is dead. Wonder what's going on there. Does yellow's save just use less power?
@@TheAkashicTraveller yellow blue and red all good, silver gold and crystal gone. Weird.
Thanks for making this video. I remember having to do this 4 years ago to fix my cousin's crystal version and the only videos i could find at the time were these kids prying the arms off the battery, putting a new one in, and covering it in electric tape. Good to have a professional looking video now.
I just found my Silver version. It was my very first video game ever & I’m excited to replace the battery & play it again. Thanks for the help.
I'm so glad you made this video, even 4 years later this is helping people so much!! I can finally get my GameBoy games working again!! Well I mean the saves working again. 😅
Fantastic video! Found my old Pokemon games (Blue, Silver and Crystal) and not a single one could save properly. Fixed all three with the help from this video :)
Thanks alot!
I'm trying to play my Pokemon silver O found from when I was a kid and was wondering why it's not saving. Thankyou
Thanks for taking the time to make this man.
Thank you for this. I have the Golden Sun collection, and they won't save. However, with your method, I can finally play those games on my ds lite again. Thanks for this!
GBA games don't use battery to retain the save. Are you sure they are legit carts?
@@bfapple some early GBA games did use batteries (Castlevania circle of the moon, for example), but golden sun definitely didn’t.
@@zidane6520 thought that Nintendo switched to flash storage (as opposed to RAM) for all GBA carts.
@@bfapple GBA carts can actually have four different types of save mechanisms:
EEPROM chips , flash chip, battery saves, and ferroelectric RAM (FRAM)
I love videos like this
absolute life-saver (and game saver! lol). can't wait to try this for my copy of pokemon gold! Thanks, dude!
Cant wait to learn how to fix my Gold! I was about to hunt down another copy. Now I have to find the other GameBoy I had been given
Thank you! My Link's Awakening doesn't save anymore and now this just saved me... literally.
Awww Spawn, thank you for this video. It was a nice trip down nostalgia lane :)
Tech Wave at its best!
Please make more of these videos! We love them so much!
Excellent video Jon(SW). Very useful knowledge, good stuff man.
I enjoyed watching you fix the save. :) Merry Christmas!
Anyone here from 2024?
Since this video came out, it's been 6 years! By 2024, my Save Battery is dry again! I keep needing this video!
@@RandomComputerOnUA-cam ikr
Me. I hope this video helps me fix my old Pokémon crystal cartridge.
Jup having exact that Problem right now
Fun Fact: I found one for 11 bucks on a flea market yesterday and the battery is still holding the save. Tho I will replace it too.
EpicLPer Good idea.
My pokemon red, yellow, and blue still have their original batteries and somehow still work.
@Dad_Shoes What happens when the battery dies. Does your saved game still exists just without the ability to saved? Or do u lose everything when the battery dies?
There's a failsafe way of retaining your savefiles and it's rather cheap too, there's a device called the Monster Brain (it's normally a cheating device made exclusively for Pokémon) that can back up save files, and the way the memory is stored on the Monster Brain is through flash memory so you don't have to worry about the save deleting itself from the Monster Brain, it costs about $10, not sure which sites sell it though. It's pretty good to have if you need to back up your saves before the inevitable battery death or that one moment in which the battery shorts and somehow deletes your save file (I've seen that happen numerous times). Generally speaking, it's good to have one on hand, especially if you feel like your internal battery is about to die.
Do I need too replace battery in Pokémon sapphire ?. .
@@josepshchavez4337 I can't find my GBA ones but they use the in game clocks too so probably.
Really love these types of videos. Love seeing the systems taken apart and games as well. Did you ever take apart a dream cast? I would love to see that video or see you do one.
I love loving in the future!
Thank you for this video! I literally have Pokemon Silver and found it while moving out of parents and loaded it EMPTY FILE and wouldnt save I was like noooo but this will make it playable again yay
My Red and Yellow cartridges are *_still_* working perfectly somehow.
The Blue one on the other hand........ Imma need this video...
Fulken if you wanna retain your saves and the battery still works but its like 10-15 yrs old replace the battery while the game is in the gameboy
@@buttcracksniffer74 Isn't this dangerous? There is voltage on it then, you could damage something.
The batteries for Red, Blue, and Yellow actually outlast the Gold, Silver, and Crystal carts. GSC have an RTC circuit attached to keep time, which means their drain is much quicker. RBY will last around 20 years, but GSC will last only 10-15 years.
@@buttcracksniffer74 Does this really work?
My Pokémon blue doesn’t go through as a game :(
Harbor Freight has good soldering irons for Like $5. Works great. $8-$9 with the rosin core.
⚠️⚠️⚠️ When you're done you should use some rubbing alcohol and a q-tip to remove the leftover flux on the board. Flux is mildly acidic and over time will eat into the board. ⚠️⚠️⚠️
I didn’t know about this probably until I made my first save out of Elm’s lab, thankfully I found out about this before I got to far
Awesome man! I'm waiting on the battery for mine then I'll be good to go! Clutch AF!!!
