The Pokemon fakes have become very hard to spot to the untrained eye. All of the key points to look for mentioned in this video are now "emulated" by the fake Pokemon cartridges that plague eBay. The only way to be sure is to open the cartridge using a special tri-wing screwdriver. The fake circuit boards are entirely different and with some quick online research can be spotted immediately. When buying on eBay ALWAYS ask the seller to confirm the carts are genuine. This is an easy thing to check with ruby/sapphire and emerald, as these all contain batteries that power the real-time clock. The fakes don't have this. The batteries are visible through the case, and also when first running the game you will see a message on the fake carts that says the save can be loaded, which is actually a hack to bypass the battery check. If you are unfortunate to receive a fake cart, then you are entitled to your money back, WITHOUT having to return the counterfeit card. Returning it is actually illegal, (in the UK at least, not sure about elsewhere). If eBay insists you need to return the item to be eligible for a refund a quick mention of this law will make them hastily change their mind. Also putting enough pressure on the seller, eg informing them politely you will contact eBay, Paypal, all of their recent customers who have bought similar items, and even the Police, should result in you not having to convince eBay of anything, as from my experience when not knowing how bad the problem was and buying some fake Pokemon cards, the seller knows they are breaking the law, and will give in and send a refund without receiving the games back, provided you convince them you're not going to let it go. Hope my experience helps someone.
+GamingTheSystems I'm posting this here as a response because it'll get seen more easily than just randomly posting on an old video and lucking out with people just scrolling along and seeing it. My copy of Pokemon Emerald is a clear transparent green, has a shiny foil label, has the correct wording and spelling, the rating and seal labels are on-point, the inking is perfect, the codes/model number on the front/back are correct, AND IT EVEN HAS NINTENDO'S LOGO INSIDE WHERE THE CARTRIDGE PINS ARE! (The upside-down logo) HOWEVER! The imprinted 4 numbers on the sticker above the seal? Non-existent. So, what do I have here? If it helps, the game says nothing about the battery being dead, and says it can be played as normal when I start it up, but the clock in-game has been stuck on 6:45 PM as I originally set it. Well over a month ago, now that I think about it... And this was from eBay.com.au, but not From Asia. From Victoria to Queensland. Took only about 3 days, so the proof is in the pudding, is it not?
Ninja Kirby Enterprises don't know the name of it. Just know it's from Golden Sun. Figured out how to get the gba emulator now so I can play all those classics!
that's harsh. The Pokemon games that I got from Amazon are fake obviously. Which I'm getting tired of getting fake ones even when I'm so close on getting the Emerald Pokedex completed
Also to note with the Pokemon games, my buddy ordered Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire along with an SP. He then told me that sometimes the games appear to be in a different language. So i scrounged around my room for my DS with my copies of Emerald, Fire Red, Sapphire. Basically to cut the story short, when you tilt the cartridges up, with the correct lighting, you will see the year the game was manufactured on the far left of the chip, right next to the Nintendo label as mentioned. I noticed on his the ONLY difference was his were NEVER stamped with a year on the left hand side, while mine was(oh and to mention when he put his games in, a pre-save file named "test" was already there LOL). Not to sure if that should be something to point out if you want to purchase these titles off of eBay etc. If the deal seems to good too be true, don't do it people.
I was selling Pokemon Emerald for $40 and someone told me I was overcharging and that he could buy it for $20 on eBay. I probably would have gone down to $35, but not $20. These bootleggers are devaluing the legitimate games and I wish everyone knew about these. Your video is very informative and I will be sharing it with my customers.
i remember when my so called best friend took my fire red and switched out the circuit for a super mario one and then claimed that someone else did it.
I bought a Fire Red that was supposed to be genuine. It wasn't. But it has a strange quirk I noticed.. It doesn't save itsself after Trading Pokemon. So I can have infinite Pokemon, and even items, by making the pokemon hold them when I trade. I just have to make sure the pokemon I trade to the fake is a crappy one, like a level 3 weedle or caterpie.
You, my friend, are my savior. My brothers and I bought three different copies of Pokemon Emerald, all of which wouldn't save worth a damn. We thought we were just unlucky, or worse, that working copies just didn't exist anymore (Ridiculous, yes, but still a thought that lingered.) After watching this video I can safely say that those were fakes, and we've got an actual copy being mailed in as a late Christmas gift (Game has the subtle number indent, gameboy advance logo is correct, etc) Happy Holidays!
