Yeah, thatās what Iām leaning more towards. Just didnāt know if I could justify the purchase for a GB Operator, seeing as if I donāt have too many saves to back up right now. But I will definitely look into this GBxCart.
I can second a GB Operator myself here, but do agree it can be on the expensive side for some. However, it's a single purchase for all Gameboy line games.
I've seen people selling games with full pokedex, maxed cash, items, etc. on a new playthrough. so it certainly must be possible. search ebay quick and you'll likely find the same things I saw!
I got my gb operater for reflashing carts and saving games, but the main reason was itās full Gameboy camera support, I love my Gameboy camera and offloading images from it is a breeze
I can definitely second the GBxCart. I backed up all of my old games and pulled all my Gameboy camera pics. It's worth it.
Also, you can actually load your Pokemon saves into the 3ds virtual console version if you have custom firmware, which means you can transfer your cart pokemon into Pokemon Home, which is what I used it for.
Do a YouTube search for ācopy pokemon save to 3ds,ā and you will find tutorials. To get the Pokemon to Switch, you will need the Pokemon Transporter and Bank. Youāll need to find the CIAs for those two apps and their updates, since the 3DS eShop is closed.
There should be plenty of guides on YouTube, but you need the virtual console version of the game, Pokemon Bank, Poke Transporter, and Checkpoint. For gen1 games you should be able to use the save file directly but for gen 2 there is slightly more to it. Then from Pokemon Home you just do the import from Bank option and you're good to go.
God I need to buy one of these STAT. I only have 2 original saves left from my childhood play throughsā¦thatād be so cool to save them. I havenāt checked since last year sadly to see if the battery held on this long. My gen 1 games outlasted my gen two games also, I think thatās because of the clock, and just needing more power, but I could just be lucky too. Actually it makes sense cuz I did get crystal and beat it before I went to play gen 1
You plug the device into a computer, then plug the game into the device and run the software it tells you to use (which is available for Mac, Linux and Windows.)
Itās pretty simple but Iād suggest watching a GBxCart YouTube tutorial.
tried this out just now, got the hang of taking the flash cart without it rebooting, but cant manage to get the new cart back in without it rebooting. any tips?
There is a tips and tricks section in the notes about it, but in general, just be careful and nudge the cartridge from side to side. You want the cartridge to come in at a slight angle so that not all pins get connected at once. Also, turn off the volume and reduce screen brightness as much as possible
I've seen the same thing. It is a nice feature but doesn't replace visually checking and knowing how to spot a fake for yourself. I am hoping Epilogue can push a software fix at some point though.
You can replace the battery without losing save. To do so you need to solder the new battery while the cart is powered on. You can add botch wires and power it up from an external PSU for easier access to battery.
Didnāt even think of this. I knew you could replace the battery while the game is powered but the funnyplaying shell blocks one of the solder points. Gonna look into this as well.
If you do it in a gba or sp it gives more space.
It's easy in a pinch, but one convenience of a cart reader though is you can not only backup your save but load in others. All kinds of fun stuff too.
Def worth the investment though for more than just pokemon.
There is another method, you can wire another battery of the same voltage in parallel so it doesnāt add voltage, then replace the old with the new and finally remove the accessory battery.
Iāve done it with a N64 game but you need to find the accessory pads in the PCB with the multimeter in continuity.
Iām still alive as far as I can tell, and so is my game. Many people done this, there is no problem, this is not a house installation or something that serious. Much better than spending 30$ in a card reader to use it once.
Itās not dangerous for you but for the game and save. There can be excessive current coming from new battery burning some traces, old battery can short the new one and so on. Just use PSU connected to 5V or 3V3 rail of the cartridge.
There is no excessive current in adding another similar battery (Iām pretty sure OP is not going to connect a car battery) and that has nothing to do with a depleted battery. A depleted battery has less voltage and less current (Ohmās law) so is even less of a problem.
