Looking for Distribution Carts

[Rockman_96]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any Gameboy Advance distribution cartridges for sale, or knew which websites to watch for them.  I found one on eBay a few days ago, but I don't think it was legitimate.

[Gridelin]

Welcome to the forums! Most gen3 distribution cartridges were attached to the GBA console and would look something like the picture I attached below. A general rule of thumb about distribution cartridges for Gen3 is that if they aren't connected to the console like this, they very well could be illegitimate.

 

I'm curious, do you have any distribution cartridges yourself already? Besides for private sellers, eBay has been the most likely place in the states to see anything related to distribution cartridges.

[Guest]

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Edited December 22, 2019 by Guest

[Gridelin]

4 hours ago, Purin said:

This only applies to carts that were used in Europe from what I know. And btw. the same is true for Gen 4 and Gen 5 euro distribution systems that were not mass produced.

Fascinating, so do we think that loose cartridges were used in the U.S? I thought I remembered pictures of locked down GBA SP systems like this in America, but I could be wrong.

[theSLAYER]

36 minutes ago, Gridelin said:

Fascinating, so do we think that loose cartridges were used in the U.S? I thought I remembered pictures of locked down GBA SP systems like this in America, but I could be wrong.

Referring specifically to Gen 3, I can't say definitely don't think loose carts were ever used? (maybe besides MYSTRY Mew; not even a special game, just cloned save)

In this thread, it shows locked down SP for Aura Mew (EU) and 10ANNIV (EU).
Yeah, it doesn't prove that US used loose carts. Need event photos that actually prove such a thing.

[Rockman_96]

21 hours ago, Gridelin said:

Welcome to the forums! Most gen3 distribution cartridges were attached to the GBA console and would look something like the picture I attached below. A general rule of thumb about distribution cartridges for Gen3 is that if they aren't connected to the console like this, they very well could be illegitimate.

 

I'm curious, do you have any distribution cartridges yourself already? Besides for private sellers, eBay has been the most likely place in the states to see anything related to distribution cartridges.

 

Thanks!  I attached the pictures of the cartridge I saw below. The seller claimed it was a 10th Anniversary distribution cartridge, but the cartridge was not attached to a system and seemed too large.

The only distribution cartridges I have are the GAMESTP shiny trio and the SUM2013 shiny legendary trio for the DS. I know the Generation 3 cartridges would cost more, but I haven't ever seen any legitimate ones on eBay, just lots of Gen 4 and Gen 5.

[Gridelin]

1 hour ago, Rockman_96 said:

Thanks!  I attached the pictures of the cartridge I saw below. The seller claimed it was a 10th Anniversary distribution cartridge, but the cartridge was not attached to a system and seemed too large.

The only distribution cartridges I have are the GAMESTP shiny trio and the SUM2013 shiny legendary trio for the DS. I know the Generation 3 cartridges would cost more, but I haven't ever seen any legitimate ones on eBay, just lots of Gen 4 and Gen 5.

To my knowledge, there was at least one distribution that used this larger cartridge, but it was not the 10th anniversary distribution.

[theSLAYER]

7 hours ago, Rockman_96 said:

I know the Generation 3 cartridges would cost more, but I haven't ever seen any legitimate ones on eBay

To be fair, I don't think Gen III had the same event occurring concurrently across multiple locations? (Besides MYSTRY Mew, Quick glance on bulbapedia says no)

I imagine the event probably had minimal amount of carts produced, and the event dates per state/location was different/staggered, so "Journey Across America" (for example) was literally them bringing the (hypothetical amount of) 10 carts across America (lol).

If so, it would not be surprising that there isn't a large amount of Gen III carts in the wild, simply because a large amount wasn't produced.

This is further contrasted with Gen IV and Gen V events, where Nintendo/TPCi sent distribution carts out to retailers across the nation(s). Between the amount of carts that some retailers lost, and some badly disposed carts found in landfills, it kinda explains why there's more Gen IV and V event carts in the wild. (and that is excluding any discussion regarding fakes)
 

[Guest]

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Edited December 22, 2019 by Guest

[Gridelin]

2 hours ago, Purin said:

You are correct! It was the European Shiny Zigzagoon cartridge, but that one was, too, security-sealed to a Game Boy Advance handheld console.