My brother had a fake emerald from china and the pokemon were called: e-mon, x-mon, u-mon etc. and if you got a critical hit it said: hit the keyparts. It was quite funny really
The drawbacks would be 1) Stronger likelihood of memory failure, 2) Paying for a real game, but getting a fake game with little resell value, 3) Giving criminals money.
Are the fakes really that bad? I bought a gameboy just to play Pokemon but now it turns out that the game is more expensive than the gameboy. And that's just one game.
This is the best Fake/Counterfeit information video on TH-cam! Well done production value, seemingly rehearsed/scripted, and good pacing. Thanks for such a great video!
Thanks for the video. This helped me confirm that one of my brother's games that didn't save was indeed a knockoff. I'll have to check his Pokemon Emerald have later.
Hey, I recognise that background music! That's the menu theme of Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age! And thanks for the vid. I'm considering buying a couple of GBA games online. :)
OMG I got fake games. I got my games from game stop I don't think they know they sold me fake games. The games I got from game stop are used GBA games.
Uickc You are not the first to mention buying fakes at Gamestop. I don't think game stores realize how much the GBA market has been compromised. Hopefully you can return them.
Very helpful video. I run a small store and came across many fake Pokemon games. There are plenty of things here I didn't know, but one thing to add is the battery that saves games that is easily seen in the transparent games is easy to spot. Fake ones have a yellow border on them and cant be changed out like authentic games. Also the plastic just feels plain cheap. I also noticed that the rating looked different sometimes and even Nintendo which was off centered in the circle.
Umut Ozbay haha Amazon isn't expensive I mean unless your doing Amazon Prime but other than that I'm poor compared to most people and still only trust Amazon with my things eBay is just not trustworthy at all imo I've had to many bad experiences on that site lol
thanks for making this vid! it helped me spot a fake game in my collection. it was pokemon leafgreen (packaged with a fake firered). it was tricky as it passed some of the tests, like "nintendo" on the part near the connector pins, but the giveaway was the shiny foil stick, which it didn't have. i got it from china and its far too late to return it
Thanks for this video! I had no idea that people actullay made fake games for GBA, but it's very helpful since I recently found my old one and trying to build up my library again. The games I do have left are real, with no signs of the warnings you gave on them. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing. Regarding the little number, it's not a 100% foolproof identifier. Out of the 80-plus GBA games I own, I found one that has no number, and it's a real game (Arcade Advanced). The other 79 games have it.
Thank you for getting right to it! Watched about 6 videos before finding yours where people were talking about what Pokemons they had and all sorts of other innocuous garbage.
I have learned to get to the point as soon as possible. TH-cam gives me stats on when people stop watching my videos. I noticed if I don't make the first minute interesting, people bail.
Thank you for this. :') I have been tricked multiple times as a kid with fake games on GBA and DS. I hope this will stop people from making the same mistakes I and many others have in the past.
I learned all these ways to spot fake gba games when I was a kid. I had to learn it the hard way because of the large amount of fake games in my country, since I'm from Mexico, lol. Nice video, it was a pleasant nostalgia trip.
If you are purchasing games with no labels, then yeah, the labels not a good thing to go by. :) Good tip about the flushness. I had not thought of that.
Bummer. Since the official label doesn't actually have a picture on it, just text, I imagine it would be easy to fake. Now you got me thinking about my own Castlevania Double Pak. I need to go check it again...
Spelling errors are a great indicator...if there ARE any spelling errors. If not, then people need to proceed to the checking the other things I suggested. An incorrect font, as you point out, should be one of the additional things to check for. I myself haven't seen a difference in the "e," but I'll keep my eye out.
Yep, it's a serious question. The fakes I have play the same as their real counterparts. I compared them side-by-side. The only difference I found is a higher rate of battery-related issues with the fakes.
I just started buying a few GBA games and this popped up on my YT feed, thank you very much for making this, I was a bit concerned because I did hear about the legitimacy of GBA titles. Glad to know I'm armed now.
I thought the DS was the most pirated? The console practically gave birth to the flashcart industry. Sure, flashcarts of some kind existed before, but not even close to the extent they did when the DS came along. :P
I would imagine that you would have to send it back as part of the process. If you're lucky, the seller will just say "keep it and I'll also return the money." I should mention, there's a new function on Ebay, where if you ask for a refund (because it's not as described) you can post a picture of the item and it becomes part of the "case." I used the feature to post a picture of a melted controller I received. In your case, you can use the photo to point out the shiny label.