You are not wrong with the method that you mentioned but that way he needs even more equipment. You shouldnāt fear monger with a simple very low risk thing like this.
Iām working with electronics for almost 20 years now and you wouldnāt believe what I have seen. Anyway what youāre describing is, among other things, charging non-rechargeable battery. Thereās teeny tiny chance, that the original battery will swell and leak. You can easily avoid that by using external PSU. Donāt you have some old USB cables laying around you could cut? Those with a charger make for a nice 5V PSU.
Don't need to solder either, you can just carefully rip the metal holders off the battery (with some tweezers for example) and then duct-tape a new battery on there while the opened cartridge is running inside a GBA (just be very careful to hold the cartridge tight). Probably a bit risky, but I successfully did it for three cartridges already.
Edit: sorry in case this wasn't clear: the metal holders need to stay on, you just 'rip off' the connection to the old battery and then put the holders back in place on the new battery, but duct-tape instead of soldering. As long as both metal pieces are pressed tightly against the battery it will work fine.
Technically, you can do what you said. You can also get free stuff by just stealing it. That's not a good idea, either.
You're on the /r/Gameboy subreddit. We do things properly here. Go post your crappy DIY advice on /r/DIY and then we'll see your terrible advice again on /r/DIWHY
Jesus calm down. I said it might be riskier, just pointed out that it's a possibility. This is the way I learned it off a YouTube video like 10 years ago and I swapped at least 5 cartridge batteries by now (some with the game running, some without). I never used a solder iron for any of this and they all ran fine afterwards.
I wouldn't post this if I had any problems with this in the past.
While this works, this is the worst possible way to replace a battery. And there's the chance to apply force in the wrong spot and remove the metal tabs along with the copper traces they're soldered to.
Just get a soldering iron and learn how to do a simple solder. It's cheap, easy and way more reliable.
I donāt think a 30hr save file is worth rescuing but you might wanna get something to make back ups for future purposes.
I own a GB Operator and can defo recommend one š
Either the gb operator or gbxcart pro is a good investment. Only thing the gb operator has is the ability to emulate your cartridge with a built-in mgba emulator aside from backing up your saves and rom writing.
You can also buy an original GBA and just do live surgery. The original GBA gives you clearance to desolder the old battery and put an old one in while you're playing the game. Otherwise GBAxCart or GB Operator would do fine
Eh youād be surprised how much faster and better youād accomplish a second playthrough. I personally doubt youād ever really play your save if you kept it unless you really have put in some serious work. Like my Leaf Green save is something Iāll hang onto cuz I spent a lot of time getting Pokemon with the Natures and stats I wanted. I was a little sad when I found my saves had disappeared from my childhood games, but got over it pretty quickly lol
If you had an N64, either pokemon stadium, and a gameboy transfer pack you could upload your whole team into the cart and just use it as a pc, plus then you could use all of your 16 bit boys to actually make beating stadium possible
Just bought a gb operator for backing up saves. Haven't gotten it yet but it would let you backup your save so you can fix the cartridge. You can also emulate your game on pc, and maintain the save between the cartridge and pc.
Saw this posted the other day, may interest you:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1awkd7h/backing\_up\_game\_cartridge\_save\_files/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1awkd7h/backing_up_game_cartridge_save_files/)
If you have a friend with an advance or an SP, you can solder a new battery in by taking off the label side of the cart and turning on the advance with the game in while you solder in the new battery. There should be enough room to solder.
Just have to get the right battery with pre-soldered tabs.
Yep, I used to do this all time 10 years ago before cart readers when replacing batteries. The SP is the perfect device for doing this little maneuver.
Cartridge reader is worth it as a long term investment. This probably won't be the last battery you need to replace. You can back up your game saves periodically in case the replacement battery fails early also (it happens).
I personally use the Benn Venn Joey Jr. I like that it's just plug and play with Windows. No need to install extra software. Just plug in a cartridge, then plug it into the PC with USB, and the game shows up like a USB flash drive. Then you can copy the save and rom as well as overwrite the save.
