Topic: Need little help with buying Castlevania games

[Zuljaras]

Hello,

Right now I only have 2 Castlevania games Portrait of Ruin and Mirror of Fate 3DS. I would like to buy Castlevania Double Pack for the GBA but I am afraid in running into fakes because they are so many. I live in Bulgaria and there are not many game sellers here. I have looked in Ebay, Amazon to find the game mentioned above but I cant be sure if I will get the cartridge from the photos. I know how to identify a fake cartridge but I have never bought games from international online markets before.

Do you guys have any tips on how to get my hands on affordable real copy of the game? Here Castlevania is not that popular like the Pokémon Cartridges etc.

[Ratty]

My only suggestions would be to first look at the seller's history and other items. Are they selling a lot of loose copies of this game or other loose but brand new looking GBA cartridges? Then it's very likely not an official release. Loose carts that look like they've got some wear on them (they are over a decade old at this point) are more likely to be legit.

Secondly look for copies with the original boxes, this will cost more but I doubt many pirates have bothered replicating the boxes and manuals. Ultimately it may be cheaper to buy Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance separately since I think the double pack release was rarer. It might also be easier to find legitimate copies of Circle of the Moon since it was a big seller and a launch title for the GBA, it's also a great game and beats the pants off Harmony of Dissonance imo. Just make sure you're playing with a backlit screen when you play Circle of the Moon, which means playing it on the GBA SP, DS, DS Lite or Gamecube Game Boy player. But those are really the best way to go to play any GBA game anyway.

If you do wind up with a fake copy, the main thing to worry about is the battery, you'll want to replace it with a (if I recall right) standard cr2032 watch battery which you should be able to find in a lot of stores.

[KaZudra]

Honestly, If you're pro Original Hardware; go for it.
Me, personally. I buy the game and Emulate it (unless it's DS, because emulator sucks)

[Zuljaras]

I guess I will try my luck on ebay. I want Castlevania Double Pack because on its own Harmony of Dissonance has battery to keep its save. On the other hand the Double Pack and Aria of Sorrow have the flash memory and they do not need battery. Only Circle of the Moon is with only battery option

[Zuljaras]

I have another question for the people with more experience than me

I have ordered Castlevania The Adventure for the original Gameboy. After that I noticed that on the cartridge the text "THIS SUDE OUT" is not in English. I think it is in German. However I did a search about that and I didn't find any Castlevania The Adventure in German language. I know most games for GB, GBA and DS are coded to be only in one language depending what is written on the cartridge. Then I saw there is not that much text inside the game and it was all in English.

Could someone tell me if the European cartridges with this code "NOE" are actually in English. Castlevania The Adventure exception? I want it to be in English but well I have already ordered it.

[Ratty]

I don't know whether the game you got is in English or German (probably English) but it shouldn't really matter. I believe it was fairly common practice back in the day for Japanese games that weren't too dependent on language to have most or all in-game text be in English even in Japan for space reasons, though I'm not sure if this was true of Adventure. There's very little text in Adventure in any case, so little you could easily look it up if you were to be uncertain/curious what something said. And so far as I know all original Game Boy games are region free so that aspect shouldn't be a problem.

[Zuljaras]

I don't know whether the game you got is in English or German (probably English) but it shouldn't really matter. I believe it was fairly common practice back in the day for Japanese games that weren't too dependent on language to have most or all in-game text be in English even in Japan for space reasons, though I'm not sure if this was true of Adventure. There's very little text in tAdventure in any case, so little you could easily look it up if you were to be uncertain/curious what something said. And so far as I know all original Game Boy games are region free so that aspect shouldn't be a problem.

I did not found a single evidence on the internet that either of the three Castlevania games for the original Gameboy have European language different than English so I am hopeful

[Zuljaras]

I found that the GB Castlevania The Adventure is in English even the cartridge uses German code. Now I am waiting for my first GBA Castlevania Circle of the Moon!

[Zuljaras]

Can anyone of you dear Castlevania fans confirm that this is a legit copy of the game For me it authentic but I want a second opinion!

[Ratty]

Couldn't tell you for sure, I only have the individual releases. But putting "Nintendo(TM)" on the board would be an awful lot of attention to detail for a pirate. Especially since now that I think about it pirated GBA games I've seen and/or been told about tend to have stupid giveaways like having a different font for "Nintendo" on the cart, not having that at all or having misspellings like "Nintendolo".

[Shiroi Koumori]

The texture of the plastic cartridge can also say if it is a bootleg or not.
Is it smooth or rough?

[Zuljaras]

The texture of the plastic cartridge can also say if it is a bootleg or not.
Is it smooth or rough?

I do not know I have just ordered it from ebay. The guy that was selling it has 100% positive and he is there since 2009. The only thing I can't see is the engraved number on the sticker on the cartridge which can only be seen from an angle in the light. I saw his other game he was selling and they were looking quite authentic.

I have found another circuit board of this game on the internet and it was the as this one. I hope it is the real deal

[Shiroi Koumori]

I also hope it's the real deal.