about a week and a half ago i bought a copy of Pokemon emerald off of ebay, the seller said the game was in perfect working condition. when i finally get it (after realizing my ebay was still set to go to my parrents house) i play and about a day later i turn it on and it says, the game was corrupted and has been erased. i thought ok, maybee i'm just too used to how diamond is saved and i started over. later that day it does the same thing. i start over. and again today it says the same thing, game corrupted and erased. i did notice that it seems to happen when i go to pokemon diamond instead of GBA game, but then i've not tried to play w/out having the DS cart in. were there any problems with saving in this game? or did i just get a bad game off ebay? and if i did get a bad cart, should i report it to ebay? or just suck it up and buy a new cart off the shielf?
Two things could have happened. 1. The battery in the game is dead and will not keep save data or it is a bootleg/was used with a action replay device. 2. The game is damaged and needs to be replaced. In the event of #1 or #2 you should file a claim asap or you will lose out on the refund. If the battery is dead it costs more to fix than its worth.
Just out of curiosity, the cartridge isn't black/gray, is it? I've seen a lot of discussion on GameFAQs about GBA Pokemon games not saving, and most of the time, they've bought it on eBay and it turns out it's a bootleg copy, which are a black/standard gray GBA cartridge instead of clear green. I've seen one for sale used at a Gamestop before.
This. Google 'GBA bootleg' or something to that effect. There are lots guides that helps ID these cartridges if it isn't blatantly obvious as described above. Do you have a link to the auction?
i sent a message to the seller requesting a refund, should hear something in the next couple days. thanks for the help fortunetly i did see some auctions that had a pic of a black/grey cart, and i thought that looked fishy since every one i had seen was clear green. so yes it IS a clear green cart, here is a link to the auction, link Edit: after googleing "GBA bootleg" i have learned alot, and i am almost 100% posative that i have a bootlet in the normal clear green cart here's a pic of authentic hardware and now for the counterfit if i look at the game through the clear green cart, i see the outline on the right side of a battey with a yellow rubberish ring around it, and i haven't seen anything on it yet, but on the back of the circuit board (can see through the clear grren cart) it looks like i can see a number STAMPED on the back which i thought was a bit odd when i first noticed it yesterday. i was going to take some pic's of my cart but my camera isn't working at the moment and i haven't set up my online account w/my phone so if i send pic's to my online account, i can't access them right yet...