iQue DS region lock

[Lum]

How did Nintendo implement this? Did all 5 of the games actually contain it? I've never seen much research.
Common unconfirmed opinion is the lockout was due to missing character set.

See I placed those 5 Chinese games on supercard dstwo with US ds lite, then 3 of them boot. Even though they supposedly shouldn't... (Yoshi's Touch & Go, Wario Ware Touched, Polarium)

Yet place the same flash card into US 3DS, all 5 run! I don't see what difference could be causing this type of nice improvement.

The two for me which freeze on DS lite at the "only for ique ds" warning are Super Mario 64 DS and New Super Mario Bros. Any chance cheats or patches might disable the block? Since they work on 3DS it doesn't seem like a compatibility issue. Too bad that would mean finding volunteers with basic DS coding insight...

Anyway if you have other DS models, flash cards, etc, let's hear what happens to them. It might be useful info too.

[Pikkon]

I have a DSi I could test.

[Lum]

Cool. You'll probably need to use the romanized names to find these games. Their real titles aren't in English. It goes like this.

Polarium (Zhigan Yi Bi)
Wario Ware Touched (Momo Waliou)
Yoshi Touch & Go (Momo Yaoxi: Yun Zhong Manbu)
Super Mario 64 DS (Shenyou Maliou DS)
New Super Mario Bros (New Chaoji Maliou Xiongdi)

[Shinebi]

I've seen these IQue DS devices sell in Sai Gon too...
Didn't know that the games were different, as they sell NOTHING BUT flashcards over there :)
So the regular games (roms) would work on an IQue, that's pretty sure.
I'm just thinking the flashcards themselves override any protection (IQue or not) and it's prolly some addressing differences between the two handhelds.

SO this is just a curiosity confirmation check, as all 5 games are available as 'plain' versions too?

[Lum]

I believe so. I'm assuming the official DS effort failed in China. Given how just five cartridge games were translated by Nintendo. There were some DSiWare releases also.

[NintendoWiiU]

I've seen these IQue DS devices sell in Sai Gon too...
Didn't know that the games were different, as they sell NOTHING BUT flashcards over there :)
So the regular games (roms) would work on an IQue, that's pretty sure.
I'm just thinking the flashcards themselves override any protection (IQue or not) and it's prolly some addressing differences between the two handhelds.

SO this is just a curiosity confirmation check, as all 5 games are available as 'plain' versions too?

If you've seen these "iQue" cartridges, then you surely are the man I need to see! I wanted to ask you something about the appearance of these cartridges, and about the iQue DSiWare.

What does the actual cartridge say after NTR-ASME-***. What are the asterixes replaced with?

And can DSiWare be transfered to a US/JP/EU console using the Nintendo DSi Transfer Tool?

[Shinebi]

I'm sorry, I've never seen the game cartridges (AFAIK), only the handhelds; as they pirate the shit out of everything over there, you'd only need to buy the consoles/flashcards. I've seen several X-in-1 GBA/NDS compilation cards though over there amongst others. (Some even sold at huge (and official) shopping malls for ridiculous prices if you didn't know better!).

If you'd like me to, I could always inquire once I'm back there...
(but I'm afraid it wont be for at least another year, as I'm planning a big bike trip over there next time)

[Lum]

They're nothing special. Ordinary DS cartridges that are actually in the Chinese language and released for mainland China. As opposed to left untranslated from Japanese or English, and sold just in Taiwan or Hong Kong.

I found this digging through image search. It looks authentic to me but I'd have no way to know.

[mrdomino]

Do they have text issues when played on the US DS/3DS (ie, garbage characters showing up in place of Chinese)?

[Lum]

I don't think so. Though I haven't played much. Garbage characters aren't something I'd easily fail to notice.

It's very possible 3DS removed this region check.
Makes sense IMO. It was pointless to block merely 5 uninteresting carts few people outside east asia would ever buy, if they even can without a middle man.

Also AFAIK the iQue DSi does not have menu language options. Like JPN DSi/3DS.

[NintendoWiiU]

Wait, is there a iQue 3DS I don't know about Ladies and Gentlemen?

[NintendoWiiU]

No, as with Japanese games, the fonts themselves are in the ROMs, not in the BIOS or system, or all text would like the same in the Mario Kart DS and Metroid menus, so the short answer is NO. Considering the games play on normal DSes, I'd say there fine!

[Lum]

Wait, is there a iQue 3DS I don't know about Ladies and Gentlemen?

No. And that only increases the likelihood Nintendo decided region locking these games was wasteful. I suspect they intentionally designed 3DS to disobey the lockout check of iQue games.

[NintendoWiiU]

No. And that only increases the likelihood Nintendo decided region locking these games was wasteful. I suspect they intentionally designed 3DS to disobey the lockout check of iQue games.

Wait, the reason some games didn't run on normal DSs but did on iQues was because the Chinese had more power, right? Doesn't the 3DS set a limit of how much RAM a DS Game can use when the console is in DS Mode, or does it not have a limit? Because then they could make a DS Homebrew game which'd take up all of the 3DS GPU and CPU and we'd be able to make a game with 10x the graphics of a normal DS game which would run amazingly on a 3DS, and then use low-res textures on a normal DS! Sounds cool!

[Lum]

It wouldn't be due to more power. What I've heard is the Chinese firmware has additional characters. Which is obviously true if the iQue main menu has been translated.

But I don't believe any released games in fact use the system's font update in-game, instead containing their own. I certainly did not see corrupt text while playing these games.