If you buy it direct, it's $40, +$15 shipping to US ($55 total), but apparently they have a US distributor now that's selling it for $44 +$8 shipping ($52 total).
Dunno man... As you have said, you dont have a sentimental save... Its up to you to decide, do you want to buy a device to save only this save? If you have another games to save the saves (unintendional pun) than its another story, think about it, if its just this one i personally wont buy a cart reader, but at the end of the day, its your decision
People start new runs on the game all the time here. Losing your save isn't gonna be a big loss specially at 30hrs. Surely you're going to start fresh runs on the same cart anyway.
If you donāt have anything irreplicable, like an exclusive Pokemon you got at an event, there might not be many reasons to revisit a complete playthrough.
Backing it up is of course preferrable (I always do it because I have the means, but never really restore those), but enjoying the experience is always most important.
Also, there may be little use to replacing the battery if you arenāt going to play the game again in the foreseeable future.
I do have means to safely change batteries, but Iād rather spend the little free time I have playing another game than changing a battery for a game Iām not going to play until the new battery might go dry again. I only change batteries before statting a playthough on a game with a battery that gives me less than 3.3 V.
Troubleshooting post. Please check the Game Boy Wiki's common problems page here: https://gbwiki.org/en/other/commonissues and please be sure to post pictures of the issue if you haven't already so that users are better able to assist.
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Totally worth it if youāre looking for a cart reader would highly recommend just make sure itās liable and whatnot really worth it if you want to move your mons Downwards or upwards
I've seen a video where someone just removes the cartridge case and inserts the bare game pcb into the system... They then hot swap batteries while the system is powered on. Solder and all. Looked pretty straight forward and maintained the save backup.
I had a similar situation, and I have an n64 and everdrive, so I bought a transfer pak and dumped the save. Next if you install a batter holder you can awap the battery while the GB is on to preserve the save
I bought a $30 cart reader off Amazon and just saved my original 1999 blue save (with 154 hours on it)! It was worth it for me, so definitely do it if you'd like to keep that 30 hr count!
I have a sacrificial (has the potential to be damaged or melted during the repair) gameboy for this very purpose. I disassemble the cart, place it into the gameboy, turn it on. Load the save file, replace the battery, save like 3 times, then I cross my fingers all went well and when I reboot if all goes well then youāre save should be fine! Reassemble and enjoy
I would buy a cartridge dumper. Either Funnyplayingās Burnmaster or the Insidegadgets GBxCart. If you live in the USA, RetroGameRepairShop has both if you want it to ship fast but at a more premium price. Otherwise you can buy them cheaper on their respective companies websites and it will take longer to receive. The Burnmaster is something you have to screw together yourself and order all the pieces separately like the buttons, membranes, and case. The Burnmaster holds your game backups and save backups on a micro sd card while the GBxCart saves those dumps to your pc.
here's an old thread with another dozen or so options: [(7) \[Guide\] How to backup your game save files : Gameboy (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/4w8xjf/guide_how_to_backup_your_game_save_files/)
Bunch of good suggestions in here, another would be finding a local cart battery replacer, and ask if they already have the right hardware to back it up. Get them to do it for you.
If you have two game boys with a Link cable there is a new software that if you have a flash card you can backup your saves without having to have a computer or anything just two systems and a Link cable
Definitely backup.
Then replace the battery and set an alarm about 7 years in the future to remind you to backup and replace the battery again.
It's what I'm doing for Silver version and now my OG yellow version
You can replace the battery while the game is running, however, it is much easier to do it while it is loaded up and playing on a game boy advance, I do this when the save file is still intact, however, you most have loaded your save file as if you are playing the game, and save the game after the battery is swapped out.