Great video.I even like the background music of the Golden Sun menu.How about you make a how-to video on fake DS games!I'm still trying to figure out why Luisito's(johnluischannel's)Pokemon Diamond game's saved data was corrupted.And one more thing,the circuit board is NOT a surefire way to prove it's fake.Anyways,great video.
That sucks. I know they have a new feature where you can take pictures of the broken item and attach it to your complaint against the seller. I recently used to it when I received a broken controller that was advertised as "new." I took a picture of it, showing the damage, then sent the complaint. Eventually I got a replacement.
Just want to point some thing not pointed out in the vid other than that this is a really well made buyers guide good Job. For ppl who live in the EU like me the pokemon games fire red and leaf green are in the standard black cart and have no color too them other than that all this infomation is correct and also another tip is to check the screw as most fakes dont use a triwing screw.
Yeah, the piracy problem is becoming pretty bad. When I checked Ebay again for this newest video, I saw a lot more fakes than I did last time (maybe I've become better at spotting them). My guess is that they are being produced in a large factory somewhere.
Since there are so many on Ebay that don't have the seal, I'd have to say it's a label variation (perhaps an error by Nintendo). There really isn't that much info out there about GB and GBC fakes, so it's hard to say for certain.
We wrote an article about this on our site. Amazing that people are getting away with this. I can imagine car boot sales (flea markets) are rife with them.
Great video. I had to run and check my Advance games to see if I had any pirated ones. Thankfully, I did not have any. But I will definitely check from now on any titles I buy from now. Thanks!
One method you didn't mention to check is the E for everyone logo, and the Nintendo logo. I've seen a few copies of games like Fire Emblem where the ESRB logo has a tiny E instead of the bigger E logo. And next to it is a wrong font Nintendo logo. This almost got me with fake copies of both NES Classic: Mario Bros (Which I should have known better since the cart was a basic GBA shell and not the NES grey) and Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (which was a bit more convincing but the color of the label was a bit darker than normal ones)
I have a fake pokemon sapphire game my brother got from a friend, I hope his friend bought the fake game knowing that because I could tell right away it was fake because it is gray. :(
Yep, I learned the hard way myself when I received a couple of fakes in a large lot. They both said LICFNSED on them, so I knew something was up. That's when I started researching it and discovered an entire world of forgery that I didn't even know existed. It interested me a lot, and I kind've wanted to help out, so that's what prompted me to make a video about it. Thanks for watching.
Dammit, my oldest GBA game Sonic Advance is a big fakey-fake!!! The logo is good on top of the cart, the seal of quality looks good, spelling is good (can't verify the back, there's a big yellow sticker on it and I don't wanna take it off lol) but the label itself is an uncommon type. Big words SONIC ADVANCE right smack in the middle (bigger letters than the regular Sonic Advance) and the background is not blue and white stripes, it's blue and white checkerboard. I always thought it was just the original or something, the oldest version of Sonic Advance, but I guess I'm wrong :/ maybe this explains why it doesn't play on a Nintendo DS. It just starts the DS with a white frozen screen. Something else...in the middle of the front label, there's a rectangle slightly sticking forward out of the cart from behind the label, rotated just a bit, off-kilter with the huge words SONIC ADVANCE in the middle. I dunno what that is.
I don't really care how you pronounce it, this video was really helpful! I remember buying a Pokemon Emerald when I was a kid, and the cartridge always seemed a bit funny...turned out to be a fake haha...
I have been constantly reminded of the mistake, but there's not much I can do about it now that it's posted. Hopefully the video is still useful despite saying a word or two wrong.
Someone mentioned this one time before, and I checked into it. I listened to my audio file (minus the music) and I didn't think it sounded incorrect. If I was mispronouncing it, you'd think more people would point it out since there are over 10,000 views. I might look into it again though.
ALWAYS CHECK THE FEEDBACK, people will tell you. Also, if it's a brand new account, that's almost a positive, beings how the last one may have been caught and deleted. Thanks for the vid! :D
Thanks to this vid, I (unfortunately) found out my copy of Sapphire is fake. It only passed the cartridge test. :l I should've realised when the box I got was unfolded and was misprinted... Ah well, it still works. Still, thank you for uploading this. I'm going to be much more diligent in the future.
