**updated with pics**How can you tell if a GBA game is pirated

[quote name='CarmenJubei']as i said, different manufacturers will probably have different prinitings at the back for different info~ I am sure you will find it different again when comparing a europe copy with a singapore copy and so forth~ nice works kids, maybe it is the time for you to figure out why color red is called red, and why the universe actually exist now, lol[/quote]


Hey genius, that would be a valid point if it weren't for the fact the Harvest Moon game is purporting to be the US version! (Hence the -USA on the cart.) I doubt there is multiple USA versions of this game, especially -any- USA versions with Japanese screenshots.

Here's my legit USA cart (blue cloud background, numbers stamped in the label, no boy & dog):
04-6-26%20029%20(Small).jpg
 
Well, this is a fun learning experience :)

90% of the gba games i see for descent prices are being shipped directly from hong kong. quite annoying, really.
 
I figure this is old, but that HM game is definitely a pirate. I purchased the game on day one from Gamestop and it is the same as pinatamonkey's cart.
 
I would only purchase GBA games off eBay if you're quite sure it's real, as in the seller tells you it's not a bootleg and provides a good pic.

I have purchased one bootleg GBA game off eBay only because I couldn't find it anywhere else for a decent price. I bought Bubble Bobble: Old & New, japanese version. I would've got the European official version, but it didn't come cheap either.

Now I'm looking for Elevator Action: Old & New, but for some reason it's been discontinued, and not even Bootleggers sell them anymore.
 
Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.
 
[quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.[/quote]
i see~ seems that only US is the only thing on the planet Earth :lol:
 
[quote name='CarmenJubei'][quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.[/quote]
i see~ seems that only US is the only thing on the planet Earth :lol:[/quote]

Seems like someone can't admit when they're wrong. :p

the box is an obvious fake, I mean it took all of 4 seconds to figure that out. I liked your cheap attempt at inflammatory remarks, but this isn't gamefaqs and you're not funny, so save it.

Oh and remove that goddamn sig before I personally see to it that you are banned. It's not only a displeasure to see you post yet another useless post, but your sig slows every-fucking-thing down.
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='CarmenJubei'][quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.[/quote]
i see~ seems that only US is the only thing on the planet Earth :lol:[/quote]

Seems like someone can't admit when they're wrong. :p

the box is an obvious fake, I mean it took all of 4 seconds to figure that out. I liked your cheap attempt at inflammatory remarks, but this isn't gamefaqs and you're not funny, so save it.

Oh and remove that goddamn sig before I personally see to it that you are banned. It's not only a displeasure to see you post yet another useless post, but your sig slows every-shaq-fuing-thing down.[/quote]

lol~ first of all, i have never tried to be funny here~ morever, i have never judge the stuff you kids posted here is right or wrong (as what you phrased it) at all~ guess you didn't read~ I am not really interested in these 'right or wrong' printings stuff~
btw, i am really scared~ :lol: i can't live with this cheapass board which is full of you this kinda outdated and indeed, really cheap kids who always post stupid threads up about where you get a few bucks off on some already very cheap games, and talking about how you can get the games exchange for free with another new game and bra bra bra~ I do find most ppls here are kinda outdated and cheap (even not all) unlike the other forums that I get quality and up-to-date messages. I am really scared to get banned here man~ LOL :lol: btw, you should get a better PC if you can't even load that .gif file, if you are too cheap to get a new one, then too bad~ :lol:
 
[quote name='CarmenJubei'][quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.[/quote]
i see~ seems that only US is the only thing on the planet Earth :lol:[/quote]

No but the US (maybe Canada too) is the only thing on Earth that uses the ESRB Ratings system. There are some other possibilities. It could an box that was a very early print or so and they changed the design when they added the official rating, but chances are much higher that is a phony box (Which doesn't exactly make the cart a bootleg either).
 