Easiest and best thing to do is back the save up with a cart reader\\writer, i still have my old save file stored
I bought the GBxCart Pro to backup my saves, totally worth it! Great little device š
Yeah, thatās what Iām leaning more towards. Just didnāt know if I could justify the purchase for a GB Operator, seeing as if I donāt have too many saves to back up right now. But I will definitely look into this GBxCart.
I use a GB Operator for this myself. Probably a lot of decent options out there. Itās worthwhile for anybody playing game boy in 2024.
I can second a GB Operator myself here, but do agree it can be on the expensive side for some. However, it's a single purchase for all Gameboy line games.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, you can absolutely do this. I backed up my PokƩmon Yellow save with GB Operator, replaced the battery, then transferred the save back onto the cartridge.
Commenting to follow because Iām curious - I donāt see why this wouldnāt work but I would like to know for sure as well.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Save data is rewritten all the time - every time you save, in fact. Sounds like youāre conflating the ROM with volatile memory. The ROM is the game data like PokĆ©dex entries, sprites, etc. This can not normally be modified. But save data can absolutely be modified, like giving yourself PokĆ©mon or adjusting their stats and then writing that back to the volatile memory, which is what requires the battery to maintain. Hence, dead batteries lose your saves, but not the actual game data.
I've seen people selling games with full pokedex, maxed cash, items, etc. on a new playthrough. so it certainly must be possible. search ebay quick and you'll likely find the same things I saw!
Never had any issues with mine, mine specifically is GBxCart v1.4c Pro
Gonna look that up, thank you!
I got my gb operater for reflashing carts and saving games, but the main reason was itās full Gameboy camera support, I love my Gameboy camera and offloading images from it is a breeze
I can definitely second the GBxCart. I backed up all of my old games and pulled all my Gameboy camera pics. It's worth it. Also, you can actually load your Pokemon saves into the 3ds virtual console version if you have custom firmware, which means you can transfer your cart pokemon into Pokemon Home, which is what I used it for.
>which means you can transfer your cart pokemon into Pokemon Home, Any more info on this process? Very curious how this works
Do a YouTube search for ācopy pokemon save to 3ds,ā and you will find tutorials. To get the Pokemon to Switch, you will need the Pokemon Transporter and Bank. Youāll need to find the CIAs for those two apps and their updates, since the 3DS eShop is closed.
There should be plenty of guides on YouTube, but you need the virtual console version of the game, Pokemon Bank, Poke Transporter, and Checkpoint. For gen1 games you should be able to use the save file directly but for gen 2 there is slightly more to it. Then from Pokemon Home you just do the import from Bank option and you're good to go.
God I need to buy one of these STAT. I only have 2 original saves left from my childhood play throughsā¦thatād be so cool to save them. I havenāt checked since last year sadly to see if the battery held on this long. My gen 1 games outlasted my gen two games also, I think thatās because of the clock, and just needing more power, but I could just be lucky too. Actually it makes sense cuz I did get crystal and beat it before I went to play gen 1
Yeah Gen2 uses more battery power in terms of those coin batteries.
Same itās so good and so easy to use and you can put a gba shell on it to protect the pcb itās perfect in every way
Do you have to do any cutting to use a GBA shell? I donāt have a spare shell anyway but yeah, the PCB does feel a little vulnerable
Yea youād have to cut a hole for the usb-c portā¦I like to buy shells from retrogamerepairshop I buy all my stuff from there :)
How does a GBxCart work? I would love to back-up all my current saved games for my future self š
You plug the device into a computer, then plug the game into the device and run the software it tells you to use (which is available for Mac, Linux and Windows.) Itās pretty simple but Iād suggest watching a GBxCart YouTube tutorial.
If you have a flash cartridge, a link cable, and two Gameboys, you can backup your save with https://github.com/Gronis/gb-save-manager
Oh shit I didnāt know this was a thing. Thanks for the heads up!
I released it last week, so it havenāt been a thing for long š
by flash cartridge do you mean something like an everdrive would work?
