WonderSwan:Save Battery Replacement

Some WonderSwan games contain a non-rechargeable lithium battery. It may be used for save memory or to run a clock.

The rest of this article assumes an official WonderSwan game: some flashcards and a few fakes have a non-soldered battery, some bootlegs are pretty liberal with save type conversions, and the assumptions in the next section are based on official PCBs in the first place.

Is there a battery in the first place?
Like the Game Boy Advance, WonderSwan games have a mix of save types. Many popular titles such as Gunpey do not use a SRAM and therefore do not require a save battery. If a battery is used it is often visible through the shell. Often located on the left side of the PCB, you can often see it easily by looking through the "bottom" of the shell near the pins.

"Disadvantages"

 * Removing power to SRAM for the time normally required to replace a battery will cause data loss. If the save is important, back it up first. This can be hard to do with the rarity of WS dumpers.

OEM Battery Holder Replacement
Even simpler than the tabbed batteries, batteries in the OEM holder are just slid out to the left.


 * 1) Remove the shell.
 * 2) Slide battery out to the left (lifting tabs if it doesn't slide easily).
 * 3) Slide new battery in.

Tabbed Battery Replacement
Replacing a tabbed battery on a WonderSwan cart is exactly the same as on a Game Boy cart, so a Game Boy replacement video is linked below: Example video


 * 1) The original battery is desoldered from the PCB.
 * 2) A new battery is obtained (the correct size is typically written on the PCB). Most batteries are available with tabs preinstalled (often at a significant premium, and requiring to ensure their correct size and layout). Due to the limited thickness of the WS carts, most aftermarket battery holders will not fit.
 * 3) The new battery is soldered back in.