SRAM save
In one sentence
The Game Boy has no internal save for your progress. A game that remembers anything keeps it in RAM on the cartridge, often backed by a coin cell so it survives power off.
The detail
That RAM is called SRAM. When the cartridge has a battery, the SRAM still holds bytes after you switch the handheld off. When it does not, the progress disappears with the power, which is why some games only remember a high score until you reset.
A Retroable game that needs a continue or a high score has to include that SRAM in the ROM header and actually write the bytes. Saying "it should save" in a prompt is the request. The build has to emit the code that stores the bytes.
Emulators pretend the battery exists. They write the SRAM to a file next to the ROM, often with a .sav extension. That sidecar is not part of the .gb file. Copy the ROM alone and you copy the game, not the progress.
Worth keeping
- Progress lives on the cartridge, not inside the handheld
- A battery keeps SRAM after power off
- A .sav file next to the ROM is the emulator's copy of that RAM
Questions
If I download only the .gb, do I keep my browser progress?
No. Progress sits beside the ROM, in the emulator's save, unless you were playing on a cartridge with SRAM.
Does every Retroable game save?
Only if the game was built with save code. A short arcade loop often has nothing to store.
What is the coin cell for?
It powers the cartridge RAM when the Game Boy is off, so the SRAM is not wiped.
Related
Game Boy is a trademark of Nintendo. Retroable is independent and is not affiliated with Nintendo.