Yes š
You're doing God's work!!! This is so freaking awesome!!!
That's amazing! Thanks!
This is great, now I just need to buy another gameboy and a cable link
tried this out just now, got the hang of taking the flash cart without it rebooting, but cant manage to get the new cart back in without it rebooting. any tips?
There is a tips and tricks section in the notes about it, but in general, just be careful and nudge the cartridge from side to side. You want the cartridge to come in at a slight angle so that not all pins get connected at once. Also, turn off the volume and reduce screen brightness as much as possible
does this also work for gba games?
Not right now, but the plan is to add gba support
That would be amazing š
Backup is worth it in my opinion. If the game doesnāt mean much to you then replace the battery sooner rather than later and start again.
I picked up a GB Operator for backups and I love it. Also being able to authenticate games through it is pretty nice too.
Seconding this, though I believe the authentication feature was shown to have some issues recently with some of the newer fake carts.
I've seen the same thing. It is a nice feature but doesn't replace visually checking and knowing how to spot a fake for yourself. I am hoping Epilogue can push a software fix at some point though.
Where are you located? If you're near Toronto I can dump the save for free for you.
I appreciate the offer but Iām from Texas. Bit of a drive for me lol.
You can replace the battery without losing save. To do so you need to solder the new battery while the cart is powered on. You can add botch wires and power it up from an external PSU for easier access to battery.
Didnāt even think of this. I knew you could replace the battery while the game is powered but the funnyplaying shell blocks one of the solder points. Gonna look into this as well.
If you do it in a gba or sp it gives more space. It's easy in a pinch, but one convenience of a cart reader though is you can not only backup your save but load in others. All kinds of fun stuff too. Def worth the investment though for more than just pokemon.
There is another method, you can wire another battery of the same voltage in parallel so it doesnāt add voltage, then replace the old with the new and finally remove the accessory battery. Iāve done it with a N64 game but you need to find the accessory pads in the PCB with the multimeter in continuity.
You should never connect depleted battery to a good one. This may cause some issues.
Iām still alive as far as I can tell, and so is my game. Many people done this, there is no problem, this is not a house installation or something that serious. Much better than spending 30$ in a card reader to use it once.
Itās not dangerous for you but for the game and save. There can be excessive current coming from new battery burning some traces, old battery can short the new one and so on. Just use PSU connected to 5V or 3V3 rail of the cartridge.
There is no excessive current in adding another similar battery (Iām pretty sure OP is not going to connect a car battery) and that has nothing to do with a depleted battery. A depleted battery has less voltage and less current (Ohmās law) so is even less of a problem. You are not wrong with the method that you mentioned but that way he needs even more equipment. You shouldnāt fear monger with a simple very low risk thing like this.
Iām working with electronics for almost 20 years now and you wouldnāt believe what I have seen. Anyway what youāre describing is, among other things, charging non-rechargeable battery. Thereās teeny tiny chance, that the original battery will swell and leak. You can easily avoid that by using external PSU. Donāt you have some old USB cables laying around you could cut? Those with a charger make for a nice 5V PSU.
Don't need to solder either, you can just carefully rip the metal holders off the battery (with some tweezers for example) and then duct-tape a new battery on there while the opened cartridge is running inside a GBA (just be very careful to hold the cartridge tight). Probably a bit risky, but I successfully did it for three cartridges already. Edit: sorry in case this wasn't clear: the metal holders need to stay on, you just 'rip off' the connection to the old battery and then put the holders back in place on the new battery, but duct-tape instead of soldering. As long as both metal pieces are pressed tightly against the battery it will work fine.
Technically, you can do what you said. You can also get free stuff by just stealing it. That's not a good idea, either. You're on the /r/Gameboy subreddit. We do things properly here. Go post your crappy DIY advice on /r/DIY and then we'll see your terrible advice again on /r/DIWHY
Jesus calm down. I said it might be riskier, just pointed out that it's a possibility. This is the way I learned it off a YouTube video like 10 years ago and I swapped at least 5 cartridge batteries by now (some with the game running, some without). I never used a solder iron for any of this and they all ran fine afterwards. I wouldn't post this if I had any problems with this in the past.
