The way I did it was far more risky, leave the game turned on in a GBA while swapping the battery, if your game freezes then game over

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Ahaha that’s pretty good

@ankavar

8 ай бұрын

ah yes fire hazard simulator

@thetechconspiracy2

8 ай бұрын

It should be fine even if the game crashes, so long as the system, and by extension, the cartridge, is still turned on. Even if the cartridge disconnects for a split second, the RAM does take a bit of time to fade before it's unrecoverable.

@RAFMnBgaming

7 ай бұрын

IIRC that's exactly what I ended up doing for a school project about a decade ago. The weird thing is I don't remember having done any soldering, so either I'm magneto or I'm very forgetful.

@markellii3093

7 ай бұрын

I've recently done a similar thing when soldering the headphone wires to the jack while the jack is plugged into my phone. It made perfect sense at the start since I could hear whether I soldered the wires in correctly. But as I went on I realised what a dumb thing I was doing. The phone is fine though.

The appearance of the portable SNES was a welcome surprise.

@sammoore2242

7 ай бұрын

Finally, a way to play game boy games on the go!

@Selzor

5 ай бұрын

@@sammoore2242kek

@fourtymedia

Ай бұрын

@@sammoore2242 yes finally there couldn't possibly be any other way

@Schnort

28 күн бұрын

​@@fourtymedia really big missed opportunity on Nintendo's end

@fourtymedia

27 күн бұрын

@@Schnort I know right

My head cannon is that the little drum lick in the background of these videos is actually Wade playing in the corner live while James is making these.

@Bane_Amesta

Ай бұрын

I wouldn't be surprised if Wade made a little track specifically for James to put on his videos :D

This is genuinely a really good quick and dirty "how to solder" tutorial.

FRAM is pretty amazing for small amount of non-volatile memory, I hope they get it working. The F stands for Ferroelectric, which basically means that it has virtually infinite write endurance at room temperature. Usually the datasheets will list some finite write endurance but only at like constant 100 celcius operation, it's insane. Also they can read/write fairly fast, can max out most SPI bus, so the only downsides are their price and the limited size options.

@ccoder4953

8 ай бұрын

The tech for FRAM works fine. The issue is its never been popular enough to get the sort of funding needed to get densities competitive with flash. Lots of flash alternatives have had that issue, actually. And yes, it's ferroelectric. What's cool about it is that certain atoms in it's crystal lattice move around to store a 1 or a 0 One of the pioneering companies was a company called Ramtron. Their HQ was in the city I live in, Colorado Springs, and one of their founders was a professor I had at UCCS (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs).

@EMILE12345678901

7 ай бұрын

@@ccoder4953 What I really like about FRAM is that usually the datasheets have no ideas what the true limits of their product are. They put some big numbers in there but in reality it has never been tested to destruction so there's always a bunch of text and asterisks to explain where those numbers come from. If FRAM can become more common and cheaper, long term storage will become really amazing.

@Somefool669

7 ай бұрын

It was used in the Sonic 3 cartridges, at least in the US

@brandontechnerd

5 ай бұрын

Even if we can only get these into the megabytes of capacity per module, they will still be great for long-term robust storage

@masterkamen371

4 ай бұрын

I've seen them used in ripoff GBC games. Or something to that effect at least. Got Pokemon Crystal for 1€ off eBay, everything works fine except the real time clock doesn't work when the console is off and the item duplication glitch also doesn't work.

One life hack if you don't have the right screwdriver bit: take the front of a ballpoint pen, remove the actual pen bit so you only have the plastic shell. Heat the tip with a lighter or similar until it gets soft, then press it firmly onto the screw on the cartridge and wait until the heated part gets cold. The soft, heated plastic will form a mold, and if it's strong enough after it cools down you can actually re-use it on other cartridges.

@TechnicalJimActual

7 ай бұрын

I've heard of that, but how long would it last? I can't imagine that not stripping after a few uses.

