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Archived Sticky: GBA distribution system


Bloomy

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A few months back, I purchased a Mew distribution GBA system on eBay from someone in the UK. It's a regular GBA SP with a metal harness screwed onto it that prevents the cartridge from being removed. Pictures of the system are attached. I'm guessing this was used to distribute Aura Mew.

I'm hoping someone here knows how to use it, because I haven't had much luck trying to figure it out myself or finding instructions online. I messaged the seller, who had excellent feedback, and he confirmed it worked. For something like this, I decided to take the risk of making an offer without fully knowing how to use it before someone else had a chance to bite.

If you can't tell from the 4th picture, when I turn the system on, it says "POKéMON Deliver" near the top of the screen, "WAITING..." in the middle and "252" with a spinning Pokeball in the lower right.

I've tried connecting it to US copies all 5 of the GBA games and a UK copy of Sapphire. I've tried the purple end of the GBA connector cable in both the sending and receiving systems, as well as Mystery Gift with the wireless adapter for FR/LG/E. No luck. I read through the AuroraTicket / US Emerald topic, so unless this cart is different from other GBA events, I should be able to use a US cart with it. The US carts I've tried have the Elite 4 beaten and have the National Dex.

The UK cart only has 5 badges. I also bought it from eBay after picking up the system and not having luck with my other carts. I'm not 100% certain it's legit, though my US Diamond doesn't complain or wipe the save when trying to send stuff through the Pal Park. The battery has run out, though. I don't know if that would make a difference with this, but my US Sapphire's battery has also run out and I can't use it with my GC berry fix demo disc anymore. The berry program says the game pak is damaged or the save file has been modified, and I didn't do the latter.

I hope that 252 on the screen doesn't represent some sort of distribution limit that's been reached.

Thanks for any help and insight anyone can provide.

gba-mew-sys-1..jpg

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gba-mew-sys-4..jpg

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gba-mew-sys-3..jpg.f71419894ff3fe512dfd6

gba-mew-sys-4..jpg.7d37be407e8edb89f0a20

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don't listen to any event fanatics pm-ing you behind the scenes trying to shut you up. the more info you can provide on this thing the better!

that said, you have an amazing buy here and i'd love to hear all about it, see videos, etc.

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A little event-insight:

Here's footage of the

.

Seems as if it would be a similar, just using wireless mystery gift.

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/f226/what-becoming-third-generation-12756/

There were only 5 events (according to Gold Ursaring) which distributed Mew to GBA games.

 ===============================================================
[                                                               ]
[ 151 Mew                                                       ]
[ ONLY distributed as an Event Pokemon.                         ]
[ Total Events (5)                                              ]
[                                                               ]
*North America (1) ********************************************
[ 2006 (USA) – TOYS R’ US                                       ]
[ Level – 10                                                    ]
[ OT: MYSTRY                                                    ]
[ ID: 06930                                                     ]
[ Location: Hoenn                                               ]
^Europe ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
[ 2007 (EUROPE) – Tour                                          ]
[ Level – 10                                                    ]
[ OT: Aura                                                      ]
[ ID: 20078                                                     ]
[ Location: Hoenn                                               ]
[                                                               ]
+ASIA (3)++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
[ #1                                                            ]
[ 2005 (JAPAN) – MOVIE                                          ]
[ Level – 10                                                    ]
[ OT: ???                                                       ]
[ ID: 50716                                                     ]
[ Location: Hoenn                                               ]
---------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2006 (TAIWAN) – POKE PARK                                     ]
[ Level – 30                                                    ]
[ OT: ???                                                       ]
[ ID: 60510                                                     ]
[ Location: Hoenn                                               ]
---------------------------------------------------------------
[ 2007 (JAPAN) - POKEMON FESTA                                  ]
[ Level – 50                                                    ]
[ OT: ???                                                       ]
[ ID: 71507                                                     ]
[ Ball – Cherish                                                ]
[ Ribbon – Classic                                              ]
[ Move: Teleport                                                ]
[ Location – Pokemon Event                                      ]
[ Nature – Quirky (Only applies to Earlier Distribution Mew)    ]
[                                                               ]
===============================================================

Only 1 of these took place in Europe, and it was for the Aura mew... so it should pretty much confirm what you have. MYSTRY was done (afaik) by having an actual game cartridge; Twig got his hands on a copy and it's totally different than what you've got.

