Yeah, all of those batteries are usually well past their prime. I've had someone I know replace a few for me on some different cartridges, I didn't trust my own soldering skills!

astro_penguin

I do know the original game boy cartridges have a battery that you can carefully replace to save gameplay. 
Usually that battery is completely drained so it doesnt save anything anymore. 

Satosora

gaming

What do you use to play retro/vintage games?

Yeah it's a frustrating holdover from the quarter eating arcade machines as well as trying to get as much gameplay as possible from the limited cartridge space! I do like using emulators for some games for that very reason. I'll use a few save states at times so I can put the game down for the day without erasing all the progress I've made.