I've noticed around eBay that people have been selling cartridges of Mother 3 for GBA, now I'm not so much interested in that game as much as I'm curious about how they got the ROMs on to what looks like an official GBA cart. Have they just taken the guts of something like the EZ Flash IV with a copy of the ROM loaded on and put them inside an old GBA cartridge from a less desirable game? Or is there something a bit more complex going on? If this is considered a touchy subject (since this is could be construed as a way of making fraudulent games etc.) mods can feel free to shut this down, but I am curious and I'd like to know what you guys think.
I've not messed around with GBA repros, but I'm guessing it's the same as any other: Take apart donor cart that has the needed parts (SRAM) Cut off mask ROM Solder on Flash ROM with Mother 3 on it Reassemble
Most, if not all the Ebay sellers, are getting them from China. There are companies there that are mass producing not only fan translated GBA RPG games, but knock off version of collectable retails games like Zelda and Pokemon. Easiest way to figure out if you got one of Chinese knock off is the screw that holds the cart together is not a tri-wing typed screw.
Yeah, I did a little bit of looking around about the subject and found a guy willing to load fabricated carts with any ROM you send him, although if I remember correctly the maximum file size he'd handle was lower than Mother 3. Thanks for the info. And I'm guessing there'd be some sort of device that you'd need to load the game onto the Flash ROM, fair enough.
Not really a good test. I can buy a bag of triwing screws for a few bucks. The guys who make these carts can buy a box of bags of triwing screws for the same price. Same goes for all the other telltale signs of a bootleg. They only exist because things were done on the cheap. A little money and attention to detail and you can make a very accurate replica.
All of those Chinese companies try to cut much cost as possible, so most of them use regular philip screws. Hey most of the time, they don't even care if the labels on those carts are anywhere close to looking like the original. With incorrect size ESRB icon, missing Nintendo quality seal icon, or completely different label from the original.
You can totally have write-once cartridges made. It's just China being China. Probably the easiest way to do it yourself is to change the maskROM, though. Well, debatably, anyway, since those are quite small on a GBA cartridge. There are, honestly, multiple ways to do it. The EZ Flash 3-in-1 is my favourite option for personal use because it's arguably the cheapest (and most useful).