This will help me fix my old pokemon gold that i've had forever.
Nice video. I just did my donkey kong. I like to use soldering wick and suck the old solder right off the board. Eliminates the risk of solder splattering on other components.
Just realized mine was dead today after getting excited to play through it again haha. Curious to give soldering a try.
Keep up the good job spawn , love your vids :3
You look so healthy and natural in these older videos. Hope you're doing okay man
i love how you think oh this friendly fella is a bit over weight, then you realise that he is absolutely jacked
thanks a lot man, Tech Waves are awesome, hope you can eventually fix your old Switch and make a Tech Wave about it.
Thanks for the video - bought the tools I needed and fixed the game so I can share with my boy!
That is awesome! That is good for me to learn even more, as I am going to school for biomedical engineering technology.
hey spawn you had to give pokemon a good scrubbing with a qtip and alcohol to clean the pins, just to make it extra clean with a new battery 😀
Idrees willz87 you can also use a eraser and clean the pins lightly but you need to remove the case first.
This might be a stupid question but can I use the same flux and soder I use for soldering copper pipes together?
Nope
What kind of battery is it? I see many variations online (CR1616, CR2025, CR2032)
Spawn Wave! I'll do this on the Gold version! Funny thing is that my yellow version is 5 years older (20 in total) and it kept my game over the decades!
Pokemon yellow! Is the best.
P.s. great video!
Yellow is the worst. You're guaranteed one useless pokemon for the first gym battle, plus, if you really are trying to catch them all, you need to catch a second one because you can't evolve him. He also takes up a slot better served by something like Zapdos, who outclasses it in every single stat.
This is why GameBoy Color should have cloud saves...
boi if you dont
Maybe he means vc Gameboy.
I know, what were they thinking leaving that feature out in the 90s? Shocking really!
Gonna try this for fun even though you can easily emulate these games these days. Nothing quite beats the authentic feeling of having the little handheld in your hands, though. The resolution always looks wonky as well if it's not on a gameboy. Thanks for the little tutorial
I've never used a solder before, is there a certain type of metal wire you have to use when replacing the battery?
1:23
This guy said “go to radioshack”
XD 😂
Appreciate the video. This worked for my silver.. for almost a week 😭
I melted a plastic pen on a candle and pressed it against the screw and used that as a screwdriver.
Then I just taped on a new battery.
Budget, but it works 😄
God damn hill billy
Might have to do that where could I buy a new battery
Mine won’t save either. I’m glad you posted a video of this. This is one of my fav games. My Chrystal file deleted too.
Haha oh wow! My Pokemon Gold didn't save either but my problem was a little different. I looked into the connectors and I had something stuck on the pins which I think was the problem. I did go back and get it exchanged. But this is still an awesome vid Jon!
Well the battery in Pokemon gold and silver drain a little faster then red and blue. I have my copy of red and the battery is still good, but the one from my copy of gold died and I had to change it. The reason is because gold and silver have a real time clock that uses more of the battery then red and blue. So expect the battery to last about 8 to 10 years not 15. Also make sure you get a quality tabbed battery that will also affect how long the battery lasts.
yep, my PKMN yellow also still saves without issue
Just bought a Donkey Kong for GB that won't save.
Here comes Spawn Wave from the past with the lifeline.
W/e he did, he looks great these days.
is there anything you can't do?
Bring his switch back to life... too soon?
Bread Crumbs bro
Get his switch saves
Drop an F-bomb.
He can't get pregnant jrjrjr
Tool time with Spawn wave..(rubs hands together)
Thanks! I've got a Pokemon Gold experiencing the same issue. Now I can fix it!
3:18 What are those four chips for? One is for the game and one is for the save data, but then two are left.
I remember just lifting up the tabs and replacing the battery itself on my copy as a kid, put it back up with some tape lol and now I’m thinking on doing the same with this copy of Saphire I just got
Thanks for the help buddy!
great video's man, keep up the good work :)
Can you review other types of game cartridges and how to replace the battery on those?
Defo gonna give this a go. Cheers dude 👍🏼
Kind of a dumb question, but are all Gameboy colour batteries the same? Or would I need a "game specific" battery?
This video is very old but do you know which soldering iron you bought or a specific link to look for one?
Whats the best temperature the solder iron should be?
If you dont have a soldering iron keep in mind you can use electric tape to fix it as long as you dont break the metal contacts when you remove the original battery
Where's the best place to buy the batteries I'm not to big with buying repair stuff but I recently got a copy of pokemon yellow and I would like to try it out
hi! im waiting for a gamebit to arrive to replace the battery of the gold cartridge i just got. I have a question thogh. Does thegame warn me about the battery running low? so i know when to change it again?
Nice, excellent video.
What is the name or kind of battery used to replace the old one? And are they easy to find?
Hello, Spawn. I have all three of the gen 2 games (Gold, Silver and Crystal) and have replaced the battery in each of them. The results are that each of them save for a little while while playing through the game (either saving a set amount of times, or for a set amount of time), but end up wiping the saves automatically when playing long enough after turning the game off.
