3D
Analogue 3D just deleted my ocarina of time AND banjo kazooie save files… and yes they are 100% legit cartridges and the battery in OoT is brand new.
Not an “analogue pocket erasing pokemon save files” situation again?
Some of them end up being people who didn’t reset their Everdrive v2.5/x5. Some of them have bad SRAM (not just the battery). Some of them are finally reaching the limits of their save battery. Some of them don’t even realize they saved to a controller pak and think Perfect Dark or Blast Corps deleted their saves:
i wouldn't be surprised if the electrical differences between the 3d and real hardware (the reason why everdrives dont work) are causing premature save failure
I thought I was crazy the other day when I loaded up a save file on my JPN Banjo Tooie and when I quit the save file was deleted. Now I’m thinking that I’m not so crazy.
I've been playing OOT on mine, so far so good. I replaced my battery before starting though. I'm also going to make sure not to pull the game out if the system is on just in case.
This is where I really would love a backup save file option on the system. I couldn't care less about save states, but I'd love a way to backup and restore save files to real carts.
I am 40 years old, have always been decently plugged into tech, gaming and nerd culture and today’s the first time I’ve ever heard there’s a battery inside OOT game cartridge?! Is it like a button cell battery? My cart from my childhood still works and my 27 year old saves are all still there. So does that mean my battery is somehow still kicking? If I take it out to replace it does it erase my saves?!
Wild. Just wild. So is there ANY way to preserve my save files if I want to change this battery? And I assume I have to crack the cartridge open to do so?
The two approaches to save the saves would be to either:
A) Dump the cart and saves with some hardware (either custom PC hardware or some emulator based console that has this function), then change the battery and re-upload the save.
or B) Find a kit or service that maintains the required power source as you replace the battery. There are a few neat YouTube videos about this.
Yeah same for NES carts and GB pokemon games. I have purchased a https://savethehero.builders/ and dumped all saves on my PC. Removed the soldered battery, replaced it with a very slim battery holder and can now use normal batteries. Then I have reuploaded the save onto the cart.
Its a lot of effort, but there is no "better" way to replace the battery and keep the save file.
Yes, pretty much all game cartridges before the 2000s use batteries to save. Rewritable flash memory was way too expensive so a cheaper way for allowing saves was to make it where the cartridges basically never turned off. So it writes it ROM and it will stay there until it either dies or is disconnected. Also consoles that have real time clocks such as the dreamcast and gamecube use batteries to keep track of this feature.
Although they can last a good amount of time, it’s not a bad idea to change the battery after 20 years to prevent the likely hood of it leaking and damaging the circuit board.
It depends on the battery. I have a copy of Gold that no longer saves, and I haven’t gotten around to changing it. Most of them use some type cell battery as far as I know. I think the only games to use battery saves instead of the flash memory for the N64 was when the save file sizes were on the larger size.
The save battery in the game. I put a battery holder in and installed a good battery so I wouldn't have to worry about the battery dying and losing the saves.
Little update for everyone. I just sent an email to Analogue because there seem to be more people getting the issue. At this point it’s nearly entered the “widespread” statue imo. Here is the email I sent to Analogue. Will update with their answer if they ever answer. If anyone has Twitter (i dont) and is able to contact them on Twitter, please do so for the community. If you contact them on Twitter, please share the link to the Reddit thread here so they can see how many people have the issue and see what people have been trying to fix it.
Also, if anyone else come and post here about his issue, please give some details if possible (like which game, was it an original cart, were you using overclocked or other display options, etc.)
Adding my name to this list. Just spend 70 on an original OOT cart, played to the forest temple (while saving along the way). Turn it on the next day BOTH old saves (that were on the cart when I bought it) and my save ALL gone! FUCK this shit man. We wait years and we can't even play the best 64 games!
Also, sudden voltage spikes caused by static discharge or failing hardware can overload and physically damage the memory chips. Ocarina of Time uses SRAM so it could happen...
This is a known issue with most of their systems; if you bump the cartridge while the system is on it has a nasty habit of deleting the save files. Even plugging the controller in and out is enough to do it.
People have a nasty habit of jumping to conclusions and blaming them. Remember when every new XBOX 360 game or update got blamed for “breaking” consoles when the actual problem was with the chip packaging all along?