[quote name='suprsaiyanMAX'][quote name='CarmenJubei'][quote name='suprsaiyanMAX']Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.[/quote]
i see~ seems that only US is the only thing on the planet Earth :lol:[/quote]

No but the US (maybe Canada too) is the only thing on Earth that uses the ESRB Ratings system. There are some other possibilities. It could an box that was a very early print or so and they changed the design when they added the official rating, but chances are much higher that is a phony box (Which doesn't exactly make the cart a bootleg either).[/quote]

oh well, u still don't get wut i mean~ I mean you are thinking that all games in US, or Canada, are being produced over there as they were distributed there, whatever~ this topic is getting very boring and unnecessary
 
[quote name='CarmenJubei']this topic is getting very boring and unnecessary[/quote]

I find it semi-funny that every other post in this topic is at how boring it is, if it's so goddamn boring, then why not buzz off? Your inane typing and lack of knowledge of the english language is starting to annoy me.

And people wonder why I hate kids. :roll:
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='CarmenJubei']this topic is getting very boring and unnecessary[/quote]

I find it semi-funny that every other post in this topic is at how boring it is, if it's so goddamn boring, then why not buzz off? Your inane typing and lack of knowledge of the english language is starting to annoy me.

And people wonder why I hate kids. :roll:[/quote]

Seriously wtf. Why can't he just admit it's a pirate instead of flaming people?
 
The final verdict is that they are pirated. The first point is that neither game has the nintendo stamp and serial number on the circuit board. That is the only thing that tells me mr driller is pirate, otherwise the box and instructions look real.

Harvest moon had the japanese screenshots on the back of the box and the instructions consisted of a diagram of how to hook up 4 gameboys to a link cable. No game instructions whatsoever. Also when playing the game there is an option in the options screen to turn the clock on or off. In my pirated version the option is to turn the 'cloak' off or on. I just got Harvest moon on gamecube so i will have to test out if the connectivity between the 2 games works or not.

My brother ordered the japanese version of Kirby for GBA from them and when you turn the game on, there is a screen saying who the game was cracked by before the title screen comes up.

It was nice reading everyones thoughts on the game. Turned out to be a pretty popular topic on these boards. Needless to say, i won't be ordering any US games from their website. I might get japanese imports from them for a cheap price, but I don't like the thought of the internal battery going dead and losing my data. I didn't think it would bother me if they were pirated, but I think of the inferior quality of these games really gets to me. I will be sticking with genuine GBA games.
 
If you're smart enough to be using Mozilla Firefox, to disable his sig all you have to do is right click the picture + select "Block all images from XYZ.com/ABC/.." Case closed; you lose, Carmen Sandiago.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight'][quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='CarmenJubei']this topic is getting very boring and unnecessary[/quote]

I find it semi-funny that every other post in this topic is at how boring it is, if it's so goddamn boring, then why not buzz off? Your inane typing and lack of knowledge of the english language is starting to annoy me.

And people wonder why I hate kids. :roll:[/quote]

Seriously wtf. Why can't he just admit it's a pirate instead of flaming people?[/quote]

Maybe he's selling pirated games himself :roll:
 
Ive actually bought 3 pirated games without knowing if they were or not...my copies of SF II Turbo,Golden Sun, and Zone of the Enders were in really good condition and kept well...well after 2 months of play...all 3 games had there memory erased and it conitinues not to save...so Ebay is a terrible place to get GBA games...just go by if its too good to be true than its rotten...well for Online GBA shopping to correct...i got these games for 5 a piece..i shoulda seen that myself. they still play but wont save...
 
Cuz the people people making them use crappy internal batteries as the save function. They generally burn out after about 3 months or so and you have a game that is more os less unlpayable...I mean who wants to play through Golden Sun in one whole sitting.
 
hello, just my 2 cents worth (well. i dont even use cents but hey)..

i was looking for cheap GBa games and found this site. i also. was very curious as they seemed amazingly cheap. in my search to find out more i found this forum with the thread which i am now wring in...

