Illegal Nintendo DS and pirated game bundle mistakenly put up for auction by Japanese prefectural government  

The state auctions are a way for local governments to sell off seized goods.

The Tottori Prefecture local government mistakenly put an illegal Nintendo DS set for sale via official auction for an estimated price of 1,000 JPY (roughly $6.8 USD). What looks like a harmless secondhand console bundle is actually a DS that uses modified flash cartridges to play copied games. The listing gained significant attention from Japanese gamers on X before being taken down from the site. 

Post translation: The DS listed by Tottori Prefecture at the government auction is a magicom set. They probably don’t know anything about it. 

While the New Super Mario Bros. cartridge in the image above is the real deal, the R4 and Acekard 2 flash cartridges on the left likely store pirated games (the auction listing is described as a bundle including three games), in a similar fashion to how the MIG Switch flash carts are used to store multiple Nintendo Switch titles onto a single microSD card.

Japanese government auctions often feature items owned by the local administration (including things like old ambulances and fire trucks) as well as objects seized by authorities. This Nintendo DS bundle belongs to the latter group, and local officials apparently were not aware of its illegal nature. The bundle has since been delisted from the auction site, along with any images and options to bid for it. 

Related Articles: Elusive McDonald’s-branded Nintendo DSi quickly pulled from second-hand store in Japan 

Why are prices of certain old Nintendo 3DSs skyrocketing in Japan? 

Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor
Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor

Automaton West writer. Zoto has been playing video games for 30+ years now but has only recently come to grips with PC gaming. When he isn't playing video games, he watches romance anime and gets mad when his best girl never wins.

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