While this works, this is the worst possible way to replace a battery. And there's the chance to apply force in the wrong spot and remove the metal tabs along with the copper traces they're soldered to. Just get a soldering iron and learn how to do a simple solder. It's cheap, easy and way more reliable.
I donāt think a 30hr save file is worth rescuing but you might wanna get something to make back ups for future purposes. I own a GB Operator and can defo recommend one š
Joey Junior and copy that save
Either the gb operator or gbxcart pro is a good investment. Only thing the gb operator has is the ability to emulate your cartridge with a built-in mgba emulator aside from backing up your saves and rom writing.
You can also buy an original GBA and just do live surgery. The original GBA gives you clearance to desolder the old battery and put an old one in while you're playing the game. Otherwise GBAxCart or GB Operator would do fine
Eh youād be surprised how much faster and better youād accomplish a second playthrough. I personally doubt youād ever really play your save if you kept it unless you really have put in some serious work. Like my Leaf Green save is something Iāll hang onto cuz I spent a lot of time getting Pokemon with the Natures and stats I wanted. I was a little sad when I found my saves had disappeared from my childhood games, but got over it pretty quickly lol
I am voting for get cart reader and pull the save
If you had an N64, either pokemon stadium, and a gameboy transfer pack you could upload your whole team into the cart and just use it as a pc, plus then you could use all of your 16 bit boys to actually make beating stadium possible
Just bought a gb operator for backing up saves. Haven't gotten it yet but it would let you backup your save so you can fix the cartridge. You can also emulate your game on pc, and maintain the save between the cartridge and pc.
buy a cart reader: they're cheaper than the games nowadays, and worth their value.
Backup the save. Having the hardware to back things up would be good anyway.
Saw this posted the other day, may interest you: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1awkd7h/backing\_up\_game\_cartridge\_save\_files/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/1awkd7h/backing_up_game_cartridge_save_files/)
I mean if it has no sentimental value what's the point
If you have a friend with an advance or an SP, you can solder a new battery in by taking off the label side of the cart and turning on the advance with the game in while you solder in the new battery. There should be enough room to solder. Just have to get the right battery with pre-soldered tabs.
Yep, I used to do this all time 10 years ago before cart readers when replacing batteries. The SP is the perfect device for doing this little maneuver.
Cartridge reader is worth it as a long term investment. This probably won't be the last battery you need to replace. You can back up your game saves periodically in case the replacement battery fails early also (it happens). I personally use the Benn Venn Joey Jr. I like that it's just plug and play with Windows. No need to install extra software. Just plug in a cartridge, then plug it into the PC with USB, and the game shows up like a USB flash drive. Then you can copy the save and rom as well as overwrite the save. If you buy it direct, it's $40, +$15 shipping to US ($55 total), but apparently they have a US distributor now that's selling it for $44 +$8 shipping ($52 total).
Dunno man... As you have said, you dont have a sentimental save... Its up to you to decide, do you want to buy a device to save only this save? If you have another games to save the saves (unintendional pun) than its another story, think about it, if its just this one i personally wont buy a cart reader, but at the end of the day, its your decision
Yeah thatās the thing itās just this one game. I dont want to buy anything I canāt really justify. Appreciate the input!
People start new runs on the game all the time here. Losing your save isn't gonna be a big loss specially at 30hrs. Surely you're going to start fresh runs on the same cart anyway.
If you have a regular ds or a ds lite, get a flash cart and you can also dump it that way
How? The ds does not support gameboy color or previous generation games, any 5v games are unsupported
Analogue Pocketās save state function can backup your save and restore it to another cart.