i havent ordered any from here. but i think they are pirate carts of good quality, they are hard to tell from the pics. but there are a few things make me think they are pirate. for example. the boxes/cover for pokemon leaf green and fire red (englihs) is not the same. no mention of wireless adapter.. and infact it states "the pokemon company" (WTF!)
another test. i checked out the cover fore the game "king of fighters" which i own a pirate copy of. that i got in thailand a couple of years ago, and super mario advance 2.. guess what.. exactly the same.
cos the king of fighters normal cover is different by quite a bit. so it makes me think that these are most likely pirate carts .. + the fact that they are shipped from asia.

but £10 roughly per pirate cart's prob not to bad. but then again u have shipping to add. but personally i would rather have originals. if i was using a flash advance it would be a different matter cos the roms are usually got for free i s'pose. but i dont have one of those.

neosalad.
 
[quote name='neosalad']hello, just my 2 cents worth (well. i dont even use cents but hey)..

i was looking for cheap GBa games and found this site. i also. was very curious as they seemed amazingly cheap. in my search to find out more i found this forum with the thread which i am now wring in...

i havent ordered any from here. but i think they are pirate carts of good quality, they are hard to tell from the pics. but there are a few things make me think they are pirate. for example. the boxes/cover for pokemon leaf green and fire red (englihs) is not the same. no mention of wireless adapter.. and infact it states "the pokemon company" (WTF!)
another test. i checked out the cover fore the game "king of fighters" which i own a pirate copy of. that i got in thailand a couple of years ago, and super mario advance 2.. guess what.. exactly the same.
cos the king of fighters normal cover is different by quite a bit. so it makes me think that these are most likely pirate carts .. + the fact that they are shipped from asia.

but £10 roughly per pirate cart's prob not to bad. but then again u have shipping to add. but personally i would rather have originals. if i was using a flash advance it would be a different matter cos the roms are usually got for free i s'pose. but i dont have one of those.

neosalad.[/quote]

um... 'the pokemon company" is the new name of the people who make it (I forget there previous name).
 
Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.
Click to expand...

That is entirely false. Companies voluntarily put the ESRB ratings on game. It's not a law. It's just that certain retailers will not carry a game if it does not have an ESRB rating, like Wal Mart. So that's why you'll see an ESRB on every game that comes out to the States.
 
Actually the first indication for me of the Harvest Moon box being a bootleg comes from the ESRB Rating. For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.
Click to expand...

That is entirely false. Companies voluntarily put the ESRB ratings on game. It's not a law. It's just that certain retailers will not carry a game if it does not have an ESRB rating, like Wal Mart. So that's why you'll see an ESRB on every game that comes out to the States.
 
Well I never said it was a law. But you're right, however no publisher would fail to put an ESRB rating on a game, especially a GBA game seeing as how most of those sales likely come from retail chain stores like Wal-Mart, Target, etc.

Technically I never claimed they are required to have an ESRB rating either. What I should have said is that when they put a ESRB label on a game they almost always have something describing the content of the game. Never have I seen them just place a telephone number on there like said box, even E rated games have content descriptions on them.
 
For any game distributed in the US, it is supposed to be required that the ESRB rating AND the reason for the rating be placed on the back of the box.
Click to expand...
"It is supposed to be required...." Technically, you did say that.
 
Holy crap, I just bought a ton of stuff from them! I paid them using PayPal, how do I get my money back???!!!
 
My priated games I accidentaly bought on ebay are put together with normal screws and say Mina Una Rakasta on the top where it normaly says Game Boy Advance
 
Plucker, I think the best you can do is to return the games when they arrive sealed. You'll lose the shipping costs, but that's the price.
 
Here are some bonus tips:

US games use ESRB rating, rating must be on box and cartrige.

European games use the generic rating, rating must be on box only. Also, European games have a round seal of quality as opposed to the oval one used by the US. And they have the letters 'CE' on the cartrige.

Japanese games use the CERO rating system, rating must be on box only.

There are NO exceptions to these rules. Any game that does not comply IS a bootleg.
 
[quote name='smalien1']Can pirates make sealed games?[/quote]

Sure. All they need is a shrinkwrap machine, and those are readily available. However, the wrap job may not look as good as if it were direct from the packager.
 
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