The battery swap technique isn't fool-proof, and it's not a permanent solution either. If in fact un-encrypted ROMs do solve the problem of suicide boards, alot of collectors will be happy. The only way to revive a board before was to send it back to Capcom, and they wouldn't even touch one that has already been opened. Boards older than 5 years old are the only ones really at risk of comitting suicide, so 97 seems like a reasonable year to me.
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The battery swap technique isn't fool-proof, and it's not a permanent solution either. If in fact un-encrypted ROMs do solve the problem of suicide boards, alot of collectors will be happy. The only way to revive a board before was to send it back to Capcom, and they wouldn't even touch one that has already been opened. Boards older than 5 years old are the only ones really at risk of comitting suicide, so 97 seems like a reasonable year to me.