Is my game pirated?

[Lokix]

I just got Contra Hard Corps in the mail, and the cartridge connector looks odd. It's a pale white color rather than brown and the front side of the connector is missing some pins. At first it wasn't working and thought it was broken, but I got it to work and it plays fine (I haven't played through the whole thing though). I'm not sure if it's pirated or not. The cartridge looks the same as my other ones, except it has a sticker that says "Assembled in Mexico" where it usually says Assembled in USA.

Also, the box for the game is cardboard rather than the plastic case with the sleeve, but I was never sure about why some were different than others.

[bust3dstr8]

I believe it is the Mejesco (spelling?) version. This company gained rights from Sega to reprint alot of games. I remember having both versions at one point
and even the pinout on them was different.

[Lokix]

Ok cool, thanks.

Btw, what game is that from?