Survey Reveals Japanese Gen Z Gamers Still Love Nintendo's DS Handhelds

I just recently started using my =NEW= 2DS XL again.
I've been playing Minish Cap.
I'll save my game, close the system and go to bed.
Then the next evening, I pick it up and the game acts like I didn't save!
I had EIGHT kinstone fuses left!
I was about to head into the Wind Dungeon in the sky! (I actually played a little of it and got the cape then left)
I have 58 Kinstones to do! And it says I still need to do the Castor Wilds/Swamp dungeon!

I'm so pissed.
I'm not playing it again!

No, my battery didn't die overnight, not that that should matter.

No, my battery is not bulging.

At night the system stays plugged in.

While I love the ds, this flaw is making me want to get rid of it. It's not like I can go and get a new one and download everything all over again.

@Spider-Kev If I'm understanding this correctly, it is saving, but it keeps missing the last part of each play session? I wonder if Minish Cap has invisible checkpoints like the Metal Gear series, where you can save at any time, but it still rolls you back to the last checkpoint, with any progress after that being lost.

(I can only guess. I picked up Minish Cap for Wii U recently, but ended up putting it on hold after having had enough of a Zelda binge for the moment!)

Hardware/battery failure doesn't seem too likely, as I'm pretty sure the 3DS family uses a form of solid-state memory, just like all Nintendo systems from the past 20 years.

@smoreon
Only other thing I could think of is a CMOS battery.
It might be failing.
Heck, I don't even know if it has one!

@Spider-Kev: I never owned Minish Cap on cartridge but I did a little quick research. Did you buy this game from a legit store or did you buy it off of eBay or something? From the brief scan of the Interwebs it appears that GBA carts saved to flash memory that doesn't use battery backup. Fake carts reportedly use batteries, which might explain why you are having the save problem.

I still have my ex-wife's original DS that was purchased back in 2006 in an Animal Crossing bundle. We bought one from Fry's Electronics (I think..this event happened 18 years ago in Vegas so the memory is foggy) as we were Animal Crossing playing fiends at the time. We went back to Fry's to get another bundle so we could benefit from getting different fruit. She upgraded to a DS Lite Crimson and so her Cobalt went into my game collection and I still have it and MY A.C. cartridge. That system still works, even with its original battery.

I also have a small pile of DS/2DS systems (at least 2 DS Lites, my DS Cobalt, 4-5 2DS's that were bought when they were cheap used, 2 DSi XLs and my New 3DS not-XL) but my step kids, son and daughter don't have much interest in them. I do pick mine up occasionally for some play.

@Spider-Kev I feel like there's details missing here.
From my understand, the only way The Minish Cap is officially playable on New 2DS XL is through a System Transfer of a launch 3DS Console with the 3DS Ambassador games.
My guess is that while an original GBA running an original cartridge would save the game as soon as you saved, the 3DS Ambassador would not update the save file unless the app is closed and you return to the OS menu.
Not sure what "close the system" is precisely. Turning it off? Sleep Mode? Although I think sleep mode probably should retain it, closing the app I assume would ensure the game's save data on your console is updated, if you weren't doing that step.

@Gamemoose 3DS/2DS consoles can't play GBA cartridges. The only way to my knowledge that Minish Cap is playable officially on this consoles is to people registered as "3DS Ambassadors": early adapters who bought the console and registered it with Nintendo within the first few months of release, when Nintendo uncharacteristically slashed about a third off the price. They were given digital downloads of 10 GBA games (Minish Cap one of them) exclusively and 10 NES games complimentary as a reward for having presumably paid the launch price for their console.
Reportedly the GBA games were technically constructed as DS digital software masquerading as GBA games. (the only similar game, a DS game distributed digitally on 3DS, which comes to mind was an extremely limited release of Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for Club Nintendo in Japan, a game that was originally developed for but otherwise unreleased there)

I really hope nintendo make switch 2 a portable, pocketable system again like nintendo ds, rather than tablet oriented like nintendo switch. Or at least give us the option, it will be cool if there's 2 switch 2, a 7 inch tablet with 2 joycon like the first switch, and a 5inch single player only system like nintendo ds.

@Gamemoose
3DS Ambassador Program

Japan loves their mobile games. It makes sense. When my wife and I went to Japan in 2015 (can't believe it was so long ago ;_;), she took her 3DS and got more street passes walking in Akihabara than she received since getting the 3DS in the United States. I also recall the sheer wonder of walking in a store and seeing a LARGE display of PS Vita games. It was nice to see the Vita getting the respect it deserved for once.

@KingMike: My question about whether or not it WAS a 2DS being used got lopped off when I edited it. As I read Spider-Kev's messages it sounded more like playing a cart than a game file. Ugh, I hate using a phone to message. Sorry for the confusion.

@Gamemoose
No cartridge
Download from eshop

I still use my two 3DSs regularly almost 13 years after I bought my first 3DS. It's a great system with some great games, that can also play DS cartridges. So what's not to like?