Would you be interested...?

[17daysolderthannes]

OK, so, as some may more may not know, I do console repairs for Play N Trade. Since dead save batteries are an inevitability and many are soon approaching death, I'm going to start offering battery replacement. Ideally, I want to put a battery seat/socket rather than just replacing it with another tabbed battery or even worse with a taped in hack job replacment. So, I found some sockets on eBay SUPER cheap to see how they pan out. The good news is that they would totally fit in the same place as the stock battery, the bad news is that they are so tall that they won't fit in a cartridge. I realized, however, that if I drilled the back of the cart with a boring bit it would fit perfectly and then the battery could be changed without opening the cart. This is where the question begins:

If you were offered a save battery replacement that included the installation of a battery socket but required drilling through the back (non label side) of the cart, would you do it? Would you prefer it vs. a tabbed battery replacement or an internal socket that required having a gamebit tool? I know the hardest of hardcore collectors and people with some techincal know how may not like it because they want to keep it as original as possible, but I think those scared of the prospect of opening a cart would find it very convenient that they could change the save battery from the outside without needing a special tool. As an added note, I'm speaking specifically for NES and SNES games, though Genesis games as well if it would in fact fit in a cart slot after the procedure. Do any Genesis games actually use a save battery? I opened several sports games today and they all seemed to have EEPROM style saves...

[Timstuff]

You're going to get some varying opinions on this, and I wouldn't say there's necessarily a right or wrong answer. My personal opinion is, changing save batteries is a long-term maintenance issue, and so it's not really a hassle to open up a cart every 10 years and change the battery. I would rather preserve the aesthetic / authentic appearance of my games than have easy access to the battery, but I'm sure there are others who would prefer to not need a gamebit and other tools to take care of it.

[playgen]

You really do seem to be making this more complicated than it needs to be, how many threads have you asked about it now...
The batteries last upto about 20 years in game carts, making a big hole in a cart won't be of much use then, well it may be more convinient in the long term if you plan on living 500 years. So either just get smaller battery holders that do fit in carts, or just get batteries with tabs on which take mere seconds to remove and install. If your worried about people not being able to unscrew carts, then simply put normal screws in them instead of the security ones.

[Tanegashima]

I believe Rockman in Megaworld has a battery...I spent over $100 for it and I would never even conceive of drilling a hole into a $100 piece of merchandise.

But see, this is the very problem, you're going for convenience. But if I really really wanted convenience I'd just play all this shit on an emulator to begin with. There is absolutely nothing convenient about still playing these games on these old systems. If that means buying a special tool on ebay and going through a pain then so be it. This stuff is worth being done right, I mean, drilling a hole into a cartridge seems so much more of a 'hack' job than taping in the battery doesn't it?

One of my family's closest friends builds custom kentucky flintlock rifles for people. They cost upwards of $9000 and take over two years to build. He hand forges all the parts, hardens them, works the metal, makes the stock from scratch etc. etc. and he's told me about people who bitch and moan: "where's my rifle, where's my stuff" and he says 'you know, if you're this impatient you probably shouldn't be shooting blackpowder in the first place' this is much the same thing, we are toying around with old, clumsy obsolescent technology that can be a pain in the ass. But the pain in the ass is what makes it cool to begin with...

I mean, wouldn't you feel guilty about boring huge holes into cartridges nobody is making anymore? Just go the extra mile, put up with the agony to preserve what we have. Craftsmanship is being lost, and with good craftsmanship comes a whole stream of swear words and a shitload of pain. But it's worth it because you're preserving something that is lost, is never coming back and we are lucky to keep it going. Doing this, is, to me, just really a bad idea more on principle than practicality. Sure I love to play the games but its also about remembering the fonder days of my childhood. This would ruin that nostalgia because there'd be a huge fucking tab sticking out of my once perfectly aesthetic Genesis cart.

Don't do it. (sorry to get passionate about something so trivial, but this is just a slippery slope where people ruin stuff for 'practicality and efficiency' when that's what we were trying to avoid in the first place...)

[havok666]

Replacing batteries in the cartridges is a very simple job. I don't think anyone on this forum would like to have a hole in their carts because we are all enthusiasts. The average person might not care.

[MrMatthews]

I don't think you're going to get varying opinions on this at all (sorry, Timstuff). I seriously doubt anyone is going to want to pay $10 (or however much you would charge) for something they might use once in their entire lives.

I still think you should do it for one of your games and post a picture here. I'd like to see your idea fully realized.

[17daysolderthannes]

I believe Rockman in Megaworld has a battery...I spent over $100 for it and I would never even conceive of drilling a hole into a $100 piece of merchandise.

Rockman Megaworld (there is no "in") uses EEPROM.

You really do seem to be making this more complicated than it needs to be, how many threads have you asked about it now...
The batteries last upto about 20 years in game carts, making a big hole in a cart won't be of much use then, well it may be more convinient in the long term if you plan on living 500 years. So either just get smaller battery holders that do fit in carts, or just get batteries with tabs on which take mere seconds to remove and install. If your worried about people not being able to unscrew carts, then simply put normal screws in them instead of the security ones.

no, you aren't getting it. I found some battery sockets super cheap on eBay so just bought them to see. Since they don't fit, I was about to just say "screw it," but then thought someone out there might actually prefer an easy battery change (even if its every 15-20 years, lol). I think I'm just goin to try and find a good place that sells tabbed batteries because from the sound of things the general public doesn't really appreciate the idea of a battery socket instead of just a straight in replacement.

[Tanegashima]

I stand corrected