Hidden Save Deleting

[Ryu890]

Twice in the recent past, I've noticed a somewhat odd trend in handheld games. (Once with Poke'mon X, and once with Kid Icarus: Uprising.) Neaither of these times was the first I've seen of this, but they bring to mind this somewhat disturbing trend, so I figured it was worth discussing.



Both of these games make it abysmally difficult to delete your save file. Not through any complicaited procedures, but through the simple fact one can't simply select a 'delete' button, to delete the file. You have to press a certain button combination in a specific section, the instructions for which isn't mentioned anywhere in the game, or in the manual, and I had to look it up online both times.



So, here's my question. I can't think of, for the life of me, what the benefit of this is. Can any of you?

 

[FrozenLaughs]

The benefit? 600+ pokemon literally traded up thru every generation since 1, from cartridge to cartridge, gameboy to gameboy for 15years. 1000s of hours invested to have a little brother (or my kids, as it is now) accidentally clear something. I'll gladly type in a secret code if it comes to that day.

 

[Ryu890]

The benefit? 600+ pokemon literally traded up thru every generation since 1, from cartridge to cartridge, gameboy to gameboy for 15years. 1000s of hours invested to have a little brother (or my kids, as it is now) accidentally clear something. I'll gladly type in a secret code if it comes to that day.

That...is acctually a very good point.

 

[shrekfan246]

The benefit? 600+ pokemon literally traded up thru every generation since 1, from cartridge to cartridge, gameboy to gameboy for 15years. 1000s of hours invested to have a little brother (or my kids, as it is now) accidentally clear something. I'll gladly type in a secret code if it comes to that day.

On the other hand, they could save a good number of their fanbase from that type of pain and misery by simply allowing multiple saves. We're up to the 3DS now and with the proper hardware, time, and effort you can trade Pokemon from Red and Blue up to X and Y, I refuse to believe there is any technological reason they can't keep track of at least two different Pokemon games on one cartridge.

OT: Accidental deletion is the best reason I can come up with, as it so happens. Granted, with Pokemon in particular there's another problem in that you can just overwrite a person's save fairly easily. Sure, it comes up with the warning pop-up, but that's not really any different from having an "Are you sure you want to delete this?" pop-up on the main screen.

I don't think I've been playing the right handheld games to notice any such trend, though, since most of the ones I've played haven't been that complicated (or have supported multiple save slots in the first place).

 

[FrozenLaughs]

I think originally Pokemon was designed for single games in an attempt to encourage the whole trading function of the game, and the big collection element. Plus, sales.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I remember Destruction Derby on playstation where the save wouldnt show up on your memory card but obviously it would still take up space so the only way to get rid of it would be to save over the correct slot with another game and then delete it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

They probably figure that not many people are actually going to be wanting to delete their saves in these games, esp. in Pokemon.

 

[Nathan Josephs]

...um gen 1 and 2 cant trade to gen 3 and beyond. just annoyed at the level of misinformation here in this thread. carry on.

 

[Someone Depressing]

I don't delete my save; I let the game rot in my closet for a while, go back to play it, notice faults in the game that weren't there before because of all of the dust and cartridge negligence, then write a horribly worded, gramatically challenged, and highly exagarated creepypasta about it.

Handheld games are just kind of like that, especially if the data is saved on the game, not the device (Like memory on NES and GBA games).

 

[Charli]

Unless you're trading out your games, these particular games are usually a huge timesink. Any accidental lost progress whether through dickish friends, or moment of idiocy is going to result in volcanic rage.

 

[shrekfan246]

...um gen 1 and 2 cant trade to gen 3 and beyond. just annoyed at the level of misinformation here in this thread. carry on.

My apologies. Hopefully you'll be able to understand the slip, considering it's been roughly a decade since I last seriously played Gold/Silver or Ruby/Sapphire. It's still pretty impressive that you can trade from Gen III up to Gen VI (at least if you have Wi-Fi, once the Pokemon Bank thing starts up), wouldn't you say?

 

[MadTinkerer]

" I refuse to believe there is any technological reason they can't keep track of at least two different Pokemon games on one cartridge."

Using today's technology, it'd be no problem as long as Nintendo would be willing to add a USB slot.

Using original Game Boy tech, it's still amazing they squeezed that much data into that small of a space. I currently think it's more a case of following the trends set by the original's technology limitations, but you also have far more possible variables per Pokemon (Pokemon can hold items? Pokerus? Shiny for no good reason? The programmers are crazy!) which then is multiplied by the maximum number of Pokemon plus player inventory and whatever miscellaneous data is being tracked. I'm pretty sure the memory chips are the most expensive physical component of any Pokemon game.

