Retro-Bit denies claims that its Shantae GBA carts for Limited Run are unsafe due to ‘dirty chips’

Retro manufacturer Retro-Bit has denied claims that cartridges it provided to Limited Run are unsafe to use.

Customers have been receiving their copies of Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution, a previously unreleased GBA platformer by WayForward.

However, a number of customers have been taking to social media, complaining that when they opened the cartridge to look at its components they found dirty chips.

Bluesky user Vela Cosmos posted a photo of the insider of their cartridge, claiming “the board’s scuffed up” and it has “dirty chips”.

Another user, Danthrax, posted their own photos, writing: “WTF, these chips look awful. The one on the left is discolored, they all look dusty and scuffed — is this even safe to play in our GBA?”

Retro-Bit has now posted a statement on Bluesky, claiming the cartridges are safe to use and have no functional issues.

“Regarding Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution! that we produced for WayForward and Limited Run Games there have been claims that customers received a PCBA that had cosmetic blemishes,” the statement reads.

“Please rest assured that the cartridges are all built to spec and durable. Aside from imperfections found on a small number of boards, we thoroughly tested through various phases of manufacturing and can confirm this does not affect the gameplay and that the product is built to last.”

WayForward started work on Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution back in 2002, following the release of the original Shantae on GBA. However, because WayForward couldn’t find a publisher the game was cancelled in 2004.

The Shantae series would go on to get numerous other sequels over the years, but the cancelled second game remained unreleased until WayForward announced in 2023 that development had resumed with a GBA version set to be published by Limited Run.

While the physical GBA version has now sold out, the game will be coming digitally to Switch, PS4 and PC later this year.

The cartridge drama will not be welcome news for Limited Run Games, which recently had a separate issue with cartridges which, in that instance, were actually declared potentially unsafe.

Further reading

Limited Run Games says two of its recent NES releases could damage the console

Rugrats and Piopow may not be safe to use, and other titles are undergoing tests

Last year the manufacturer released physical versions of Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland and Piopow, both of which arrive as an NES cartridge designed to be played on actual NES hardware.

However, customers who bought either game received emails from Limited Run in February informing them that the cartridges may not actually be safe to use.

“Upon learning about this issue from our community, we immediately began investigating and can confirm that due to an issue with voltage regulation, there is a small chance that prolonged use of these titles could result in damage to either the cartridge or the console hardware,” the emails read.

This wasn’t the first time Limited Run had to apologise for the manufacturing quality of its retro games. Last year the company apologised when its manufacturer used burnt CD-R discs instead of pressed discs for a re-release of 3DO horror game D.