N64 controller pak - repair/battery replacement?
Did a quick search on this forum section but couldn't find anything unfortunately.
Still, sorry if this has been posted before!
I'm oldschool and use alot of controller paks, and like having many save files stored for my games.
However, the paks seem to be dying on me lately, so I have tried replacing the batteries,
but with no luck. All my paks are Original Nintendo paks and I have used replacement
batteries "CR2032" with tabs (bought on eBay for N64 games).
My paks are in very good condition and nothing looks to be broken, worn or wrong, so what else could be bad
but the battery?
Does anyone know how to fix a pak that no longer works? Any tips would be appreciated
since I would like to continue using the original paks.
What batteries do you use for replacement and where do you buy them?
Still, sorry if this has been posted before!
I'm oldschool and use alot of controller paks, and like having many save files stored for my games.
However, the paks seem to be dying on me lately, so I have tried replacing the batteries,
but with no luck. All my paks are Original Nintendo paks and I have used replacement
batteries "CR2032" with tabs (bought on eBay for N64 games).
My paks are in very good condition and nothing looks to be broken, worn or wrong, so what else could be bad
but the battery?
Does anyone know how to fix a pak that no longer works? Any tips would be appreciated
since I would like to continue using the original paks.
What batteries do you use for replacement and where do you buy them?
Comments
Did a quick search on this forum section but couldn't find anything unfortunately.
Still, sorry if this has been posted before!
I'm oldschool and use alot of controller paks, and like having many save files stored for my games.
However, the paks seem to be dying on me lately, so I have tried replacing the batteries,
but with no luck. All my paks are Original Nintendo paks and I have used replacement
batteries "CR2032" with tabs (bought on eBay for N64 games).
My paks are in very good condition and nothing looks to be broken, worn or wrong, so what else could be bad
but the battery?
Does anyone know how to fix a pak that no longer works? Any tips would be appreciated
since I would like to continue using the original paks.
What batteries do you use for replacement and where do you buy them?
yes. first of all you should have a gameshark version 3.2 or 3.3 (or both) or a copy of diddy kong racing may work too (Hold start with dkr wile turning on to acsess the manager) the memory card manager that in the gameshark can repair or reformat a memory card to make it work again.
also ditch the official nintendo brand memory card imo the performace brand memory cards are better cause you can replace the battrey without soldering or tape.
on top of that depending on what you have saved i would get a massive memory card by performance. there is 4000 pages to save too vs the 123 pages a normal one has.
I should also mention you can use any brand battery with performace memory cards. i like the medical grade cr2032 duracell battery. there more expencive but should last much longer than a regular battrey
I did not know that about the gameshark, have never owned one or tested
one out, thought they were for cheat codes etc only but that seems like a nice feature.
Thanks again!
That said, I always thought the the official paks used EEPROM instead of SRAM+battery...?
Yeah, I have games with access to a controller pak manager, for deleting files etc but I don't recall
a feature to reformat, similar to what seems to be possible with a Gameshark (if I understood this correctly).
I do have that Wonder Project J game, can test with that, hopefully my lack of japanese language skills will
not be in the way though
There is indeed a battery in the official pak, at least in all of mine that I have opened up, but I was however not
sure what type of battery that should be used for replacement.
Practically every game with controller pak support has a memory card manager if you hold Start while powering on. I last did it with Mario Kart 64. Even an early title like Wonder Project J has a controller pak manager.
That said, I always thought the the official paks used EEPROM instead of SRAM+battery...?
that would have been the smart thing to do... most game paks use eeproms wile memory card use the old battery method. i dont know why the n64 did have the memory manager built in.
Thank you for your input and the good information. Much appreciated.
I did not know that about the gameshark, have never owned one or tested
one out, thought they were for cheat codes etc only but that seems like a nice feature.
Thanks again!
no problem! yeah gameshark is pretty useful it can even dump games or you can use it to make codes live. if you have an old enough computer and OS to do it. i guess i should also mention you can get a dex drive and back up your memory card to the computer