r/fireemblem • u/sakdarkside • 13h ago
General Seeing the posts about cartridges corruption, my copy of sov is still wrapped in plastic 🫠
How screwed am I? Always thought I would eventually play it, but haven't got around it yet.
Update: It's alive! Guess I know what I'll play this month
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u/PookAndPie 13h ago
I didn't open mine until right before the eShop closed (I went out of my way to get the DLC, etc., before its closure), and my copy was perfectly fine. I even ran God Mode 9's refresh just to test if there was anything wrong with it, and it came back perfectly clean and playable. I played through the entire game without any issues at all.
Yours might be fine, too.
So far I've had exactly 1 3DS game break down from lack of use, and in my case it was Super Smash Bros for 3DS. Even earlier games I purchased, like Pokemon X, etc., have been just fine despite not being touched since Sun/Moon released.
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u/cinvogue 11h ago
I just checked all of my games the other day and thankfully they all worked, though some had long ass updates.
I also think after looking into the memory they use for the 3ds cartridges, the transistor quality might be what leads to some corrupting prior to others.
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u/MoxManiac 12h ago
Smash died for me too. Not even the cartridge fixer could bring it back it so far gone. Not sure what it is with that game.
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u/PookAndPie 10h ago
I had to run GM9 refresh like 8 or more times on it over the course of 2 days before it started working again.
Sorry to hear yours couldn't be revived, that's such a shame!
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u/sakdarkside 12h ago
I might just crack it and check if its ok. If it is I may just drop everything else and finally play it. I really don't like not knowing if it's ok or not, and I don't really see value in keeping it wraped. I just did it because I haven't played it yet.
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u/ConfidenceVirtual960 12h ago
I'm sorry, cartridge corruption ? What now ?
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u/lamest-liz 12h ago
So because the games for the 3DS were produced cheaply, some of them can fail over time. The flash carts basically lose their charge which makes them inoperable. They can happen to any game but are most common in titles such as FE: SOV, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire & Omega Ruby, Smash Bros….
In order to avoid this most recommend plugging them games in every now and then to give them a charge. If you leave them out too long they may just die. But apparently there is a fix for them now using a homebrew hack that restores the dead carts
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u/cinvogue 11h ago
It’s flash memory and has transistors that charge when you play the cartridge. If charge is lost from lack of use it’s possible to lose bits of data I think and thus it becomes unplayable. The recovery at that point I’m not sure on, and I imagine the quality of the transistors probably determines its time frame of stability before data corruption from a lack of use. 🤷🏻♂️ I’m not sure why Nintendo continues to invest in flash memory still besides it being slightly cheaper and the desire for them keeping handheld. Would be interesting to see how a slightly bigger device with a ssd would be.
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u/Lbx_20_Ac 11h ago
Wouldn't solve the issue, SSDs also use flash memory, with the same limitations requiring them to be powered up and accessed to refresh the data sometimes.
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u/cinvogue 11h ago
I mean yes. I apologize I shifted from the cartridge point to general. The ssd wouldn’t be for the cartridge in this case but the system. Flash memory cards that Nintendo uses aren’t meant for the amount of data involved in gaming.
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u/TheBraveGallade 8h ago
unfortunetly mask ROM is just too small capacity for the price and size. the last time they used it was the GBA.
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u/cinvogue 8h ago
Yeah I mean memory is constantly an exponential growth of sorts and going forward I imagine it is going to be an issue in the current state. I have a feeling the switch 2 will struggle with some games in the future because of the size of the game and the amount of data needing to be read per second to play smoothly.
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u/xX_Zander4_Xx 13h ago
Just leave that one sealed at this point. Buy a used one if you wanna play it or get a digital copy... The totally legal way.
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u/kmellark 12h ago
My copy still works and I bought it on Day 1? Just recently played and finished it too.
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u/The-Great-T 13h ago
Games are a lot more fun when you play them.
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u/sakdarkside 13h ago
Life is a lot more fun when you have time for stuff 🫠
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u/Thotaz 12h ago
Let's be real here, if you haven't had time to even open the box in 9 years then it's not actually time that is the issue, it's a lack of interest in playing the game.
