Method to Verify Authenticity of Gen III Events on FR/LF/R/S/E Cartridges?

[theDoctorJ]

Is there way to tell if an event on a Generation 3 game cartridge was received from the event itself (versus being hacked in, injected from third party flashcart, etc.)? If so, what is that method and what are some signs it is legit?

 

Thanks.

Edited January 5, 2022 by theDoctorJ

[theSLAYER]

5 minutes ago, theDoctorJ said:

Is there way to tell if an event on a Generation 3 game cartridge was received from the event itself (versus being hacked in, injected from third party flashcart, etc.)? If so, what is that method and what are some signs it is legit?

 

Thanks.

Yes and no. If you know the RNG correlations you can try checking it out. Maybe ask the person for their story to see if that checks out. Maybe ask for photographic proof. Maybe check if the save has other telltale signs of receiving event or hacking.

[theDoctorJ]

3 minutes ago, theSLAYER said:

Yes and no. If you know the RNG correlations you can try checking it out. Maybe ask the person for their story to see if that checks out. Maybe ask for photographic proof. Maybe check if the save has other telltale signs of receiving event or hacking.

How would I go about getting the RNG correlations? And what are other telltale signs?

[theSLAYER]

14 minutes ago, theDoctorJ said:

How would I go about getting the RNG correlations? And what are other telltale signs?

Different Groups of event Pokémon have different RNG generation patterns. It can involve PID, IV, held item, OT name, TID, OT gender. It really depends on which event Pokémon we talking about.

Tho even getting those values won’t be much help if you don’t know the correlation. As far as I know it isn’t fully documented clearly. It’s probably somewhere, just at an unclear “need to search for it” state

 

as for other telltale signs, can range from stuff like does the fella have wonder cards? Is the mon in their dex? Do they have x999 for items? You know, the usual.

[theDoctorJ]

36 minutes ago, theSLAYER said:

Different Groups of event Pokémon have different RNG generation patterns. It can involve PID, IV, held item, OT name, TID, OT gender. It really depends on which event Pokémon we talking about.

Tho even getting those values won’t be much help if you don’t know the correlation. As far as I know it isn’t fully documented clearly. It’s probably somewhere, just at an unclear “need to search for it” state

 

as for other telltale signs, can range from stuff like does the fella have wonder cards? Is the mon in their dex? Do they have x999 for items? You know, the usual.

OK, thanks for the information. I'm specifically looking at cartridges with event distributions for the Aurora Ticket and Old Sea Map. Any other tell-tale signs other than the wondercard?

[theSLAYER]

3 hours ago, theDoctorJ said:

OK, thanks for the information. I'm specifically looking at cartridges with event distributions for the Aurora Ticket and Old Sea Map. Any other tell-tale signs other than the wondercard?

You gotta check the save individually. I feel like I can’t specify each individual instance. Ask the seller for their story, see if it checks out. If they can’t even provide a believable story, don’t bother. 
 

maybe it’ll be easier to provide us whatever info you get, if you feel you aren’t a good judge.

[Gridelin]

17 hours ago, theDoctorJ said:

OK, thanks for the information. I'm specifically looking at cartridges with event distributions for the Aurora Ticket and Old Sea Map. Any other tell-tale signs other than the wondercard?

Just assume everything is fake and you'll be a lot happier at the end of the day. 99.9% of Old Sea Map anything sold online is fake, Aurora Ticket is probably 99.8% lmao

[theDoctorJ]

7 hours ago, Gridelin said:

Just assume everything is fake and you'll be a lot happier at the end of the day. 99.9% of Old Sea Map anything sold online is fake, Aurora Ticket is probably 99.8% lmao

Probably true, but I will still keep searching

[theDoctorJ]

On 1/4/2022 at 9:12 PM, theSLAYER said:

You gotta check the save individually. I feel like I can’t specify each individual instance. Ask the seller for their story, see if it checks out. If they can’t even provide a believable story, don’t bother. 
 

maybe it’ll be easier to provide us whatever info you get, if you feel you aren’t a good judge.

Yooo it’s been a while, but I am going back and realizing I never gave you specific information. If you are still around and willing to help me out, I would welcome some help verifying whether the events on these carts i have are legit. Just let me know and I’ll send details

[theSLAYER]

15 minutes ago, theDoctorJ said:

Yooo it’s been a while, but I am going back and realizing I never gave you specific information. If you are still around and willing to help me out, I would welcome some help verifying whether the events on these carts i have are legit. Just let me know and I’ll send details

Might be easier for you to share the details + screenshots here, this way anyone can jump in.

[theDoctorJ]

Apologies in advance for the long post.

So I bought a Japanese Emerald cartridge said to contain a legitimate Old Sea Map (acquired from Poke Festa 2005) off eBay back in early 2022, and have been sitting on it since them. The seller was based in the UK. <insert photos of cartridge for reference>. His story regarding how he obtained the cartridge, as told over Discord calls and DM's, is as follows: 

When the seller was young, he had a Japanese friend who was a massive Pokémon fan. Let's call him Yuuki, since that is the name of the player on the save file. Yuuki moved away to Japan in the early 2000's. Years later in 2016, the seller visited Japan and reconnected with Yuuki.  At the time, Yuuki was in the process of moving and was getting rid of items in his Pokémon collection. One of these items was a Japanese copy of Emerald, which Yuuki recalled was used extensively. Specifically, he remembered performing many trades with his friends, trying to complete the Pokedex. He gave it to the seller as a gift, since he was going to get rid of it anyways.

