Fake Pokemon Heart Gold copies in circulation

2010-03-23 11:21:46 am

Let the music play!

http://www.insidegamer.nl/nintendods/pokmonheartgold/nieuws/29248/Intertoys-Pokmon-HeartGold-uitgesteld-vanwege-bug.html

Translated from Dutch:

Quote:

News | March 23, 2010 - The release of Pokemon Gold Heart is under an employee of Inter Toys indefinitely postponed by an error somewhere. According Intertoys appears a bluescreen while playing. This makes it impossible for the game at all for the first time to start without error in the following image.

We can confirm that from my own research Heart Gold indeed an error on startup. The error message displayed stored data can not be read to the Nintendo DS and restart, the same message back into view. Soul Silver is doing as far as we have to test it properly.

We have contacted Nintendo Benelux, but they can not yet confirm this bug. At present there is still no confirmation from Nintendo on the postponement of Pokemon Gold Heart. We hope as soon as possible to get clarification from Nintendo.

This is quite scary, how quickly fake DS copies of Heart Gold have reached circulation. I know from experience how prevalent fake GBA Pokemon games, and it seems the DS has not escaped this trade. I am posting to bring this to people's attention, and to be careful where you buy your games - fake games use an imported ROM of the game which eventually breaks down and become impossible to use, the GBA fakes seem to last a few weeks to a month, this might work even less well.

Thread title:

[url=http://www.insidegamer.nl/nintendods/pokmonheartgold/nieuws/29248/Intertoys-Pokmon-HeartGold-uitgesteld-vanwege-bug.html]http://www.insidegamer.nl/nintendods/pokmonheartgold/nieuws/29248/Intertoys-Pokmon-HeartGold-uitgesteld-vanwege-bug.html[/url]

Translated from Dutch:

[quote]News | March 23, 2010 - The release of Pokemon Gold Heart is under an employee of Inter Toys indefinitely postponed by an error somewhere. According Intertoys appears a bluescreen while playing. This makes it impossible for the game at all for the first time to start without error in the following image.

[img]http://media.insidegamer.nl/dump/1269351675.jpg[/img]

We can confirm that from my own research Heart Gold indeed an error on startup. The error message displayed stored data can not be read to the Nintendo DS and restart, the same message back into view. Soul Silver is doing as far as we have to test it properly.

We have contacted Nintendo Benelux, but they can not yet confirm this bug. At present there is still no confirmation from Nintendo on the postponement of Pokemon Gold Heart. We hope as soon as possible to get clarification from Nintendo. [/quote]

This is quite scary, how quickly fake DS copies of Heart Gold have reached circulation. I know from experience how prevalent fake GBA Pokemon games, and it seems the DS has not escaped this trade. I am posting to bring this to people's attention, and to be careful where you buy your games - fake games use an imported ROM of the game which eventually breaks down and become impossible to use, the GBA fakes seem to last a few weeks to a month, this might work even less well.

ZenicReverie

2010-03-23 02:34:16 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

I don't see them saying it's a fake in the translation, just that it's a bug. How did you come to the conclusion that it was a fake?

Toothache

2010-03-23 03:13:23 pm

Let the music play!

Because I've bought GBA copies of Pokemon games that turned out later to be fake, and the exact same message that appeared in this picture appeared in those games too.

Sir VG

2010-03-23 03:27:59 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

I wish they'd show a scan (front and back) of the cart. I bet you I could very quickly point out flaws if it's indeed fake.

Axel Ryman

2010-03-23 11:25:51 pm

We all scream for Eyes Cream

Quote from Lord_VG:

I wish they'd show a scan (front and back) of the cart. I bet you I could very quickly point out flaws if it's indeed fake.

This

Or maybe cause it's from a Rom Dump of the game, as I heard HG and SS are having AP issues.

arkarian

2010-03-24 01:50:55 pm

gamelogs.org

just buy soulsilver ;P

UchihaSasuke

2010-03-24 05:57:11 pm

Stand: Devil's Call in your Heart

hmm i wonder if the fake copies' makers went all the way to fake the bigger package and the pokewalker because, as far as i know, all the legit copies come bundled with the accesory and there's no standalone copies.
if the package is just a regular DS case, people got scammed easily.

also, HG and SS's cart model is different. normal carts have "NTR-005" on the back, while HG/SS have "NTR-031". i guess that's because of the infrared sensor inside. the carts are also black instead of the regular dark gray.

UltimateDarius

2010-03-25 05:31:23 am

Back in the game!

I have seen this message on my copy of Animal Crossing DS!

Sir VG

2010-03-25 05:54:40 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from UchihaSasuke:

hmm i wonder if the fake copies' makers went all the way to fake the bigger package and the pokewalker because, as far as i know, all the legit copies come bundled with the accesory and there's no standalone copies.
if the package is just a regular DS case, people got scammed easily.

also, HG and SS's cart model is different. normal carts have "NTR-005" on the back, while HG/SS have "NTR-031". i guess that's because of the infrared sensor inside. the carts are also black instead of the regular dark gray.

Plus the game cases will have "Not For Resale" where the usual UPC is. Plus half the fun of the game is that silly Pokewalker. Given my job, I take a LOT of steps, so I can build stuff up there quite easily.