===============

The cartridge inside the SP is bigger than the standard cartridge, kinda indicating that some capability was added (like wireless distribution!). Judging from a GBA SP's underside, the screws are just into the case to prevent removal, and the tape is just there to ensure that the seal was never broken when it is (lolnope) returned.

Here's a Distribution System setup for the 10ANNIV event in the EU. As you can see, it looks pretty much exactly like you've got. --wow those prices they are saying for it

35FE53B0-C304-CBC4-9BF0AD899B7563E5.jpg

The counter at the bottom is 0... pretty sure it's distributed count.

At the US 10 ANIV distribution, distribution was done via link cable to ensure that 1 was given out. However... people went back in line to get another distribution (so there's no flagging in the save file as was done for the later WISHMKR Jirachi). Guess it acts as a quality control that way.

=====

Conclusion:

Aura Mew distribution, unknown if link cable used (couldn't find info on Aura distro). PIDIV method is the same as other methods.

speculative guesses:

Might be a keypress combination to unlock... I sure hope there isn't a Real Time Clock check to prevent sending after the event is over; but I doubt this is the case :)

#252 = one after celebi... fishy place to stop at?

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Thanks for that info, Kaphotics. I had read through that Mystry Mew thread previously, and I recall seeing an auction for one on eBay earlier last year. I was a bit leery about that, though, since I didn't know if there was a way to test the cart itself for legitimacy. I had participated in the event back in '06, and saw it was a regular game seeded with a PC full of Mew. I don't remember from the other thread if there is a way to identify a real TRU cart vs. one filled with Mew and touted as the real thing. My regrets from the actual event were not sticking around after all the kids had left and continue trading as long as the TRU employees would let me and not asking if they'd be willing to do a mass upload from the cart to my copy of Box.

The member who PM'ed me did provide with me with the information to get it working. I need to hold Start and Select when powering on the receiving system, which starts the GBA in "receive" or "client" mode, for lack of knowing the official term for multiplayer with a single GBA cart. The distribution system's "WAITING..." changes to "TRANSFERRING..." and the receiving system shows :

"You are receiving the POKéMON now. Please

do not turn off the power."

with a trail of Pokeballs rolling across the screen. Once the Mew is received, it says :

"The POKéMON has arrived! Please turn off

the power, and unplug the Game Boy

Advance Game Link cable."

with a Mew sprite beneath the message. If the party is full, the receiving GBA shows :

"You need to have a free space in your

party. Please turn off the power and

unplug the Game Boy Advance Game Link

cable."

Once I receive a Mew, I can turn off the receiving system, turn it back on with Start and Select and receive another as long as I have space in my party. So it's not like the Jirachi disc (one per save) but like the GC demo disc berry fix Zigzagoon (unlimited). The 252 is a number distributed counter, it's now up to 270. :biggrin: Wonder if there's a limit, and if it would roll over to 0 if a limit is reached.

I've sent Mew to US Sapphire, EUR Sapphire and US Emerald with the link cable. Purple end in the distribution system, which I think is how the set up needs to be for the "host" system. The distribution doesn't appear to work with the wireless adapter, the receiving system couldn't find anything to download. The distribution also failed to connect to a JP Ruby ("Please make sure you have an English version of a GBA Pokemon Game Pak inserted."), haven't checked to see if it gives that message for a non-Pokemon GBA game.

My only current means of capturing video is my 3DS, which was also used for the pictures in the first post. I don't know how well things will show up with that, but will take some test videos later.

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I paid £275 for it back in May, which according to my PayPal history was $456.96 (exchange rates are a little cheaper at present). My most expensive Pokemon event purchase to date, but given the rarity of the system, I didn't want to let it slip to someone else. I don't remember what the auction's original Buy It Now price was, but the seller was also taking offers, and after a little haggling I didn't need to go too much above my initial offer for him to accept it.

