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Post by Ziggy on Apr 7, 2024 15:47:36 GMT -5
Does anyone else have these problems? Or am I too sentimental? 
For the most part, carts that hold save game data have enough slots to satisfy me. And for a lot of games, it doesn't even matter. Something like Super Mario World, for example, only shows the number of exits you've cleared so there's nothing really for me to be sentimental about. Donkey Kong Country, on the other hand, shows the completion rate as well as the amount of time you've spent in game. So take my DKC2 cart for example. The top save slot has been on this cart since sometime in the 90s. It was the first time that I got 102%, and the time count is very high. The second slot is a co-op game, the last time I played that game with my brother, again from some time in the 90s. So I have these two save files on there that are almost as old as the cart, and it just seems like it would be a real shame to delete them. So on my DKC2 cart, I effectively only have 1 save file to work with.
SimCity on the SNES use to drive me nuts back in the day. That was one of my favorite games, and you only have two save slots for cities.
If I recall correctly, Pokemon Snap only has 1 save slot. So that's kind of annoying. I know there are so other carts that can only hold 1 save file at a time, but I can't think of any off the top of my head right now.
But speaking about the N64... Mischief Makers is another example I have. That game only has two save slots. When you start a new game, it has you input your age. Your age then appears on your save file. So I have two save files on there, age 15 and age 21. Which to me I find neat because it reminds me that I was 15 when I first got that cart and I was 21 the last time I played the game. So now if I want to play it again... Which save to I delete? Ideally I don't want to delete either. I could play the game on a flash cart, but that's kinda lame since I own the actual cart. I suppose I could just delete the age 21 file, but I just find it awesome to know how long it's been since I've played the game last.
Memory cards kind of solved this problem, because you pretty much have an infinite amount of save files (worst case you would just need more memory cards) but they create another problem for me. The time and date. This is mostly a problem for me on the PS2, which is a console I spent a lot of time with in high school. Not too long ago, I was browsing the save files on my memory card. And seeing the time and date on some of them was pretty fascinating. Seeing the date, sometime 20 some odd years ago, and thinking where I was in life. And seeing some of the times made me chuckle, it being way too late to be up playing video games on a school night. There are some PS2 games that I would love to play again, and some that I would want to chip away at 100%'ing an old save file. But after looking at these times and dates, I don't want to overwrite any of them! I was thinking about copying all of them to another memory card and then using that. So my old card would be sort of frozen in time. With no other value other than sentimental.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 7, 2024 19:41:20 GMT -5
I'm sentimental to the point that I have bought various cart dumpers over the years to get my saves off my carts. I totally get it. I have an INL Retro dumper (based on the kazzo dumper, and I dumped a lot with those complicated scripts until they updated the firmware again), a Retrode 2 (great for SNES/Genesis stuff), and most recently the RetroBlaster Mini, with various cart attachments (NES/FC, GB/C/A, N64, and SNES, with the last because the Retrode can't dump SA1 game saves like Super Mario RPG).
Heck, back in the day, I also owned a DexDrive after I got tired of deleting my saves forever on the PS1. It ended up cheaper in the long run, honestly. And while I've not revisited those saves much, I definitely like having them, and wish I hadn't had to nuke other ones in the day.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 7, 2024 20:08:35 GMT -5
Ziggy : Consider yourself lucky you don't have a younger sister randomly hitting buttons who deleted your DKC2 102% completion file. True story.  
Another weird incident was recovering from a phase of selling off some SNES games that I regretted, when I was scooping them up again I got a few carts in crappy condition (all I could find in the wild at the time). SMRPG being one. I did a full replay of the game and then that same day or one day later booting it up again, I accidentally switched it on and off just a bit too fast. The save file was deleted. lol, full new completed run gone in a blink.
So I'm not that sentimental with the finicky cartridges, even if I generally did treat them very well. But it's another story with PSX memory cards and all. I've managed to keep them all in good health for 20+ years now. I do think the time/dates on PS2 era stuff is really cool. I've been able to bust out some old games and log my playtimes on HowLongToBeat in recent years a few times doing that. I never had the DexDrive stuff, but I did get an adapter for my PS3 to transfer all my PSX/PS2 saves over there. Even though I have a slim PS3 that doesn't do PS2 games, I could at least backup all the saves there.
Somewhat related, one of my favorite things I did on Link to the Past at one point was having three completed save files like this:
1. Red Tunic/Gold Fairy Sword (Lv4) 2. Blue Tunic/Tempered Sword (LV3) 3. Green Tunic/Master Sword (Lv2)
That was a fun random challenge to myself haha. Not sure if that cartridge still has all those saves...
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 7, 2024 20:34:10 GMT -5
I'm sentimental to the point that I have bought various cart dumpers over the years to get my saves off my carts. I totally get it. I have an INL Retro dumper (based on the kazzo dumper, and I dumped a lot with those complicated scripts until they updated the firmware again), a Retrode 2 (great for SNES/Genesis stuff), and most recently the RetroBlaster Mini, with various cart attachments (NES/FC, GB/C/A, N64, and SNES, with the last because the Retrode can't dump SA1 game saves like Super Mario RPG). Heck, back in the day, I also owned a DexDrive after I got tired of deleting my saves forever on the PS1. It ended up cheaper in the long run, honestly. And while I've not revisited those saves much, I definitely like having them, and wish I hadn't had to nuke other ones in the day. Yeah, I have a Retrode 2 as well. I also have a GB and N64 adapter for it. I have backed up all of my most important saves. I've been wanting to get one of the newer dumpers because of the limitations of the Retrode. That reminds me, I have some nuked save file regrets as well. Back when the PS2 was current gen, I eventually ran out of room on my one and only memory card. So I had to delete some things to make room. The thing is, these replays that were crafted so they're even more irreplaceable than the average save file. I had replays for both Driv3r and Stuntman. I forget which, but one of those games allowed you to edit the angles of your replay. My brother and I spent a lot of time making those replays. I still have some of them, but I deleted quite a few. Now I wish I hadn't. Ziggy : Consider yourself lucky you don't have a younger sister randomly hitting buttons who deleted your DKC2 102% completion file. True story.
Another weird incident was recovering from a phase of selling off some SNES games that I regretted, when I was scooping them up again I got a few carts in crappy condition (all I could find in the wild at the time). SMRPG being one. I did a full replay of the game and then that same day or one day later booting it up again, I accidentally switched it on and off just a bit too fast. The save file was deleted. lol, full new completed run gone in a blink.
So I'm not that sentimental with the finicky cartridges, even if I generally did treat them very well. But it's another story with PSX memory cards and all. I've managed to keep them all in good health for 20+ years now. I do think the time/dates on PS2 era stuff is really cool. I've been able to bust out some old games and log my playtimes on HowLongToBeat in recent years a few times doing that. I never had the DexDrive stuff, but I did get an adapter for my PS3 to transfer all my PSX/PS2 saves over there. Even though I have a slim PS3 that doesn't do PS2 games, I could at least backup all the saves there.
Somewhat related, one of my favorite things I did on Link to the Past at one point was having three completed save files like this:
1. Red Tunic/Gold Fairy Sword (Lv4) 2. Blue Tunic/Tempered Sword (LV3) 3. Green Tunic/Master Sword (Lv2)
That was a fun random challenge to myself haha. Not sure if that cartridge still has all those saves...
Haha, actually, I lost my DCK3 saves by accident. My DKC3 cart also had the first 103% save I ever did, as well as a co-op file that my brother and I played. For whatever reason, DKC3 was the cart I was using to test mods on a SNES. So I had the top shell off of the console with DKC3 powered on. I knocked the cart slightly and the game froze. Reset and all of my saves were gone.
I've actually had some pretty bad luck with SNES saves over the years. My first SimCity cart would ALWAYS drop my saves. And my Super Mario All-Stars cart, that I still have, would periodically erase all saves. I always wanted to clear every save file for every game on Mario All-Stars, but I would keep loosing my saves so I eventually gave up on that LOL. My Link to the Past cart, I had all three save files 100%. That cart sat on my shelf for some years, and when I checked it again all of the saves were gone. I figured the battery died. But I checked it, and it wasn't dead. I now have two save files on the cart that are still holding, same battery. So I have no idea why those saves just randomly vanished. And the first time I was playing Final Fantasy II, I lost my save file mid way through the game but the cart restored old save files from the previous owner. With Link to the Past though, I've always wanted to have a completed save file with a 0 death/continue count. That one, if I ever do it, will definitely need to be backed up!
I also have one of those memory card adapters for the PS3. I never had a PS3 that could play PS2 games, but it still comes in handy for the rare occasion I want to play PS1 games on it. But you should get a PS2 memory card with Free McBoot installed on it, that would let you transfer any PS1 or PS2 saves to/from a USB stick (among many other things).
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 7, 2024 21:17:47 GMT -5
Haha, I remember doing that with Super Mario All-Stars too. Clearing all four slots per game.
Oh man, this makes me fear for my last FF6 save now. I grinded the heck out of that one in such a methodical way at the dinosaur island, using the X-Zone trick. But every time someone was about to level up, I put Odin on them so their Speed stat went up. Think it was like the only way to really boost that stat and it truly broke the game. I remember getting a few characters to 99.
Nowadays, my biggest pet peeve going back to ~16bit era games is when a lot of them didn't track time. So I do it manually usually for HLTB and my own curiosity. I never really expect PSX era games to have dates either but it's nice the rare times they do.
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Post by Ex on Apr 8, 2024 8:54:50 GMT -5
As soon as I beat a game, I no longer care about its save game file. I'll delete a beaten saved game's file without hesitancy. That's because after I beat a game, I'm basically done with it forever. Replaying a game is very rare for me, and if I do replay one, I'm gonna be starting from the very beginning again anyway, ergo I don't need the previous save file. Also, I religiously track the games I've beaten and how long they took in my How Long To Beat log. Thus, I don't need an old save game file to tell me how much time I spent on that game. I don't worry about keeping racer/fighter saves where I've unlocked everything either, once I've played a racer/fighter that much I'm bored with it by that point.
The only extra thing I do in this regard, has to do with RPGs. When I'm playing an RPG, I always keep two save files. Meaning at the end of a play session, I will save my game in two slots. On systems that had memory cards, that would mean saving one game on slot 1 card, and the other on slot 2 card. I always keep multiple saves on any RPG I'm playing, in case one of the saves gets corrupted or a memory card dies. That way I have less chance of losing hours of progress. (Yes this happened to me before, wherein a 3rd party PS1 memory card died, and I lost 22 hours of progress. Also had a save file on PC get corrupted, costing me 30 hours of progress.) But once I beat that RPG, I'll delete both saves without a care.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 8, 2024 18:03:23 GMT -5
To your second point, tougher RPG's have also taught me that more than one save is good to have around just in case. A badly placed save in a SMT dungeon you can't escape very well might get your pretty screwed, hah, things like that. So yeah, I usually rotate at least two main saves in RPG's myself.
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Post by Ziggy on Apr 8, 2024 19:08:43 GMT -5
That's funny. I'd have to say that I mostly replay games, as oppose to playing new games. You never replay games? Not even one that you really enjoyed?
To your point though, even if I'm replaying a game I almost always start a new save. You can't do much with a maxed out save file. So why keep them, then? To me, they're sorta like trophies.
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Post by toei on Apr 8, 2024 19:32:25 GMT -5
I'm like Ex in that regard, I don't care about the saves after I finish a game. I do juggle multiple saves while I'm doing it, but within the same card if there is one. Any part that looks like I might have missed something I could regret, I pick a different save. Sometimes I end up with 4 or 5 of them. It's come in handy a couple times.
I also don't do many replays. There are so many good games out there, and I'm still discovering new games and learning to appreciate new genres after all this time. I just don't have time for replays. The exception is old-school action games - talking 16-bit era - where I always replay it at least once shortly after beating them, to get a cleaner run. I don't think you get most of the juice out of those games in one squeeze. If I spent an hour save stating through some side-scroller, it wouldn't even make a real impression for me. I have to beat it legit, which usually means dying and restarting a bunch, then do a clean run once I've gotten good at it and memorized whatever patterns need to be.
When I was a kid I would always play RPGs multiple times. Even now, if I had infinite times, I think I would enjoy doing some replays. It can be fun in its own way, knowing where to go and what to do so it goes by faster, trying different things to see how they play out. Games often linger in my head for a few days after I finish them. It's one of the reasons I don't beat that many compared to some here.
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Post by Ex on Apr 8, 2024 21:54:34 GMT -5
You never replay games? Not even one that you really enjoyed? I didn't say I never replay games, I said I rarely replay games. The games that I do replay, tend to be short to beat (like 8/16-bit action games) that I haven't beaten in 10-20 years. Games I've beaten many times include Bionic Commando (NES), Solar Striker (GB), and Gargoyle's Quest (GB), and those are quite short. Rebeating a long RPG is typically off the table. There are only two lengthy RPGs I've beaten twice, Vagrant Story and Shadow Hearts. In general I don't find re-treading previously explored territory to be intriguing. I'm not a fan of déjà vu. I know some gamers can replay games infinitely and more power to them. But that's like the kid that sees a magic trick, loves it, then wants to see that magic trick over and over, and never gets bored with that trick. I'm the kid that sees the trick, figures the trick out, and is now ready for the next trick. Or to put it in more real terms, my backlog library is legion... it'd be financially irresponsible to not mine it for fresh material continuously. |
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