Mother 3 English Translation repro

[djshok]

Did anyone ever make one? I remember a while ago people were talking about making these things but nothing ever seemed to come of it. I mean come on, there are hundreds of shitty pokemon hack bootlegs out there, why hasn't someone put Mother 3 on a cart yet?

Or have they?

[Rickstilwell1]

Did anyone ever make one? I remember a while ago people were talking about making these things but nothing ever seemed to come of it. I mean come on, there are hundreds of shitty pokemon hack bootlegs out there, why hasn't someone put Mother 3 on a cart yet?

Or have they?

Because of owning the EZ Flash IV making it pointless?

[djshok]

That's never stopped people from making other repros. Not to mention those things are pretty hard to find now.

[fahlim003]

I don't think it's feasible or worthwhile to make a GBA reproduction. Just get a PSP and emulate the rom in gameplaySP, it's cheap and far more convenient than any repro could ever be.

[BlastProcessing402]

I'm sure if he wanted to play on a flashcart or emulator, he'd already be well aware of those options. People want repro carts for a variety of reasons, some of which are they want something nice looking to add to their collection. I don't see wanting a Mother 3 repro any more pointless or less worthwhile than all those SNES repros people go around bragging about.

[fahlim003]

Actually it is pretty pointless since if it was viable it would've come up as an option outside of emulation or the mentioned EZ Flash IV. Have you ever heard of someone making a Game Boy reproduction? I heard people discussing it but rarely if ever going through with it. Same for GBC and GBA. One thing I'm certain of is in order to make a Mother 3 repro you're likely going to harvest an original Mother 3 cartridge given the rom size and save type and that to me makes no sense. I own an original copy of Mother 3 and I played the rom on PSP and have no issues at all.

[jb143]

Actually it is pretty pointless since if it was viable it would've come up as an option outside of emulation or the mentioned EZ Flash IV. Have you ever heard of someone making a Game Boy reproduction? I heard people discussing it but rarely if ever going through with it. Same for GBC and GBA. One thing I'm certain of is in order to make a Mother 3 repro you're likely going to harvest an original Mother 3 cartridge given the rom size and save type and that to me makes no sense. I own an original copy of Mother 3 and I played the rom on PSP and have no issues at all.

What's special about this rom that makes the cart be physically different from other carts?

I remember seeing websites several years ago that gave instructions for building GB and GBA flash carts and cart reader/writers. That's basically the same as a repro.

[fahlim003]

What's special about this rom that makes the cart be physically different from other carts?

I remember seeing websites several years ago that gave instructions for building GB and GBA flash carts and cart reader/writers. That's basically the same as a repro.
A flash cartridge is not the same as a repro since it's flash memory, not burned eprom(s).

I assume this is the website you're talking about? http://www.reinerziegler.de/GBA/gba.htm

To build a repro you'd need 256Mbits of eproms, which Mother 3 I believe is the only GBA pcb to have such a large amount, and you'd need Flash ROM type saving. These two reasons alone are why the EZ Flash IV is the only supported flash cartridge for Mother 3.

[jb143]

I know the difference between flash and eprom(BSECE). The system doesn't know the difference though. You could make a repro out of eprom, eeprom, flash, or masked rom if you wanted to. A cartridge having a particular rom size doesn't matter because you have to replace what's there with something big enough anyways. The only issue with that though, is that with such large memory to access, it would probably need the appropriate mapper as well.

Still, none of this would stop anyone from actually doing it if they really wanted to.

[fahlim003]

Still, none of this would stop anyone from actually doing it if they really wanted to.I'm sure it could be done however the point is it makes very little sense to do so when there are cheaper, more realistic, and effective solutions already out there. I'm not going to say if you're interested enough and want to apply effort towards this quest that you should give up the ghost before getting off the line but unless there is some inherent benefit why bother? Owning it on a stand-alone cartridge to me is not something at this point which is worth the effort or cost.

[djshok]

I'm sure if he wanted to play on a flashcart or emulator, he'd already be well aware of those options. People want repro carts for a variety of reasons, some of which are they want something nice looking to add to their collection. I don't see wanting a Mother 3 repro any more pointless or less worthwhile than all those SNES repros people go around bragging about.

That. I already have it on an EZ Flash IV, and I beat it. Still I'd rather have a nice repro cart of it. The EZ Flash IV is an ugly, ugly flash cart and they don't last very long from what I heard.


Have you ever heard of someone making a Game Boy reproduction?

Yeah, Chinese pirates do it all the time with shitty Pokemon hacks: http://www.ioffer.com/search/items/pokemon%20chaos%20black


Anyway, asinine comments about "pointlessness" aside, this has answered my question. I guess a repro of it doesn't exist. Thanks for the info.