The seller also had a EUR berry glitch system up. It was an original style GBA with a cart that had tape all over it in what was apparently an attempt to "secure" it in the system. Since I already have a GC demo disc with the berry fix / shiny Zigzagoon distribution, I wasn't willing to offer what he was looking to get for it.

A number of 4th gen and 5th gen distribution carts have popped up on eBay over the years. Was that $1,000 beasts cart a BIN price, or did it get bid up that high? I don't recall seeing one that expensive, that's pretty high for a DS distro cart. I have one of the beast carts, which I got for $137.50 on a BIN last March. Checking completed listings on eBay, one went for $199.99 on 12/27 and another for $225 on 10/12. I also picked up carts for Gamestop Deoxys back in Oct. 2009 and Winter 2011 Celebi in Oct. 2011.

Since I have a US Colosseum bonus disc, I wasn't really interested in the Gamestop shiny Pichu / Jirachi carts that have popped up, nor Karrablast / Shelmet or Secret Egg carts. Have seen a couple Keldeo carts. One had already ended by the time I saw it. The other had a BIN price more than I was willing to pay, so I made a bid to disable the BIN, but was ultimately outbid.

Gamestop seems much more lax than TRU about ensuring carts are sent back to Nintendo. Despite some Mystry Mew carts getting out in wild, I don't recall seeing Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin or Arceus carts show up on eBay.

I had forgotten about this, but came across it while digging through some old posts of mine on another forum - I had taken my Deoxys cart to a Dragon Quest 9 map event at a Best Buy a couple years back, in case anyone had brought along some Pokemon games for trading. After chatting with the Nintendo rep for a while and getting the impression that she wouldn't make a stink about it, I showed her the Deoxys cart. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she asked me where I got it, and how much I paid after I told her eBay. She didn't seem to care that I had it, and said that the price that I paid (a little under $150) was about the price Nintendo charges for unreturned event carts. She said those charges are made at the corporate level, not the store / region level, which might make it easier for some to slip through the cracks. I had also told her that TRU employees said that if their carts weren't returned that they wouldn't be able to participate in future events, but she said that wasn't the case.

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Hey, that's a pretty interesting find!

Do you have a Slot-1 flashcard you could use to rip/restore save files from GBA games?

Because if you do, then it'd be really cool, since we could send you our save files and you'd be able to distribute Mew that way!

That is, if you're willing to do that.

Dumping the cartridge's rom for studying and such could be interesting as well, unless you want to keep it 100% unaltered.

(It'd be pretty cool if we could modify it to distribute other events such as the JAA Tour 10th anniversary ones.)

Oh, and by the way, about Gen IV distribution cartridges...

While Toys'R'Us has been much more secure about their distribution cartridges, to ensure all of them stay in the store and are sent back to Nintendo, someone has dumped the Dragonite distribution cartridge from Toys'R'Us. Unsure if that one had been stolen or smuggled out or something, but I think it's worth mentioning.

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(It'd be pretty cool if we could modify it to distribute other events such as the JAA Tour 10th anniversary ones.)

So you're suggesting that he contributes the rom so it can be hacked to give out what in essence would be other hacks? yeah...

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So you're suggesting that he contributes the rom so it can be hacked to give out what in essence would be other hacks? yeah...

That would be one of the easiest ways to devalue a rather unique item. Do people really think someone that paid close to 500 bucks would freely distribute it?

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So you're suggesting that he contributes the rom so it can be hacked to give out what in essence would be other hacks? yeah...

Way to put words in my mouth.

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really bro? 500 bucks! become 1 buck in the end...499 to waste lol

It wouldn't go down to being worth 1 buck just because of a rom being dumped, you know.

People would be willing to pay big bucks for the original thing even if there was a rom being passed around. Just look at the various Gen IV distribution cartridges. If they were worth 1 buck each, I'd have a copy of each already.

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  • 3 years later...

I doubt we will ever see one of these device becomming publicly available. They are incredibly rare and expensive. Most of them are in the hands of collectors who will probably never share them.

Though it would be interesting to see how it works exactly.

Carts like that one from the MYSTRY Mew event are more frequently on Ebay and less expensive.

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