@Frankfurtdabezzzt

5 ай бұрын

@@TechnicalJimActual for me it's lasting for probably 10 years and counting. Usually the plastic of a ballpoint pen is pretty hard, and the screws on game boy cartridges are not that tight

Using that SNES portable from the earlier video to test the games was gold. I was expecting a backlit modded GBC/taco GBA or an SP to test them, or maybe even a Game Boy Light since James is a collector. I think Gold and Silver work fine in the GBL, while Crystal requires a GBC (could be wrong, I lost the Crystal game I had years ago and have never tested one in my GBL).

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

XD You’re right about crystal! It didn’t work in the super game boy either

@schmoople-Eh60m

7 ай бұрын

Grey carts are Gameboy carts, black carts are GBC enhanced carts, (you get full color if you play on a GBC) and transparent carts are GBC only. (Yes of course they work on a GBA)

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

⁠@@schmoople-Eh60m yep, there are a few gbc enhanced games with other coloured plastic too like pokemon gold and silver and I think yellow too

I backed up all my saves using the Memories feature on the Analogue Pocket-it saves a savestate and the save data to the SD card. A bit more expensive way of doing it but you get a whole fpga and multicart system!

Videos like this are a great reminder of how good we have it these days We can now just store saves so easily without needing to worry about a battery or a device that loses power or becomes bricked, especially with cloud saves.

@vadnegru

5 ай бұрын

Well, it's not that sunshine and rainbows. I once lost 5 hours of playtime because i played offline and then cloud saves wiped all i did. Sure, i could use some local backup, i just didn't expect that thing to happen

@AngelaTheSephira

4 ай бұрын

The "cloud" is not a backup.

@masterkamen371

4 ай бұрын

Flash memory works by trapping electrons. Due to some annoying quantum physics, the electrons tend to escape, so the bit registers as a 0 instead of a 1. In practice, this means that stored data on flash memory can only reliably last about 10 years without being powered on and refreshed. Even our "magical" modern tech isn't actually all that magical.

@vadnegru

4 ай бұрын

@@masterkamen371 modern flash got error correction built in and operated on controller level. But eventually, error becomes so big that it's no longer correctable.

@masterkamen371

4 ай бұрын

@@vadnegru Indeed. I mean, the average user probably won't forget about their laptop with valuable data for 15 years. However, as flash memory gets older, it might start to happen. For example, someone might have a PS2 from their childhood and when they plug it in after 10+ years in storage, the memory card might be corrupted.

James is the guy that makes me think "I should get a soldering kit... Maybe I'll be productive, but most likely I'll just muck around every now and then". I've never even touched a solder in my life but the doors that it would open are endless (stares at the Xbox controller with the torn vibrator motor)

A much easier way to source batteries is to install a CR2025 holder. Preferably a shorter one. Untabbed batteries are easier to find at regular stores. Plus it removes a soldering step for batteries. Still need to do the bypass though.

@TorutheRedFox

5 ай бұрын

you can also cut up some sheet metal and make the plates yourself

@masterkamen371

4 ай бұрын

​@@TorutheRedFoxwhat? The tabs are welded on with a special machine, you can't just solder them on. Same as those 18650 cells that are fused into packs.

@TorutheRedFox

4 ай бұрын

it obviously won't hold as good as a weld but it'll still work

@masterkamen371

4 ай бұрын

@@TorutheRedFox it really won't, soldering takes time, meaning a lot of heat which causes the battery to blow up in your face. Speaking from experience. I tried cheapening out when replacing a ThinkPad BIOS battery and nearly lost my eyesight. It is not worth the risk.

@TorutheRedFox

4 ай бұрын

i managed to do it just fine with my gamecube

I had a copy of Gold that had it’s battery die and me and a buddy had no clue how to replace the battery so we got a Watch battery in which we put in the cart via electrical tape and it worked… though the cart looked a bit… bloated lol. Would love to see James do a video like this for replacing control sticks.