[fahlim003]

Yeah, Chinese pirates do it all the time with shitty Pokemon hacks: Do not click here. (http://www.ioffer.com/search/items/pokemon%20chaos%20black)

Anyway, asinine comments about "pointlessness" aside, this has answered my question. I guess a repro of it doesn't exist. Thanks for the info.
Nice link, thanks for the spyware, dude. I wouldn't say a Chinese bootleg is exactly same as a repro in the established sense as professional repros done in the west (and in more modern time). There are plenty of GBA bootlegs otherwise so I wonder why you wouldn't try to ask where to get a Chinese bootleg of Mother 3. Also, don't know why you put pointlessness in quotes since it wasn't mentioned once, just the word pointless and only twice. You don't want people speaking what their thoughts are on a given subject then don't ask questions on a public forum - just saying.

To answer your initial query, why Mother 3 hasn't been made into a bootleg yet while Pokemon has and will always constantly be? Look at the sales of each series respectively - it's not because Mother 3 isn't good it's because Pokemon=$$$ and lots of it.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

I haven't read through every response in this thread, but the basic answer is no, there is not, and may will never be, a reproduction cartridge of Mother 3 for GBA. The problem is that it would be cost prohibitive for the number of people who would be interested in a physical cartridge. There might be a small run made by those crazy starmen.net fans somewhere down the road when costs come down, but until then, enjoy your emulation or flash carts.

[Kitsune Sniper]

You can't compare a repro cart to a Chinese bootleg cart. The former are usually made with quality parts, for what it's worth.

The latter are made of the cheapest possible materials. Stuff that isn't meant to last for very long.

[Rickstilwell1]

To me a repro is only that much better than a flashcart if a box and manual is printed for it too. Then it's worth the cost of artwork.

[djshok]

Nice link, thanks for the spyware, dude. I wouldn't say a Chinese bootleg is exactly same as a repro in the established sense as professional repros done in the west (and in more modern time). There are plenty of GBA bootlegs otherwise so I wonder why you wouldn't try to ask where to get a Chinese bootleg of Mother 3. Also, don't know why you put pointlessness in quotes since it wasn't mentioned once, just the word pointless and only twice. You don't want people speaking what their thoughts are on a given subject then don't ask questions on a public forum - just saying.

To answer your initial query, why Mother 3 hasn't been made into a bootleg yet while Pokemon has and will always constantly be? Look at the sales of each series respectively - it's not because Mother 3 isn't good it's because Pokemon=$$$ and lots of it.

Spyware, geez what outdated browser are you using. And as for asking a question on a public forum - I asked a simple yes or no question and wanted a simple yes or no answer, not a bunch of opinionated BS about how no one wants repros because you don't want repros. I never understood why some people can't answer questions without drifting off into a tangent of personal opinion.

I thank the people that answered the question as asked, you on the other hand can go suck an egg.

[fahlim003]

Spyware, geez what outdated browser are you using. And as for asking a question on a public forum - I asked a simple yes or no question and wanted a simple yes or no answer, not a bunch of opinionated BS about how no one wants repros because you don't want repros. I never understood why some people can't answer questions without drifting off into a tangent of personal opinion.

I thank the people that answered the question as asked, you on the other hand can go suck an egg.Yes or no eh? Don't leave an open ended question then. Keep your assumptions to yourself concerning if I want repros or not as I don't get the hostility here since my follow up comments weren't directed at you until you insulted me for whatever reason, must be that time of the month.
As for sucking an egg, of course I can but I won't so thanks for the suggestion.

[Rickstilwell1]

Yeah as for me, I was pretty much saying one reason you don't find a repro of that game is because it's a newer idea for one, and it seems like flashcarts are making the demand for repros dwindle a bit. Like more people would rather pay $100 for a device that plays thousands of hacks and translations on their native console than $100 for just four games. The more people going that route because it costs less in the long run, the less of a market there is going to be for repros. Where repros don't see a decrease in demand are the ones that need special chips or enhanchements to work correctly, such as Final Fantasy III for NES and Star Fox 2 for SNES. There's even a lot of people who give up on cart only collecting because of flash carts being so much more like the real thing than emulation could ever be.

But actually if someone made a repro for that game using the insides from that game's Japanese version, that would be the perfect case. You could just leave the same label on the front that way and just put a sticker on the back so you know that it's translated. Even keep the box and manual if you bought it complete.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

the problem is GBA games use some sort of custom surface mounted mask roms that I don't think can be reproduced. Pirates reverse engineer the whole boards which is different and inferior.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but as is, it's impossible to reproduce an English Mother 3 using the original motherboard.

