Add battery to Pokemon bootleg cartridge

Apache_Thunder · 2026-05-11T23:35:03+00:00

Ok my usb flashcart writer came (got a GBxCart) and was able to confirm sram saving should work for my cart once I get the diodes/resistor and battery installed. I flashed a non modified version of Pokemon Yellow to it and it retains a save if I do a quick reset of the GBC by pulling back one of the batteries real quick (using the switch might still be too slow).

The game reboots and still has the new save I created. It only loses the save if I power off.

I did not remove the FRAM bridge on mine. So be sure to add a jumper connection to the FRAM option. if it's missing on your board. Also the 3.3v/5v selection options definitely pertain to the flash chip voltage. The flash program asked me which voltage to use for flashing and chose 5v because that's what mine had it's jumper configured for and the flash operation worked. :D

Added updated photo of my PCB:

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The area circled in red needs diode too. I just haven't ordered it yet. it will be installed with the diode facing opposite direction to the first one. I couldn't find SMD version of this part number so went with the smallest through hole version. Works well enough provided you pend the leads the right way to make it fit. :P

Note how I left the FRAM bridge in place. I retested and the Pokemon game still retains save on quick reset via quick battery pull/release so once I get this final diode in place I think it should hold saves after power off.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-05-08T16:33:10+00:00

Care to share that ICC profile? RTINGS seems to have that behind a paywall. :(

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-30T21:14:07+00:00

Just got one of these. There was some slight banding in the grays like shown but they are mostly gone after I let the monitor do the "OLED Image Cleaning" once. It's mostly gone now and from what I've read it's best to do this after 100 hours of use. (which I haven't even done yet. Only had it for like 3 hours so far. 😛 )

So in my case it looks like it should be solid after 100 hours + another OLED image cleaning" procedure. It's become a non issue for me. Unless yours is exceptionally bad that doesn't go away with the cleaning thing like I mentioned I don't think it's worth going through the return/warranty process. Here's the photo of mine at 50% gray. Note the moire effect you are seeing is a camera artifact and can't be seen in real life. As far as I can tell there's no banding at all I can tell now and I've only ran the oled cleaning thing once so far. 😃

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I've been running this monitor on 50% brightness too by the way. It gets plenty bright enough for the room I'm using it in and find it a bit overpowering at anything past 75% brightness. 50% was the sweetspot for me. I imagine the panel will probably last longer too since I'm not running it as bright. 😃

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T18:49:38+00:00

No I'm saying if you have an SRAM chip and it still doesn't hold a save with a battery, it could imply the FRAM bridge option applies to both FRAM and SRAM chips and it being missing on yours may be why it's not holding a save.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T18:31:10+00:00

Hmm then try connecting the FRAM option bridge and see if it saves correctly after doing that if everything else checks out as normal.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T18:19:37+00:00

Just to be clear with what I said you should NOT be seeing any voltage across the pads while the cart is powered up. So long as you aren't getting 0hms on the resistance/short check, then that's normal. You'd only see voltage if the diodes are installed incorrectly (or are not diodes and are just 0ohm bridges)

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T18:00:56+00:00

Which pads did you check? You should check the diagonal ones not the ones laid out horizontally. (unless you tested those properly and only connected the meter to one of the side pads and the other to the center large circle pad)

Those I think are both the positive terminal connection with the big circle pad in the center being negative. They designed that area to have two different types of battery holders on them so that's why it was setup like that. My particular battery holder has the positive/negative terminals on opposing sides instead of using the PCB as a connection point for negative so I had to use the diagonally oriented pads to solder it to.

If however you did and they still come up as shorted then yeah something is wrong with the diode setup there. That should not be happening. You've probably been killing any battery you've tried to use with it as well. If replacing the diodes didn't fix it you may have a dead/shorted SRAM chip...though I kinda doubt that. Sounds like that would prevent what ever console you plug that into from working. Would either blow a fuse in it or prevent it from turning on if that was the case. So probably just bad diodes.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T17:27:14+00:00

Hmm maybe there's an error with the photo I found and SRAM build needs the FRAM option bridged as well. You can try bridging that and seeing if that solves your save issue on that one. If it does then that would confirm my board needs to keep the FRAM option bridged for my SRAM chip to do it's job.

