Gaming Identifying Fake GBA games- A Useful FAQ

Sdre34

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Gonna go ahead and necropost, hope you guys don't mind.
I got my hands on a presumably bootlegged copy of Nettou King of Fighters '96 for the Gameboy. There are some interesting aesthetic features such as the "Nintondo Gameboy" in the indentation of the cart has crossed "O"s and flattened letters. The back also says "MADE IN JAPAM". Inside it seems to feature the typical blob chips usually found in bootlegs, and a spot which looks like it's meant to hold a battery, but there is none to be found.
EDIT: I've just now realized that there are empty gold fingers on the board, indicating a missing chip. They must have just been using generic PCBs for every bootleg they made and just used that they needed.
http://imgur.com/BBRn262
 

bitbite

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I believe what I have here is a new generation of bootleg GBA pokemon games.

Pokemon Emerald has a shiny hologram like label, with correct logo/font

QFow0F9.jpg

Bottom contact have nintendo printed on them (although it does not match a originals style)

X1Ht70w.jpg

no battery on the inside, typical blob style chipset
label sticker of "sammy pk094wa01"
 
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Sdre34

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I believe what I have here is a new generation of bootleg GBA pokemon games.

Pokemon Emerald has a shiny hologram like label, with correct logo/font

QFow0F9.jpg

Bottom contact have nintendo printed on them (although it does not match a originals style)

X1Ht70w.jpg

no battery on the inside, typical blob style chipset
label sticker of "sammy pk094wa01"
They've been pretty common recently. The only distinguishing factors are the lack of "crystal" hologram on the front and (obviously) the cheap PCB.
 

jumpman1229

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I believe what I have here is a new generation of bootleg GBA pokemon games.

Pokemon Emerald has a shiny hologram like label, with correct logo/font

QFow0F9.jpg

Bottom contact have nintendo printed on them (although it does not match a originals style)

X1Ht70w.jpg

no battery on the inside, typical blob style chipset
label sticker of "sammy pk094wa01"

They're getting better on the fakes but there are still problems with them. From first glance, the E on the E for Everyone is off. It's a thicker and bolder E. Then once you open it up, it gets way more obvious
 

Kyo86sg

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Hmmmm, this is interesting!

My question will be can it save? If it could, means that this fake GBA cart is using flash instead of the cheaper SRAM battery save.
 

bitbite

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Hmmmm, this is interesting!

My question will be can it save? If it could, means that this fake GBA cart is using flash instead of the cheaper SRAM battery save.

It saves, have about 5 hours on it without any problems so far.

If anyone needs any high resolution pics to determine if its flash instead of SRAM let me know :)
 

Yepi69

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I just remembered that I was supposed to post a few funny fakes in this thread, just for the heck of it. Let's start with Metal Gear: Ghost Babel for the GBC:

NdIKz.jpg

wu7By.jpg

jUx4q.jpg

They did not try hard with this one - the case is made of cheap plastic and the colours on the label are all washed-out. The paper is all wrong too, but if that was not a dead give-away, the case actually says GAME rather than Nintendo (r) GAMEBOY at the top... the back featured a cross-screw which I removed to power up the dead battery. The funniest part of this one is that it... could be a functioning Gameboy flashcart. Have a look at the PCB - it's universal, with a separate "Game PCB" soldered right onto it. Swap that with a FLASH chip and you're in for a treat! Hillarious!

Now, from a different "barrel", Sonic Advance 2 for the GBA:

2W2ks.jpg

cK4ZK.jpg

ggW3R.jpg

peBMR.jpg
Typical issues you'd expect from a pirate cart, really - nothing spectacular... except for the markings on the back, clearly made with a waterproof marker, likely for the manufacturing staff to know which pre-made case they're supposed to stuff this bad boy in. :P

And finally, my prized posession... that I currently cannot find, thus I will supply you with a stock photo... Sonic Adventure 8. Yes, you read it right - Foxi's way ahead of the times with his Sonic games.