Sapphire uses flash memory to save data; no battery is used for that. However, it does have a battery onboard that runs a clock. When that battery goes bad, some of the clock-based events won't function. Fake Sapphires, on the other hand, don't have flash memory aboard. Instead, it uses a the battery for the clock AND to save game data. This makes fakes very vulnerable to losing data. All this applies to Emerald and Ruby as well.
Yep, it's a little disconcerting how easily people take advantage of others. On the other hand, I'm happy (and surprised) to see that the GBA still has a dedicated following. I wasn't expecting this video to get that many views.
I'm thinking of getting Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen for a let's play that involves transferring Pokemon from a GBA game to a DS game. I don't think that a counterfeit copy would have this compatibility.
i had Pkmn Emerald on a Visual Boy Advance (it came with it. The emulator probably belonged to someone else who downloaded all the games) and every time i loaded a save file, it would tell me that the battery ran dry and that the save was corrupt. Does this mean that the emulator games can be fake too????
![ละลาย (LALALYE) - DAOU PITTAYA ต้าห์อู๋ พิทยา [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wo6r9TgausI/mqdefault.jpg)
![SAFEPLANET - ดาวเคราะห์ [ THE PLANET ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4X1XL3I_k3c/mqdefault.jpg)
Top 10 Best Looking Consoles of All Time: th-cam.com/video/RtoRXPjmYAU/w-d-xo.html
The Pokemon fakes have become very hard to spot to the untrained eye. All of the key points to look for mentioned in this video are now "emulated" by the fake Pokemon cartridges that plague eBay. The only way to be sure is to open the cartridge using a special tri-wing screwdriver. The fake circuit boards are entirely different and with some quick online research can be spotted immediately. When buying on eBay ALWAYS ask the seller to confirm the carts are genuine. This is an easy thing to check with ruby/sapphire and emerald, as these all contain batteries that power the real-time clock. The fakes don't have this. The batteries are visible through the case, and also when first running the game you will see a message on the fake carts that says the save can be loaded, which is actually a hack to bypass the battery check.
If you are unfortunate to receive a fake cart, then you are entitled to your money back, WITHOUT having to return the counterfeit card. Returning it is actually illegal, (in the UK at least, not sure about elsewhere). If eBay insists you need to return the item to be eligible for a refund a quick mention of this law will make them hastily change their mind. Also putting enough pressure on the seller, eg informing them politely you will contact eBay, Paypal, all of their recent customers who have bought similar items, and even the Police, should result in you not having to convince eBay of anything, as from my experience when not knowing how bad the problem was and buying some fake Pokemon cards, the seller knows they are breaking the law, and will give in and send a refund without receiving the games back, provided you convince them you're not going to let it go. Hope my experience helps someone.
I have learned a lot more since I posted this video, so be sure to watch the "reboot": th-cam.com/video/9zcvmKtDgZw/w-d-xo.html
+GamingTheSystems thank you sir but i used only my boy from android..is there's fake game on www.loveroms.com ??
+GamingTheSystems I'm posting this here as a response because it'll get seen more easily than just randomly posting on an old video and lucking out with people just scrolling along and seeing it.
My copy of Pokemon Emerald is a clear transparent green, has a shiny foil label, has the correct wording and spelling, the rating and seal labels are on-point, the inking is perfect, the codes/model number on the front/back are correct, AND IT EVEN HAS NINTENDO'S LOGO INSIDE WHERE THE CARTRIDGE PINS ARE! (The upside-down logo)
HOWEVER!
The imprinted 4 numbers on the sticker above the seal? Non-existent.
So, what do I have here? If it helps, the game says nothing about the battery being dead, and says it can be played as normal when I start it up, but the clock in-game has been stuck on 6:45 PM as I originally set it. Well over a month ago, now that I think about it...
And this was from eBay.com.au, but not From Asia. From Victoria to Queensland. Took only about 3 days, so the proof is in the pudding, is it not?
+Jayranel Limare no
buys fake came...rages...takes deep breath...looks at fake games......makes youtube video to identify fakes. Sanity saved!!
+MonkeyspankO Is it licfenced by Nintendo
That song is from Golden Sun. Damn I played that game so much. Makes me want to buy a GBA SP all over again.
GamingHD What is the music name called?
