English translations, ROMs, re-pro carts, etc...

[abe]

Ah, thanks so much, Abe!  I've avoided roms and such for so long (last one I played was probably like 15 years ago - Earthbound about 40% through or so) since I'm not super techy, especially with paranoia of downloading files from the internet. Used to be so carefree back in the day!

Sounds like the easier options are to get a Retron 5 and the cart or a flash cart/repro. The R5 and the cart may likely be the way as I prefer having the original game if possible. Thanks again! Everything I searched was just a mess of terminology that I wasn't familiar with, and I didn't want to get too deep into it if it'd require a lot of work in the end.

Edit: Funny, did you know people also sold repros on etsy? Never would've guessed...

Glad to be of assistance.

My personal favorite method (because I'm cheap) is to buy an actual copy of the original game, then emulate the patched version on my softmodded Wii. I don't have the Retron 5 yet and probably won't in the foreseeable future (it's more than $200 after shipping and or taxes if you want to get one in Canada at the moment), and good flashcarts can be expensive ($99 USD for the EverDrive GBA X5 before shipping and the exchange rate). Repro GBA games tend to be the cheapest from AliExpress and go for no more than $6 or so for GBA stuff (didn't see the FMA game you mentioned though). I tend to go that route if I really want to play the patched game on official hardware.

There's quite a lot of repros on Etsy, yes. However, most seem to be pretty overpriced. Sometimes they'll come with nice custom boxes though, which is neat.

[desocietas]

Ah, good to know! I'll keep an eye out on AliExpress, and my boyfriend has been wanting a Retron 5 for a while. In case we do get one, I might look more into patched imports at that point. Until then, I know I should focus on my legit-localized backlog 

[fredlepirate]

I bought a Retron 5 last month and Im really enjoying playing my japanese games in english on a HDTV. Currently playing Fire Emblem Binding Blade and its so much easier when I fully understand the menu, and I can enjoy the story.

Before having my Retron 5  I bought a re-pro cart translated, worked fine, but was really expensive (45$) for a loose cart, while now I can buy the japanese original for 10$ and just and the translated patch.

Even if the Retron 5 seem expensive, I highly recommend it if you like JRPG on SNES and GBA, most of them are fully translated.

[oldgamerz]

speaking of repos I know of a place online that sells 500 NES games in one single cartridge. I bought this one after Christmas. and it runs great but the only thing is you're not suppose to use a real NES but instead use  a retron 5 or a retro duo is how to play these game properly. I highly recommend this NES repo cart. it has a whole lotta games never released in the US and Canada, in fact some are entirely in Japanese but a lot of these Japanese originals have their menu translated into English. these guys been sellling these games for a while and the seller that sells them claims when I asked him how reliable these carts were and he said nobody has complained yet. I myself have one and I can't complain either, it really works but a vast majority are pure english games. However this is the only repo I own and it probally going to stay that way. I mean most of those games are virtually impossible in finding a copy without paying through the nose

it's on etsy and as of now it's gone down in cost since I paid for mine in January




https://www.etsy.com/listing/385139944/super-game-500-in-1-multi-cart-for?utm_campaign=shopping_us_OdditiesEndities_sfc_osa&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_custom1=0&utm_content=12698393&gclid=CjwKEAjw8OLGBRCklJalqKHzjQ0SJACP4BHrN6EddnkOa2BXOcpzZKjYMYc1uI2M4AAIJbPPm8wa_BoCOpjw_wcB