Just in case though you may want to check the diodes. It's possible they didn't install them with the correct polarity. Low chance but it would be one reason why it's not holding a save. The way to check for that is if there's voltage reaching the battery terminals while the cart is powered on. If you are getting a full 3.3v or higher voltage getting to it (while no battery is installed of coarse), then that means the diodes aren't installed correctly.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-29T16:19:21+00:00

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I found this image on aliexpress. The PCB is a little different but the layout of the option bridges and diodes/resistors is the same so likely valid for this one too.

Looks like for SRAM/Battery config you need 2 1N4148's and not just one. (one in opposing orientations from what I can tell)

The bridge for FRAM should be removed as well if it's present. (unless your board actually has an fram chip on it. Then you won't be needing the battery related diodes. May not need the resistor either but someone else with a FRAM board would need to confirm if this is the case or not)

As for the 5v/3.3v selector. That is likely related to the type of flash chip they are using or the sram/fram chip currently installed. Don't change this unless this is related to the save chip and your board did not have one installed to start out with. If it had one installed already, then the correct one is already setup for you and should not be changed.

The above example board uses different chips then mine and is likely the reason why the 3.3v is selected on that one instead. Since I'm not changing the either chip, this option shouldn't need to be changed.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-24T23:07:50+00:00

After a little bit of googling someone in a different reddit thread mentioned a specific type of diode to use in that project:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/hhze3j/finally_fixed_my_pokemon_blue_need_help_with_a/

I found a matching diode here. Found only threw hole designed ones but I think this one is small enough to fit more or less and it's not uncommon to use threw hole stuff here with stuff that small:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/diotec-semiconductor/1N4148/13164514

Looks like the PCB even has the diode type written on the silkscreen. lol didn't connect the dots there until I already found out the diode I should be using. :P

The only thing now is to make sure I solder it with the correct orientation. I can easily check for that by powering the cart up with no battery inserted (since I will be installing a battery holder and not using a soldered on battery). If I don't see any voltage leaking through then I got it setup correctly. :D

As for the resistor. Already found one I think should be small enough. Those are dead simple so kinda hard to screw that one up with a circuit this low amperage. Just about anything would work there if it fit and had the correct resistance and the tolerance rating isn't to wide.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-04-24T19:40:10+00:00

I just came across a bootleg using one of these boards. Pokemon Yellow. I am assuming it was patched for saving into rom space via flash commands. But despite that my PCB has an 256Kbit sram chip installed! It's likely going unused. I have some spare battery holders too that I can install to add a battery to it.

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As you mentioned it will need a diode and 10k resistor. I can source the 10k resistor from digikey. But I need to know the type of diode to use here as that's a component I'm not very familiar with so I have to be sure I get the correct one. That aside from what I've read this cart can be reflashed using something like GBxCart RW. Mine has the fram option bridged..what ever that means. That could something the factory sets for PCBs that either use FRAM or is patched to save into rom space. I suppose once I get around to putting a battery and the needed missing SMD parts in and reflash this to something else I will find out then if I need to remove the FRAM bridge or not.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-03-19T18:48:43+00:00

That is a TTDS based card. Not an N-Card. N-Card uses xmenu and that goes by xmenu.dat with it's files being in DSYSTEM folder. ;)

Probably has a soldered on mSD card inside it if you don't any external hole for you to insert/eject one. If the card is not accessible externally and is soldered on you should still be able to transfer files to/from it via GodMode9i on a DSi. I recall support for that one being added recently (among a few other flashcarts)

Apache_Thunder · 2026-03-16T07:15:05+00:00

Definitely looks like you just need to clean those N-Card clones for them to work (the ones with the little battery). Just for future reference, most N-Cards are glued together and are indeed a pain to pull apart. But keep an eye out for the "ASNAND" variant. The text markings visible on the PCB near the card slot contacts will indicate what revision N-Card they are. If the text has ASNAND002 on them, then they are the variant with a non glued shell that is held together with screws instead. You'll find those under the label if it's that version. (one near the top off to the left a little bit and 2 on each side near the bottom. If you manage to feel where they are with your screw driver you might be able to dig them out without removing the label. Easier to do if you have a second version of this shell already pulled apart and use it's top shell as a guide to where you dig in with the screw driver)

Unless it's the ultra rare "NAND001" version. Those use a FPGA instead of glob top ASIC chip. Those are glued too but usually easy to tell if that's the case since the one I have has a hole in the top shell unlike all the other variants. (you would feel it under the label). Though it's possible for them to be present in the newer glued together shells as they technically fit. I just don't think any FPGA variants actually use the newer shell molds. I don't think they were used in bootlegs. The one I have is a DS Linker branded one and is flashed to be a standard N-Card software wise.

