Lifespan Of Cartridges!

[ashleyescort]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the lifespan of video game cartridges? Mega Drive, NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, NEO GEO etc! I know there are no exact answers but it would just be interesting to read your thoughts and opinions! How long until the cartridge games we collect and love will die?

[ManiaC]

Interesting question. Personally i think they will hold very very long.. You can have some master system games and when they start dying you know its about time to start selling off that mega drive collection

[mr_gibbage]

Will of course depend on conditions etc that they are kept in. I imagine it will be circa 50-100 years that they last. Some will end up different to others. SNES games I imagine when the plastic oxidisation fully kicks in may start getting cases breaking up.

[Playgeneration]

Save batteries last 20 years typically, any capacitors may have a shelf life too especially if they are the same crap ones that ended up in Game Gears for instance. As for the chips and boards, hundreds of years unless you store your games collection outside or underwater. Everytime this question gets asked (and it is often) the same answer gets given - your carts will outlive you.

[maD_mAN1983]

the carts with batteries could get a short life if the battery starts to leak, other than that they will last a long long time

[soop]

On a similar subject, This is one reason I want to collect HuCards over CD games for my PC Engine. I imagine those CDs will start dying off soon.

[ninjabearhug]

Yeah, fortunately the only parts that will die are easily replacable. I hear disc rot will be a much more problematic thing to game collectors, but as the majority of my collection is focused on carts I'm not overly bothered by it

[MRCL]

On a similar subject, This is one reason I want to collect HuCards over CD games for my PC Engine. I imagine those CDs will start dying off soon.

Burned CDs / DVDs yes. I have some from when CD writers began to emerge that begin to suffer data loss. Mind you tough, they weren't stored in a case end generally not treated carefully.
Commercially manufactured DVDs / CDs are pressed, not burned, and thus last a lot longer. Pressed discs can outlive you by a long shot. If they're treated properly, of course.

[hydr0x]

Not true, there are a lot of experts who say pressed discs last a lot less than a hundred years.

[MRCL]

Not true, there are a lot of experts who say pressed discs last a lot less than a hundred years.

Well I guess the only way to know for sure is to wait. There are always "experts" claiming A while other "experts" claim B.
I for one don't really believe a disc lasting 500 years or so, but I also doubt the lifespan would only be like 50 years and under.

[JoeTheUseless]

I Imagine they will last a lot longer then we will mate

With carts the only real thing off bother is moisture or leaking batteries its the same principle as mortar when i was bricklaying a few years back i was told it takes 100 years for cement to dry then it cracks and breaks away so i imagine 80 to 100 years +

I think it will be more off a TV problem though i imagine in 10 years time there wont even be RCA or AV inputs in modern tvs to even play them as scart has already been discontinued in some new tvs

[Walshs]

I think it will be more off a TV problem though i imagine in 10 years time there wont even be RCA or AV inputs in modern tvs to even play them as scart has already been discontinued in some new tvs

Yeah I was thinking about this the other day, I know a lot of folks swear by old televisions (including myself) to play their retro consoles. But since they don't make them anymore won't it be rubbish when the last one dies

I've had a couple give up the ghost on me in the last few years.

[Cauterize]

Regarding the lifespan of Battery Backed Saves and Memory Cards, whether or not these will live on for a while longer, I have recently been backing up save games from different devices and cartridges for use in an emulator and for nostalgia.

So far I have been able to back up save games from:

Game Boy & Color
Game Boy Advance
Mega Drive
SNES
Playstation 1 & 2
Nintendo DS

If there is enough interested, I'm hoping to write up/video some guides on how to do this for each console.

[MRCL]

That would be cool Cuaterize, I've only seen a Gameboy/USB adaptor to back up GB saves so far, no idea how one would go about other consoles.

[ozDCgamer]

I guess one of the advantages of collecting brand new sealed games would be that your never going to know if the game has reached the end of it's lifespan or not With regards to pre-owned games, i'm going to make sure I play every one I buy, I want to get my monies worth before it eventually returns to the earth from where it came