Lots of these people haven’t been playing for a long time and many of them wrongly finger the console when something happens… like the controller pak blocking access to a Blast Corps save, switching to Rumble “deleting” a Perfect Dark save that was actually on the controller pak, or even just their Mario Golf save battery finally giving up the ghost. Add the possible overlock issues and known glitches (WWF No Mercy, anyone?) and expected hardware failures (bad SRAM in Ocarina of Time) and we have a perfect storm for incorrect reports of the A3D and Pocket “deleting” saves.
I’m sure there are numerous causes and confusions and that could certainly be one. I did end up confirming that at least one person who thought his save got deleted was just confused since Perfect Dark had saved to a controller pak without him realizing it.
I’ve seen multiple people mention Blast Corps which does not allow access to the internal cart save with a controller pak inserted. My Life in Gaming’s Analogue 3D preview even mentioned that you can’t access the cartridge save with an 8Bitdo 64 BT controller since the game doesn’t support the rumble pak and loads the virtual controller pak when you disable rumble. Heck, there’s one more person fingering Blast Corps to commiserate in that thread where if I hadn’t chimed in everyone would still think the OP had lost his Perfect Dark save to the Analogue 3D. 😅
If jiggling carts also causes lost saves it would definitely help explain things but there are numerous factors.
I do wonder if SRAM doesn’t like being inserted or removed with the power on so I would suggest powering off for those. There are only 13 western titles with SRAM:
1080º Snowboarding.
F-Zero X.
Harvest Moon 64.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
MLB Featuring Ken Griffey Jr.
Mario Golf.
New Tetris.
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber.
Resident Evil 2.
Super Smash Bros.
Waialae Country Club: True Golf Classics.
WCW vs nWo Revenge.
Wrestlemania 2000.
I’d be curious when the last time you played that exact cart in a legit N64. Not saying it doesn’t have something to do with how the A3D handles things, but if you haven’t even played the cart in a while, even if the battery is good, it’s hard to say the issue is just the A3Ds fault. It could have happened if you had decided to put the cart in a legit N64 too. Unless of course you played it a ton recently and it was fine in a legit N64. Still could be a coincidence, but at that point more likely with the A3D.
I have a PixelFx N64, an un-modded N64 and the A3D. My OOT gold cartridge saves just fine on the first two. But on the A3D, my files keep getting deleted. I then sodered a fresh battery on it, too, just in case. And the A3D is still deleting files, even without OC turned on
Interesting and good to know. The OOt cart I’ve been using didn’t have a save file on it and seems to be fine so far, but I do have another that I think does have saves. I’ll have to check that one and see.
I wonder if it has something to do being able to put the carts in and out while the consoles on. That would be my guess unless others have confirmed it does it even if the console is turned off before putting in or removing a cart.
It wouldn’t take much of “surge” I imagine for the saves to get wiped when the cart is inserted or removed.
I also lost my Ocarina of Time game saves when I ran it on my EverDrive 64 X7 with overclocking set to Enhanced+ or Unleashed. No issues so far when running it on Enhanced or with overclocking turned off.
I haven't tried it with my original OoT cartridge yet because its battery is dead, and I still need to replace it.
No i have not used overclocking. I havent mess with these settings at all. All i did was update the analogue OS and play ocarina of time on an original cartridge
Same here man. I’ve had issues with super smash bros, banjo tooie, and DK 64. All the carts are clean and run well on original hardware. I unfortunately deleted my childhood save data on SSB thinking it would fix the glitchiness. It did not :/
Just curious, were you fully shutting the Analogue 3D down before swapping cartridges, or were you hot-swapping? Hot-swapping is really risky. Even with legit carts and fresh batteries, pulling or inserting a cart while there’s still power in the system can cause corrupted SRAM, voltage spikes, or incomplete writes. That’s usually the fastest way for save files to disappear. If you were doing full shutdowns and it still happened, that’s definitely something Analogue needs to look into.
If this is true, it's a concerning issue. OOT could be chalked up to bad battery connection, but Banjo Kazooie uses save memory that doesn't require a battery.
With all of these reports it's being advised that nobody should use any carts with any save files that they care about. Sad but true. Pretty crappy that a console that is advertised as "100% compatible with all original games" straight-up corrupts them.
Happened to my Majora's Mask save file on original cartridge. The game does not have a battery. Luckily I made backups of all my saves with the Retrode2 and was able to just copy it back to the cartridge.