[jb143]

the problem is GBA games use some sort of custom surface mounted mask roms that I don't think can be reproduced. Pirates reverse engineer the whole boards which is different and inferior.


It would "simply" be a matter of removing the old mask rom and replacing it with an eprom or other programmable chip. As long as the pins are tied to the correct place it should work. The same making any repro. The fact that it's surface mount actually makes life easier...if you have the correct tools, removing them is a breeze.

Something else to consider though could be that if the game was never tested on real hardware it might not work at all. Emulators might not test checksums and things of that nature. I'm not sure about GBA hardware but I know this is the case on GB/GBC.

[BlastProcessing402]

Actually it is pretty pointless since if it was viable it would've come up as an option outside of emulation or the mentioned EZ Flash IV.

I don't think you know what pointless actually means. Just because something is not currently (or even ever) possible doesn't make it pointless. The point is he wants something nice for his collection. That he can't have it, oh well, but that's beside the point.

[Gameguy]

It would "simply" be a matter of removing the old mask rom and replacing it with an eprom or other programmable chip. As long as the pins are tied to the correct place it should work. The same making any repro. The fact that it's surface mount actually makes life easier...if you have the correct tools, removing them is a breeze.

Something else to consider though could be that if the game was never tested on real hardware it might not work at all. Emulators might not test checksums and things of that nature. I'm not sure about GBA hardware but I know this is the case on GB/GBC.
It would be really hard to solder, at least most people who would be willing to make repros won't be able to solder chips like that. It's just too small and close together for most people to work with.

People have played the game on real hardware, using a flash cart. I'm not sure if it would make a difference with compatibility issues though compared to the original board.

Of course there's this;
http://forum.blueguerilla.org/phpBBToGo/thread.php?topic_id=43775

[Az]

About the pirated carts...

I don't see the ROM size being an issue. 256m multicarts exist, and most PCB's use a similar hardware design so that the only variable you've got hardware-wise is the information flashed onto the ROM and if a SRAM battery is included.

Mother 3 was translated too late for pirates to have any interest in producing it. By then most plants have switched over to NDS titles (or flash carts). Had the translation (or the original game) been released earlier you'd probably see pirates of it. As for producing it now; anything can be had for a price, it's just a matter of quantity. Would 300 people want a CIB English Mother 3 pirate? I dunno.

While I have no experience in reproduction boxes; one could always print their own box/label/manual and put a flash cart PCB into a regular GBA shell. Edit As seen in the post above me, which I didn't check until now

[jb143]

It would be really hard to solder, at least most people who would be willing to make repros won't be able to solder chips like that. It's just too small and close together for most people to work with.


I used to do it all the time at a previous job. Typically they are placed by machine, but when the machine puts a part down wrong we'd have to handplace it. With the right tools it's not that hard...mainly a hot air soldering station.

Still, that doesn't mean it's worth doing(for all the reasons mentioned above) but it shouldn't be treated like it's an impossible because that just isn't the case.

[theclaw]

Production cost and ease is not enough. Countless, countless, games will NEVER get a significant mass produced bootleg run.

Do we really want Bubsy 3D pirates?

[Rickstilwell1]

Production cost and ease is not enough. Countless, countless, games will NEVER get a significant mass produced bootleg run.

Do we really want Bubsy 3D pirates?

How to make a Bubsy 3D pirate:

Burn ISO to white CD-R

Stick CD-R into inkjet cd label printer

Print artwork and manual pages to photo paper.

Repeat desired number of times. Desired number of times = 0 as the legit game is common and $5.

[Jorpho]

To build a repro you'd need 256Mbits of eproms, which Mother 3 I believe is the only GBA pcb to have such a large amount, and you'd need Flash ROM type saving. These two reasons alone are why the EZ Flash IV is the only supported flash cartridge for Mother 3.The Flash V 3-in-1 works, doesn't it?


The EZ Flash IV is an ugly, ugly flash cart and they don't last very long from what I heard.That's news.

[Az]

Production cost and ease is not enough. Countless, countless, games will NEVER get a significant mass produced bootleg run.


While you're correct in your statement, if you can move several hundred copies of Mother 3 and will provide the art assets I can assure you can find a factory that will produce it.

Brandon doesn't sit in his basement and lovingly hand craft each Beggar Prince PCB. :)

[Gameguy]

How to make a Bubsy 3D pirate:

Burn ISO to white CD-R

Stick CD-R into inkjet cd label printer

Print artwork and manual pages to photo paper.

Repeat desired number of times. Desired number of times = 0 as the legit game is common and $5.
You could have stopped at Burn ISO to CD-R, just add a sharpie to that instead of the rest. I still doubt the game is worth a whole $5, it's more worth burning on a CD-RW so you can reuse the disc when you get sick of it.