Zelda: Minish Cap Bootleg?

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deekayex

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I bought a Zelda: Minish Cap game (cartridge only) on Ebay a few weeks ago for $15 shipped and finally got around to playing it last night. Today my game save was gone. The cartridge casing looks genuine, but the label is yellow rather than red. Also "Nintendo" is not printed on the visible portion of the circuit board. So did I buy a bootleg?
 
[quote name='deekayex']I bought a Zelda: Minish Cap game (cartridge only) on Ebay a few weeks ago for $15 shipped and finally got around to playing it last night. Today my game save was gone. The cartridge casing looks genuine, but the label is yellow rather than red. Also "Nintendo" is not printed on the visible portion of the circuit board. So did I buy a bootleg?[/QUOTE]Yep.

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54899
 
Minish Cap got pretty rare so probably 90% of them on ebay are bootlegs. Always make sure they have a pic of the cartridge and it's the right color (red in this case) and design if you're buying on ebay.
 
Ugh, stupid fake games!

I'll never forget the bootlegged Tactics Ogre I got at Gamestop. I took it back and they were cool w/ the refund, but the guy who rang me up actually asked, "So, what's wrong with it? You just don't want a bootlegged game? Looks fine to me."

It's like...fuck no I don't want a pirated game, especially one with unreliable saving and one that I'm paying $15 for! I'm surprised there isn't more of a crackdown on this crap, but most people don't pay close enough attention for it to matter.
 
Are you guys absolutely positive that no yellow label copies of the game exist? I don't want to ruin this guy's reputation if the cartridge's battery is just dead.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']Ugh, stupid fake games!

I'll never forget the bootlegged Tactics Ogre I got at Gamestop. I took it back and they were cool w/ the refund, but the guy who rang me up actually asked, "So, what's wrong with it? You just don't want a bootlegged game? Looks fine to me."

It's like...fuck no I don't want a pirated game, especially one with unreliable saving and one that I'm paying $15 for! I'm surprised there isn't more of a crackdown on this crap, but most people don't pay close enough attention for it to matter.[/quote]

Did they end up throwing it away or did they resell it?
 
[quote name='deekayex']Are you guys absolutely positive that no yellow label copies of the game exist? I don't want to ruin this guy's reputation if the cartridge's battery is just dead.[/quote] Since when do GBA games have more than one kind of label for each game?

Legit ones (Minish Cap) ALWAYS have a red background with just the logo. Also compare the "Game Boy Advance" logo on your cart to other GBA carts. Genuine bootleg if it's not even the same.
 
It's rather amazing to see the variety of labels that this game has on ebay. The bootleg Minish Cap that I got off ebay had a white sticker. The dead giveaway to a bootleg is the lack of a double digit number imprinted on the right face of the label and the lack of white Nintendo and copywrite stuff located by the metal connectors in the bottom of the cartridge. If it doesnt have either of these its definatly a bootleg. Here is some examples of the many colors / designs of Minish:

white/yellow:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Game-Boy-Game-THE-LEGEND-OF-ZELDA-THE-MINISH-CAP-L-NEW_W0QQitemZ320155411207QQihZ011QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

red (the correct label):

http://i10.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/b5/70/42b0_1.JPG

and this doesnt even look like minish, but its being sold that way:

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Legend-of-Zelda-The-Minish-Cap-Game-Boy-Advance_W0QQitemZ110167013261QQihZ001QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Its sad too cause I think the guy selling the white one may not actually know that its a bootleg.
 
[quote name='Like A Breath']Did they end up throwing it away or did they resell it?[/quote]

I think they stuck it in the "WTF should we do with this?" drawer. I showed them the Nintendo stamp on the circuit board on the legit cartridges, they seemed interested to know how to detect fakes, but still made no effort to remove an obviously fake SMB3 Advance (the ones with the warped closeup of Mario's face from a promo poster, they look like complete ass!) from the GBA case, which I found very disappointing, especially since that's a game that sells for over $25 used; they shouldn't let someone drop that kind of cash on a game that isn't even legit (or any amount, for that matter).
 
[quote name='deekayex']Are you guys absolutely positive that no yellow label copies of the game exist? I don't want to ruin this guy's reputation if the cartridge's battery is just dead.[/QUOTE]CottonGamer is right. The lack of white print above the contacts means it's definitely bootleg.
 
[quote name='CottonGamer']The dead giveaway to a bootleg is the lack of a double digit number imprinted on the right face of the label and the lack of white Nintendo and copywrite stuff located by the metal connectors in the bottom of the cartridge. If it doesnt have either of these its definatly a bootleg.[/quote]
Thanks for the info, but in that picture of a legitimate cartridge, I don't see any 2 digit number on the right side of the label. ??? Are you talking about on the front or the back of the cartridge? It definitely doesn't appear on the front in that picture.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']Thanks for the info, but in that picture of a legitimate cartridge, I don't see any 2 digit number on the right side of the label. ??? Are you talking about on the front or the back of the cartridge? It definitely doesn't appear on the front in that picture.[/QUOTE]

The two digit number usually doesn't show up in pictures, IIRC. It's stamped into the cartridge casing and label.
 
[quote name='johnnypark']I think they stuck it in the "WTF should we do with this?" drawer. I showed them the Nintendo stamp on the circuit board on the legit cartridges, they seemed interested to know how to detect fakes, but still made no effort to remove an obviously fake SMB3 Advance (the ones with the warped closeup of Mario's face from a promo poster, they look like complete ass!) from the GBA case, which I found very disappointing, especially since that's a game that sells for over $25 used; they shouldn't let someone drop that kind of cash on a game that isn't even legit (or any amount, for that matter).[/QUOTE]

I think you should insist that they either destroy the bootlegged games or start answering to the police and Nintendo why they are illegally selling bootlegged copies of games... It's difficult for Nintendo to go after bootleggers selling on eBay from China, but a GS brick and mortar store is a whole different ballpark.

Although I have to say that every time I am in a GS or EB I look at their GBA games (through the window, not actually handling each one) and I have yet to spot a bootleg.

Ruahrc
 
[quote name='Like A Breath']Did they end up throwing it away or did they resell it?[/QUOTE]

In my experience with a boxed bootlegged Shining Force, they threw it in the "defective" drawer which I'm told gets sent back to corporate.
 
You e-mailed the FBI? Hilarious...

Anyway, I remember seeing a Puzzle Fighter cartridge with Sakura's hair in the backround. Seriously, why the hell did they add that in the bootleg? Its funny though. Oh, and I told the people at Game Stop it was a bootleg and they did nothing. You actually have to buy the game and return it and they may or may not send it back to corperate. At which point I have no idea what Game Stop does with them...somehow I doubt they eat the cost.
 
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