Nintendo DS and the R4 in Hong Kong

Since I so thoroughly enjoyed the Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents, I thought I'd try to find the Japanese sequel that was just released last month, 燃えろ！熱血リズム魂　押忍！闘え！応援団２. My search took me to the computer bazaar in Sham Shui Po in Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The game, unfortunately, is in fairly high demand in Hong Kong and was sold out everywhere I looked. What's notable, though, are the suggestions of the shop-owners I spoke with: they recommended getting an R4 cartridge and downloading the game.

The R4 is a flash cart that plugs into slot-1 on the Nintendo DS (slot-1 is the smaller, DS-specific game slot). The R4 itself has a slot for a micro-SD card, and it allows you to play downloaded Nintendo DS ROMS. A quick online search revealed over 1100 ROMS available---and the Japanese game I was looking for was one of the available ROMS. The R4 plays the downloaded ROM flawlessly. It sells for under HK$180, which is less than US$25.

It is not all that surprising that such piracy devices exist. What is striking is the fact that Hong Kong shop-owners are themselves recommending that their customers use the devices. Of course, this is in response to requests for obscure import games that are in such demand that they are sold out---but I get the feeling that one reason such games are sold out is because shops are choosing not to carry them, expecting that their customers will download the games and thus will not be looking to buy them....