Gaming Identifying Fake GBA games- A Useful FAQ

[8bitbubsy]

Sorry for the massive bump, but I just felt like answering to some stuff in here.

I just found out that the Mega Man Zero game I have is now fake. It has a battery inside it.

Mega Man Zero is one of the few GBA games that do have a coin battery. Check this: http://gbatemp.net/threads/gameboy-advance-gba-games-requiring-batteries.322803/

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.

Probably still fakes if you're 100% sure the numbers aren't there. There are many variety of fakes, even ones that look really authentic. All games should have the two indented numbers, even old GB games. They might be very hard to spot, try using some good light source.

is the label shiny (hard to see in pic)

There are even fake Pokémon GBA games with shiny labels. Some fakes are easy to spot, others aren't. Best bet is to find an auction with a high-res image, often the "E" rating and the Nintendo logo are different on the fake ones.

Here's my short guide on how to spot fakes in under a second:

If you look at the cart contacts, do you see "Nintendo" printed there?
If not, FAKE!
If yes, REAL!

As far as I'm aware, no bootleg cart in existence replicates the "Nintendo" on the PCB.

Wrong. There are several fakes with Nintendo above the cart pins, but usually the Nintendo logo is bad looking. It's very easy to spot a fake once you actually open the cart. Don't just assume a cart is real if it has no battery, but rather if it has all the various markings and the same PCB layout and so on.

They've been pretty common recently. The only distinguishing factors are the lack of "crystal" hologram on the front and (obviously) the cheap PCB.

Don't forget the bad looking Nintendo logo (the font) and the E rating.

 

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

Necrobump: I have what appears to be a new(? non listed that I can find anywhere) fake FF5 GBA cart. It's a pretty clever fake -- The label is correct except a missing registered trademark symbol next to the nintendo seal of quality. The color/texture of the plastic of the cart is off, too; there seems to be a deeper depression into the plastic. The PCB has the encircled "I" and Nintendo, which was a dead giveaway to me. I dont have a triwing screwdriver(should come in tomorrow) so I can't crack it open to see if it's got anything else weird about it.
Pictures with MMZ next to it for comparison:

Spoiler

 

[nxwing]

Necrobump: I have what appears to be a new(? non listed that I can find anywhere) fake FF5 GBA cart. It's a pretty clever fake -- The label is correct except a missing registered trademark symbol next to the nintendo seal of quality. The color/texture of the plastic of the cart is off, too; there seems to be a deeper depression into the plastic. The PCB has the encircled "I" and Nintendo, which was a dead giveaway to me. I dont have a triwing screwdriver(should come in tomorrow) so I can't crack it open to see if it's got anything else weird about it.
Pictures with MMZ next to it for comparison:

Spoiler

It's a good fake that can easily fool people. I personally have a few bootleg carts of my own. The ESRB rating on the FFV cart seems to thin and the Nintendo logo looks odd.

 

[Joe88]

just looking at the label (which is coming off already) it looks pretty fake
the AGB font is way too thick
the nintendo seal of quality looks misaligned
the "Nintendo logo looks off
ESRB box looks squished

on the cart its self, the font that says GAME BOY ADVANCE is very thin,
also looks like it has a smoother surface compared to the matte finish on legit carts

on the PCB, the circled nintendo logo is a dead giveaway that its fake, I have only seen that type of logo on a pokemon cart (I think ruby or fire red)

 

[Nusdogg]

The one thing to be sure that it's also authentic is the two digits engraved onto the front of the sticker right above the Nintendo seal.

 

[[]KAOS[]Casey]

Got a real FF5 cart. Real vs fake:

Spoiler

Check out that wood screw!

 

[protivakid]

What about these Metroid Zero Mission carts? The one on the right is one I have had a few years and played through. It looks similar to the inside of my Fusion cart. The one on the left I just got on ebay,

 

[Shadow#1]

What about these Metroid Zero Mission carts? The one on the right is one I have had a few years and played through. It looks similar to the inside of my Fusion cart. The one on the left I just got on ebay,

The on the left is fake the one in right s real

 

[protivakid]

The on the left is fake the one in right s real

Thanks that's what I thought. Any shots of a real Metroid Zero Mission Box? To my eyes the box, manual, and typical Nintendo inserts look legit that came with the game. I can at least use the box if it's legit.