Ninja Kirby Enterprises don't know the name of it. Just know it's from Golden Sun. Figured out how to get the gba emulator now so I can play all those classics!
Pucky Man Sapphire, Licfinsed by NIntond0.
Pokemen
Hahaha xD pokemen
Pokeymen
+SlyRubberDuck Pokaymen!
pokeymin
Great video, regardless of pronunciation. Thanks for the hard work. Looking forward to watching the "re-done" version as well.
Lol.. 3 of my games are fake, All of them are from ebay
as long as it's licfenced by Nintendo
that's harsh. The Pokemon games that I got from Amazon are fake obviously. Which I'm getting tired of getting fake ones even when I'm so close on getting the Emerald Pokedex completed
Great video, just want to say that I was searching pleased with your use of the song from golden sun!! Such a fabulous game!
is that golden sun I hear
Also to note with the Pokemon games, my buddy ordered Emerald, Ruby, and Sapphire along with an SP. He then told me that sometimes the games appear to be in a different language. So i scrounged around my room for my DS with my copies of Emerald, Fire Red, Sapphire. Basically to cut the story short, when you tilt the cartridges up, with the correct lighting, you will see the year the game was manufactured on the far left of the chip, right next to the Nintendo label as mentioned. I noticed on his the ONLY difference was his were NEVER stamped with a year on the left hand side, while mine was(oh and to mention when he put his games in, a pre-save file named "test" was already there LOL). Not to sure if that should be something to point out if you want to purchase these titles off of eBay etc. If the deal seems to good too be true, don't do it people.
love the golden sun music
Yeah, I'm surprised they haven't shut the video down.
I hope they don't this is a really helpful video and golden sun is awesome.
Do you know where one could possibly buy game OST's?
I was selling Pokemon Emerald for $40 and someone told me I was overcharging and that he could buy it for $20 on eBay. I probably would have gone down to $35, but not $20. These bootleggers are devaluing the legitimate games and I wish everyone knew about these.
Your video is very informative and I will be sharing it with my customers.
I've been playing a fake Pokemon FireRed! Urkk! Right in the childhood..
The exact same thing with me:(
The only GBA games I had physically were bought in a retail store and not online.
When i bought a DS lite as a child it came with pokemon emerald, it was a gray cartridge. I live in Europe.
Then you are a victim of a fake game.
i remember when my so called best friend took my fire red and switched out the circuit for a super mario one and then claimed that someone else did it.
Pokemon (poe-kay-mon)
I bought a Fire Red that was supposed to be genuine. It wasn't. But it has a strange quirk I noticed.. It doesn't save itsself after Trading Pokemon. So I can have infinite Pokemon, and even items, by making the pokemon hold them when I trade. I just have to make sure the pokemon I trade to the fake is a crappy one, like a level 3 weedle or caterpie.
I don't understand, is it THAT fucking hard to spell correctly when making fakes? damn
The mispells are intentional, to avoid getting sued.
TremendousPuppy ok that makes sense
That's a common misconception. If that was the case, they would have also altered the titles of the games.
Either way they would get sued. Except that they can't, it's made in China, where they have slim copyright laws. That's not why it's misspelled.
Actually it is intentional so that they can show off... or kinda take credit for a obvious fake...
You, my friend, are my savior. My brothers and I bought three different copies of Pokemon Emerald, all of which wouldn't save worth a damn. We thought we were just unlucky, or worse, that working copies just didn't exist anymore (Ridiculous, yes, but still a thought that lingered.) After watching this video I can safely say that those were fakes, and we've got an actual copy being mailed in as a late Christmas gift (Game has the subtle number indent, gameboy advance logo is correct, etc) Happy Holidays!
My brother had a fake emerald from china and the pokemon were called: e-mon, x-mon, u-mon etc. and if you got a critical hit it said: hit the keyparts.
It was quite funny really
Lawl, I got dat same one. :3
Mac N' Cheese Haha, I don't think we still have it though :( it was kinda strange, but still funny and i remember always laughing. Good times...
Mine was thrown away. My mom throwed away all our gameboy games. ;-;
Mac N' Cheese Aww, too bad :(
5:51 Beyblade, Sonic Advance 3, Frogger Adventures . . . (weeps of lost childhood)
I don't feel like it would really matter though right? Aren't they basically the same games?
The drawbacks would be 1) Stronger likelihood of memory failure, 2) Paying for a real game, but getting a fake game with little resell value, 3) Giving criminals money.
