English Mother 3 Reproduction goes on sale

[Costello]

You're on a site that tracks rom releases. Have you seen http://shoptemp.net/ ?

You make a fair point, but I'm sure that everyone buying a card would gladly give nintendo money for an English version if only they would let them.

Hah, I knew some smartass would say something like that. Selling someone else's copyrighted work is a completely different thing.
It's nothing like selling a device that unlocks a console (and allows it to be pirated). These guys are actually selling a game they didn't make...

 

[mechagouki]

This will probably end up being a minor collectible, with no real value, much like the various bizarre Pokemon bootleg carts and the "black CD" Dreamcast Half-Life discs.

 

[Heran Bago]

Tomato knows about it and is okay with it. Not the first time it has happened. Reproduction cartridges are only made of things that are out of print so that it is actually impossible to to give the original creators any money for the product by the time it is sold. Ethically this compares favorably to backup devices sold during a system run.


A notable difference between carts that enable piracy and reproduction cartridges are that Nintendo actually goes after stores that sell backup devices. Both are "illegal" under strict interpretation of the law and precedent.

On shoptemp the first thing that catches my eye are cartridges with a picture of Mario on the front. I understand that this is a different type of illegal use of IP than what GBAtemp is against though.

This is a good discussion and I'm glad reproductions are getting some attention on here. Let's keep it going.

 

[BORTZ]

Is he just trying to bait lawsuits or what?

 

[Heran Bago]

He would be the first person making a reproduction cartridge to receive a C&D letter. Usually they are NES, SNES, and Genesis/Mega Drive games though. The Angry Video Game Nerd uses reproduction cartridges in a couple of his episodes.

 

[FAST6191]

Reproduction cartridges are only made of things that are out of print so that it is actually impossible to give the original creators any money for the product by the time it is sold. Ethically this compares favorably to backup devices sold during a system run.

Hmm, most IP laws will include words like monopoly for the rights holder and regardless of whether it is in print or not means surprisingly little (and courtesy of the decades copyright lasts for now probably until after we are dead as well). The closest you might ever get (seen as we are dealing with entertainment and not something like pharmacology) is abandonware/orphan works and that is a still largely theoretical area and clearly not the case here (the rights holders are still known and very much still around).

All that said, nobody in the repro business has got a C and D or equivalent before? I follow it loosely and can not think of an instance but given how C and D happy Square are and how Chrono trigger happy some of the repro people are I am kind of surprised.

 

[Fishaman P]

Hmmm...
If it isn't made from gutted flashcarts, I would pay up to $35 for it.

Interestingly, at another site, they have English repros of Mother 3... in a DS Lite form factor. They're half-height, and will only fit into a Lite's GBA slot.

 

[Heran Bago]

All that said, nobody in the repro business has got a C and D or equivalent before? I follow it loosely and can not think of an instance but given how C and D happy Square are and how Chrono trigger happy some of the repro people are I am kind of surprised.

You would think so, right? But surprisingly no, not yet. People sell boxed translated SNES Squaresoft RPGs a manual and everything. Not just weird things like Bahaumat's Lagoon but serious stuff like Dragon Quests. There are increasingly more sites and eBay auctions for this stuff and they've been getting more and more daring in recent years so I would think it's only a matter of time.

Hmmm...
If it isn't made from gutted flashcarts, I would pay up to $35 for it.

Interestingly, at another site, they have English repros of Mother 3... in a DS Lite form factor. They're half-height, and will only fit into a Lite's GBA slot.

Wow, haven't seen this. Almost guaranteed to be a re purposed EZ 3-in-1. Not authentic enough for me though.

 

[Hop2089]

Most repos and bootlegs are only worth as much as their gaming value, save for several exceptions like bootleg Cotton, Cotton 2, and Cotton Boomerang arcade cabinets which go for $150 and Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire has bootleg CDs that are worth $70-$150 but the reason for those is they look nearly identical to the officials and demand is high.

 

[Dann Woolf]

I can already hear Nintendo's lawyers having aneurysms.​

 

[Skelletonike]

Meh, stuff like that should be reported imho, people earning money through fantranslations (on top of distributing roms with intent to sell which is illegal) isn't very nice at all. Some people also used to do that with anime and that's why on older anime they sometimes put the 'This is a fantranslation if you paid' blablabla to avoid it.

Well, I'd never pay for a reproduction of a game unless it was actually official and the only bootleg game that I bought was Pokemon Diamond for the gb when I was like 13 or so since it seemed pretty interesting (it was a japanese game that had nothing to do with Pokemon, but ignoring the crappy english it was pretty fun).

Also, in the translator's website it clearly says this:
"Try to find a legit copy of the game. It’s not cool to brazenly pirate stuff! Itoi, Nintendo, HAL, and Brownie Brown worked hard on this game. Assuming you can’t find a retail copy (they're extremely rare) you should consider buying some official merch (below)."

 

[DinohScene]

I'm not totally sure this news works for GBAtemp, but it's more fitting with the site's theme than cell phone benchmarks for example.

FINALLY, someone with common sense!


If I where a fan of the Earthbound series then I'd deffo buy it.

 

[Rydian]

Ethically this compares favorably to backup devices sold during a system run.

So paying money to somebody who's selling their own work (a flash cart and ROM loader) is worse than paying money to somebody who's selling somebody else's work (a ROM of a commercial game)?

wut

 

[sblur]

Tomato knows about it and is okay with it.

I can promise you that isn't true.

I can't say anything more than that, as I'm not sure why the attempt to stop this from happening fell through.

 

[Heran Bago]

So paying money to somebody who's selling their own work (a flash cart and ROM loader) is worse than paying money to somebody who's selling somebody else's work (a ROM of a commercial game)?

wut

You don't see how the ability to pirate an entire current generation's system's library is more harmful than bootlegging a single game that's out of print?

Sorry dude.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

You don't see how the ability to pirate an entire current generation's system's library is more harmful than bootlegging a single game that's out of print?

Sorry dude.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you have to do it. If I were to choose one or the other for the sole purpose of playing Mother 3, I'd take the flashcart every time. While the developers profit in neither instance, at least this way the money only goes to the flashcart sellers and manufacturers rather than to the sellers, manufacturers, and repro seller. They'd be getting my money because I want to play Mother 3, but unlike the repro seller, the flashcart seller's not directly selling their product as content they have no right to sell (aside from whether or not the bootcode etc. is copyrighted but that's a whole other issue)

(I hope that made sense, it's like 6AM, I haven't slept, and I might've had a couple drinks)

 

[Rydian]

You don't see how the ability to pirate an entire current generation's system's library is more harmful than bootlegging a single game that's out of print?

Sorry dude.

I don't see how a flash cart immediately means pirating an entire library.

 

[raulpica]

Bumpity since I was away while this was posted.

I can promise you that isn't true.

I can't say anything more than that, as I'm not sure why the attempt to stop this from happening fell through.

I'm sure of that, I can't see Tomato liking some guy selling his hard work and cashing on it while he has gained NOTHING (except popularity and thanks from all Mother fans everywhere in the world. FOREVER. From me, too).

I hope he can stop him. While I can understand repros of old out-of-print games (the original copyright holder probably doesn't care anymore), selling the hard job of someone else for an hefty profit (costs shouldn't exceed 20-25$ per cartridge) is something horrible.