kAFaW.jpg

My cartridge happens to be light-blue, but it in any case, it can be seen that the mold used was in fact "borrowed" from Pokemon Pinball. Mind you, this game is not a typical bootleg - it's a pirate original, meaning that someone coded it from the ground up. The rumble feature *actually works*, believe it or not - it's not there for kicks. Quite impressive for a cheap pirate game. The funny thing about this bootleg is that from what I heard, *no GameBoy emulator is capable of launching the ROM without crashing*, likely due to the additional hardware on the cartridge or due to being a bad dump. Fortunately for you guys who want to try it out, Sonic Adventure 7 and Sonic 3D Blast 5 are practically the same game with only minor changes, and those load just fine on emulators, so go ahead and try them out!

I also happen to have Sonic R for GameBoy, which turned out to be Sonic 6, a ROM hack of Speedy Gonzales:



The sticker on the cartridge was *literally* just the boxart of Sonic R, minus the SEGA logo. No side bars, no markings, no text other than the Sonic R logo:

7gRgC.jpg

If not for the fact that the cartridge (made of suprisingly good plastic, albeit yellow... :P) didn't spell out that it's a Gameboy game (in crooked italics, mind you) and you weren't familiar with the cartridge size, you'd probably never guess. :lol: Shame that I cannot find it, as I have yet to see this particular fake case online... Perhaps my cart is unique? :lol:

Unfortunately, I misplaced the two latter cartridges, so I cannot provide you with my own photos. I also apologize for the quality of these photos - I used the laptop's webcam on its most sensitive setting (which forced me to make low-res photos) and these are the effects. ;) Maybe I'll grab a camera once I find the rest of my collection and snap a few photos then. :D In any case, I hope you all enjoyed!


Best...Sonic games...evar!!!
 

BerserkLeon

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Recently got a fake off eBay, and got a refund for it. Now I know a bit more about what to look for so I figured I'd share.
This is specifically relating to the Pokemon GBA games, but some of it could be used for finding other fake GBA carts as well.
If you see holes in the contacts at varying heights, or you see one hole in the bottom of the third contact from the left, it's fake.
Good:
3yS2i.jpg
Bad:
3yS3q.jpg
If the dent on the back of the cart that's under the screw hole is smaller than the one on rest of your GBA carts, it's fake. In this photo the top two are legit and the FireRed is fake:
3yS6x.jpg
The ESRB E (on USA carts) should look like this:
3yS7v.jpg
and not this:
3yS8a.jpg
The Triangle pointing downwards on the front of carts is a bit big, (and there's a dent in the center of the label) like this:
3yS9Z.jpg
notice the fake's triangle is smaller, and there's no dent in the label (the dent is from wear, or curiosity, no-dent is acceptable if the numbers imprinted on the label are visible):
3ySaX.jpg
On the piece of the cart covering the contacts, there should be a square with a letter in it (I've only seen F) and a rectangle with ">ABS<" in it.:
3ySei.jpg
Fake carts usually don't bother copying this. There is another rectangle with two numbers and an equals sign between them, but the numbers are variable, that's why I didn't mention it.
There should be a set of 4 gold rectangles on the back of legitimate cartridges. I'm not sure what it's used for, but all of my official carts have one and the fake does not. For the pokemon games it should be in the top-middle-left and be visible under almost any light... like so:
3ySfV.jpg
3ySh6.jpg
Notice the fake has no rectangles whatsoever:
3yShP.jpg
That's pretty much it if you're looking at buying one, as most sellers don't have a tri-wing screwdriver to show you the PCB. However if you're trying to verify one you have in your possession as being legit, I've got a couple more photos. Here's one of the back of my legit LeafGreen cart, clearly showing the golden rectangles:
3ySjs.jpg
And here's one of the back of the fake FireRed, more clearly showing the lack of said rectangles:
3ySkn.jpg
The front of the LG PCB:
3ySln.jpg
Notice the 2 gold squares? You should be able to see at least one from the outside too, Look for the top-left square more often because from the outside, a battery holder can be mistaken for the bottom-right gold square. You can look for the bottom-right square too, but I wouldn't base my decision of whether to purchase or not solely on these squares
The front of the fake FR PCB:
3ySmV.jpg
Notice no gold squares.
The front of my legit Sapphire PCB:
3ySnH.jpg
The front of my Sapphire case with PCB in it:
3ySoo.jpg
Because in this picture you can see the bottom-right square but are unable to see the top-left square.
If you have a DS and a slot-1 flashcart, you can try dumping the ROM and save, and compare them to online hashes/savetypes. Most of the time (like in my FireRed's case) the ROM will not match any "official" dump and may even be twice the size of normal dumps for that game. A lot of times the Save size/type is different as well, but in this fake's case, the save seems to be the same as official carts.
 
