Spotting fake Pokemon Games for GBA

[TrekkiesUnite118]

I've recently come into possession of a fake Pokemon Leaf Green cartridge. While there are guides for this else where I've noticed they are a bit out dated and I figured I'd post this about the newer pirates out there.

A lot of guides out there say to look for the following and you should be safe:

E ESRB Rating
Nintendo Seal of Quality
Serial Number
Nintendo Logos
Nintendo Printing on the circuit board.

However the bootleg I have gotten has all of those on it, so if you don't have a legitimate copy to compare to you might not realize you have a fake.

Here is a shot of my real Fire Red copy next to the bootleg Leaf Green copy:


The obvious difference here is that the label is not holographic on the fake copy. You should also notice other inconsistencies but I'll save that for the next two shots.

Here is a shot of my real Fire Red copy that I bought brand new at Wal-Mart a few years back:


Make a note of the ESRB logo, the Nintendo logo, the Serial Number, the Pokemon Logo, and the Nintendo Seal of Quality.

Here is the bootleg:


The ESRB logo is thinner and not using the same font on the bootleg. The Serial Number is using a thicker font, the Nintendo logo is way off, the Seal of Quality isn't properly lined up or using the correct font, and the copyright symbols are missing. Also as has always been the case with these, the real one has an imprinted number on the label, the fake doesn't.

The next criteria is the White writing on the circuit boards. Here is my real Fire Red:



And here is the bootleg:


The Nintendo logo is again wrong, the font is too thin, the words are too close together, and the GND and VCC writing is missing. Also note that the circuit board is perfectly square on the bootleg but rounded on the real copy.

Finally the back of the cartridge. Here's the Fire Red:


And here's the bootleg:


The Nintendo logo is again off as is the rest of the font.

Another dead give away is the feel of the cartridge. The real cartridge has more smooth and rounded edges. The fake has very sharp and rough edges. Also the fake is over tightened putting strain on the plastic casing, which leads to another dead give away. Real Gameboy and GBA games rattle when you shake them. The boards are slightly loose. In the bootleg the board is extremely tight and snug.

I figured I'd post this since a lot of the guides out there aren't this indepth, and if they are they are typically outdated.

[Iron Lizard]

Wow that's real funny. It looks like they are trying a little harder or I guess just different. I have seen plenty of fakes of there, from everything from Pokemon to Chess, but none with the Nintendo printed on the circuit board like that.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Yeah, that was my thought on it as well. Basically it seems the pirates are starting to step up their game.

[cheaterdragon1]

Those Pokemon GBA games have to be some of the most faked games I've ever seen. It's really disappointing because I sold off all my minty CIB copies a few years ago and cart only copies now cost the same.

One more rule you should mention, absolutely never buy games from China!

[TrekkiesUnite118]

Well I came into possession of this in a rather interesting way. Basically a friend on my Minecraft Server offered to send me his legit copy in the mail for free. However the package got damaged and arrived without the cartridge. When I told him this he immediately went on Amazon and bought one and had it shipped to me before I could warn him of bootlegs.

[Drakon]

I bought the contra gba game in chinatown once. I stuck it into my gba and was presented with a scrolling name of the guy who dumped the rom. I opened the cart and there was this soldered on chip haha. I'm never buying from chinatown again.

[Gogogadget]

How well does your pirate perform? Save normally and that?

[zetastrike]

I've heard about this before. Why are GBA pokemon games pirated so much? Are a lot of GBA games copied like this?

[TrekkiesUnite118]

How well does your pirate perform? Save normally and that?

For now it saves but it always has the error "The previous save file will be used." Also these supposedly have disastrous results when you try to trade or migrate to the DS games.