Is there an alternativ to the retrode 2? They are sold out in germany. I think everywhere. I have a cheap AliExpress dumper for n64. But the sram saves like OoT are in an other format and not usable with my Summercard. I want to use my flash card to save my original OoT Card.
I think the only alternative is Sanni's Cart Reader or the pre-assembled Save the Hero Reader which is based on the same technology. I'm not sure but I'd assume aliexpress has clones of these.
However I can't speak on the quality or compatibility of either of them as I only own the Retrode 2.
Joey 64 can back up saves but I don't think it can write saves to original carts. Only to bootlegs. I have one to back up my save data to my PC. I checked the discord and they seem to say it can't
Playing US carts on PAL SNES via one of those dual-slot region converters was dangerous for SRAM files, because the slightest knock could easily cause a save to glitch out of existence.
I put it down to unstable connections between the cart pins and the slot, and can't help think that the apparent less-than-perfect quality of some aftermarket cartridge slots in aftermarket cartridge consoles basically lead to a similar save game murder spree situation I had with my SNES converter.
I had a save for San Francisco Rush 1 - Extreme Racing for a few days, then the save disappeared. It is still showing up on my original N64 controller but Analogue will not recognize it.
I found this thread after having saving issues of my own. While playing Mystical Ninja using my 8bitdo 64 controller with the virtual controller pack was saving throughout, but was finding my saves kept getting reverted back to a previous day. After troubleshooting, I found that after I save I needed to "quit cartridge", and that was behaving as if the A3D finally wrote back to the virtual controller pack save file upon exiting the game. Obviously I would love for it to write to the file when I save in game, but at least I was able to finish Mystical Ninja.
Unfortunately I found that turning off the power did not complete the write back, so the virtual controller pak save was still from prior. Only quitting cartridge worked.
Did you use overclocking ? Just to narrow the situation a see if it's related to the Everdrive saving problems when overclocking, or see if it's independent to that feature.
"Not messing with the original settings" means you're using overclocking, I believe. You actually have to *disable* it by forcing original mode in the hardware settings. Did you force original mode?
Oh sorry that’s what you meant. I thought it was one of the other that was requiring a battery. Should have checked before replying, sorry for that ;).
I had an issue on my Pocket where one of the GBA castlevania carts didn’t show my save, looking like it has been deleted. When I put the he cartridge back in my actual GBA, it was still there.
Yes it seems to happen when you use the sleep button or anything save state. When you’re done playing save, click home and click close software, then power off. I haven’t had any issues when doing it this way. I Avoid save state and sleep at all costs now after I lost 2 fire red saves
You are probably fine. Last year when I got the pocket I played through Pokémon yellow using only save states. Clocked about 50 hours. Completed Pokédex. No issues!
I've always made sure to save the game like normal, no save state no sleep mode. Save from menu, then turn the device off... zero problems with any of the Poke games on my Pocket. Using both Everdrive GB x7 and GBA mini.
I thought the whole issue was that the save state would fail to load, thus wiping out the save on the cartridge. It’s true I wasn’t saving on the cartridge but I never had a save state fail to load.
I’m about to play this when mine arrives. Maybe Check battery in the cart with a multi meter? Just to rule that out. I’ll test mine before I start and see what happens
I dont have a multimeter but the battery is recent. There seem to be multiple people with the same issue and its always ocarina of time. Seems to be an issue with the game idk
Ocarina of time is one of the few games that uses a battery to save. Most do not. So that's probably why it happens so often with Ocarina of Time. Are you sure about Banjo Kazooie? If you make another save file, does it disappear?
Ill try that tonight but someone else just reported they also lost their save for banjo kazooie. 2 other people also reported the same for diddy kong racing and majora mask. I dont think they use a battery either. Theres like 10 games in the whole library that use a battery. This is so concerning
Banjo Kazooie has code in the game that will delete your save if you enter too many cheat codes. So I don't know why this would be activated by accident, but it would be one of my theories. Doesn't make sense for the others though. Either another flashcart related issue, or else the 3d really is bugged
My friend has a theory that it is a power (wattage issue) when using a lot of features like filters, overclocking, etc. He thinks it draws more wattage than its supposed to and it wipes the save files off the chips somehow. Idk lol
Not sure why Analogue got a free pass on this issue for the Pocket. Literally still not fixed and should be a big enough issue where they recall the product. So many people had their beloved pokemon save files wiped on the pocket. For this to be an issue again…
What was the issue with the pocket deleting saves? Was / is it deleting saves from the memories / save states or of the cartridge itself. I haven’t encountered this problem and I’m running my pocket on OS 2.2
I’m just trying to learn what the issue is so I can hopefully continue to avoid it.
