Puzzle Bobble Mini Not Saving High Scores (NGPC)

[Dack]

I've just recently gotten back into playing/collecting Neo Geo Pocket Color games, but when I went to play Puzzle Bobble Mini (Bust a Move Pocket) today, I noticed that the high scores were scrambled.

Instead of the time/initials, it has something like HO HO HO or NO NO NO and blocks and slighty scrambled characters.

Has anyone encountered this before. Are there batteries in the cartridge perhaps that save data that can go out, or is the cartridge corrupt in general or something else?

Thanks in advance.

 

[wyndcrosser]

I would clear the game data for that specific game and try again.

 

[Dack]

I would clear the game data for that specific game and try again.

Tried that with no luck, unfortunately.

 

[Dack]

Bought another copy of Puzzle Bobble and had the same issue. Do the games have a battery or backup rom inside that goes corrupt over time?

 

[loegan43]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_Pocket_Color

Did you change the CR2032 battery on the NGPC? Wiki says it's to retain backup memory.

 

[Dack]

Definitely.

I think the CR2032 just backups the clock/horoscope/calendar functions.

All of my other games seem to save fine.

 

[x68K]

Sorry for bumping an ancient post but there's very little information on this online.
I bought a copy of Puzzle Bobble Mini on release (2000 I believe) and it had this issue. At the time, the shop were happy to refund me but they assured me that every single copy of the game has this issue.
If it's a physical fault, I wonder if the game behaves properly under emulation (or is at least patchable).