Any ideas on further fixes? I would be eager to hear your thoughts.
OH MY GOD. Silver was my first Pokemon game and I was not able to save on it. I finished the game multiple times as a kid but I had to leave my gameboy turned on.
I have also that. It sucks when the internal battery dies, all your save data will be lost.
Surprisingly I have a Pokémon Silver cartridge from a flea market. A few years later, it stopped saving to the point I played it on my Gamebody Advance SP without turning it off (keeping it charged at night) back when I was a kid. Now I regret doing that because I think that was the reason why my GBA SP only lasts for a few minutes before it needs recharging again, plus its L and R buttons are broken, even though I barely used those (Plus, there are no L and R buttons required for GameBoy games)
dude do you think you could do a PS3 or 360 reballing for the next Tech Wave? i have always wondered how the PS3 and 360 gets the orange light and rings of dead fixed
or well maybe that's too much to ask
My game saves but it won't save after elite 4 I've now beaten Lance 3 times now and it's not saving
What if I have just the battery and not also the "wings" that connect with the poles. Do I have to detach them from the old battery?
Do u know anywhere to get batteries the link in description has expired
I’m guessing the battery just needs to be connected to the board in order for it to be accessed by the game? (I’m very new to computing and electronics)
I tried to solder a fake Fire Emblem cartridge when I was younger. The battery was coming of and not making contact with the other parts. I did it terribly and put way to much soldering iron and now it doesn't even turn on. Is it dead forever?
This pretty much happened to my Pokémon Crystal a couple of years ago but I never got around to changing the battery.
Will this fix work for all other game boy games? My game and watch gallery 2 has the same problem.
I've changed the battery using your guide, but for some reason...it's still not saving. Any idea why? I've googled a bit and made sure my solder points were shiny, that the battery is set properly (positive side down), and that it's the right battery...it still won't save though. :(
hey spawn, what if you wanna change the batery before it is gone but you dont wanna lose your savefiles in the process?
I changed my battery, it saves but the save gets randomly lost after some time. Maybe I don’t have enough salder on the board? The positive and negative part is in the right place.
What if you replaced the battery while the game was running?
Like with one of those soldering free mods?
fun fact: the GSC games were notorious for the batteries dying in just a few years rather than 15+ my beloved silver died in about 5 years or so. my gold and crystal are dead as well.
Did Nintendo cheap out on their battery backups? I'm confused, GB, GBC and even SNES games I've seen with dead batteries but I have a games on the Genesis from 93-94 that still have their save functionally working perfectly. I'm aware they will eventually fail but even 10 years ago my cousin's DKC save completely failed.
is there a new link? for the amazon stuff?
Is the battery also the reason why my pokemon game saves would mysteriously disappear after I didnt play the game for a while?
MadfireMonkey yea they can erase your saves sometimes when the battery is starting to go bad I've had a save stay for about a week on a very weak battery once I was surprised.
+Nicholas Carson I always wondered about that because it seemed to only happen to my pokemon games.
Well do you have a brother or sister? Lol my boyfriend was just telling me a story about when he and his sister first got Pokemon, their mom only bought one copy (Blue), not knowing there weren't multiple save files. So he would play for a while in his Game Boy and then she would erase his file and start her own file and play... Then he would see that his file had been erased and replaced with hers so he would delete it and start his over, and on and on. I asked him, "Didn't you get tired playing the same thing over and over?" And he said yeah, but he thought his sister was doing it on purpose, they were really little and hadn't figured out the one save file thing. Apparently they made it a week and a half before it devolved into punching and the true problem was uncovered and a second copy bought. Which is impressive, they were really well behaved if they made it that long.
I’m here in 2020 and wow what a different look.
Maybe my favorite game of all time. Def one I've played the most and it's strange because it's not as much story driven unlike my other favorite games. Ironically I hate Gen 5 and Black and White has the best story in the pokemon lore. I would also restart the game a bunch of times after I beat it, which is rare I found out but I loved the game too much.
Wish i wouldve seen this video a few months ago. Started a new game because my original one was gone from years ago. When i started playing a new game it would save succesfully as far as turning it off and on again throughout the first day. But then the next day it was gone. Same issue i assume?
Watched this video just trying to find the temperature to use lol, managed to fix Pokemon silver, links awakening DX and Pokemon emerald in a little over an hour and it was my first time soldering
Since Nintendo announced they won't make a revision any time soon and will instead focus on expansion hardware through USB C, I wonder it they'll make some form of the Wii U gamepad device for the Switch for certain games, like Mario maker
Like in docked mode it would be Bluetooth or connected to the switch dock and it portable it would clip on and it would kinda look like a DS/3DS
Are you stalking me? First i sent my GC for repairs and you post a disassembly video, and now I just stumbled upon my old pokemon gold version xD
Does this help with also not being able to change the time?
What kind of battery do these GBC games use? The link isn't working anymore.