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Do Game Boy Color Games Save?

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The Game Boy Color is among the Game Boy systems developed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy, the third handheld system, and is similar to the handheld counterpart of the Nintendo 64.

It is similar to its predecessors, with the most notable difference being that it weighs less.

Game Boy Color can display multiple colors and has a higher processing power than other Game Boy systems. It is the final handheld system to feature an 8-Bit graphic. Unlike most Game Boy consoles, Game Boy Color supports saving games as implemented in the original ROMS.

So does the popular Game Boy Color save games?

Game Boy Color games do have save points. Like the original Game Boy the games on the Gameboy Color save onto the game cartridges.

So if your Game Boy Color games are no longer saving then it is likely that the battery in your cartridge has gone bad and needs to be replaced. Once your battery in your Game Boy Color cartridge has been changed it should save games like normal again.

If you would like to know more about this subject, please keep reading or watch this video!

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How Do Game Boy Color Games Save?

Game Boy games are designed to use a CR2025 battery, which powers the cartridge for a saved game. When the battery dies, so does your saved game as the battery takes all the data with it. A dead battery means everything saved is lost for good.

Saved games were solely preserved through the use of the battery right in the game pack, not stored on the gaming system like most devices do today. When the battery power is exhausted or removed, it loses everything saved.

The issue normally doesn’t arise due to the corruption of the save or whatnot, but by the lack of enough charge to hold that data between the sessions. 

 Do All Games Support Saving On The Game Boy Color?

Saved Game Boy Color games are stored directly on the game cartridges and not on the Game Boy Color. But do all Game Boy Color games have save points or do some not save?

All of the Game Boy Color games were designed to have save points so you could pick up and continue the game right where you left off. There were also some Game Boy Color games that had a real-time clock, like the Pokémon Red and Silver.

Why Won’t A Game Boy Color Save Anymore?

After some time, you might find that the game might not save anymore, and the saved position resets. The real-time clock stopped, and time only goes on while the game is running instead of 24/7. Now you are wondering how such an old Game Boy Color game saves and stores files and what could cause the sudden failure and how can you fix the issue.

Well, as mentioned above the game is saved onto the Game Boy Color gaming cartridge with the use of a battery. So if your favorite game is no longer saving then all you need to do is change out the battery and it should start saving like normal again.

You can check out the video below for exact instructions on how to change the battery on your Game Boy game cartridges.

Basically, if your game will not save anymore, your internal battery must have run out. (because of a continually running clock – they run out after a certain number of years. ) The batteries are small circular ones similar to the ones for your watch or hearing aids.

You must open up your cartridge in order to change the cartridge battery. A new battery will last for about seven years.

There is not really an easy way to change the battery and it could be potentially dangerous if you do not follow the specific instructions while changing the battery as mentioned in the video above.

In the Game Boy Color, they designed the cartridges with a small battery inside that is very crucial in keeping the game progress saved, known as SRAM. It merely plays the role of a computer ram when a game of power source is removed. With Game Boy Color, when the power sources are removed, the SRAM loses its content, which is the saved game.

Your internal battery ran dry, so what do you do to fix it? When the battery dies, stopping the game from saving, it causes everything saved on previous games to disappear as well. You will not only lose the game progress, but the fun that comes with Game Boy Color.

Yet, when the game is powered, you can still save, but when the power is down, the stored levels you have  reached will be gone.

Replacing the battery can be tricky, considering that you need to open the cartridge, use a small screwdriver (3.8mm) security bit to open it and carefully pry the connector’s loose from its solder to the existing battery.

Replacing the battery will make sure that your game progress saved is intact and safe. And when replacing the battery, you don’t want to remove or break the current connectors, if you do so, you will need to buy a complete kit that requires you to solder new connectors in place. 

Once replaced, you can continue to save games once again, but down the road you will need to replace the battery again. To avoid losing the saves forever, remember to save on your PC.

So you will need to get a new battery to keep on playing, but it loses forever your previously saved data, as it is deleted when the life of the battery is gone. The good news is you can replace the battery using the instructions on this site and then your Game Boy Color should be working like it is brand-new… literally.

Conclusion

Players can definitely save each game as they would on an original Game Boy. To protect your game, simply tap select during the gameplay,  select Save from the menu, and then choose yes to save, it is a simple way to keep your progress. 

So if you own a Gameboy and enjoy playing the games, you can play them without worrying about not being able to save the games anymore.