My Box:

 

[FAST6191]

Wow that fake is even better than the last ones we saw, those at least had a clearly soldered in chip inside.
Boxart
http://www.advanscene.com/html/Releases/showfc.php?id=1353

You can usually still find the boxart on amazon as well
http://www.amazon.com/Metroid-Mission-Gameboy-Advance-Game-Boy/dp/B00ZHF1I7M/
http://www.amazon.com/Metroid-Zero-Mission-Game-Boy-Advance/dp/B00012BSJ4/

Manuals can be harder, however for Nintendo first/second party stuff you can look on their websites, Europe seems better.
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/...ls/Game-Boy-Advance-games-manuals-928652.html
http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/manuals/agb.jsp

I will have to look harder at that game as well the Mb85r256a on the left of the fake PCB is a FeRAM chip (like SRAM but no need for power, hence the lack of a battery) and it even has it on the solder mask (FRAM vs SRAM)
http://datasheet.octopart.com/MB85R256PFTN-G-BNDE1-Fujitsu-datasheet-540261.pdf

MX23L6406-12C is a mask rom chip as well, though I will have to check the original top markings to make sure it is what it claims to be.
https://chipworks.secure.force.com/...artID=7613c0e5-7dac-4149-bb87-39b47c02592c&g=

I could almost believe that was a later revision/reprint of the game.

 

[protivakid]

...I could almost believe that was a later revision/reprint of the game.

Is there a chance it is and both are real? In this thread people seem to think both are legit.

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=143834&forumid=1

 

[FAST6191]

Afraid I do not actually know the reprint/reissue/bug fixed versions of the Metroid game. Later GBA games did move from battery backed SRAM to FeRAM (it is slightly more expensive but no need for a battery makes up for that on various levels) but were still called SRAM games internally/by the flash cart scene as FeRAM is pretty compatible at a protocol level.

Can you dump the game ROMs, if you have a DS/DS lite and a DS flash cart then http://filetrip.net/nds-downloads/applications/download-gba-backup-tool-0-21-f3228.html should do it? They might be different -- I do not think a reprint would warrant a new version of the code (SRAM and FeRAM should be more or less compatible with each other) but a bugfix would see some stuff changed including a version counter in the header ( GBATA from http://www.no-intro.org/tools.htm should tell you).

It is clearly not aiming to be a clone but it very much would appear to be a legit style of board (not that I have a FeRAM board of that vintage in front of me to check with). If it is a fake it is the best I have ever seen, not that the bar is set very high and not that the effort required would be all that great. I probably should not have used the word fake as I did in my earlier post as I am not convinced it is.

 

[TecXero]

Is there a chance it is and both are real? In this thread people seem to think both are legit.

http://nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=143834&forumid=1

They're both legit. The one on the left is the newer version. Either that or someone went through the effort to make it look exactly the same. I used to have that version before a large chunk of my collection was stolen. I recently replaced it with the first version (the one with the SRAM) and thought it was a fake when I saw the battery until I read about it online.

 

[mechagouki]

I had quite a few fake GBA games once upon a time, most of them bought from China, via eBay, in early 2005. I knew they were fakes, but they were so cheap I didn't care.

Metroid zero mission was one of them, it had a "Nintondo" branded case, and a red/yellow label quite unlike the one shown in protivakid's post. The game worked perfectly and I played it through several times.

I also bought LoZ: The Minish Cap, which again, had an incorrect label. I finished that too, but the game quit altogether after about 18 months, just wouldn't boot.

Other fakes I bought included Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga and Yoshi's Island. I honestly don't know what happened to them all, I may have them somewhere still.

 

[Nyannurs]

Are there any guidelines on detecting bootleg versions of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team for the Gameboy Advance? I recently bought a copy of the game off of eBay and my Gameboy Micro has yet to arrive. I'm having slight doubts about the cart.

EDIT: Here are pictures of both the front & back of the cartridge.
http://i.imgur.com/IPnE2O2.jpg [front]
http://i.imgur.com/pPElXeZ.jpg [back]

 

[FAST6191]

Looking around it did not seem to come in a coloured case or anything and the label looks legit for the Euro version. We would really have to see the PCB to tell, sometimes we can tell if we can see the cart pins which is not possible in your shots but not all the time.

 

[Viri]

I didn't even know fake GBA games were a thing, until seeing this thread.

 

[TecXero]

I didn't even know fake GBA games were a thing, until seeing this thread.

Yep, seems like most of the time when I buy GBA games online, they're fake. Luckily Amazon has a great refund system.

 

[bitbite]

Yep, seems like most of the time when I buy GBA games online, they're fake. Luckily Amazon has a great refund system.

Ebay and paypal were pretty good to me on that too.
Lot of fakes on there.

 

[Joe e]

The battery is just for SRAM. They always use maskroms/flash chips for games, and those don't get deleted.

As a matter of fact, when the battery dies, the game will still work. It won't just keep saves anymore after being powered-off.

Which can be quickly fixed by changing the battery with a new one.

Hello I got a few bootleg games and it will save for awhile than say it has been deleted. When I went to change the battery I realized it was fake. Where the battery should be there like a blotch of sotter is the battery under there? Can I still change it?