When the seller booted up the version of Emerald, he noticed a couple of event Pokémon in the PC boxes including two Wishmaker Jirachis and an Aurora Ticket Deoxys, the latter seeming caught on Birth Island from a copy of Fire Red. There were also multiple box legendaries, including six Rayquazas. The seller asked Yuuki how they obtained so many rare Pokémon; Yuuki reiterated that he would trade with his friends from school constantly, with Rayquaza being his favorite Pokemon at the time. They also added that they attended several in-person events while living in Japan, including events where they gave away Mew and the Aurora Ticket to catch Deoxys. Everything was legit, according to Yuuki.

That matched up with what the seller saw, but did not see Mew in the PC. Yuuki swore up and down that he had received an event Mew, as he specifically remembered his parents took them to a huge Pokémon event in Tokyo. They remember the event being in a huge building, with a ton of different Pokémon related things to do. They did bring their Gameboy, and thought he remembered receiving Mew. Keep in mind that Yuuki was really young at the time, so the memories aren't the most detailed. 

Later, the seller booted up his Gameboy with a wireless adapter plugged in and checked the Wonder Card. Sure enough, the WC for Old Sea Map popped up. When he went to the Pokémon Center to try to claim the item, he realized he couldn't obtain it. He freaked for a second, but checked his bag. The Old Sea Map was there! He traveled to Faraway Island, and saw that Mew was still there, uncaught. From there he turned the power off without saving to maintain the event. The seller let Yuuki know, and Yuuki was surprised but let him keep it.

The seller showed me the Wonder Card over video call, showed going to Faraway Island, and showed me the Pokémon in the boxes. I asked if Yuuki had shown any photo or phsycial evidence that he was there, and the seller communicated that Yuuki told him his family had taken photos at the time, but that the photos were taken on a crappy flip phone and were forgotten about/lost when they the phone was disposed of.

After the call, I did some research into the 2005 Tokyo Poke Festa event and confirmed it took place in the Tokyo Big Sight. I was satisfied with the story, and agreed to purchase. Upon receiving the cartridge, I saved a copy of the save file using a Flash Boy. Due to life circumstances at the time, I paused on further analysis indefinitely until now.

Looking back at the save file copy in the present using PKHeX, the story of the cartridge as told by the seller matches with the data. There are over 40 unique Trainer ID's on the cart and the save file has totaled 105 trades. All the Pokémon are legit according to the PKHeX's verification. The Deoxys was caught on a Fire Red cartridge that has the same Trainer Name as this copy of Emerald, lending credibility that the owner went to the an event to acquire an Aurora Ticket to catch it. The only Pokémon I have any doubt in is a Scizor with a TID and SID of 00000. It says it was hatched from an egg, and has Pokerus. In other details, all the event flags seem to be in order. The Pokedex isn't maxed out, and the bag items seem realistic.  I can't take a photo of the wonder card at the moment because I don't have a wireless adapter, but I have seen it.

That's all I got. What do you think? Is there other information I should include that would help to verify? Thanks in advance!

PS - I also have a copy of a Japanese Leaf Green that has a supposedly unused Aurora Ticket, but I'll probably make a separate reply giving details for that one. 

 

 

 

 

[theSLAYER]

Having a 0 TID Scizor with OT name Gay is somewhat sus, just because it’s probably some kind of meme.

Whats the Hall of Fame Entries like?

Also mind taking a clearer image of the back of the cart? 

 

[theDoctorJ]

35 minutes ago, theSLAYER said:

Having a 0 TID Scizor with OT name Gay is somewhat sus, just because it’s probably some kind of meme.

Whats the Hall of Fame Entries like?

Also mind taking a clearer image of the back of the cart? 

 

Is this image better? And the number of HoF entries are 19.

Edited March 4 by theDoctorJ
typo

[Gridelin]

7 hours ago, theDoctorJ said:

Is this image better? And the number of HoF entries are 19.

Anything is possible, but this story in general just sounds fake. Imo, it's much more likely the seller just bought a real used JPN Emerald cart that had dozens of trades completed on it, and then injected the wondercard. There is no reason anyone in their right mind would have gone to that event in person and then just not completed it, especially someone as invested in the game as "yuuki" allegedly was.

[theDoctorJ]

On 3/4/2024 at 6:51 AM, Gridelin said:

Anything is possible, but this story in general just sounds fake. Imo, it's much more likely the seller just bought a real used JPN Emerald cart that had dozens of trades completed on it, and then injected the wondercard. There is no reason anyone in their right mind would have gone to that event in person and then just not completed it, especially someone as invested in the game as "yuuki" allegedly was.

Yeah the one hangup I’ve had is to why the Mew was not redeemed when the event happened. Otherwise, the story is almost too convoluted to make up (at least in my opinion).

Is there a way to analyze the code of the save file to gather more information?