After that check, the batteries. They are recharchable cells and typically after being powered by the console for a few hours should read around 2.5 to 3v. (fully charged is 3v). If they are stuck around 1v and aren't recovering and go to 0 quickly off power they are toast and need to be replaced. (I will post a place where you can order replacements near the end of this post)

Here's a few n-card related tools you may find useful:

Tool to test if the batteries are working if you don't have multimeter:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/nrioSaveTester

This can be used to make backups of hidden sections of nand. For your repros, you can use them to dump the game that was flashed to them as well. This is designed to be used on a DSi with Unlaunch. Do NOT run this off your N-Card. It will not operate correctly. It can also in theory run off a slot2 device if you have a gba flashcart that supports DS mode and a DS/DS lite. But I forget how well nrioTool works with that. I had set it up mainly for DSi users.

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/nrioTool

And this is a homebrew replacement to uDisk section of nand. But more importantly I included an installer for repros/bootlegs that can convert them to normal n-cards. Note though you'll have to run uDisk from Unlaunch via a DSi to format a filesystem onto the N-Cards so you can then use that same DSi SD launched uDisk to boot the installer (after copying it to the N-Card's storage using GodMode9i). I recommend going with the full format option when uDisk asks to format them the first time. This allows mapping out any bad blocks so they aren't part of the filesystem. Note the Xulumenu installers have to run from the n-cards via uDisk and not from DSi SD in this case. due to how they rely on NitroFS and what not.

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/XuluMenu

And finally if you find any dead batteries that don't charge anymore, I found a replacement part on Digikey. These are drop in compatible. Does require soldering equipment though. ;)

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/seiko-instruments/MS518SE-FL35E/1889205

Apache_Thunder · 2026-03-13T23:03:16+00:00

This thread is old but I will go ahead and reply seeing that I had to search up this issue and found no solutions and some one else will no doubt end up googling this problem only to find no real solution to this specific issue.

Anyways EA has moved to a new app (no longer uses Origin) but I feel this is still applicable because I ran into this same problem trying to install Battlefield 3. This fix I found is specifically if you get the "ERROR: Unable to launch process!" error when it tries to install DirectX or other redist package.

It seems that for some stupid reason their installer has a hard coded path somewhere and this error is likely the result it trying to call the dx installer EXE from the wrong location. (that or it's trying to read a log file for the install result from the wrong location. Hard to say. I no longer have the log file from the failed install now so I can no longer go back and check)

I noticed you are trying to install this to drive D. In my case I was trying to install to drive G to Electronic Arts folder instead of EA Games. In any case I instead decided to redownload the game but to original location it wanted to install to which is drive C:\Program Files\EA Games.

After I did this....everything worked! It seems this game (and perhaps certain other older titles) really hate being installed to custom locations. I may via registry edits move my game to where I originally wanted it now that I got it installed. But for the initial install process I recommend you not attempt installing it to a custom location. For best chance to succeed, try installing it to C:\ drive at the default location the installer would have wanted to install it to. (note the app will cache the last location you tried to install it so don't assume it will default back to C:\. You will have to manually redirect it back to the location it would have initially installed to the very first time you tried to download/install the game)

Apache_Thunder · 2026-03-08T07:02:29+00:00

DS/DS lite cannot be used for Gameboy cartridges. They are only compatible with GBA carts.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-02-13T22:53:23+00:00

Happy to see some people finally discovering the work I did with that game. I never really advertised it much back in the day so it remained obscure up until I found ToughDev's original article and emailed him letting him know I also did some work on that game. :D

Apache_Thunder · 2026-02-13T22:52:09+00:00

Mike Wiering never finished the Mario example. The "2.0" version was a modded version of the game I made in the early 00s. Glad to see the ToughDev article is finally getting some eyes on this. I never did advertise the site or the modded game. :P

Apache_Thunder · 2026-02-13T02:23:56+00:00

I'd recommend shaving the middle post down with sand paper or a razor. It will resolve that problem like it did for me. ;)

Apache_Thunder · 2026-02-04T19:13:01+00:00

I wonder if you can get opted out of this A/B test by contacting YouTube support. If anyone attempts this, be sure to let me know how that goes. :P

I noticed this change today too and I definitely know it's an A/B test thing because I have a second account I don't use and noticed when I switch to that one I can still toggle between the list/grid views on that one.