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, not ideal haha

@excaliburzx1134

8 ай бұрын

@@Games_for_James made getting the cart out of the system a pain but it worked, eventually did get the watch battery replaced with an actual GB battery

A good tool to have when replacing the battery without worrying about the save being deleted is to get a GB Operator from Epilogue or G01 Game Cart Reader from Submodule, you can rip your saves with them to your PC/Mac/Linux device, replace the battery, and then upload the save right back to the cartridge, plus you can also rip the games (And Gameboy Camera photos) and play them on emulators.

@Dave01Rhodes

7 ай бұрын

Or good ol’ Aussie mate BennVenn’s GB Joey Jr, or InsideGadgets’ GBxCart RW. There’s a ton of GB cart readers/writers out there.

@chrissss696

7 ай бұрын

He says that at 1:40

@Kwatches1190

7 ай бұрын

He said that at the beginning

@Nova2127U

7 ай бұрын

@@chrissss696 Yeah I'm aware, but these devices are really cheap to get and can save you time and back up your games in case one of them dies since these are over 20 years old at this point, GB Operator/G01 is 40 USD (around 62 AUD)

@Slash0mega

7 ай бұрын

Ill need to look into those. I got a old hame boy camera i would like to get operatinal again and would be nice if i could save the photos

Thanks for sharing, doing this was my gateway into learning soldering and more advanced repair projects! The videos on doing this are a very mixed bag, I'm glad you made it look simple and approachable for more people.

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Glad to help!

Soldering a temporary battery is actually genius and not something I ever thought to do. Hopefully I can just back up my save somewhere before I have to replace my Crystal battery again though

@LRM12o8

4 ай бұрын

Even smarter is to back it up to a PC beforehand using a cartridge dumper/flasher and then not having to worry about the wires of the temporary battery at all.

I was not ready for that Super Game Boy... You'd think after watching that NES cartridge video I would have been ready, but I wasn't.

Another approach would be to install a low-profile battery holder into the cartridge. My friend had me install them into a couple dozen of his cartridges and it worked quite well. I was a bit concerned that there might be some clearance issues, particularly on his GameBoy carts, but to my surprise everything went back together without a hitch.

Wow, you got the very first "event Pokemon" and still have the save file? That's impressive. I did a battery swap in Pokemon Ruby GBA. In that one, the battery only powers the clock. The save file can survive a dead/disconnected battery.

always love it when a new James video comes out

Very helpful tutorial and nice collection, would love to see a video on the gamecube demo kiosk

Another awesome vid! I hope the homemade gameboy continues to make appearances because it fills me with joy when I see it!

This reminds me of George Costanza and frogger cabinet.

Good news James, in Gen 1 and 2, “ruining” a pokemon doesn’t actually happen. As the game recalculates stat experience when you box them, without the need for a level up, it’s fine. Unlike Gen 3 and 4, level 100 pokemon are still able to gain additional EVs.

@Slash0mega

7 ай бұрын

Is that what he meant? I thought it was ruined as he hacked the game ruining its validity.

@totalphantasm

7 ай бұрын

@@Slash0mega while that might be what he meant, I find it unlikely, as the game itself has no way of knowing if leveling was done by candy or not, even on a competitive meta data level. Paired with that fact that it was a common playground myth that using any rare candies at all would make a pokemon weaker at level 100, I think my interpretation is more likely. Could be either way though.

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Totalphantasm understood what I meant. I always thought a level up via rare candy did not improve a pokemon as much as a level up through battling. Was that not true in gen 1? It was definitely an accepted “fact” at my school

@totalphantasm

7 ай бұрын

@@Games_for_James Yes and no. Basically your Pokémon gains extra stats based on what wild Pokémon it defeats. So a pokemon leveled up to 100 by candies vs a Pokémon leveled by battling will be weaker. However in every generation except for 3 and 4, you can continue to get these extra stats even once your Pokémon is level 100 if you keep battling wild Pokémon with it.

