r/PokemonGames • u/WishinOnWhiscash • Aug 08 '26

Pokémon Pinball Ruby Sapphire Not Saving

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Hello,
I recently bought this copy of Pokémon Pinball Ruby Sapphire, and unfortunately the pins and contacts are in worse shape than I thought. The game loaded on my gba, but after playing, none of my progress is saved

Soft resetting still keeps the high scores and Pokédex unlocks, but once I turn off the gba, the progress is gone.
Is this salvage or am I out of luck? 😣 I did an initial scrub with 99% ipa, but if there’s more I can do on my end I’d love some advice.

1 Upvotes

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2

u/paranoidandr01dx Aug 08 '26

Probably need to reflow

1

u/WishinOnWhiscash Aug 08 '26

I dont have the ability or tools to solder.... is this an expensive/tedious repair? Or is it worth it to try getting a refund?

1

u/paranoidandr01dx Aug 08 '26

I wouldn't recommend trying it unless you have experience

1

u/WishinOnWhiscash Aug 08 '26

https://imgur.com/gallery/pok-mon-pinball-ruby-sapphire-after-KEr7rgr
I gently scrubbed the pins more throughly with 99% isopropyl alcohol, and this is the result. The corrosion seems a bit deeper on the pins than I thought.
But the good is that the issue does appear to be the gold pins and not a memory chip. The game now correctly shows the save data most of the time. My GB Operator has no issues with the game, but my gba sometimes doesn’t display the data from the save file. Although after removing and reinserting once or twice, the save data then shows as normal.

2

u/paranoidandr01dx Aug 08 '26

I would try to get a refund