Save file wiped?

[Introverted Nautilus]

This is so distressing! I recently bought a second-hand copy of Wild World. I created a town and played for about a month. I adored my villagers and paid off my first loan.

Today, for whatever reason, I booted up the game and my save file was completely gone!
I wonder if it's because I put my 3ds into sleep mode the last time I played? At any rate, all of that affection and hard work is gone

I was truly enjoying WW, but now I'm afraid to start another town. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a way for me to prevent it from happening again? Should I start another town? This is so saddening...

 

[jefflomacy]

Nintendo DS cartridges are like SD cards, not SRAM like many cartridges before it, so there is no internal battery. Data disappearing off the cartridge must mean it has either been damaged previously (before you owned it, likely via excessive heat or water), or it has exceeded the maximum number of write cycles and is no longer stable. The latter is extremely unlikely, as the number of write cycles is in the hundreds of thousands.

I would not trust the cartridge to keep future saves. Used copies of the game are for sale on eBay for around $12. I would either buy another copy or consider emulating it on the Wii U virtual console if you have one.

 

[Introverted Nautilus]

I'm perplexed as to how it would have lasted a whole month if it were already heat or water damaged, but technology can be fickle. It sounds like save-data reliability would be dubious at best if I restarted. I wouldn't want to risk another wipe, so I will set this cartridge aside and play other games for now. Thank you for the detailed, technically-focused response! I really appreciate it.

 

[jefflomacy]

I was going to ask that too. It saved for that long and then suddenly quit. I find that odd as well.

 

[The friendcode exchanger]

There could have been something very wrong internally with the cartridge which has caused it to malfunction because this does not normally happen.

If the previous owner was not careful in handling the cartridge and especially if he/she damaged the cartridge pins save data failure is likely to happen even if not right away.

My best advice is to find another copy of this game and that you should try returning the malfunctioning cartridge if possible.