Support Needed My 3DS game cartridge has been acting up (and a few related questions)

[Rin]

So, yea. It's my Pokémon Y cartridge. I had accidentally spilled a slush on it some time ago (yea, yea, I know, I take GREAT care of my things *sarcasm*), and it's been acting up since.

Every once in a while, the 3DS will get a black error screen that says "The Game Card Has Been Removed.", even though I didn't touch it. This ONLY happens with my Pokémon Y game, so I know it's the game cartridge itself.

Yea, no. It is a big deal. Last week, it was acting up again (I'm about to explain exactly what it's doing), so I took the game out and examined it. There was dried fruit pulp all over the little reader slot. It took me 10 minutes to remove it all, which involved me licking it and getting my nail between those little slots or whatever.

Well, that didn't fix the problem completely. I've noticed that it gives me an error a lot less often, but it still happens from time to time.

Half of me is tempted to either just get the downloadable version or get a new copy of it, BUT, that'll likely mean I have to pay again, and I'm afraid of losing my save file.

So, one of my questions is; Are save files stored on the SD card or on the cartridge itself? If it's on the SD card, if I get a new cartridge, will it still load my original save file?

My other question is, if it's registered in the activity log that I've played the physical copy, is it going to make me pay again for a digital copy via eShop?

Thanks.

 

[WarioTails358]

For you last question, you must still pay for the digital version even if you own the cartridge version, if you want to transfer your save file, you can pay for the downloadable version and use a save file software in the applications area of the eshop
That will allow you to transfer your cartridge data to the digital version, but once you do this, all your original sage data is gone on the cartridge version but now on the digital version.

 

[InjusticeBoy]

Pretty much the save data of the catridge will be sent to the downloaded version. There is an app on the Eshop (forgot the name ) that transfers the save data. But like @WarioTails358 said you must pay again for the download version.

 

[Rin]

Ah, okay. I cleaned it a bit better and it seems to be working fine. I guess it just was dirty so it wasn't being read properly.

This is resolved, so it can be locked (I don't know how/don't think I can close it myself)