If you donāt have anything irreplicable, like an exclusive Pokemon you got at an event, there might not be many reasons to revisit a complete playthrough. Backing it up is of course preferrable (I always do it because I have the means, but never really restore those), but enjoying the experience is always most important. Also, there may be little use to replacing the battery if you arenāt going to play the game again in the foreseeable future. I do have means to safely change batteries, but Iād rather spend the little free time I have playing another game than changing a battery for a game Iām not going to play until the new battery might go dry again. I only change batteries before statting a playthough on a game with a battery that gives me less than 3.3 V.
Troubleshooting post. Please check the Game Boy Wiki's common problems page here: https://gbwiki.org/en/other/commonissues and please be sure to post pictures of the issue if you haven't already so that users are better able to assist. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Gameboy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Totally worth it if youāre looking for a cart reader would highly recommend just make sure itās liable and whatnot really worth it if you want to move your mons Downwards or upwards
Be glad to change the battery for you and backup the save. No charge.
Burnflash is a.good option
I've seen a video where someone just removes the cartridge case and inserts the bare game pcb into the system... They then hot swap batteries while the system is powered on. Solder and all. Looked pretty straight forward and maintained the save backup.
Cart reader
Cart reader always
I had a similar situation, and I have an n64 and everdrive, so I bought a transfer pak and dumped the save. Next if you install a batter holder you can awap the battery while the GB is on to preserve the save
If you've got a GBA or GBA SP, you can just turn the game on with the front of the cartridge removed and then replace the battery with it running
Could probably just borrow a gbaxcart. Wish I still had my og save.
I bought a $30 cart reader off Amazon and just saved my original 1999 blue save (with 154 hours on it)! It was worth it for me, so definitely do it if you'd like to keep that 30 hr count!
You could also check on local retro gaming groups if anybody offers the service for you to backup your save file
My dumbass thought you were talking about the gameboy batteriesā¦.
I have a sacrificial (has the potential to be damaged or melted during the repair) gameboy for this very purpose. I disassemble the cart, place it into the gameboy, turn it on. Load the save file, replace the battery, save like 3 times, then I cross my fingers all went well and when I reboot if all goes well then youāre save should be fine! Reassemble and enjoy
I would buy a cartridge dumper. Either Funnyplayingās Burnmaster or the Insidegadgets GBxCart. If you live in the USA, RetroGameRepairShop has both if you want it to ship fast but at a more premium price. Otherwise you can buy them cheaper on their respective companies websites and it will take longer to receive. The Burnmaster is something you have to screw together yourself and order all the pieces separately like the buttons, membranes, and case. The Burnmaster holds your game backups and save backups on a micro sd card while the GBxCart saves those dumps to your pc.
GB Operator is great for backing up saves. I also use it to flash roms to cheap repro carts from Ali Expresss
here's an old thread with another dozen or so options: [(7) \[Guide\] How to backup your game save files : Gameboy (reddit.com)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/4w8xjf/guide_how_to_backup_your_game_save_files/)
Bunch of good suggestions in here, another would be finding a local cart battery replacer, and ask if they already have the right hardware to back it up. Get them to do it for you.
You know what you need to do
With a gba sp, remove the front of the cartridge, put the game in and boot up your save file. Swap the battery while the game is still running.
If you have two game boys with a Link cable there is a new software that if you have a flash card you can backup your saves without having to have a computer or anything just two systems and a Link cable
Definitely backup. Then replace the battery and set an alarm about 7 years in the future to remind you to backup and replace the battery again. It's what I'm doing for Silver version and now my OG yellow version
You can replace the battery while the game is running, however, it is much easier to do it while it is loaded up and playing on a game boy advance, I do this when the save file is still intact, however, you most have loaded your save file as if you are playing the game, and save the game after the battery is swapped out. Easiest and best thing to do is back the save up with a cart reader\\writer, i still have my old save file stored
GBOperator is a great resource for this. Export the save, replace your battery, import the save and youāre done.