My sega saturn battery is dying... question about saving

SEGA
1

so let me preface this by saying that every time I start up my saturn I have to input the language and clock/date settings… I think that means my saturn battery is dying. Regardless, I’m curious to know if that will affect my ability to save games. I ask that because I was just playing panzer dragoon saga… and I was about 5 hours into it when i saved it and turned it off. I turned it back on to start up my game again when I noticed my saves were gone. So upon freaking out I went to the setting on the saturn console menu to see if somehow the saves didn’t registered when I tried to load them up, but unfortunately my internal ram was completely empty… So the question is, if my battery is on it’s last leg, will it affect the ability to save my games? Thanks for your time.

2

Yes

3

that’s just great. well i guess it’s time to replace the battery. Thanks for the quicky response… I was actually going to start playing again but that would be foolish knowing what I know now. Thanks again.

4

Replacing the Saturn battery is simple - simply go to the store and buy a 2335 battery (commonly used in watches etc) and replace it with the one in your Saturn. There is nothing technical about this process.

5

is that the same thing as a 3-volt battery because I read somewhere that the saturn operates on a 3 volt lithium battery…

6

Yes, it’s the same.

7

fantastic - thanks for your help.

8

wait isn’t it CR2032 you need? I think its the same type as dreamcast VMU’s but not sure…

Also if i was you, try and buy an external saturn memory cartridge, no worrying about lost saves then =)

9

[quote=“Scott”]

wait isn’t it CR2032 you need? I think its the same type as dreamcast VMU’s but not sure…

Also if i was you, try and buy an external saturn memory cartridge, no worrying about lost saves then =)[/quote]

You’re correct. It’s the same as the VMU battery.

10

Hm… if I remember it well (because I haven’t replaced my Saturn’s battery in years, shame on me), replacing the battery, or at any rate booting the Saturn with a dead battery will equal a loss of savegames, so it might be worth to buy a memory card and move your savegames there before you lose them. That said, don’t worry about needing several, the Saturn memory card is the biggest one I ever did see, 20+ games and still not remotely full. (In your face Dreamcast!)

11

Sounds like your saves are already lost, a new battery won’t bring them back. RAM only stores stuff when it’s got power, so as soon as the battery dies everything on it’s lost.

12

Unless you have Sim City 2000 on Saturn. Saving cities using huge amount of blocks. When I had that it was the only time I actually filled up a memory card.

13

I’ll keep that in mind. Since I occasionally do enjoy heading over to stores that still actually have Saturn games and expand my collection… but then I already have Sim City 2000’s PC version, no particular need to get the Saturn one then. =D