How to Change Your Game Boy Cartridge Battery (Quick & Easy)

Nov 20, 2020

10 minutes

Nothing's more frustrating than playing your old copy of Pokemon Gold, Silver, Red, or Blue for Game Boy and discovering that your game didn't save.

Why won't my Game Boy game save?

Most Game Boy cartridges that allow games to be saved contain a small internal battery to store your save states. Over time, this battery degrades and needs replacement.

See, back when these games were developed, flash memory was still super expensive. As a result volatile memory, powered by a small battery, was often used instead. NES, SNES and N64 cartridges also used such batteries for storing saved games.

This guide will show you how to replace the battery in your Nintendo Gameboy cartridge in about 10 minutes.

Watch the video, or continue below

I made a video tutorial that will walk you through the process. Or, if you prefer, you can continue reading the text and photo-based version of this guide below!

Soldering iron	×	1
Solder sucker	×	1
Security screwdriver, 3.8mm	×	1
Solder	×	1 tube
Game Boy game replacement battery	×	1

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For the replacement battery you'll need a CR2025 battery with pre-soldered tabs. This is a direct replacement for your old battery.

Nintendo was serious about not letting people easily disassemble their hardware! To open your cartridge, you'll need a 3.8mm security screwdriver. These are inexpensive and will let you access a wide variety of Nintendo games and systems.

Remove the single screw from the back of the cartridge and remove the circuit board from its plastic housing.

The Game Boy game battery is soldered to the circuit board via two tabs. Heat up each tab and then use your solder sucker to remove the old solder.

If you haven't used a solder sucker before, it's easy -- just press the plunger down, heat up the solder with your soldering iron, and then press the button on the solder sucker and the plunger will suck up the melted solder.

If you don't have a solder sucker, you can also use a slightly less expensive desoldering wick -- but I find these much harder to use.

Using soldering "helping hands" can help to hold the circuit board but aren't necessary.