I figured this would be one of the best places to ask about this. There are a whole bunch of ROMs of Super Mario Bros 2 J floating around out there, most of them are incomplete or otherwise messed up somehow. It's an absolute shitshow for someone trying to load a bunch of ROMs onto a flash cart!

The ROM that I originally came across was called "Super Mario Bros 2 (Lost Levels) (Unl).nes". At a glance it looks like a common pirate version - The title screen is removed, but after 10 minutes of playing, you won't notice much difference. However, I tried selecting Luigi, and it's just a palette swap of Mario - Even the name still says Mario above the score, there are no higher jumps like Luigi is supposed to have.

Luckily I found an IPS patch for this particular ROM here: http://www.lngn.net/stuff/ It seems to fix most of the issues and bring back proper functionality with Luigi, the wind physics and several other things. It even adds the ability to select world/level on the title screen by pressing A and B. Very useful considering how difficult this game is! There's just one flaw, it's acceptable, but still annoying: The Score/Lives/Timer part of the screen are slightly garbled. Still legible, but the graphics are constantly sort of moving and glitching around in a somewhat distracting way..

I turns out, the only proper patched version of SMB2 was edited by a guy named Loopy, and can be found here: https://3dscapture.com/NES/ This is as close as you can possibly get to a 1:1 recreation of the FDS version, just in NES format. However, this one lacks the wonderful little level select feature! (as it should, considering it aims to be a faithful NES port of the FDS original.)

The point of this ramble is that I would love a version that has everything working right in NES format (as loopy's edited version does) but also incorporates the level select feature, which allows you to select worlds 9, A, B, C and D.

Can anyone lead me to any IPS patches or otherwise that implement this change into loopy's version? Everything I find when I attempt to search for it has to do with Game Genie codes and whatnot.

This is basically just me being picky and wanting a version of SMB2 J that works 100% perfectly in NES format but also has that level select feature and doesn't have those irritating garbled graphics at the top. It appears RetroUSB used to sell a reproduction cart that is exactly what I describe, but it hasn't been sold or produced for quite some time. I actually have an awesome SMB2 J repro for my NES, fully functional, well built, very satisfied with it as a standalone cart but again this is unfortunately the version without the built-in level select.

I have already devoted far too many hours to trying to dig up what I describe, and hell, it may not exist. To muddy the waters even further, in the patched version with the level select, the garbled graphics do not show up in FCEUX, just on my EverDrive cart. The ROM refuses to even load in Nestopia. I know the EverDrive cart can't be the problem, as loopy's 1:1 version works flawlessly in the same cart.

If you guys have any tips for me, that would be swell. 

Well, there have been a few pirate carts floating around on eBay, and there is the usual selection of junk from Volumerates.. But have any other websites popped up that are selling Famicom cartridges? I found a forum talking about this website "NDScardsale" where they were getting cartridges that sounded like a mix between Volumerates carts, and other equally new, but more durable/reliable ones as well that cost a tad more. I would love to get a few decent multicarts, all of mine are flimsy junk.

Anyone know where I should be looking? I'm sure I'm not the only one who's spent countless hours scouring the web to no avail.. All these Russian and Polish acution sites with DKC4 and EWJ3 cartridges seem like such a tease, if only PayPal was truly global, pirate carts could finally lose their inflated value and be sold for what they're really worth.. But now I'm ranting

I know a lot of us are pirate enthusiasts, so I figured I'd ask what cartridges have you all have had the luck of coming accross!
Finding these things can take a lot of patience, especially if youre located somewhere like Australia, but the wait is always worth it, I find :somari:

Anyway, Here's my collection as of now-

Famicom:
-Super Mario World (cart JY-028)
-Mortal Kombat II 9 Peoples (The Hummer Team one, cart NT316)
-Master Fighter II (YOKO Soft)
-Dragonball Z Super Butoden 2 (Cart D-B1)
-Street Fighter III (The well made one with 9 players, no branding on the cart)
-Super 3-in-1 with Harry's Legend, Somari, and Mario 2 (Which is called "Super Mario Sonic" for some stupid reason. It says K3H01 in the menu.)
-2 crappy volumerates 4-in-1s, they're nothing special.
And a honeybee adapter that allows them all to play in my SNES.

Reproductions / Cart Mods:
-Kart Fighter
-Earthworm Jim 3
-SMB2 Japan
-A volumerates 64-in-1 PCB used in a 3rd party NES converter, housed in an NES game's plastic shell. I did this mod myself :yay: It doesn't boot up on my real NES but it works on all clones.

Gameboy Color/Advance:
Super Fighters 99 (titled KoF 2000 on the cart)
+Various Mario Advance GBA clones

Pictures:







I also have a pretty extensive collection of legit rare SNES/NES/Genesis games, but I'm mainly focused on pirates. Speaking of legit rarities... about 2 years ago I sold my old copy of 'Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak!' for a measly $10, not knowing it was a rarity.. Looking on eBay now, I'm kicking myself, but oh well :facepalm:

(Sorry if this has been asked before. I didn't know where to put this, I figured it was somewhat community oriented so I stuck it here )

Edit: Woohoo! I won a bid on a cartridge of MK2 Special! When it arrives I'll put up a picture. I bet it's the exact same as the SMW, DBZ2 and Someri 3-in-1 cartridges.

So recently I got 3 famicom pirate cartridges, and I was eagerly awaiting 4 copies of Gyromite I'd ordered from eBay that had 5 screws/no tabs, so I was hoping at least one would have the built in converter that I'm sure most of you know about. But it's just my luck that all 4 of them did not have it =/

For a while, a seller had a honeybee Famicom to NES adapter for 35 bucks, but I checked and it is no longer there. I got a famiclone from Volumerates a few months ago.. but.. it's just flat out awful. :sick:  Glitchy as hell with horribly messed up music, which for me makes it unplayable.

So, here's my question: Where can I find either a decent famiclone, or preferably a Famciom to NES adaptor? I've looked all over eBay, and funnily enough it seems there are loads of NES to Famciom converters, but none the other way around!! >_<

Any help of any kind is greatly appreciated. I just want to play these damn pirate cartridges on a reliable console with my NES controllers!

Okay. So many of you Im sure know of the game Tagin' Dragon which has absoloutely terrible music on the title screen. The game was made in 1990, according the the copyright notice, which would make it older than the real Super Mario World on the SNES, and thus of course the pirated NES version..  But..

The music on Tagin' Dragon's title screen is a very, very awful version of the ending music in the SMW NES pirate!! I shit you not. Here's a video so you can compare them for yourselves..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTjgKDsArNU

It's not until just now that I realized that tune is nowhere to be fround in the Real SMW.. This is very, very weird. Just figured Id point it out

Im sure a few of you know anyway since it's a fresh dump, but this is just so huge for me that I have to make a new topic - This game kicks butt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AByCmwitMho

All the questions we've ever asked about this game may FINALLY BE ANSWERED!

EDIT: I've done a small review of the game, which can be viewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7yp0VUc8DQ

Dont turn the volume up too loud on this one... I express my rage for incompetent pirates by making this the dumbest video Ive ever concieved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JywnChPIdLQ

I couldnt get the middle bit right... it was simply too hard of a pattwern for me to remember, and as for the rest... well, its pure garbage