A gamer in Japan named Wanikun has left his Super Nintendo in a powered-on state for 20 years so that he wouldn't lose his save data. Now that's dedication.

Back in the day, gamers didn't have luxuries like memory cards, system memory, or essentially any way to keep their save data safe. The Super Nintendo was a pioneer platform that helped evolve the gaming industry into what it is today, and they're notably sturdy systems. One Japanese gamer recently tweeted about his experience with both save data trouble and the robustness of the Super Nintendo, as he's kept his own one turned on for the last twenty years.

The gamer, named Wanikun, has kept the system plugged in all this time to keep his save data for a game called Umihara Kawase intact, which has to be some kind of record. This means his console has racked up over 175,000 hours of continuous usage, and is still 'plugging along' somewhere in Japan right now. By now one might hope that he would be able to beat the game blindfolded, but perhaps its being kept around by pure nostalgia rather than active use.

According to Wanikun on Twitter, he's left his Super Nintendo on for the last two decades because the batteries in his cartridge had failed, and turning the console off would mean losing his precious save data. Back in 1994, when Umihara Kawase first came out, the game cartridge had some static RAM which was powered by a lithium ion battery. Keeping the batteries charged meant a game could keep its save data after being disconnected from the console, but in this case failing cartridge batteries left Wanikun with two options: lose his save data, or keep the thing plugged in forever.

We're not entirely sure what power supply unit Wanikun plugged his Super Nintendo in to, but it's a brand that certainly deserves commendations for never failing to provide continuous power without accident. Wanikun did say there was one exception, which was when he moved and was forced to briefly unplug the console. Though the battery was failing, it held out long enough to be moved into the new house and plugged back in, helping the game continue to run for just about as long as PlayStations have been around.

This isn't the first strange Super Nintendo story of the year, as a rare PlayStation/Nintendo hybrid test console popped up about half a year ago, and many of the unearthed copies of E.T. have been selling in online auctions. For what it's worth, eBay itself is only about as old as Wanikun's Super Nintendo has been running.

What do you think about Wanikun's long-running console, Ranters? Would you have pulled the plug?

Source: IGN