Why were you asked to hold down RESET when powering off battery backed-up NES games?

October 8, 2021

Topaz tackles the age-old gamer question: Why did some battery backed-up NES games ask you to hold down the RESET button when you powered down the NES?

Thanks to @ijimkoz, Tyrel, and Keenan for their help with this video!

References

The best answers I could start working from

The 6502 and the RESET line

The NES’s RESET button and the CIC

NES Schematics

MMC1 and MMC3

Less than 1/10,000 chance?

Batteries don’t last forever

Textures

Music

Changelog

  • 2021-10-08: Initial post.
  • 2023-07-23: Migrate to MakerTube.