 

[WeepingAngels]

It is a pain, it seems that everytime I want to start a new Pokemon game, I am not at home (it is a handheld game) and can't look up the proper button sequence. The new Zelda game makes you use a button combination too but it tells you that combination so you don't have to remember it.

 

[Lieju]

OT: Accidental deletion is the best reason I can come up with, as it so happens. Granted, with Pokemon in particular there's another problem in that you can just overwrite a person's save fairly easily. Sure, it comes up with the warning pop-up, but that's not really any different from having an "Are you sure you want to delete this?" pop-up on the main screen.

I don't think I've been playing the right handheld games to notice any such trend, though, since most of the ones I've played haven't been that complicated (or have supported multiple save slots in the first place).

You can't do that in more recent games. In X and Y it doesn't let you start a new game without deleting the old save, and I'm pretty sure in the last Gen you couldn't save your new game. At least that's what it said if you began a new game without deleting the old one.

You could, if you wanted to be a jerk to your friend, release their Pokemon and then save the game.

Wasn't the one Resident Evil-game on a handheld one (mercenaries?)where you couldn't delete the save?
That's BS, but as long as you can delete them, it's not a huge problem to press some buttons on the start-screen.

 

[shrekfan246]

OT: Accidental deletion is the best reason I can come up with, as it so happens. Granted, with Pokemon in particular there's another problem in that you can just overwrite a person's save fairly easily. Sure, it comes up with the warning pop-up, but that's not really any different from having an "Are you sure you want to delete this?" pop-up on the main screen.

I don't think I've been playing the right handheld games to notice any such trend, though, since most of the ones I've played haven't been that complicated (or have supported multiple save slots in the first place).

You can't do that in more recent games. In X and Y it doesn't let you start a new game without deleting the old save, and I'm pretty sure in the last Gen you couldn't save your new game. At least that's what it said if you began a new game without deleting the old one.

Fair enough, I haven't had the urge to restart Pokemon Y at the moment and never liked Black/White or Black/White 2 enough to get far enough to notice anything like that.

Wasn't the one Resident Evil-game on a handheld one (mercenaries?)where you couldn't delete the save?
That's BS, but as long as you can delete them, it's not a huge problem to press some buttons on the start-screen.

I think so, I remember reading some form of news stories about how the saves on that one were a pain to delete or overwrite if it was possible at all, thought ostensibly to be a way of "fighting" used games. But I haven't played that either, so I'll still stick with having not played the right games to notice this trend, though I don't deny or doubt that it's happening.

 

[Doom972]

It makes sense to me in Pokemon's case. I don't think anyone wants all of those hours lost due to a small mistake. There's no need to delete it anyway, as you can just start a new game and overwrite your save.

What I do wonder about is: Why don't these games have a save backup feature? I don't think that it's too much to ask to be able to upload save files or even just email them to yourself.

 

[WeepingAngels]

It makes sense to me in Pokemon's case. I don't think anyone wants all of those hours lost due to a small mistake. There's no need to delete it anyway, as you can just start a new game and overwrite your save.

You can't overwrite a save from another game. You MUST delete the old save first and to do that you must remember (the game won't tell you) the correct button combination.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

...um gen 1 and 2 cant trade to gen 3 and beyond. just annoyed at the level of misinformation here in this thread. carry on.

It's been almost a decade, I'd forgotten that my gens 1 & 2 ended on my Crystal, and most of those were replaced with Leaf Green and Fire Red, which then continued the trend on to today. The basic example is still sound.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

It makes sense to me in Pokemon's case. I don't think anyone wants all of those hours lost due to a small mistake. There's no need to delete it anyway, as you can just start a new game and overwrite your save.

You can't overwrite a save from another game. You MUST delete the old save first and to do that you must remember (the game won't tell you) the correct button combination.

I want to say this started in the DS era, I remember the original Gens you could easily start a new game and overwrite, GBA I'm not sure about, it's been awhile.

 

[WeepingAngels]

It makes sense to me in Pokemon's case. I don't think anyone wants all of those hours lost due to a small mistake. There's no need to delete it anyway, as you can just start a new game and overwrite your save.

You can't overwrite a save from another game. You MUST delete the old save first and to do that you must remember (the game won't tell you) the correct button combination.

I want to say this started in the DS era, I remember the original Gens you could easily start a new game and overwrite, GBA I'm not sure about, it's been awhile.

I just think that not telling the player the correct key combination onscreen is bullshit. How many people carry their instruction manuals with them? It is a handheld game.