4) constantly lose game data
Are the fakes really that bad?
I bought a gameboy just to play Pokemon but now it turns out that the game is more expensive than the gameboy. And that's just one game.
This is the best Fake/Counterfeit information video on TH-cam! Well done production value, seemingly rehearsed/scripted, and good pacing.
Thanks for such a great video!
You and many other people in the world have trouble saying Pokémon.
Thanks for the video. This helped me confirm that one of my brother's games that didn't save was indeed a knockoff. I'll have to check his Pokemon Emerald have later.
I swear to fucking god if nintendo licfnses one more game im gonna scream
my friend's PKMN FR cartridge says Nitendo instead of Nintendo
I hate the way he says Pokemon! Not to hate or that, but I just wanna know if anyone else was annoyed by this. Ermmmmmmmmmmugh...
You cant say not to hate after you said you hated it.... (just saying)
PancakeInsomnia Please read the other comments. It's been mentioned hundreds of times.
Hey, I recognise that background music! That's the menu theme of Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age!
And thanks for the vid. I'm considering buying a couple of GBA games online. :)
OMG I got fake games.
I got my games from game stop I don't think they know they sold me fake games.
The games I got from game stop are used GBA games.
Uickc You are not the first to mention buying fakes at Gamestop. I don't think game stores realize how much the GBA market has been compromised. Hopefully you can return them.
song is Golden Sun OST - 02 Page One
Pokeymin
I bought a fake pokemon soul silver and got a full refund
FUCK. All 5 of my pokemon are fakes.
theCreator lol
Same here. Who's idea on putting those games fake and rigged on ebay and amazon?
Very helpful video. I run a small store and came across many fake Pokemon games. There are plenty of things here I didn't know, but one thing to add is the battery that saves games that is easily seen in the transparent games is easy to spot. Fake ones have a yellow border on them and cant be changed out like authentic games. Also the plastic just feels plain cheap. I also noticed that the rating looked different sometimes and even Nintendo which was off centered in the circle.
Not to be mean, but how come you say"Pokemin" or "Pokemun"?
Funny.
I have the entire fake Gen 3 pokemon games but they work fine and no saves have been lost whatsoever.
I'm on the Indigo Plateau on LeafGreen!
Haha your first mistake is buying from eBay there are scam artists all over that site I only strictly buy from Amazon cause it's more trust worthy imo
+SoraRoxasKHII nobody has that much money worldwide. amazon is expensive as fuck.
Umut Ozbay haha Amazon isn't expensive I mean unless your doing Amazon Prime but other than that I'm poor compared to most people and still only trust Amazon with my things eBay is just not trustworthy at all imo I've had to many bad experiences on that site lol
thanks for making this vid! it helped me spot a fake game in my collection. it was pokemon leafgreen (packaged with a fake firered). it was tricky as it passed some of the tests, like "nintendo" on the part near the connector pins, but the giveaway was the shiny foil stick, which it didn't have. i got it from china and its far too late to return it
thanks, all my games are real :)
I used to have a fake game, mom bought it in China. It stopped saving. Then I went out and bought the original...
TalesOfGamerz me to. my game was pokemon emerald
CaptainZekrom ALL my games were unfortunately fake except for my Pokemon Emerald And thats why i stick to roms and emulators now :/
Good video really helps out the retro gamers thanks for looking out for us fam
Lol NIntondo
Thanks for this video! I had no idea that people actullay made fake games for GBA, but it's very helpful since I recently found my old one and trying to build up my library again. The games I do have left are real, with no signs of the warnings you gave on them. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for sharing. Regarding the little number, it's not a 100% foolproof identifier. Out of the 80-plus GBA games I own, I found one that has no number, and it's a real game (Arcade Advanced). The other 79 games have it.
Thank you for getting right to it! Watched about 6 videos before finding yours where people were talking about what Pokemons they had and all sorts of other innocuous garbage.
I have learned to get to the point as soon as possible. TH-cam gives me stats on when people stop watching my videos. I noticed if I don't make the first minute interesting, people bail.
Thank you for this. :') I have been tricked multiple times as a kid with fake games on GBA and DS.
I hope this will stop people from making the same mistakes I and many others have in the past.
Love it! An awesome game room (thanks again for the tips!), and info for the classic systems I too own! Kudos, my friend!