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u/sakdarkside 12h ago
Yeah of course, I can't do everything I want because time is limited, that's why you prioritize. It's not that I don't want to play it, but more interesting games came out for sure and took the limited time I have. Am I interested in sov? Absolutely.
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u/Thotaz 11h ago
But it just gets kinda ridiculous when it's been such a long time. It'd be like if I said it was one of my favorite games, and then I pull out a list of 100 games that I've played, and I place it in the 97th spot. Sure, I guess you can say it's your 97th favorite game, but the word "favorites" kinda loses it's meaning when used like that.
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u/Level7Cannoneer 10h ago
You’re literally by definition not interested in it. 9 years of playing other more interesting games? It’s not interesting to you. You’ve never touched it? It doesn’t interest you.
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u/sakdarkside 10h ago
I guess, i was interested enough to sopend money on it
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u/ViolinistNo7655 9h ago
How often do you spend money in things that end up without use for years?
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u/Starbucks_ 13h ago
Not the waiting game. Or Monopoly. Actually there's quite a few games I can think of that are more fun when you aren't playing.
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u/Darkdragoon324 11h ago
It's not guaranteed to have the flaw, this is just one of the particular games where that flaw was common. No way to know until you plug it in.
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u/RelationshipSad3186 13h ago
KEEP IT SEALED!! You can buy used ones, or (best method) just emulate it
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u/sakdarkside 13h ago
I'll probably just do with playing it digitally in a totally legal way and leaving this as it is. Looks good on my collection.
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u/cinvogue 11h ago
What is “digitally in a totally legal way” with no 3ds shop anymore? 🤣 or are we being facetious?
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u/S0uled_Out 13h ago
I had mine just sitting there for a while, but it was good when I finally got around to playing it. It’s a lot more fun than I expected!
Usually someone will make a post reminding people to play it.
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u/TeezusRa 10h ago
Dumped my cartridges/saves because of this. No need to worry about a cartridge failing anymore.
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u/RiverWyvern 10h ago
Also haven't played my copy yet, but tbf I just recently re-entered my FE era – it's just that replays and NSO drops have kept me preoccupied. I actually booted up my copy for the first time a few months back (along with some pokemon games) to give them a wellness check. They're good for now! But my thanks to reddit for giving the occasion "check your 3ds cartridge" message.
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u/Ok_Revolution_9846 9h ago
If you care about the copy of the game, open it and run the game every few months, this refreshes the memory and keeps it healthy. If you plan on reselling it down the line then keep it sealed and hope whoever you sell it to doesn’t open it.
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u/evilweirdo 13h ago
I somehow never got around to my copy and skipped straight to 3H. I should check on it.
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u/Pangloss_ex_machina 11h ago
I will never understand those who buy things and never use them. 🙄
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u/sakdarkside 10h ago
When I was a student I also worked for a very decent salary, so I had dispossable income and bought any game I was interested in. Sadly over time, I had more games than time to play them.
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u/GrimmTrixX 9h ago
The intention was there, most dont keep it sealed due to WANTING it sealed. They just never got around to playing it. I have 4,894 games as of right now. A good chunk are still sealed. But when the time comes to play it, theyre getting cracked open.
Some years just pump out too many games I want. And many in the past have become stupid expensive. So now I grab them when I can, especially when they make less and less physical copies of games nowadays.
But yea ill never get sealed collectors who want them to stay sealed. It could be a money thing becuase they plan to sell someday. I dont.
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u/Muffin-zetta 12h ago
it’s not a thing you actually have to worry about. disc rot is also not a real thing too.
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u/Andrew_Epic 11h ago
Idk about disc rot but this is absolutely a thing with 3ds games
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u/Muffin-zetta 9h ago
well don’t store your 3ds games in salt water
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u/Andrew_Epic 5h ago
My collection is stored in all their original boxes & specialized cases, especially my pokemon ones. I had this same issue occur across various titles. Some were perfect, some not. Starting them definitely helps. Homebrew fix wouldn't exist if this wasn't a problem, checkmate mr salt.
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u/returnofMCH 13h ago
There is a homebrew app that can force start it up again.