I'm so happy to see the portable SNES getting use

Long life to James the Genius, his adorable cat and all these pocket monsters trapped on colorful plastic squares

I must have missed that you had a Patreon! Gave you some support, seeing all of your hauls is super awesome lol

He saved a bird and is a Pokemon fan. Perfection :P

glad to see you’re getting into the groove with content. i like watching your videos in the morning before work a lot

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoy it!

i remember having a hand-me-down copy of Gold that had a dead battery in like 2007, i didnt understand the problem because I was 9 and I replayed the intro up to the point of naming the rival probably 15 times before giving up, i cannot believe i was so patient as a kid.

i cant believe you finally found a way to play game boy games on the go, what a legend

Its always a good day when james uploads

James and his cat makes me so happy

just before the pandemic I got back into retro games, nothing much, but scored amazing deals on Yellow, Silver (my first pokemon) and Ruby. It's been on my mind lately about losing my saves. I've going to have to look into this! Thanks James!

@LRM12o8

4 ай бұрын

Buy a cartridge dumper/flasher, then you'll never need to worry! Those allow you to do backups of your save file and if you do that regularly, you can just restore your save whenever the battery runs dry. No need to preemptively replace batteries and risk losing the save file in the process! I recommend the Joey Jr. from BennVenn, as it requires no software on your PC to function, so software support into the future is no worry, unlike with most other dumpers/flashers

Congratulations on 120K subscribers James! Dank would be proud! (probably)

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

🎉

Playing the games on the protable Super Nintendo from your first video was really the cherry on top

I got my older brothers GB Pokémon games, I had no idea about this! Thanks for the help James!

It brought such a smile to my face to see that abominable masterpiece of a SNES you made again 😂🖤👌🏽

5:17 Ahhh.. James, that Mew is likley worth some real change.

If Gamer Nexus is tech jesus then that makes you tech god. You are really knowledgeable about electronics.

My James senses were tingling. I load up yt and I see his vedio straight away. Love ya videos! They are amazing 🌟

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Thanks!!

It's a bit more expensive but a far more foolproof way is to have a cart reader.

I know how to do this. I have even done it before. I still watched it because I love your videos.

Im not gonna tell James how to solder cos he's clearly got more experience than me, but for anyone trying this at home, please cover the contacts at the bottom of the cartridge with kapton tape while you solder! If you get solder on the contacts, (which is easier than you might think if something slips or moves) the whole cartidge is basically useless.

@DarkDan76

8 ай бұрын

if that does happen can you remove it with desoldering braid and have the cartridge still function?

@TechXTech91

8 ай бұрын

not really, its really easy to clean them off. I cleaned off my contacts on the bottom of the board by adding solder, then removing it. Worked far better when i was done

@BobofWOGGLE

8 ай бұрын

the cartridge connector uses little spring contact fingers that are perfectly capable of making a connection on solder, it works fine what are you on about

@ccoder4953

8 ай бұрын

You can clean the solder off the contacts, but you'll never really be able to get it all off again and get back to the gold plate. If you clean the contacts carefully, with solder braid, you can still use the cartridge, but solder does tend to corrode more than gold does, so you may have to clean the contacts more frequently. But yes, not a bad idea to use kapton to cover the contacts - we do that at work all the time to protect gold plated contacts during board assembly.

@DarkDan76

8 ай бұрын

@@ccoder4953 thanks for the info bro

It’s like red dank 😂… also franks a cat o.o that’s one heck of an orange dog. Honestly though this was still such a great video James. I love that you started your own channel. It’s very much a great learning experience and quite entertaining 😊

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed!

I subscribed to your patreon because I appreciate your videos

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Thanks very much!

I love your Chanel because you’re very nice and knowledgeable

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

I appreciate that!

James thanks you i got couple pokemon games and you are a great source of i formation and i love you and your mates content

I had an old copy of Silver that I had the replace the battery on. Brings me back

don't have any Nintendo stuff but still enjoy watching old mate nerd out

What all do you do honestly this man a hero he do everything cars games saves a bird this is the true James!!!!!!!!

I wish I had a friend like James.

Its gonna be a good day when James returns.

Love the rock and roll racing insert

Aw yeah, James video on my birthday!

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Happy birthday!

Nice work James!

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Thanks!

