Using the Memories function of Firmware 1.1 on the Analogue Pocket, you can safely backup and import savegames to and from a real cartridge, assuming you already have a working savegame on your cartridge.
If you don’t already have a physical backup of your cartridges savegame, follow this small tutorial first: https://8300111.de/extract-dump-gb-gbc-gba-savegames-on-analogue-pocket/
If you have a savegame from an earlier backup or an external source (Everdrive, openFPGA core), then follow this tutorial: https://8300111.de/extract-dump-gb-gbc-gba-savegames-on-analogue-pocket/
Disclaimer: Please be careful and act with caution. I successfully tested this with a GB and a GBA Pokemon game cartridge, but I can not guarantee this will always work for you and all your games. I am not responsible for any damage to you hardware or software.
When you replace the battery of old Gameboy games that do not have flash memory, you will lose the savegame if you disconnect the battery. Technically, you could do „open heart surgery“ to the cartridge and desolder the battery while the game is inserted, powered and up and running in the Analogue Pocket, but let’s do it the easy way:
- load the cartridge in your Analogue Pocket as usual, and load your regular savegame on the cartrdige
- create a Memory (= save state), by pressing Analogue + Up button
Now you have a Memory that matches the current state of the game, including savageme information. You can now do your work on the cartridge or experiments in your game. If you lose your save information on the cartridge, you can now simply load the old Memory into the running game. While the Memory only exists on your microSD card, you can restore your save information on the cartridge by finally using the ingame save function:
- load the cartridge in your Analogue Pocket as usual, launch into the game (load an old savegame or create a new game)
- load the Memory you created earlier (Analogue Button -> Menu -> Memories)
- save the game, using the native save function ingame