I learned all these ways to spot fake gba games when I was a kid. I had to learn it the hard way because of the large amount of fake games in my country, since I'm from Mexico, lol. Nice video, it was a pleasant nostalgia trip.
thank you for educating me on how to avoid those unlicfenced pokeymun games
"The Pokemen games" Lord help me find my sides.
Damn I have a "nintondo" minish cap
This video has informed me about the dangers of fake GBA games, thank you good sir, for both your time spent on this video and the effort put into it.
If you are purchasing games with no labels, then yeah, the labels not a good thing to go by. :) Good tip about the flushness. I had not thought of that.
Bummer. Since the official label doesn't actually have a picture on it, just text, I imagine it would be easy to fake. Now you got me thinking about my own Castlevania Double Pak. I need to go check it again...
WOW! That golden sun theme took me back man, thanks!
Spelling errors are a great indicator...if there ARE any spelling errors. If not, then people need to proceed to the checking the other things I suggested. An incorrect font, as you point out, should be one of the additional things to check for. I myself haven't seen a difference in the "e," but I'll keep my eye out.
Yep, I know there's no logo, but at that point in the video I was talking about color.
Yep, it's a serious question. The fakes I have play the same as their real counterparts. I compared them side-by-side. The only difference I found is a higher rate of battery-related issues with the fakes.
I just started buying a few GBA games and this popped up on my YT feed, thank you very much for making this, I was a bit concerned because I did hear about the legitimacy of GBA titles. Glad to know I'm armed now.
I know, but since the video has already been posted, I can't change it. That's why I put an annotation in there addressing it.
how was there a sonic game on the GameBoy Advanced? I'm pretty sure it doesnt have that BLAST PROCESSING!
Badum-Chh
Awesome video, man. Definitely going to link to this on my blog.
Good to hear the video helped. Losing save data in a Pokemon game doesn't sound like fun.
I know about it, but since the video has already been posted, I can't change it. That's why I put an annotation in there addressing it.
and also check for the model number on the cartridge, the real cartridges should have model number AGB-002
Mine has all real stuff but the dots on the back
I thought the DS was the most pirated? The console practically gave birth to the flashcart industry. Sure, flashcarts of some kind existed before, but not even close to the extent they did when the DS came along. :P
POKEMIN, OFFICIALLY LICFNSED BY NINTENDO
seems legit....
I would imagine that you would have to send it back as part of the process. If you're lucky, the seller will just say "keep it and I'll also return the money." I should mention, there's a new function on Ebay, where if you ask for a refund (because it's not as described) you can post a picture of the item and it becomes part of the "case." I used the feature to post a picture of a melted controller I received. In your case, you can use the photo to point out the shiny label.
Great video.I even like the background music of the Golden Sun menu.How about you make a how-to video on fake DS games!I'm still trying to figure out why Luisito's(johnluischannel's)Pokemon Diamond game's saved data was corrupted.And one more thing,the circuit board is NOT a surefire way to prove it's fake.Anyways,great video.
That sucks. I know they have a new feature where you can take pictures of the broken item and attach it to your complaint against the seller. I recently used to it when I received a broken controller that was advertised as "new." I took a picture of it, showing the damage, then sent the complaint. Eventually I got a replacement.
Just want to point some thing not pointed out in the vid other than that this is a really well made buyers guide good Job. For ppl who live in the EU like me the pokemon games fire red and leaf green are in the standard black cart and have no color too them other than that all this infomation is correct and also another tip is to check the screw as most fakes dont use a triwing screw.
Yeah, the piracy problem is becoming pretty bad. When I checked Ebay again for this newest video, I saw a lot more fakes than I did last time (maybe I've become better at spotting them). My guess is that they are being produced in a large factory somewhere.
Since there are so many on Ebay that don't have the seal, I'd have to say it's a label variation (perhaps an error by Nintendo). There really isn't that much info out there about GB and GBC fakes, so it's hard to say for certain.
Error Screen On A Fake GBA game: Communications with the GameBoy has been interrupted
We wrote an article about this on our site. Amazing that people are getting away with this. I can imagine car boot sales (flea markets) are rife with them.
Great video. I had to run and check my Advance games to see if I had any pirated ones. Thankfully, I did not have any. But I will definitely check from now on any titles I buy from now. Thanks!
