I always thought it was odd not all games that save allow you to save directly to an official memory cart.
I've never owned an official one but assuming you had to use the save manager for games that can't save to cart.
Then it's also weird the AR doesn't support saving directly to it, even for games that support it on an official cart.

... head spinning yet? Well, there's also a floppy disc peripheral that some games support saving to.
Yeah... I'd say the PS1 at least had it more standardized. The onboard, interchangeable battery (versus soldered) is nice but Sega seemed to definitely be figuring out saving.
How does the 3DO handle it with no memory cards, assuming onboard SRAM or something of the sorts? I never heard any issues about saves failing on that system.
Regarding the main topic, I need to research that GAME cart more. That may be my best option. You guys are right about wearing down the SS cart slot overtime swapping 2 ARs.