Gaming Gamer Keeps Super Nintendo On for 20 Years

[tom_mai78101]

Back in the day, gamers didn’t have luxuries like memory cards, system memory, or essentially any way to keep their save data safe. The Super Nintendo was a pioneer platform that helped evolve the gaming industry into what it is today, and they’re notably sturdy systems. One Japanese gamer recently tweeted about his experience with both save data trouble and the robustness of the Super Nintendo, as he’s kept his own one turned on for the last twenty years.

The gamer, named Wanikun, has kept the system plugged in all this time to keep his save data for a game called Umihara Kawase intact, which has to be some kind of record. This means his console has racked up over 175,000 hours of continuous usage, and is still ‘plugging along’ somewhere in Japan right now. By now one might hope that he would be able to beat the game blindfolded, but perhaps its being kept around by pure nostalgia rather than active use.

According to Wanikun on Twitter, he’s left his Super Nintendo on for the last two decades because the batteries in his cartridge had failed, and turning the console off would mean losing his precious save data. Back in 1994, when Umihara Kawase first came out, the game cartridge had some static RAM which was powered by a lithium ion battery. Keeping the batteries charged meant a game could keep its save data after being disconnected from the console, but in this case failing cartridge batteries left Wanikun with two options: lose his save data, or keep the thing plugged in forever.

https://gamerant.com/super-nintendo-left-on-for-20-years/

 

[Wummi]

That's really cool, because it means his house has never ever had a power outage for the past 20 years, which is hard to say for most other parts of the world.

 

[tom_mai78101]

That's really cool, because it means his house has never ever had a power outage for the past 20 years, which is hard to say for most other parts of the world.

You're being misled here. His dedication is only focusing on preserving his game save data in an SNES cartridge with a failing internal battery for 20 years. The only option is to keep the game running, or lose his save data. He had to unplug his SNES when moving to a different house, and he was lucky the save data is still there despite the battery failing.