One method you didn't mention to check is the E for everyone logo, and the Nintendo logo. I've seen a few copies of games like Fire Emblem where the ESRB logo has a tiny E instead of the bigger E logo. And next to it is a wrong font Nintendo logo. This almost got me with fake copies of both NES Classic: Mario Bros (Which I should have known better since the cart was a basic GBA shell and not the NES grey) and Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (which was a bit more convincing but the color of the label was a bit darker than normal ones)
I have a fake pokemon sapphire game my brother got from a friend, I hope his friend bought the fake game knowing that because I could tell right away it was fake because it is gray. :(
haha the golden sun background music.good vid though
Yep, I learned the hard way myself when I received a couple of fakes in a large lot. They both said LICFNSED on them, so I knew something was up. That's when I started researching it and discovered an entire world of forgery that I didn't even know existed. It interested me a lot, and I kind've wanted to help out, so that's what prompted me to make a video about it. Thanks for watching.
Thx for giving out this info about GB games!Nice video!:D
Dammit, my oldest GBA game Sonic Advance is a big fakey-fake!!!
The logo is good on top of the cart, the seal of quality looks good, spelling is good (can't verify the back, there's a big yellow sticker on it and I don't wanna take it off lol) but the label itself is an uncommon type. Big words SONIC ADVANCE right smack in the middle (bigger letters than the regular Sonic Advance) and the background is not blue and white stripes, it's blue and white checkerboard. I always thought it was just the original or something, the oldest version of Sonic Advance, but I guess I'm wrong :/ maybe this explains why it doesn't play on a Nintendo DS. It just starts the DS with a white frozen screen.
Something else...in the middle of the front label, there's a rectangle slightly sticking forward out of the cart from behind the label, rotated just a bit, off-kilter with the huge words SONIC ADVANCE in the middle. I dunno what that is.
That's interesting. Many people have commented that the fake ones play the same, other than dead battery problems.
I don't really care how you pronounce it, this video was really helpful! I remember buying a Pokemon Emerald when I was a kid, and the cartridge always seemed a bit funny...turned out to be a fake haha...
I agree with you. It's a cool photo, and I could never figure out where the pirates got the photo from. Perhaps some other Mario game.
Seeing these cartridges feels so nostalgic.
I have been constantly reminded of the mistake, but there's not much I can do about it now that it's posted. Hopefully the video is still useful despite saying a word or two wrong.
I had not ever heard of the Ninlendo variation. I wonder how many different ways they have misspelled it over the years.
Someone mentioned this one time before, and I checked into it. I listened to my audio file (minus the music) and I didn't think it sounded incorrect. If I was mispronouncing it, you'd think more people would point it out since there are over 10,000 views. I might look into it again though.
ALWAYS CHECK THE FEEDBACK, people will tell you. Also, if it's a brand new account, that's almost a positive, beings how the last one may have been caught and deleted. Thanks for the vid! :D
Thanks to this vid, I (unfortunately) found out my copy of Sapphire is fake. It only passed the cartridge test. :l I should've realised when the box I got was unfolded and was misprinted... Ah well, it still works. Still, thank you for uploading this. I'm going to be much more diligent in the future.
Sapphire uses flash memory to save data; no battery is used for that. However, it does have a battery onboard that runs a clock. When that battery goes bad, some of the clock-based events won't function. Fake Sapphires, on the other hand, don't have flash memory aboard. Instead, it uses a the battery for the clock AND to save game data. This makes fakes very vulnerable to losing data. All this applies to Emerald and Ruby as well.
Yep, it's a little disconcerting how easily people take advantage of others. On the other hand, I'm happy (and surprised) to see that the GBA still has a dedicated following. I wasn't expecting this video to get that many views.
You're welcome. I wanted to get back at the pirates since I got stuck with some fake games.
Holy shit dude, i got worried and checked every gba game i have. Luckily they are all legit. This video really helped, thanks dude.
I'm thinking of getting Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen for a let's play that involves transferring Pokemon from a GBA game to a DS game. I don't think that a counterfeit copy would have this compatibility.
Ooohhh, the music is bringing back such legendary memories. Golden Sun, one of the games I don't regret buying from GameStop.
i had Pkmn Emerald on a Visual Boy Advance (it came with it. The emulator probably belonged to someone else who downloaded all the games) and every time i loaded a save file, it would tell me that the battery ran dry and that the save was corrupt. Does this mean that the emulator games can be fake too????
some
this has to be the most stupid question ive heard