4th Gen Heart Gold actually Spogebob?

So recently I decided to buy Pokemon Heart Gold to play it on my 2DS, since it is probably the best pokemon game out there. So I browsed through eBay and Amazon and everything seemed very expensive (more than 60 dollars), which I cannot afford. But "Oh, joy!" I found cheap Pokemon Heart Gold from China for like 15 dollars. Being overly excited about the cheap price, I just bought without much checking. That was a mistake.

~1 month later~
The game arrives. Oh glory, I will finally get to play Heart Gold. I put the cartridge in my 2DS and I see "Spongebob Atlantis Squarepantis". Great! First thoughts "I have been fooled". So I looked through the reviews of that seller (nickplateau) and saw there were very few bad reviews, but nonetheless those few bad ones said that the game is pirated. Digging deeper I found out that these kind of frauds happen often on eBay and there are more of Spongebobs around. I know it was stupid of me, not to check beforehand, but I guess this was a valuable lesson.

Anyway, I also found out that the game is actually in the cartridge and it actually works, HOWEVER I naturally do not trust this at all. Does somebody know is actually safe to play this game on my 2DS? It has tons of actually legit games like "Pokemo Sun", "Pokemon Alpha Sapphire", "Fire Emblem Fates". I definitely do not want to loose the great games because of my stupidity.

So is it safe to play this game or should I just send it back and live my life without the joy of "Pokemon Heart Gold" (since I can't afford to play 60 bucks for a game)

I wouldn't risk it
Don't trust anything that comes from China and arrives in the shell of a different cartridge lol
I mean it's probably fine but I hear that there are issues with saving on these bootleg cartridges and with something like Pokémon that's not good

Shit like that happens way too often on eBay, especially with Pokémon games since they're so sought after. Scammers mass produce these bootleg cartridges and sell them for a fraction of the price the games usually go for, making it seem like a good deal. As far as I know, the ROMs on the fake cartridges are safe to play, but I've never actually had one in my possession so I can't say for sure.

If you send the cartridge back, chances are you'll never hear from the seller again and you'll lose the game (which isn't a big deal lol) and your money. Since you got the game on eBay, I take it you paid with Paypal? If so, I highly suggest you file a dispute through Paypal's website with proofs that you did not receive the advertised product. If the seller doesn't respond, you can turn your dispute into a claim, which means Paypal will step in to investigate. You should be able to get your money back.

Yeah, unfortunately I didn't pay through PayPal so...

Ageha1304 said:

Yeah, unfortunately I didn't pay through PayPal so...

Click to expand...

Hi there,

I'm so sorry about the unethical people out there who tried to take advantage of you. Don't feel bad though, this should still work out fine. If you did not pay with paypal then I imagine you purchased the item directly with a bank or credit card. Not to worry, they offer even BETTER production than ebay or paypal.

If this is how you bought the game then dial the number on the back of the card you and tell them that you want to dispute the transaction. Explain exactly what happened just like you did to us. Tell the customer service representative that you ordered what you thought was a legitimate Nintendo product, but received shady-looking hacked cartridges that you don't even think are safe to play from a seller you recently discovered was accused of piracy.

Almost any bank or credit card company garuntees protection in situations like this of counterfeit goods, damaged products, charges due to identity theft etc. What they will probably do is issue what is known as a provisional credit for the money you spent right there over the phone.

They will next try to contact the seller on their own and ask what is going on, let them know that you are unhappy and said this product is not the way it was described. The seller will need to show that this really is authentic merchandise or agree to refund you. If they don't hear back from the seller then the seller loses, you keep the money and the case is closed. The bank will not ask you to send back any pirated merchandise. The seller could even be penalized.

I had to go through something similar before with some games I bought from Store Envy. The seller would not even talk to me. I got everything I spent back on my Sims games with the help of my bank.

HG and SS are really good games. I know they have been a hassle right now to obtain, but when you finally get the real deal then I think you will be really happy.

Good luck!

Thank you. I will see what I can do. Even if I don't get my money back, it was just 15 dollars. Luckily enough this was not the case where I paid 60 bucks and still got a fake. Maybe I'll try to buy the real deal in my country.

In any case I would also be happy if just more people would get to know about this situation going on with pokemon games and be careful. I looked around the net and there are actually tons of posts that help you tell apart counterfeits from authentic games.

DO NOT fall for it like I did.

i wouldnt trust it tbh :/

Learn all the red flags for fake Pokemon games before you buy off eBay. Always ask to see the inner workings of the catridge (if it's GB or GBA). Before completing my collection, I used to go to many major second-hand gaming chains, but there was so many fakes being sold, that they had no idea about, just because they didn't know what they were buying/selling. Even after telling them that their games are fake, they still put it back in the window, thus contributing to the problem.

Well you do have to be careful of some of websites sometimes. They could be seem as dodgy and can potentially scam you. I know, It's really annoying.

Pokemon HeartGold doesn't really come cheap anymore, and that's the first red flag. If you're purchasing online, most legitimate copies won't go for any lower than like, $40 (or whatever equivalent currency that you use). It's far more likely you'll be spending $50+, and that's just for the cartridge itself which won't come with the boxart, etc.

While this thread is old, this is an important lesson to everyone to be wary of where you purchase Pokemon games online, because there are such things as fraudulent ones!