Ebay Pirate GBA Carts [Archive]

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Lammie

10-10-2005, 09:35 AM

I bought a copy of Donkey Kong Country 2 for the GBA on eBay and it arrived in the mail today (from Singapore).

The quality of the printing on the box seems very shoddy and the "Instruction Manual" seems to just have a review of the game that appears to have been ripped off from a magazine or the net.

The cart is also a slightly lighter shade of grey than other cart casings.

Is it common for for shoddy GBA games to be sold on eBay? And should I do something about it - ie contact Nintendo or something?

Oh, and the game works fine.

mike-zim

10-10-2005, 09:41 AM

i have never bought a gba game from ebay but a friend of mine has. he got a copy of pokemon like that. if it were me i would send it back get my money back and report the seller to ebay. people who pirate games make me sick because they are the people that drive the cost of legal games up for the rest of us whoactually play by the rules.

i would take it further but i get a bit annoyed by this sort of thing and if it is someone small nothing will get done anyway.

Mizuti

10-10-2005, 10:03 AM

Same with me.
I bought PKMN Sapphire on Ebay and (the Ruby and Sapphire box'es are supposed to shine) the box didnt shine, the manual was on to pages, copyed from the original control section... real dissapointing...

Locky

10-10-2005, 10:05 AM

eBay is well known for having fake GBA games on there. You shouldn't buy them if it looks like you're getting a really good deal cos they'll probably be fakes! Also try and avoid buying them from abroad and make sure you check the feedback.

Take a look at this link, which shows you how to identify counterfeit games:

eBay seller link (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8210690375)

Check this Nintendo piracy website too:

Nintendo website (http://ap.nintendo.com/)

Another useful link in case the eBay page disappears:

Nintendo Power message board link (http://forums.nintendo.com/nintendo/board/message?board.id=Bulletin&message.id=421)

mike-zim

10-10-2005, 10:15 AM

we are the people who should do something about it. as nintendo fans we owe it to ourselves. nitendo do try and do their best to stop piracy on their systems. sony just dont care. it annoys me.

khilafah

10-10-2005, 10:48 AM

i think 90% of GBA games on Ebay are fake.

It is a joke Ebay sit and do nothing.

Owen

10-10-2005, 11:45 AM

Yeah i bought Metroid Zero Mission, a month or so ago and the box doesn't seem right, it was flat but it doesn't have the right feel of normal GBA boxes. Also the manual isn't really a instruction manual, it doesn't tell me anything about the game controls etc........

Everything works fine, but it just doesn't seem 'right'. Nevermind... :indeed:

Locky

10-10-2005, 11:48 AM

Have a look up the cartridge and check if the chipboard says Nintendo on it. It should just about be visible. Look at the links on my previous post for more info on spotting counterfeit games. It does sound like you've got a fake game though. :(

Syxoed

10-10-2005, 11:51 AM

Damn those pirates... There is just something about it that irkes the hell out of me.
I allways feel like they think they are kings selling "Game Boy Evolution" by "Nuntendo" and "PuGiOh" and sitting on some big castle and laughing! Laughing!
...
I haven't had my medicin.

Syxoed

10-10-2005, 11:53 AM

*Medicine, sorry.

I make stupid mistakes when I haven't had my medicine.

craig

10-10-2005, 12:05 PM

i think 90% of GBA games on Ebay are fake.

It is a joke Ebay sit and do nothing.

They wont until somebody complains, they dont care as long as they make money.

mike-zim

10-10-2005, 12:23 PM

They wont until somebody complains, they dont care as long as they make money.

i agree i think i will buy one just to complain but that would be against everything i stand for.

Ramar

10-10-2005, 12:41 PM

Thats why I never buy GBA games off ebay, 90% of the time they are fake and from Asia.

Lammie

10-10-2005, 02:02 PM

Just checked on ebay - the user I bought the game off is no longer registered.

Stefkov

10-10-2005, 03:25 PM

yeah i bought the minish cap off ebay, the box was folded and it had no instructions, also the cart was just squeezing into the slot on the ds. it was making it bulge out, the game works fine though

The-Ironflame

10-10-2005, 03:30 PM

I got a copy of Advance Wars 2 off Ebay which was fake BUT I also bought both Golden Sun games which were 100% real.

