Topic: GameBoy Advance SP Problem

Ugh. ... I powered up my Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town this morning to find that my save file has been lost, and I'm already almost through the second year. Am I to presume this is a dead battery and just give up, or is there something I can try, i.e., cleaning the cartridge? It's disappointing because I feel I'm too far into it to start over from zero. And if I did, I'd be even more angry if the file got wiped again. My other save files are still intact. Any help would be much appreciated.

You're sure it wasn't a pirated copy? I think those sometimes came with faulty batteries. I've never had a cartridge battery fail, and I have carts that are much older than GBA carts. I suppose it might also be a bug in the game that caused it. Have you tried seeing if it saves at all anymore?

How is this a GBA SP problem? Sounds like a problem with the game , not the system.

And i agree with iphys, sounds like a pirate-cart problem; that's one of the most common problems that pop up with pirated carts.

Yeah if the other save files are fine then it probably isnt a battery problem. Maybe try googling" corrupted save file on Harvest Moon" or something like that and see what you get. Maybe try calling the game company that made it and see if they had a bad batch or something.

GBA SPs dont' affect game saves, bad batteries and pirated garbage affect save games.

A pirated game is an easy one to spot nearly every time. You don't see (c)NIntendo above the pins in the slot, sticker is low quality, not shiny covered,wrong art, missing required stamps/labels(esrb rating, seal, etc), or the art on it is all printer like pixelated. Sometimes the housing is not quite right in color, or the front/back aren't pressed the same as the GBA wording either.

Now if that looks good, probably real, and a dead battery. Just get the ratchet bit you need, crack it open, and pop the battery out and put in a fresh one. It's not common batteries eat it, but they can. My oldest is Zelda that i got the day it came out on the NES, still works, as do all my batteries since then though I think I may have a loose one with Sim City as it randomly will lose a save(not so much a new one, but one that has been there for awhile so I know it's not static discharge.)

First of all, High-five for such a great game! anyway, I think it isn't your system that's having the problem. I also experienced save file corruption, only to find out later that my copy was pirated.

Thanks, guys. I don't think it's a pirated copy, since I purchased it from Amazon -- and not from a third-party Amazon vendor. But you never know. I knew all along it wasn't the system, I was just wondering if anyone had some trick like swabbing the contacts or something. In one sense it's a shame because FoMT is generally considered the best handheld HM. On the other hand, it gives me a convenient excuse to buy another HM.

No problem.

The Harvest Moon franchise is one of my favorite franchises. My favorites were Harvest Moon A wonderful Life, Which links with Mineral town, and Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland.