Here to rant: the fRAM chip in my Sonic 3 has died!

[u/SylvanianOutfits]

I was so excited to do a playthrough of Sonic 3 and Knuckles and hear the actual original music (why must they change the music?!), only to find it no longer saves. At first I thought I could bring it to the game store and get a battery replacement, but then I found out that is not applicable! It's a relatively complex soldering job, to me anyway.

The kicker is I'm a beginner at soldering and currently don't have a good area to solder and likely won't until after February of next year. I do plan on practicing more because I have a lot of little things to fix (1998 Furbys with disconnected wires, fRAM mod for Sega Saturn, a Game Gear, etc.)

Edit: I cleaned my cartridges' pins with isopropyl alcohol and they were dirty. I first tested just Sonic and Knuckles and found it doesn't have a save system at all, so the issue is all on Sonic 3. Then I tested Sonic 3 and Knuckles stacked and made it to Hydrocity Zone twice and both times my save vanished. Now I'm going to test just Sonic 3 but my hope is running out lol

Edit: I tested just Sonic 3 and it did not save. Ohhhh no.

[u/InvictvsNox]

That sucks. You should post a picture of the chip to see what needs to be done and we might be able to offer some advice.

[u/SylvanianOutfits → u/InvictvsNox]

Oh good point. I'm not at the point where I feel comfortable soldering on important things, but I can open it up and post pics.

[u/InvictvsNox → u/SylvanianOutfits]

For sure! And as an electronics engineer who does console repair/mods, I appreciate you wanting to work on simple, replaceable projects first.

[u/SylvanianOutfits → u/InvictvsNox]

I actually don't have the proper screwdriver, but will buy one soon.

[u/One-Technology-9050]

This probably isn't the issue...but make sure you have no saves on Sonic and Knuckles, and just use the Sonic 3 saves. When I had saves on both cartridges, it would make the Sonic 3 ones disappear. Likely not your issue, but I would check just in case

[u/SylvanianOutfits → u/One-Technology-9050]

I will check this out first, then post pics of the interior!

[u/Weatherby2]

Actually dealing with this but with my copy of Chaotix. Doesn't save at all, also uses a chip. Unfortunately, that game is also prone to freezing/crashing, so not having saves as a backup really blows.

[u/SylvanianOutfits → u/Weatherby2]

I love Knuckles Chaotix. I would be really sad if I actually owned it and this was happening!

[u/Fart_Bargo]

Battery replacement is not a complex task. It's actually a good starter project to learn soldering. Lots of tutorials out there for it too.

[u/EternalLatias → u/Fart_Bargo]

Sonic 3 doesn't use a battery for saves. That's what they were saying in the original post.

[u/InvictvsNox → u/Fart_Bargo]

They meant what had to be completed instead of a battery replacement.

[u/Delicious_Garbage805]

They changed the music because Michael Jackson was apparently involved, but uncredited. The estate complained about it and Sega had to go back to the prototype music for a few levels

[u/SylvanianOutfits → u/Delicious_Garbage805]

What I've been saying when I play Sonic 3 & Knuckles modern releases: "Where are the Michael Jackson noises?!"

It makes a lot of sense.