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Replacing batteries in Megadrive games.

Started by ||C|-|E||, 02:29, 17 March 18

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||C|-|E||

 Hi guys,

This day I was changing the battery of a Megadrive game and, although it is not an Amstrad, I thought that I could share some pics with you just in case they are useful or fun for somebody 😊. I received the Megadrive a few days ago and it came with several games. Among them it was Super Hydlide, a RPG I enjoyed a lot back in the 90s, and I decided that it would be convenient to replace the old battery with a new one and install a proper battery holder at the same time. As you probably know, most of the old games that offered a save option just had a CR2032 or similar soldered inside. No flash memory back in those days, at least at a reasonable price.



Opening a Megadrive game is a breeze: you just need a special screwdriver (it can be bought on Ebay) in order to remove the security screws and, after this, you have direct access to the PCB. The prominent battery can be seen in the picture below.



It is necessary to be patient when removing it. No matter the game, it is quite normal to find a bucket of solder underneath and it can be a bit difficult to get rid of all. I just used desoldering braid and lots of flux.



This is how the cartridge looks once the battery has been removed. In my case, the next step was to clean the board very carefully with isopropanol.



As you can see, the old battery had already leaked. However, it did not damage the board. This was because it was not actually touching it but suspended a few millimetres above its surface. I don´t know if this was intentional or not, but it definitely helped. The brown stuff is flux.



Here is the battery holder. I like this model quite a lot, although it originally was a SMD component. In any case, it is dead easy to extend the pins and make it through hole 😊.





And this is how the cartridge looks with the battery holder in place. Much nicer than in before.





The final step is to install a new battery and the mod is over. The one I used says DL2032 because it was made by Duracell. The rest of the makers use CR as prefix.



Time for our pixelated hero to rise again and confront the no less pixelated horrors that await inside the cartridge since 1989!



 

In case you never played Super Hydlide and you are curious about it, it is quite an epic game and the third instalment in the series. It is pretty hardcore and unforgiving as too: you need to eat twice per day and sleep, every item (including money) has weight, you can only save at the inns (paying a fortune every time) level at certain temples... moreover, the enemies may kill you almost on sight if you have not levelled properly and you are completely free to discard essential items and be pretty much screwed when fighting the final boss. Lovely. However, I finished it back in the day and it was incredibly fulfilling, although I don´t think I have the courage to repeat the feat. Megadrive version is good, but I prefer the X68000 game.

Well, that is basically it, the mod is so simple that I would not even call this a guide of any sorts. Of course, if you have a game saved in a cartridge (some of the old batteries are still alive) and you want to keep it would be necessary to maintain the power during all the process. This can be done by provisionally soldering an external battery holder to the board while you install the permanent one. If you follow the tracks, there are some suitable spots along the way.

Dominoid

Great guide, thanks for this.

That's really neat soldering. Mine usually looks like it's been done by Stevie Wonder.

ComSoft6128


Gryzor

I don't think I'll ever need this, but always fun to read about such things anyhow :)

||C|-|E||

These days I was actually doing the same for some other games that came with the machine, Landstalker and Dungeons and Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun. I also found Landstalker to be extremely cool, so I am planning to see if I play through it. It is a title I could not find in any shop back in the days and I always wanted to play  :D

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