I always forget about the end cat and it's always a pleasant surprise

I smiled as soon as I saw that Lv 243 Marowak, because I know exactly what you did to get it that high 😆

ok i had no idea about those battery in those catridges lol, and the way you changed them so easy it's just funny. it must be sad to try an old game and find out all your savings were lost.

I watched this when it came out because I found it fascinating, rewatched it today because I found out my Blue cartridge did the thing...

I dont have a Gameboy, soldering iron, or pokemon games, but I for some reason watched this video in its entirety.

My Pokémon Blue cartridge still has the original save data. I have no way to back it up so I was concerned about losing my data when changing the battery. Thanks for this video mate

Did Wade make that background beat? its lovely

OMG JAMES I legit followed you only cuz of The Car Thing BUT YOU FUCKIN' REVIVED MY FIRE RED COPY, i had no clue that's what the issue was Thank you

crazy that you got an NA pokemon red as your childhood copy, thanks for sharing! OMG and a legit NAL mew!

Seeing only 4 top tier patreons is so funny when you're used to seeing all of Wade's patreons scrolling through. But you're probably way more grateful to each of them individually than wade (Not saying that wade isn't grateful, just that Wade won't think "I'm so happy CanadianSombrero123 became a top tier patreon") Congrats for 100k subs btw

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Hahaha yeah I thought the same

a few years ago i got a Game Boy from my big brother and played a lot of Pokemon Red, a few months ago the save got corrupted and i lost motivation but once i saw this video i instantly tried it and it works! thank you a lot! (btw for me it was a bit easier, instead of the gamebit screw there was a normal phillips-head screw and the battery was a normal CR2032 in a holder or whatever theyre called heh)

@LRM12o8

4 ай бұрын

Sounds like a fake cartridge? Or it has been modded by your brother already. Many newer fakes don't let you save the game after the Hall of Fame, but the newer ones also don't need batteries, so... Guess you're fine?

@zeraleph

4 ай бұрын

@@LRM12o8 I’m not sure if it’s a fake, it’s from the very early 2000’s or even late 90’s. It might be different from the USA ones because it was bought in Finland :-)

Your a good man James! I know these games have gotten very expensive wish I would have kept mine but I played these games so much I don’t wanna play them again lol

I think it might be cool to see a soldering tutorial with this same laid back James vibe

The gameboy startup sound is stuck in my head ._. anyway great video (entertaining and educational)

Nice, I've been worried about this...

I'm starting to suspect that James and Wade might actually be giant nerds that have cleverly disguised themselves as cool guys on the KZreads.

@Games_for_James

7 ай бұрын

Shh don’t tell anyone!

@oli_gordon

7 ай бұрын

​@@Games_for_Jamesnah wade is decently sized

I love your videos james And garbage time And danc pods

oh wow a legitimate '99 mew. those are rare.

What I've been experimenting with is putting in a battery mount so swaps can be done without needing to solder. I then have a 3d printed half front case that I can screw on but still allow access to the battery port. So every year or so I can swap on the half cover, plug the game into a gameboy, turn it on and live swap the battery. It being plugged into the gameboy keeps the save chip powered and the half shell giving access to the battery whilst it's secure in the system. It obviously sacrifices some battery capacity due to the size of the holder etc but it allows for high quality batteries to be used and easily swapped without losing your saves or heat cycling the board. Hence the yearly changes even though I know I could go longer.

@LRM12o8

4 ай бұрын

Still sounds more cumbersome than spending 40 bucks on a cartridge dumper/flasher to make regular backups

Homie just showed up with a DIY handheld SNES to test gameboy games on it like it's nothing 💀

I have a RetroFreak, I've been going through all my carts and 'backing up' all of them

Hahaha this is like doing an operation. You have to keep the patient alive while you work. Interesting video.

nice instruction vid

James and the pods are top

You can get a cheap spot welder, then add tabs to real good quality coin cells.

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

I probably should do this

I can’t believe that they sold non pal cartridges here in aus! Also I remember getting mew in primary school from some kid and I always wondered where he got it.

