Is this a pirate Kirby´s Dreamland 2?

[nameless hero]

Hi guys, long lurker here and now i feel should do my first post.

I dug out my Gameboy a few days ago, which sat for years in a box in a basement. The only game i have is Kirby´s Dreamland 2. The weird thing is, it has the japanese title screen, although it looks like a US/EU copy (with small differences)!

I also posted this at Assemblergames in a Gameboy related topic (and subbie, a mod there will open his JP cart just for me to be sure, how nice is that?!):
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...t=33134&page=2


Note the code: DMG-AKDE-USA , not listed anywhere!
http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/5632...am-land-2/data
Artwork is different too, Kirby logo is e.g. cut off by the gray area on the left. Compare here.




I then opened the cart to have a look inside (it has a real Nintendo "star"-screw btw):




Excuse the bad quality of the pics. There are no Nintendo markings on the PCB, only a 1998 mark and the sticker on the chip says 1/1997. Sooo, is this a pirate card? I have never heard of a globtop in an original game. If it´s real, where does it come from?

I found a pic of a pirate Kirby´s Dreamland 2 on the bottom of this page:
http://gameboyworld.weebly.com/bootleg-gb-stuff.html
It has similarities, but also differences to my cart, mainly the blue colour and the artwork is different aswell...

If this is really a bootleg, it´s an awesome one, i thought more than 10 years it was real! So i ask you for your oppinions on this. Thanks a lot in advance!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I'd say yes.

Easiest sign, the cover art isn't cropped correctly on your cartridge label.

See legit copy:

[Gameguy]

It's a bootleg. Besides the crappy cut off text, there's also no ESRB rating on the label. For a bootleg it looks pretty close to an original copy.

[nameless hero]

Thanks guys for the confirmation! Never saw a pirate with the Nintendo Gameboy marks on the top, now after some digging i found some of course.
Quite cool imho, i bet there aren´t too many of these Kirby pirates, and there obviously went a lot of work into this bootleg. Battery saves still work btw.

[nameless hero]

Shameless necrobump, this cart is for auction on assemblergames now, maybe someone here is interested.
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums...485#post577485

Hope i don't violate any forum rules by posting this, couldn't find any general forum rules.

[wiggyx]

There are funny blue copies of this boot as well :/

[nameless hero]

indeed
http://gameboyworld.weebly.com/bootleg-gb-stuff.html
Couldn't find any other pic of a Kirby pirate though, if you have seen a different one, especially of the grey ones, i'd really appreciate it.

[Parodius Duh!]

100% pirate. The dead giveaway is the K and D in Kirbys Dreamland are almost cut the frig off by the silver side stripes.