So back in 2015, I bought Pokemon Red used, and then I bought a lot of Pokemon Blue, Gold, and Silver with "brand new batteries" in them.
Fast forward to today. I had been working on a Nuzlocke on Silver, and fired it up today to no saved game. The only options are "New Game" and "Options." So, obviously, my battery is dead. I checked on Red, Blue, and Gold, and they all still have their saves, though Gold asked me to reset the clock.

I know that Gold and Silver use the battery to maintain the internal clock, which is what makes their batteries drain faster than an average game. I don't understand why Silver's is shot when Gold's still works, though. And even Red, which has a used battery in it from before I bought it, is still kicking.

Anyway, I have two main questions:
1. Is it normal for a Pokemon Silver battery to die after 4 years? (And will my Gold die soon since it asked me to reset the clock?)
2. Is there a mod someone has figured out to get the clock or the saves off of the battery (similar to what R/S/E did)?

I'm just trying to figure out what to do. I'm pretty bummed my save is gone. I had quite and eclectic team that I had really enjoyed building up.

The same thing happened to me. I bought Gold and Silver games with replaced batteries years ago, and by the time I got around to starting new files five or six years later the replaced batteries had died. How long it takes for the battery to drain will depend on when it was replaced.

There is no hardware workaround for this problem. You have to keep replacing the batteries, and if you want to keep a file, you need to dump the save before replacing them.

Well, that really stinks. I'm bummed I didn't get to finish that playthrough. Oh well. I'll need to replace the battery and suck it up.

If you are replacing the battery, don't use a CR2025, use a CR2032, it will still fit in the cartridge and you will get longer battery life. Although, if I am not mistaken, these were known to have batteries that died quick.

Thanks for the tip!

Yeah. The day/night cycle is tied to the same battery that holds the saves. It just frustrating that they didn’t have a better way to do it, since the clock is always running, draining the battery.
 

There's lots of ways to back up Pokemon saves, a Mega Memory Card is probably the easiest. I don't know much about batteries, but I know the batteries that came in the carts lasted decades and the cheap generic ones I replace them with definitely do not.

Yeah, Mega Memory Cards and Monster Brains are good for transferring your saves between battery changes. You can also dump saves using an Everdrive 64 and Transfer Pak, or by using a Retron 5. The latest Everdrive GB also has a RTC if you just want to play the games and not worry about replacing batteries in carts again.

Hmm... never heard of those gadgets. Maybe I should check them out!

Here is a trick if you have some skill

http://www.sega-16.com/forum/show...

That would be sweet. Unfortunately, my save is wiped. Just totally gone.

I also haven't ever soldered before. I have a soldering iron, but I’ve not used it.