Early Mr. Driller 2 Repro
I’ve been on a Mr. Driller kick lately. I originally found the game when searching for more pricey Game Boy Color games. It’s a great game where you drill (who would have thought!) downward and avoid blocks, snag air bubbles, and go as deep as you can.
Mr. Driller 2
After more searching, I found that Mr. Driller is a whole series that has much more love in Japan than anywhere else. I saw that Mr. Driller 2 existed for the Game Boy Advance and I figured, why not? It’s pretty pricey for a North American copy, but the Japanese copies are pretty affordable. As I was searching eBay for Mr. Driller 2 carts, I came across a sale for a Mr. Driller 2 “repro” cart. It immediately caught my eye, as I had never seen a Game Boy Advance cart that was double the height.
Long GBA carts?
As it turns out, I struggled to find much info on them across the web, save for a few people saying they have a bunch of them or asking questions about them.
From what I’ve gathered and cobbled together, I believe they’re very early repro (read: counterfeit) GBA carts that were sold in China. Since they didn’t have the technology, cheaply, to manufacture proper GBA carts, they just made them larger and longer. Kinda of crazy.
The interesting thing here is that it has a full copy of the box, the manual, and an insert to keep the cart stationary.
I thought I’d post some pictures of the package and PCB so others can enjoy the weirdness of this repro cart that is really high quality. The plastics are great and the box and manual are both top notch. You’d almost not even be able to tell.
The game totally works. Save works. It just sticks out stupidly. Even above the cart slot on an Analogue Pocket. Wild! Enjoy!
Box art
The box is covered with cheap plastic that is coming away from it over time.
Cart and plastic holder and manual
The manual was obviously scanned and printed. Notice how the light text is barely visible.
Clearly fake, as the printed label is offset incorrectly.
See how they use a Philips head screw instead of a security screw?
PCB
This cart is soooooo gnarly. Also…a resistor soldered to the battery contact. Wow.