I used electrical tape to fix my copy of crystal back in 2015 by wrapping the replacement battery in it while attaching the positive and negative terminals to the connectors it still works perfectly now

Nice, you remind me that I have a GBA and SNES cartridge that need new batteries. Assume a lot of my Gameboy stuff would too.

The hero we all needed

Very nice to see you kept the portable SNES lmao I assumed you'd take everything that's usable and throw out the rest

I love how you pulled out the portable snes just to play a gameboy game. the portable nintendo sysren

0:37 YOOO, Rock’n’roll Racing! SMD version was my childhood favorite. “Let the carnage begin!” Back then, Blizzard wasn’t a villain.

Great video!

Alright. In college I had a friend who was tired of his crystal resetting but would keep leaving it on. We had the crazy idea that went like this- 1: frantically unscrew and stop half way to turn the game back on. 2: after getting the cover off we had access to the battery WHILE IT IS ON 3: Solder WHILE IT WAS LIVE 4: Save and pray It actually worked, and we did all this for a 12 hour save.

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Haha yeah that can work too! I didn’t think it would until someone else commented the same thing. I think the key is saving again when the battery has been changed.

@eDoc2020

7 ай бұрын

@@Games_for_James I don't think you need to save again after changing the battery, I believe the MBC has a diode-OR so the SRAM runs off the 5v supply whenever the Game Boy is on.

Thats cool you have a legit event Mew! Im so used to glitched Mews lmao

I did this the way you’re not really meant to, I would pry the tab off the batteries so they’d remained attached to the board, then I put a new batt in with electrical tape and it works like a charm. Good thing is you can very easily replace the battery if need be with this method, even if it is janky.

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

The biggest problem doing that is that the battery can shift if you drop it and you may lose your save or short out something you shouldnt

@kingtom

8 ай бұрын

@@Games_for_James Yeah I found that out with my copy of Link’s Awakening. I found taking the rubber jacket from the older battery and slipping it on the new one while using another piece of tape to keep the batt stationary solved the issues, but in the end, doing it the correct way is always the safer way to go.

Just me watching an Australian man do something that I've known how to do for almost a decade, and somehow still enjoying it.

My mod to make this work permanently: look online for your nearest nuclear material supplier, construct a portable reactor, attach it to the game cartridge. Congrats, you now never have to change the battery again!

Is that Dank playing the drums in the background of the video?

If you see this, does this same trick work for other carts with battery backup? Like Sega Genesis/MegaDrive or SNES?

@Games_for_James

8 ай бұрын

Yes, it works for any backup battery

@Paco8478

8 ай бұрын

n64 as well?

@Platitudinous9000

8 ай бұрын

he says at the end, "the same method works on other cartridges, even for other consoles"

@yukikofujiwara2144

8 ай бұрын

Any games that use a physical battery will work this way. So Sonic 3 or Phantasy Star 4, for instance, would have one of these types of batteries in it. On some other consoles (mainly N64 and GBA), games save to flash memory. Any game that features a realtime clock would have a battery on the cartridge for it, but replacement should pose no threat to the saves, and the RTC should pick back up from the moment it died.

Love the special ductape edition gameboy 😂

This is the most straightforward and comprehensive video on the subject, thank you so much! I actually looked into doing this for myself, but the it was cheaper to purchase a reproduction cartridge and has the added convenience of not having to deal with batteries. Unfortunately, those do not work with Stadium, which is very relevant for Gens 1 & 2. Also, I really approve of your Eeveelution choice. Kid-you knew what was up :'D

Pokemon ruby, sapphire, and emerald, also use the battery as well, the method i used was to tear the solders directly off the battery then put a regular watch battery in and tape the contacts onto the battery. Now i dont remember if the battery did work on the saves themselves or just the game clock, but otherwise i still have a taped battery in my sapphire cart and it works just fine.

@jozewsqwe435

7 ай бұрын

It's just for the clock on those ones

Make Video about best ways to solder electronics? That would be cool

When we getting James's aftershow