this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025

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Physical Collectors "Should Plug In" Switch, 3DS And Vita Game Cards "Every 5-10 Years" To Avoid Data Loss (www.timeextension.com)

submitted 1 week ago by finalaccountforreal@piefed.social to c/nintendo@lemmy.world

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[–] xyzzy@lemm.ee 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is based on an inaccurate analysis from a non-expert.

Switch game cards use Macronix XtraROM. These games are rated by the company for data retention shelf life of 20 years at 85°C / 185°F. But it depends on environmental conditions like humidity, and 20 years is an extremely conservative estimate. It's safe to say they will last much longer than that.

DS and 3DS games use an older version of Macronix technology, and critically also write to the cartridge itself. These will likely have issues long before Switch games do, although it should still be a long time.

Magnetic media was rated for a similar lifespan and in most cases still works fine 50 years later. The rare issues with CDs are due to manufacturing defects like glue separation, not the technology itself. These are, again, exacerbated by environmental factors. CDs are 30 years old at this point and the worst iteration of optical media, and the overwhelming majority work fine.

Different technologies, but just included for comparison.

If you're concerned about it, dump them to SSD RAID storage.

[–] Critical_Thinker@lemm.ee 4 points 6 days ago

dump them to SSD RAID storage.

Because people totally have DS/3DS/NX card readers and do personal exports before running their emulators. (/s obviously)

The reality is that for 99.999% of owners of these consoles, they're probably going to boot up their old games and wonder where the saves are, if the old games even work anymore. I've already had this happen to the PS Vita with their first party hardware, I should have found a way to install a CFW and get micro SD cards working instead, but I paid for all my licenses and for expensive first party memory cards and now i'm SOL, just like most people.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 6 days ago

Simply powering up the SSD on occasion does not help. SSDs get slower over time, the parts of the SSD hosting the operating system mostly gets read, not written, and those sectors degrade, slowing down the computer. At least in the Windows world reinstalling Windows speeds up the computer for this reason.

https://mstdn.social/@paulc/114517758255971698

Head's up.

[–] Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Also use something like Balena Etcher to keep an image handy - Have an nbernic with 16k games on it and what a pain it would be to go and reassemble all that.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago (3 children)

which presents the obvious problem: if you have sealed games you're hoping will increase in value over time, these could potentially become unplayable at some point.

It doesn't matter what's in the sealed box...

Because after a certain point opening the box ruins it as a collectible.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

There is a collectible game sealed in a box together with a cat, and a radioactive isotope that will release a poisonous gas.

Please measure the amount of time before a choice-based visual novel nabs the box to use in extensive decisionmaking analogies.

[–] k1ck455kc@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It matters if you value it less as a collectible and more as a preserved, playable copy.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

And within 5-10 years, no one is buying it to play...

It's a moot point.

If the original buyer bought to play, they wouldn't wait so long the cart goes bad.

And after 5-10 years there's no reason to overpay for a sealed copy to play.

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 week ago

You can just pirate a dump of the game and flash it on if you want to actually play it.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

It’s a cognitive dissonance thing for collectors. They want the preserved, playable copy but they don’t ever want to break the seal because that lowers the value.

I bet there are a bunch of collectors out there in possession of empty game boxes (with placebo weights) that have been expertly resealed and then submitted to grading companies for a seal of approval.

[–] CidVicious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I honestly wonder about this. What will collectors value be for sealed items in 50 years when the game inside is almost certainly useless?

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

The same as for a comic book that hasn't left it's rated sleeve in 30 years, and never will again without ruining the value.

It doesn't matter what happens after you open it, if no one is going to open it.

The value remains unchanged because long before degradation comes into play, what people are buying is the rarity.

[–] RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 4 points 1 week ago

I don't think collectors who buy sealed items ever intend to ooen it up, tbh

[–] JoeKrogan@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sharing helps avoid data loss

[–] massive_bereavement@fedia.io 11 points 1 week ago

Collaborative Data redundancy

[–] the16bitgamer@programming.dev 13 points 1 week ago

Reason number 1,000,000 why we should backup our games. And any companies who say otherwise cough Nintendo cough should not be allowed to shut down archival and backup projects.

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago

NAND can hold data only so long without power being applied. This is why it's useful to a), plug-in NAND based devices like some cartridges, SSDs, USB keys etc and b) why you should always have backups on different technologies.

[–] tisktisk@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Wait what's the risk if they don't?

[–] BigPotato@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

You plug the card in, the data has degraded to the point of unusability, and the game doesn't function anymore.

[–] Winter_Oven@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

"Card Inserted."

"It has been 11 years since this card has been inserted."

"Deleting data...”

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

"and banning your account"

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

What about old gameboy and NES/SNES carts? Are they made differently, or also subject to whatever issue? The article really didn’t say, but idk if those older carts are the same sort of flash or whatever, I mean they are like 40 years old at this point.

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Didn't those have a battery in them?

[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Yes. Most original NES, SNES, and Gameboy cartridges have probably lost their saved data by now, but the batteries can be replaced relatively easily. If I remember right, they're a standard type, like the ones used for watches or hearing aids.

I know that some my old NES games retained their data at least into the 2000s. Been a while since I pulled them out and checked.

Edit: I realize this article is talking about the game data, not save data. I don't know what type of memory older games used for the ROM or if it needs periodic power. I think the batteries were only for the writeable save data.

[–] caseyweederman@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

There's some variety, but it's either a 1616, 2025, or 2032. I believe they're all 3V.
The numbers represent the physical size. 1616 is 16mm in diameter and 1.6mm thick.
I didn't realize this before looking it up just now, but they're interchangeable, as long as you can get the battery to physically fit (and watch out for surprise voltage exceptions).

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago

If they do, I doubt it has anything to do with the rom data, because my cartridges still seem to work. No way those batteries are still charged at this point.

I’m just not sure if they have the same re-write weakness. I assume they don’t, as we’d likely have heard more about it by now, but idk enough about how that stuff works/worked

[–] capt_kafei@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Games in that era used mask ROM for the game data, so they don't lose state over time as quickly as NAND flash does without power.

I say "as quickly" because I'm sure mask ROM still degrades eventually, but I'm not sure how long it takes.

The batteries in Game Boy carts were for keeping the save data SRAM powered. If that battery dies you'll lose any data on the save RAM, but it doesn't affect the mask ROM.

[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 days ago

Cool good to know. I don’t have a system for some of them at the moment, so I can’t very well boot them all up to…. fix them?

Regardless, appreciate the info!

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It’s a good thing all of my games are on MicroSD cards!

Edit: OH it literally says physical collectors. I am a dumb.