Mario Advance 4 GBA Cart

[Celeryface]

I won an Ebay auction for the Super Mario Advance 4 GBA import a couple weeks ago, and just got it in the mail today. Ferricide and I had some worries about it though, mainly because I bought it at $13.99 -- very cheap.

The packaging, instructions and cartridge look very real, but I noticed a few weird things happening when I tried the game:

1) The Game Boy Player logo was displayed on bootup
2) A strange screen displaying japanese writing and "OK" and "NG", which looks like a tester for rom chips came up after the Game Boy Player screen.
3) Some strange pixels at the main menu where you choose Single-Player and Multiplayer.

Also, on the back of the cart the model no. is AGB-022, and there is no "patent pending" writings anywhere. My other carts are all different from it.

Does anyone here have the Super Mario Advance 4 import for GBA? If so, I have scanned the stuff I got (including the cartridge), and would like to compare it with the cart I got.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Pic 1
Pic 2

[Baron]

Dude, you're screwing up my browser. You should edit that to make use of the thumbnail feature. It exists for situations just like this.

As for the game, it looks legit to me.

[sggg]

There is a discussion about eBay/GBA bootlegs in the recent Mr Driller 2 thread:

http://the-nextlevel.com/board/showthread.php?t=21569

I don't buy import GBA games on eBay anymore. It's not worth the risk.

[Celeryface]

There is a discussion about eBay/GBA bootlegs in the recent Mr Driller 2 thread:

http://the-nextlevel.com/board/showthread.php?t=21569

I don't buy import GBA games on eBay anymore. It's not worth the risk.

Thanks for the info.

[Johnny Nighttrain]

most pirated games use standard phillip screws, so that one seems already to me.

[bandit]

Here is how you can tell if its legit or not.

1. Hold the cartridge.
2. Have the game sticker facing the top and the chip facing you.
3. You'll need decent amount of light to see this...Look at the chip, if you look towards the back of the chip..you should be able to see "©2001 Nintendo..(bunch of numbers)"

After the ©2001 Nintendo, is a bunch of numbers on the chip.

The game I was looking at was my Super Puzzle Fighter US version. I dont know what it says on JPN games but it should have the "© (year) Nintendo" on it

I tried taking a picture..but considering the info is in the back of the chip and there is hardly light in there (I used the lights over my counter, and flashlight) and its still hard to view it. I used the flash on my digicam and nothing..but darkness inside the cartridge.

most pirated games use standard phillip screws, so that one seems already to me.

Actually..they sometimes use tri-wing as well.

Not to metion, on the back of all games..they have "PAT.PEND..." on it.

and by the looks of the screw..its not a real tri-wing screw. The one that Nintendo uses looks like a "Y". The one he has looks more like a triangle.

[Johnny Nighttrain]

right...

most pirated games use standard phillip screws, so that one seems already to me.

[japtor]

i think theres a picture of the cart on ign...if i remember correctly, the cart is yellow. i might be on crack though.

[680x0]

pirate. The price alone should confirm that.

[Celeryface]

Here is how you can tell if its legit or not.

1. Hold the cartridge.
2. Have the game sticker facing the top and the chip facing you.
3. You'll need decent amount of light to see this...Look at the chip, if you look towards the back of the chip..you should be able to see "©2001 Nintendo..(bunch of numbers)"

After the ©2001 Nintendo, is a bunch of numbers on the chip.

The game I was looking at was my Super Puzzle Fighter US version. I dont know what it says on JPN games but it should have the "© (year) Nintendo" on it

I tried taking a picture..but considering the info is in the back of the chip and there is hardly light in there (I used the lights over my counter, and flashlight) and its still hard to view it. I used the flash on my digicam and nothing..but darkness inside the cartridge.


Actually..they sometimes use tri-wing as well.

Not to metion, on the back of all games..they have "PAT.PEND..." on it.

and by the looks of the screw..its not a real tri-wing screw. The one that Nintendo uses looks like a "Y". The one he has looks more like a triangle.

Yeah, there isn't any writing on the chip itself and the screw is different from my other carts.

pirate. The price alone should confirm that.

After I had purchased it, I realized that it could have been a knock-off game but I did not know that GBA carts were being pirated, until someone had pointed it out to me after I had purchased it. Never again will I buy legit-looking imports from Ebay that are shipped from Hong Kong.