Non-volatile gameboy saves

[stuntpenguin007]

I modded my copy of Pokemon Gold to save games without relying on the internal save battery. I'm fairly certain this mod can be performed on most other gameboy games too.

Sorry I couldn't make a video, but you wouldn't be able to see anything because of the horrible glare on the screen. Here's a picture of the cartridge.

To do this, I desoldered the SRAM chip (the one on the bottom left), and replaced it with a non-volatile FM28V020 FRAM chip. The FM28V020 doesn't require a battery to retain it's memory, and it has the same footprint as the SRAM chip that was in the cartridge so no fancy rewiring is needed. I figured this out by accident, but in order to make this mod work, you need to lift the top right pin of the FRAM and leave it disconnected.

I have a good feeling that this would work in n64 memory cards too. It just wouldn't be multi-bank (like Kibble's non-volatile n64 memory card mod)

If you decide to do this mod, please buy the chip as opposed to ordering a sample of it. It's totally up to you, but these companies can't keep making quality products if their not making any money

 

[ShockSlayer]

Woah, that's awesome!

 

[R00man]

Cool stuff I did the practically the same thing for a friend a while ago.

 

[Antome]

Stuntpenguin is a pretty cool guy. Eh changes the RAM and doesnt afraid of anything.

 

[TheNineRings]

I love it! If I weren't terrified of destroying my games by wielding my soldering iron as a weapon of destruction against them, I'd try it!

 

[stuntpenguin007]

Just a little disclaimer: There could be unknown problems with this mod, so if anyone does this mod and something goes wrong, don't blame me.

So far I've only found one problem, and that is that the in game clock won't stay set in pokemon gold. You have to reset the clock each time you start the game.

 

[ShockSlayer]

What if you put the battery back in?

 

[stuntpenguin007]

I think putting the battery back in would fix the problem. Even if the battery did die, you wouldn't lose your save. You'd just have to replace the battery and reset the clock.

 

[jleemero]

Yes, it ought to fix the problem.

Silly internal clock.

Nothing you can really do about that.

Still, 'tis true, "oh no, battery died, clock *Can'tSayThisOnTV*ed up".
Who cares?
Having your save is what matters.

 

[TheNineRings]

How true. I don't really care about my stupid internal clock. Actually, I froze my clock on Gold version on purpose, back when I had a working copy.

 

[XCVG]

Those chips are ten bucks a piece. I could buy a lot of save batteries for ten bucks. That said, cool mod; I'm just too cheap to do it. Heck, one time I was so cheap I used an alkaline button out of a calculator instead of a proper lithium coin cell.

 

[robm]

I love mods like these.

Adding to the megasticky.

 

[Jewjo]

Woah, woah, woah, this is really cool. I'd order like 10 right now if I knew my address and wasn't trying to save money.
I'm definitely bookmarking this for later though. Thanks for the tip, man.

EDIT: Where did you buy the FM28V020? I found one for 7.70, but if you found one for cheaper, I'd like to have a link.

 

[stuntpenguin007]

I got mine from mouser.com. I think they're a little bit more expensive there though.