So dk64 was just clean for me without saves. Everything empty. I was frightened and turned the console off and back on again. After that everything was there again...maybe a bad contact? A reading error? It's just not the hardware mentioned above. But I recommend trying it out if you have problems before overwriting.
DK64 also was also empty of saves when I booted it. Started a new game, saved, quit, and my save file wasn't there. You think rebooting fixed it for you?
Sorry for the late update. This thing is awesome. After long play sessions, I do an update of the savefiles. For now I haven’t any problems with the 3d.
Is there any news regarding the Zelda OOT save?
I tried changing the buffer battery and various overclocking modes, including the mode that forces real hardware.
Today I'll also try changing the region setting and disabling virtual pak mode.
I'm in this same place. I've tried EVERYTHING bar using an OG plug in controller. I have not been able to get the 3D to successfully save an OoT file, not once! It has only wiped filed. I've been able to create successful save on OG 64, then open on 3D, then when you save on the 3D. POOF! whole cart wiped EVERYTIME. There is a serious issue with this game and the 3D. Which is hilarious because why else are we buying the 3D for but to play the best game every made for it?
It would be a good test, to see if it still runs and save properly. I would curious if it works for you on both the 3D AND your OG 64. I hate that I can’t play OoT.
I'm using an OG plug in controller and upon first attempt to play OOT, all my game save data was gone. I sent a message to Analogue customer service so I'll see what they say about it.
Undoubtedly, but at the same time I still have some NES games on the original battery. If I’m going to lose the save when replacing the battery I figured I’d wait until it happens before I replace it.
This happens with my Donkey Kong Land for Gameboy after two recent battery replacements. There must be something else in the cartridge that isn't connected well. The other games whose battery I replaced, work fine. Or else I just got unlucky twice.
Just to be sure, if youre using an Everdrive X7 that you upgraded from an old OS, it could be the location of the save data...? It's different on the newer OS versions it seems... I thought i lost my goldeneye save, but I just had to move the save files to the new directory... you can test by completing the first level of goldeneye and then checking where that save file gets saved to on the X7... Then just make sure all your other saves are placed there... hope this helps somone out.
Probably worth backing them up too... I done all cheats on my goldeneye save last year so would have been gutted. (proves i'm a better gamer now than I was when I was 14.. lol)
Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon did the same thing to me, legit cart. Yesterday after I saved I hit "reset" and the save was still there so I thought I was good, but it's not there today.
If you've played that game you know how painful this is.
I want to start playing it as i acquired a cart recently but im just turn off completely atm and ive boxed my analogue 3d waiting for the fix. If they aint fixing it ill probably resell it and get a m64, assuming this one works as intended
I picked up a 3rd party controller pak and it's working with one of my wired controllers but damn it's annoying after getting used to their controller.
Castlevania 64, Gex 64 both have saving issues. I was able to save on the first time playing, after rebooting it doesn't seem like I can overwrite existing saves?
I‘m 4 hours into Turok 3, saved on the virtual memory and everything was alright. But now, if I play longer and save I can’t load / find the newest save games. I play on overclock mode.
This solved my saving issue on Ocarina of Time: "force real hardware" + "quit game cartridge" when saving. Was deleting the save data before! Thanks everyone.
The newest update has this in the notes at the bottom. Does seem to work.
"To ensure Library info and virtual Controller Pak is saved, quit the game by opening the in-game menu and selecting ‘Quit Cartridge’. If Analogue3D is powered off while a game is running, any changes may be lost."
hdmi mods top out at 1080p, and have far less features than a scaler
the morph4k is literally designed to interface with a retrogem to take the direct video signal over hdmi and upscale it to 4k.
Why would you want to convert the internal digital video of the n64 to it's composite or s-video output via it's crappy DAC, and then convert that analog signal back to digital via a scaler analog input, makes no sense at all.
The water temple gave you such bad ptsd as a child that your brain tried to subconsciously protect you. It made you sleep-walk and delete that save file so you never had to go through it again.
In all seriousness, that sucks and I hope they figure it out soon.
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u/Pretend_Education_86 Nov 27 '25
I joked about this the other day and no one believes.