Most people played the standard ROM. They tolerated the freezes. They accepted that the casino games were broken. But Elias wasn't most people. He was a completionist, and somewhere in the messy code of that game was a sprite of the Harvest King that nobody in the western community had seen in-game for over a decade.
Later revisions like 1J11 reportedly had issues with saving while holding Mythic Ore, and general freezing remains a rare but present risk. Summary of Revisions Serial Indicator Notable Features 1.0 0JXX Highly Glitched Marriage to Goddess/Witch impossible. 1.1 (Early) 1J01 – 1J08 Partially Fixed Fixed marriage bugs; new minor bugs (e.g., invisible pets). 1.1 (Late) 1J22 "Final" Version Most stable English release available. harvest moon ds 11 rom upd
If you want to play the definitive version of Harvest Moon DS today, here are the recommendations: Most people played the standard ROM