Zoex wrote:Also, I feel like harping on me for not having a plastic case from 18 years ago is needlessly petty.
What were you expecting him to say? You don't have the original console, and you don't have the serial number used to create it. If you had one or the other, then the save could likely be salvaged. But not having both of them unfortunately pretty much means it's doomed.
If you really think that you can extract it from your save file, then I won't discourage you from trying. But unfortunately your situation is beyond the point where we can easily help you.