10 Ways to Spot Fake GBA Games (quick and to the point)

Counterfeit Game Boy Advance cartridges are everywhere, and a high percentage of those are Pokemon games. This is a quick and easy guide for those seeking the real ones. Included are specific details about bootleg Ruby, Sapphire, LeafGreen, FireRed, and Emerald, as well as Super Mario Bros Advance. It's not about ROMs, hacks, and those kinds of things, just games that attempt to look like the real thing so that you are tricked into buying it.

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[arturos.l.]

Who CARES if they're fake. The child version of you doesn't care at all. Have fun

[samuellacher]

Man, with YouTube flooded nowadays with videos that go on for 15+ minutes over something that should only take 5 or less, seeing this was a blessing and a relief. You did a nice job, man. Keep it up! Straight and to the point is the way to go.

[MysticUmbreon]

Thanks so much just bought a real copy of leafgreen today from ebay :D

[infrared]

There is a game shop in the town where I live and they're selling gba games and they're pricing the fakes higher than the real ones. They said to me: it's just a PRINTING ERROR, it doesn't matter.

[SuperJM]

A good way to avoid fake GBA games is to buy European versions that come with the manual. Most European manuals were huge because they contained the English, French, German, Italian and Spanish language manuals in one booklet. Pirates don't usually include manuals and when they do they are onyl a few pages long. It's not cost-effective for them to produce big manuals. So if you buy a European version that includes the manual there's a much better chance of it being genuine.

Of course, this way is slightly more expensive, and there's no guarantee it's real. Also, most European manuals were in black and white. Still, it can increase your chances of getting an authentic copy significantly.

[adog]

Quick and to the point is what all tutorials need to be, thanks for this

[scotianbank]

I'm glad you pointed out those imprinted numbers in the labels at the end. Almost 10 years ago, when I revived my childhood Pokemon fever and started collecting all the games I couldn't get back then, I had quite the hard time finding real GBA Pokemon games, because the fake ones had gotten quite good at faking... So good in fact, that the only reliable way of knowing a real from a fake, was those markings. The fake ones had it all, the plastic's color (plus that gets quite tricky to see on eBay listings), the codes, the logos, even the foil/shiny labels. All the fake ones were missing was those fortunate markings. Thanks Nintendo! xD

[Handelo]

This made it extremely fun going on ebay just to see how many fakes there are. And let me tell you, the fakes WAY outnumber the real ones.

[RusliLPSoldier]

I have my real GBA cartridges since I was young. But luckily, I don't have Fake GBA cartridges on it.

[voxelbugged]

these games aren't fake, they are legal NIntondo products

[donm]

if you're too lazy to remember what you watched, look at the pins (metal contacts) in the cartridge and there should be NINTENDO printed near the plastic. so if the pins are facing to you like this-- it should be at the top.

[LucyKosaki]

If you are in a non-english speaking european country, a localized game on an english label cartridge is also a big giveaway. For example an italian copy of Pokemon Ruby should say "versione rubino" or a german copy should say "rubin-edition". I've seen a lot of copies on ebay or facebook marketplace with a non-english version on them, but on a cartridge with an english label. They just put different language roms on the same fake cartridges, because it's too much work to produce different cartridge labels for every country.

[thatwoomykid]

this honestly helps out for the fact that i am considering to buy pokemon games from gamestop, and the reviews are mixed, thanks!

[ninetwoeight]

luckily for me i have a shop in my town that sells lots of retro games, including gba games. i've bought about six games from him now and they've all been real.

[terryc]

Original cartridges when inserted into gameboy should sit flush with the console. All the fakes I have don't, they all stick out about 2mm, which is very noticeable.

[ignskeletons]

I'm about to drop some money at a meetup where a guy is selling a Gameboy SP with a LOT of Pokemon games. Watching this guide before hand to possibly prevent a scam if they're not real. The guy has lots of good feedback and he's asking a good (but not too good to believe) price for these games so I'm hoping it's the real deal. Now I know what to look out for!

[orussonobrasil]

Here in Brazil things are quite different. Fake cartridges are far more common, and original ones are expensive. Most people just say fuck it and buy a flashcard, those don't have problems with saves, and alow them to be directly transfered to a pc. Another problem solved this way is that you only need to carry one cartridge with all the games, and not have a shitton of cartridges all over your pokets. Yeah, things are different here. 

[jonodeluca]

Most Japanese region games use battery saves so if you import a Japanese copy the presence of a battery does not indicate that it is fake.

[FallsOfEnder]

I've got a fake from when I was younger for Super Marko World.
Reasons: No inprinted number, wrongly labeled ESRB rating, incorrect size of Nintendo logo on label (So damn small, you can't see whether it's Licfensed or not.) and the screw is sealed.

HOW DID I NFVFR NOTICFD IT WHFN I WAS YOUNGFR?!?!? Bnb

[AlastorShadow]

Thanks a lot for letting me know! My only regret is not watching this sooner...