Topic: Does CP3EN0J09 mean its pirated?

My 8 year old son saved his money and bought a DS, then a Super Mario 64 game, and now an Action Replay.

The game plays fine by itself, but won't work with the action replay.

The Action Replay hangs when we try to start it on Super Mario 64. We've tried both versions (ASMEN0J20, and ASMEN1J12 / 1J22), and it does the same thing. I was googling to see which we're supposed to use, and it looks like one of those codes should be printed on the back of the game? The closest thing I see to a code on the back of the game cartridge is CP3EN0J09. Googling that, I see people talking about pirated games. Is that what our problem is?

Thanks!
Joe

After doing some very short inspection work, yes; you (probably) have a counterfeit copy of the game. The code "cp3en0j09" supposedly references to either the DS version of Viva Pinata or a Pokemon game, neither of which Super Mario 64 DS is. Also, it appears that the code "cp3en0j09" has been spotted on cartridges of Super Princess Peach.

EDIT: Picture added for your convenience;

ok, thanks. He bought it from a big seller on Amazon, so I assume they'll handle it.

Just for extra information, the code on the front of the cartridge should be matched by the start of the code printed in black on the back. For example, my copy of Glory of Heracles has the following code on the front:

NTR-YEKE-USA

(where the NTR means that it's a DS game (TWL means that it's a DSi-Enhanced or DSi game, but it's rare to see it), USA means it's the American version (Canada also has USA on its label) and YEKE is the code specifically for Glory of Heracles).

On the back, the code in black is:

YEKENOJ20

where you can see that the game code YEKE is the beginning of that code. If the two don't match in this way, there's something wrong.

I feel for your son, also - the people making these counterfeit games really annoy me. I'm somewhat of a collector of games, and I really hate having to sift through online listings to make sure I'm buying a legitimate copy of a game.

EDIT - I should add that this is by no means the only indication of a pirated game copy. I've been meaning to write up a guide for spotting fake DS games, which I think will only get more relevant once new DS games stop being made and the used market becomes more prevalent.