There are multiple theories floating around as to what this hardware issue might be. This could imply a hardware issue of some kind with a specific batch of 3DS cartridges, with failure rates increasing on cartridges from this batch over time. These issues seem to be more common with people who bought games at or near launch however.
Owners of Persona Q, which released only one week after Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in America, Europe, and Oceania, have been reporting similar issues with their games for at least the last two years.Īt this point, there's no clear consistent factor that can yet be pointed at to identify a faulty cartridge. It's worth noting that Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are not the only 3DS titles which are showing similar issues. Though some lucky users have been able to coax their cartridges to work again though the time honoured process of cleaning the contacts and reinserting the cartridge a few times, the majority of users encountering these issues have been wholely unable to resurrect their cartridges. So far, the majority of these problems have been reported with European region copies of the game, in particular German copies, however there are scattered reports of these issues hitting players with cartridges from other regions. Over the past week, there have been increasing numbers of reports on social media and around the internet of these games spontaneously ceasing to work, with trainers receiving errors along the lines of "There is nothing inserted into the Game Card slot", "Game card cannot be used" or just "An error has occurred" when attempting to play their physical copies of the game. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the 2014 3DS remakes of the classic 3rd generation Pokémon games, may just be one of those titles that's looking at an early grave. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean physical games don't have their own problems from time to time.
After all, not only can you trade the game in once you're finished, but you don't have to worry about losing all your games if your console gets broken, lost, or stolen. There's been a common sentiment for many years among console gamers that it's better to buy a game physically than digitally.