It has been reported recently that European (PAL) copies of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS) have started spontaneously not working en masse.

This can be expected of carts as time passes on, as the ROM deteriorates over age (and it has been noted that the games for a while HAVE had issues being read recently). However, what is alarming is not only are the games only 7 years old, but this occurrence has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The issue has first being picked up on by a German community. They have currently noticed that about 50% of carts within their community have experienced this issue, which is quite a large number.

What has caused this issue? It’s currently unconfirmed, but theories have suggested a change from Flash ROM to EEPROM means that the games will have a potentially shorter lifespan. It has also been brought up that this is not the only game to have this issue as well, with Persona Q being mentioned as another game with the same problem.

It is unfortunate that this is happening to something as relatively young as Pokémon ORAS. Could this be the unveiling of a much larger issue as a whole? Either way, it might be best to back everything up where possible and report any issues found in the ResetEra thread, as they are currently collaborating in case this issue is much larger than anticipated!

Thank you to Lewtwo on Twitter for the information.

Edited by Aldo, bobandbill, gimmepie and Zach.