Yup, that's the one I was thinking of haha! Never seen the security tape on the back before!

[Rockman_96]

On 6/3/2019 at 9:18 PM, Gridelin said:

To my knowledge, there was at least one distribution that used this larger cartridge, but it was not the 10th anniversary distribution.

Thanks for letting me know.  I doubted its legitimacy since I couldn't find any similar pictures, and the seller has sold a few questionable Toys R Us Mew cartridges.

18 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

To be fair, I don't think Gen III had the same event occurring concurrently across multiple locations? (Besides MYSTRY Mew, Quick glance on bulbapedia says no)

I imagine the event probably had minimal amount of carts produced, and the event dates per state/location was different/staggered, so "Journey Across America" (for example) was literally them bringing the (hypothetical amount of) 10 carts across America (lol).

If so, it would not be surprising that there isn't a large amount of Gen III carts in the wild, simply because a large amount wasn't produced.

This is further contrasted with Gen IV and Gen V events, where Nintendo/TPCi sent distribution carts out to retailers across the nation(s). Between the amount of carts that some retailers lost, and some badly disposed carts found in landfills, it kinda explains why there's more Gen IV and V event carts in the wild. (and that is excluding any discussion regarding fakes)
 

Okay, that explains why I haven't seen any for sale. The only other concurrent events I could find were the Aura Mew and the Pokémon Trade and Battle Day JEREMY Pokemon, but I'm pretty sure both of those cartridges are more rare than MYSTRY Mew.

15 hours ago, ajxpk said:

Please don’t pay anything for Gen 3 distribution software. At least not when it’s about the “common” ones you can find circulating around including the Aurora Ticket (U.S.), Top 10, Aura Mew ect... There is a lot of controversies about replicas being made and sold, data being edited and contend being removed. As a result it’s difficult to say what’s really “untouched”. The only way to protect yourself is to not buy, those replicas are really well made and you most likely won’t be able to tell the difference from looking at the cartridge alone. You would have to dump the ROM and check it out.

By the way... In case someone finds software which is different compared to those already known... please get in touch with me as I’m still interested to collect data and I’m able to reverse engineer it. I’m quite busy these days but if there is something important to look at I can make time for it.

Okay, I'll stay away from the common distribution events.  I haven't seen any well made replicas yet, but it is good to know that they are out there.

11 hours ago, Purin said:

You are correct! It was the European Shiny Zigzagoon cartridge, but that one was, too, security-sealed to a Game Boy Advance handheld console.

That's pretty interesting!  I didn't know there was an alternative distribution method to the Gamecube demo disc.

[theSLAYER]

3 hours ago, Rockman_96 said:

Ikay, that explains why I haven't seen any for sale. The only other concurrent events I could find were the Aura Mew and the Pokémon Trade and Battle Day JEREMY Pokemon, but I'm pretty sure both of those cartridges are more rare than MYSTRY Mew.

I’ve been told that it appears JEREMY uses cloned save with same mons, like how MYSTRY Mew distribution was handled, but I don’t think even a single one of such a JEREMY save was made public. Then again, one could simply just inject those mons in a save and say it was an event save.

also, if this fella was able to inject ROMs into dev carts (since only dev carts’ ROM could get replaced), it’s important to note Aura Mew distribution is also out in the wild, and that’s how he’ll be able to sell a Aura Mew distribution cart.

(Gentle reminder: it’s against our rules to ask for ROMs. Bringing this up just in case  )

[Rockman_96]

20 hours ago, theSLAYER said:

I’ve been told that it appears JEREMY uses cloned save with same mons, like how MYSTRY Mew distribution was handled, but I don’t think even a single one of such a JEREMY save was made public. Then again, one could simply just inject those mons in a save and say it was an event save.

also, if this fella was able to inject ROMs into dev carts (since only dev carts’ ROM could get replaced), it’s important to note Aura Mew distribution is also out in the wild, and that’s how he’ll be able to sell a Aura Mew distribution cart.

(Gentle reminder: it’s against our rules to ask for ROMs. Bringing this up just in case  )

Okay, I would not be surprised if this seller starts selling other replica dev carts, especially since they sold another Mew cartridge today.

It's okay, I'm not interested in ROMs.  If I can't find any cartridges, I can just use the .pk3 files that are available.

Thanks a lot for all of your help and information!