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scottg1234

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Nice information there, BerserkLeon! You pretty much got everything.


Another thing to watch out for is if the front sticker has an indention letter number code. My real Mario Golf game has the number 41 indented on the sticker. My fake Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green does not have that.

I just now figured out that GBA games can be faked, lmao. I never had a clue people faked these.

I always wondered why my Leaf Green would freeze right before I tried to fight Gary at SS Aqua. The Fire Red never did that though for some reason.

Anyone know if I can fix my fake Leaf Green?
 

Nusdogg

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Both my Fire Red and Leaf Green don't have the number code indented onto the front sticker, but it is real cause I see that the chip inside is has two little small roms and does not have a save battery like the fake ones.

My Ruby on the other hand as I just received it two days ago, I knew right away that it's fake soon as I inserted into my GBA. The way it sticks out higher than my GBA is sh*tty, right there and then I knew it's not a Geniune cartridge. Also, when I look behind the chip through the transparent case, I can see how there's no contact teeths like the front for the GBA cartridge reader. Real one has it front and back, not just the front; fakes. Also, when start and load the game, it says something like "Your game can now be played" before you start your adventure. Real ones don't do that. Both my FR and LG don't do that.
 

Coltonamore

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I just found out that the Mega Man Zero game I have is now fake. It has a battery inside it. I thought it was legit til I saw the insides. It sucks that I don't have the real copy, but hey at least I'm playing the game on actual hardware. That's all that matters.
 

BerserkLeon

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I just found out that the Mega Man Zero game I have is now fake. It has a battery inside it. I thought it was legit til I saw the insides. It sucks that I don't have the real copy, but hey at least I'm playing the game on actual hardware. That's all that matters.

What I meant was that in FR/LG's case specifically, they do not have a battery.
A lot of GBA games do in-fact use button cells for saving. I know that Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland does. I don't know of any database that tells you what each game should have though.
 

BerserkLeon

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Nice information there, BerserkLeon! You pretty much got everything.


Another thing to watch out for is if the front sticker has an indention letter number code. My real Mario Golf game has the number 41 indented on the sticker. My fake Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green does not have that.

I just now figured out that GBA games can be faked, lmao. I never had a clue people faked these.

I always wondered why my Leaf Green would freeze right before I tried to fight Gary at SS Aqua. The Fire Red never did that though for some reason.

Anyone know if I can fix my fake Leaf Green?

the ROM itself can't be changed as far as I know, so there's not really anything that can be done. you could use a teleport code to go around Gary, but you'd have to hack it yourself since the ROM isn't the official one and the locations in the memory are probably different.
Not much can be done aside from finding legit carts somewhere. I don't think selling the fakes would be legal, either.
 

TripleSMoon

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Thanks to this thread, I was able to identify a fake copy of Mega Man Zero 4 being sold on eBay, saving me the hassle of returning it and losing time actually playing the game. I really appreciate this thread's existence, and am linking the eBay listing in hopes that the OP can add Mega Man Zero 4 to the list of known fake games.

The front label looks off somehow, and the title font and overall art direction don't match the other games in the series. From the back, the telltale "AGB-004" is shown, as well as what appears to be missing spaces between words.
 

Arras

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I know this is old, but Pokemon Frigo Returns is not even in the OP? I used to own a copy of that :P Then again I also had a bootleg Ruby, Emerald and LeafGreen at some point.
 

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