Anybody have GRA Chinatown Wars for the DS?

[gh4chiefs]

I bought this game used back a few weeks ago on Ebay and I'm just now getting around to playing, and I'm afraid I may have gotten screwed. I seem to be having an issue with getting it to save game progress.

I know how to use the save points at the apartments, or the PDA to save, and I have successfully saved a file or two, but it keeps getting wiped out. What I've noticed is that when I boot up I sometimes get a message "Saving, do not turn off the DS" and when I get that message, my previous game file will then be gone and I'm starting over from scratch.

If I do not get that message, then my last saved game file is there. Unfortunately, it seems like 9 times out of 10, I get that message and my game save is wiped out.

So I'm left with a few possiblities:

1) I'm doing something wrong in the shutting down process that's causing it to overwrite the file upon the next restart;
2) My game cartridge is effed up; or
3) Worse my DS is effed up.

Anybody have any experience with this game and have any suggestions?

 

[gh4chiefs]

Dammit, that's GTA Chinatown wars. Mods can you please fix? Thanks!

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well I had to bump this thread just to share my tale of woe in hopes nobody else gets shafted. Long story short, I could never get it to save, so I thought well it's trash but maybe there's somebody out there who would want it to set down and play it in one sitting. (Can't save, but it plays fine.) So I put it on Ebay with FULL disclosure of the problem and a low bid to cover my costs.

So this morning I get an e-mail from a fellow Ebayer. Nice guy. He basically says "Dude you've got a bootleg copy." And I'm like, huh, it looks like the real deal to me. Well he proceeds to tell me that that fact that it won't save was clue #1, and the fact that it's rated "E for Everyone" on the cover was clue #2. And I have to admit, I thought that was odd but never put it together before. So i looked up a retail copy on BB and sure enough it's "M for Mature." So he nailed it, so I pulled the auction.

So I know this goes with saying but all you Ebayers "Hey let's be careful out there." Fortunately he only took me for about $24.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Wow, people selling bootleg DS games. That's pretty shitty.

My understanding is that Chrono Trigger also has anti-piracy code. Timewarps take... well, a very long time in a bootleg copy.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well I know I'm not the first person to get taken on Ebay, guess I was just venting a little. The guy had a 100% feedback, but it was kind of low. I should have known there were issues when he lied about when he mailed. To make matters worse, I now feel like an utter fool for leaving feedback for him. When I got the game, I popped it in and it ran fine and I didn't know what to look for, I didn't try to save it, so I assumed it was fine. So I left good feedback, (despite his tardy shipping). Wish I could do that over again.

I've e-mailed him but anyone want to take bets on whether I hear from him or not? BTW, his ebay name is beconis5. Stay away from this guy. Like me, it's possible he didn't realize he had a bootleg copy but if played the game he would have known it wouldn't save.

Bastard.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It's just as likely he bought it, realized it didn't save, and just wanted to be rid of it--without coming clean about why he's selling it.

Of course, he could also be the bootlegger.

Either way, I doubt he sold the game honestly.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Yeah I'm not accusing him of being a bootlegger or that he even knew for that matter but rather that he just didn't disclose that it didn't save properly.

Yes I was trying to sell it too, BUT I disclosed right in the title that it wouldn't save, and the minute I confirmed it was a bootleg, I pulled my auction down.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, you can tell by the connectors on the back if the game is a bootleg or not. Another poster here bought some bootlegs on eBay by accident as well.

Honestly, I still don`t get how it`s cost effective. Yeah, the game you can copy infinitely, but I figure that there would be some cost to making the carts.

 

[gh4chiefs]

This ebayer that told me it was a bootleg said if I had a DSi, I could test it and if won't play at all it was definitely a bootleg. Well I don't, and I don't know anyone with one and the "E" rating on the front pretty much confirmed it for me.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah. Part of the reason why the DSi exists is because they're going out of their way to kill piracy.