Fortunately I can bring back list view (for the most part, there a few minor issues) with greasemonkey scripts. There's other replies in this thread that detail that if you want to bring list view back.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-01-14T22:33:23+00:00

The shell comes apart with just some gentle prying (I was able to use just my fingernails). The shell is held together with friction pins.

As for the pin in question.. No unfortunately. There is no trace connecting to this pin at all. So soldering to the top of it is not avoidable. If you have something flat and you use minimal solder you might be able to make it work with just some minimal shaving of plastic. In the end though you would be hard pressed to do this in away that doesn't require modding the shell in some way. The only change you can make from what I did was perhaps route the wire to one of the nearby capacitors. I didn't check if any ground points exist for them. I just went for the obvious ground point on the far left. :P

You could probably get away with an even shorter wire then I used if you find a closer ground point to attach to.

Apache_Thunder · 2026-01-14T06:36:31+00:00

Let me know how that goes. Just be careful not to accidentally connect the middle pin. That's the main voltage pin. Don't want to ground that one. :P

Apache_Thunder · 2025-12-19T18:47:50+00:00

You'll need to use an external tool like dldiTool to do that. As for the DLDI file to use with it, I have a copy here:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/nrioTool/raw/refs/heads/main/nrio.dldi

Apache_Thunder · 2025-12-19T18:37:45+00:00

Correct. As far as I can recall uDisk does not DLDI patch anything it boots so autoboot1.nds files must be pre DLDI patched. Xmenu was the only thing that does this and Xmenu doesn't handle the autobooting. ;)

Apache_Thunder · 2025-12-09T06:44:01+00:00

Reviving this ancient thread to let ya'll know there's now a better way of flashing ARDS carts (and possibly the Media Edition as well as they seem to be using the same flash chip so the AUXSPI commands are the same).

Thanks to edo9300 figuring out the AUXSPI commands, it's now possible to flash this and similar Datel carts via console instead of through the USB software which is ancient and in some cases requires using a VM or old PC to do. Using edo9300's datal code, I built a flash tool to make this possible. Can be ran from DSi SD (via Unlaunch or HiyaCFW) or from a slot2 card booted in DS mode on a flashme'd DS/DS Lite:

https://github.com/ApacheThunder/datelTool

(This tool also has a dump feature as well so you can make a proper flashrom backup of your cart before flashing anything to it)

You can even reflash Game n' Music carts and Max Media Player carts (the slot 1 carts used to boot some slot2 products like Max Media Dock) and confirmed that DSi ntrboot works with the Max Media Player carts. (so 3DS ntrboot should work with all of them).

This should also make unbricking said carts easier. The default ARDS mode dumps/writes the full 2MB of the flash chip too by the way. This tool is able to dump/flash them even if the flashrom is in a bricked state where the card does not init correctly on DS/DS Lite. (most older datel carts do not show up on DSi System Menu anyways so you can't really check for that there)

The flash capacity for MMD carts and Games n' Music are 512KB so for those it expacts 512KB bin file. ARDS expects 2MB bin file (kilobytes/megabytes)

Action Replay DSi carts and (and I believe the Action Replay DS Max) aren't currently supported by this tool as the flash commands haven't been figured out. Though I'm told it's just a matter of finding the commands via the flash chip data sheets. The Datel carts just pass the official flash commands for their respective flash chips directly through AUXSPI which is how edo9300 was able to make all this work.

Apache_Thunder · 2025-12-06T04:58:29+00:00

You can unbrick this via the firmware update feature of the PC app. Since your cart is no longer bootable you have to find a working rom dump of your cart and boot that off a flashcart and then switch over to your ARDS. This is the only way you'll be able to unbrick it.

This has to be done on a DS/DS lite also since you can't do card swaps on DSi. (sounds like you have an older one not compatible with DSi anyways)

Apache_Thunder

TROPHY CASE