Stefkov

10-10-2005, 04:22 PM

whats wrong with it

Johelian

10-10-2005, 05:17 PM

we are the people who should do something about it. as nintendo fans we owe it to ourselves. nitendo do try and do their best to stop piracy on their systems. sony just dont care. it annoys me.

Is this the same Sony that repeatedly updates the firmware on the PSP to try and combat hacking? :indeed:

I try and never buy GBA games from Ebay purely because there is too high a risk of getting a fake. Usually its the ridiculously low prices that give it away; the only game I remember buying off there recenly(ish) was Harvest Moon, and all of the other listings at that time were around ?10. It may sound stupid initially, but I went for the highest priced one - because it was the only one likely to be real. It was.

I remember at Game someone brought in their copy of Pokemon Ruby, saying it wasnt working with their copy of Colloseum...I took it to our test GC, tried it out, and it promply came up with a window saying "Data Corrupted". Terrified that I had wiped some poor kids save I took it out of the GBA to run downstairs and apologise - and realised it was a fake grey cart rather than the sparkly red official one.

The parents tried to convince me that they had bought it from Game.

Also, thankfully, the game had already flashed up "Data Corrupted" for them, so I was in the clear. Score!
________
VAPORIZER SHOP (http://www.vaporshop.com/)

mario114

10-10-2005, 05:47 PM

whats wrong with it

It's in 2 peices?

Ramar

10-10-2005, 06:07 PM

It's in 2 peices?

And the wrong colour.. My Cart is all red. O_O

altheman

10-10-2005, 06:41 PM

A independent game shop near me has a second hand copy of Advance Wars 2 which is obviously pirated, the quality of the printing on the box is crap, the colours look all wrong and the box feels cheapo, more like paper than cardboard. The box art is slightly different to the US version as well, when you look on the back the in-game screen shots are from the Japanese version.

Schpickles

10-10-2005, 08:51 PM

Best bet is to report them to ELSPA.

Someone at work bought a copy of the internet that arrived on a "Nintondo"[sic] cartridge with a printed manual and flat packed box... etc etc.

He reported the seller and they ended up catching him and shutting down a game printing operation. That's the way to sort the problem - alert the authorities, not eBay.

Shyguy

11-10-2005, 07:39 AM

u think ebay is bad? GO TO TURKEY i went to icemeler or whatever and there were at least 3 shops selling knocked off GBA games but surprise is they also had imported PSP and DS with a few DS games PSP= 600 Lira i laughed and had a quick go found the analouge stick dogey :S whats with the PSP's analouge ne ways its diff to the controller

so yea back to what i was saying nintendo should go see other countries and sue their ass unless they allow pirating. whats even worse than that is when i booted up one of their GBA game it came up with some sort of guy holding a floppy disk with the words ameiga on it :S

mike-zim

11-10-2005, 09:26 AM

WOW. that is so rediculouse it is funny. but who cares what happens in turky. it is what happens on our back door that makes me sick. i for one will report anyone who sells me a pirate anything.

MikeMania

11-10-2005, 07:10 PM

well most of the times, sellers want to sell "real" games they've played, but they want to make it look nice so they put in little home-made manuals. Dunno about the lighter shade of grey, might be pirated, not exactly sure.

skarmachild

11-10-2005, 07:37 PM

i brought zelda lttp, fake....

but wanna hear something most shocking...

when i ordered fire red of amazon i recieved the box, instructions , stars...all the stuff u would expect...and i also recieved this http://media.nintendo.com/nintendo/forums/images/Counterfeit_Pokemon_Fire_Red_2.jpg

they were very..very quick to send a replacement

To be honest, I think you should tell Nintendo and get em sued.

Owen

11-10-2005, 07:51 PM

yeah i bought the minish cap off ebay, the box was folded and it had no instructions, also the cart was just squeezing into the slot on the ds. it was making it bulge out, the game works fine though

Yep, thats IDENTICAL to mine, i was playing my game a minute ago in my micro, and realised the game is sticking out more then it should, the quality is pretty good though! lol

The3rdChildren

11-10-2005, 08:00 PM

I once got a bootleg Pokémon GBA game from eBay that was credited to "NinFendo" on the back of the cart. Check your bootlegs for Ninfendo.

Kurtle Squad

13-10-2005, 08:40 PM