ZaibirQuild_notlogged

2010-03-25 07:28:10 am

Well there is no talk of fake copies in the article. (like ZenicReverie mentioned)
Then again I don't know much about it so who knows.

Also they updated the article, translated update (google translate because i'm lazy):

Quote:

UPDATE: Meanwhile, we can confirm that not all copies of Heart Gold are affected by this error in the game and that the problem lies with a particular load. Nintendo Benelux is still doing research on the scale of this problem.

[edit] changed the translation a bit, there were some seriously wrong translated parts that made it say something entirely different Tongue

Greenalink

Edit history:

Greenalink: 2010-03-26 04:26:24 am

2010-03-25 12:55:05 pm

DS Dictator

I had a Fake Emerald* back in 2006 by searching it on EBay. The retailer said it was a PAL (well technically European) version but I got an American one instead. This cart was green like the official ones and the first time I turned it on it had a corruption message, it didn't matter too much until a day or 2 later saying that the game got corrupted >:(.
At least I wasn't too far ahead to the point I was going to abuse the cloning glitch I will be pissed off if the corrupted message occurs around that part of the game. So I sent it back and bought a Euro version from a legit site (GAME).

* The copy I got from EBay might not be fake as some people would refer but it shouldn't be normal for a game to be corrupted whenever it feels like it.

My Heart Gold 3D Case Edition should come tomorrow. Let's hope it comes with the game and not just the 3D case :P.

------

Edit: Serebii.net updated the site today saying:

Nintendo of Europe stated that the release of HGSS to Dutch speaking countries (Netherlands) has been postponed due to a major bug that prevents saves from being detected, the other languages works fine. Funny how the fake copies news is mentioned from a Dutch website and now this major bug is affected when setting the language to Dutch.

I had a Fake Emerald* back in 2006 by searching it on EBay. The retailer said it was a PAL (well technically European) version but I got an American one instead. This cart was green like the official ones and the first time I turned it on it had a corruption message, it didn't matter too much until a day or 2 later saying that the game got corrupted >:(. 
At least I wasn't too far ahead to the point I was going to abuse the cloning glitch I will be pissed off if the corrupted message occurs around that part of the game. So I sent it back and bought a Euro version from a legit site (GAME).

* The copy I got from EBay might not be fake as some people would refer but it shouldn't be normal for a game to be corrupted whenever it feels like it.

My Heart Gold 3D Case Edition should come tomorrow. Let's hope it comes with the game and not just the 3D case :P.

------

Edit: Serebii.net updated the site today saying:

Nintendo of Europe stated that the release of HGSS to Dutch speaking countries (Netherlands) has been postponed due to a major bug that prevents saves from being detected, the other languages works fine. Funny how the fake copies news is mentioned from a Dutch website and now this major bug is affected when setting the language to Dutch.

Sir VG

2010-03-26 05:51:21 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from Greenalink:

I had a Fake Emerald* back in 2006 by searching it on EBay. The retailer said it was a PAL (well technically European) version but I got an American one instead. This cart was green like the official ones and the first time I turned it on it had a corruption message, it didn't matter too much until a day or 2 later saying that the game got corrupted >:(.
At least I wasn't too far ahead to the point I was going to abuse the cloning glitch I will be pissed off if the corrupted message occurs around that part of the game. So I sent it back and bought a Euro version from a legit site (GAME).

* The copy I got from EBay might not be fake as some people would refer but it shouldn't be normal for a game to be corrupted whenever it feels like it.

There is a very easy way to tell whether a GBA cart is genuine. If you turn the cart so it faces you (like you're gonna read it), then tilt it up to look at the circuit board, try to look at around where the plastic cart ends. You should see some white lettering that says NINTENDO on it. If you see it, the cart is legit. If you don't, it's possibly fake (or it may be completely obscured by the plastic itself.

[quote="Greenalink"]
I had a Fake Emerald* back in 2006 by searching it on EBay. The retailer said it was a PAL (well technically European) version but I got an American one instead. This cart was green like the official ones and the first time I turned it on it had a corruption message, it didn't matter too much until a day or 2 later saying that the game got corrupted >:(. 
At least I wasn't too far ahead to the point I was going to abuse the cloning glitch I will be pissed off if the corrupted message occurs around that part of the game. So I sent it back and bought a Euro version from a legit site (GAME).

* The copy I got from EBay might not be fake as some people would refer but it shouldn't be normal for a game to be corrupted whenever it feels like it.[/quote]

There is a very easy way to tell whether a GBA cart is genuine.  If you turn the cart so it faces you (like you're gonna read it), then tilt it up to look at the circuit board, try to look at around where the plastic cart ends.  You should see some white lettering that says NINTENDO on it.  If you see it, the cart is legit.  If you don't, it's possibly fake (or it may be completely obscured by the plastic itself.

Elpis_TK31

2010-03-28 02:01:08 pm

PAL 50Hz KILL ME NOW

a friend of mine bought HG & SS at an intertoys, and they were bugged, good thing I know the owners of my local game store well, so he got the american versions instead.