Pokemon Red - Corrupted Save File HELP

[NeoMatthew]

Hello everyone!

A few weeks ago I started a new play through of Pokemon Red. I bought the cartridge from a local retro game store. It is authentic and just had a new battery installed. I put over 50 hours into the game, catching around 110 Pokemon. My goal was to catch all 150 using Red and Blue. This is my first time doing something like this in Gen 1 and my first time beating Pokemon Red.

 

Last night, everything was fine. After I was done playing, I saved and went to sleep. When I turned on the game this morning, the save file was gone! It didn't have a "Continue" option. I don't know what could have caused this but I decided to put the cartridge into my Retrode 2. There is a save file on the cartridge but PkHex won't open it.

 

I read some other threads where people were able to salvage corrupt save files however, I don't have the technical know-how to do it. Would someone be able to help me out? I attached the save file here. I'd also like to know what could have caused this to prevent this from happening again.

 

Thanks!

PokemonRed.sav

[NeoMatthew]

So I took a look at the board inside the cartridge. It looks like the ends that you solder to the board aren’t fully covered. In fact, you can wiggle the battery.

 

I compared it with my copy of Yellow. In that cartridge the battery is really secure, with no way to wiggle it. I attached pictures of both batteries.

I know absolutely nothing about the mechanics of soldering or how the save batteries work but could a bad soldering job be part of the problem? 

[theSLAYER]

The data doesn't look like a save. Did you drop your cart or something?

[Hide]

Hey there, that's sad news.

I also checked the save file and it is blank. I think your equipment/software made a dummy and did not write any data because (probably) it's gone.

I wonder about the process you referred to when talking about successful lost-data recovery from other games. If your save relies on a battery, once the data is lost, it’s gone forever. If the battery is almost dead, you can make a bridge with another battery and prevent its destruction.

On the other hand, the soldering job looks acceptable.

One part of the trick is not heating the stuff too much. Batteries can get very hot during the soldering process, and this kills them.

Also, seek long lasting batteries, I've been replacing the batteries of my cartridges for a while. One of the biggest issues in the field is short lived (good for nothing) batteries. Sometimes it's old batteries, sometimes it's a bad batch, other times it's cheap stuff.

If you can't find the right supplies on the internet, seek a watchmaker or a jeweler; they usually have good grade supplies, in the worst scenario they tell you how to find reliable providers.

[NeoMatthew]

2 minutes ago, Hide said:

Hey there, that's sad news.

 

 

I also checked the save file and it is blank. I think your equipment/software made a dummy and did not write any data because (probably) it's gone.

 

 

 

I wonder about the process you referred to when talking about successful lost-data recovery from other games. If your save relies on a battery, once the data is lost, it’s gone forever. If the battery is almost dead, you can make a bridge with another battery and prevent its destruction.

 

 

 

On the other hand, the soldering job looks acceptable.

One part of the trick is not heating the stuff too much. Batteries can get very hot during the soldering process, and this kills them.

Also, seek long lasting batteries, I've been replacing the batteries of my cartridges for a while. One of the biggest issues in the field is short lived (good for nothing) batteries. Sometimes it's old batteries, sometimes it's a bad batch, other times it's cheap stuff.

 

 

 

If you can't find the right supplies on the internet, seek a watchmaker or a jeweler; they usually have good grade supplies, in the worst scenario they tell you how to find reliable providers.

 

 

Thank you so much for taking a look!

ive pretty much accepted that it’s gone. I’ve heard from other forums that there were ways to restore corrupt save files. But I didn’t know whether or not it was true. 
 

i had another battery installed. Hopefully I will not have the same issue.

[Hide]

Remember to back up your game at least once a week. You will have to monitor your battery for about 6 months, in my experience, to avoid surprises.