How To Spot Fake Pokemon Games Ds

Is Your Nintendo Ds Cartridge Counterfeit

A comprehensive guide on checking or verifying if a Nintendo DS cartridge is real/legit or counterfeit/fake.I made this specifically due to the fragmented and often old and outdated information, since this is on hosted on GitHub, other kind people can always create a new issue topic, or discuss tips and tricks, or even help me spare time with creating a pull request with changes, allowing this document to stay up to date. Make sure you always share the page link , and not a download or export of this information.

I recommend verifying the information in the order shown for swiftness, the more down the list you go the harder or more time consuming stuff gets to verify.

Below I explain the expected look, format, positioning, or values of a real cartridge. If any single thing doesnt match up as expected, unless specified, its a fake.

The Back Of The Cartridge Shell:

As you can see, the cartridge color for the game is light green. A genuine Nintendo shell, has two square rectangle stamps on the inside of the back cartridge shell. As, if you look closely, the fake cartridge does not.

The inside of the front of the cartridge shell:

On legit Pokémon games, you will see an imprinted rectangle this is located just behind the label. Also, to note on the bootleg cartridge shells, see how the label shows through the shell.

The Color Of The Cart

As previously mentioned, the majority of Pokémon games on the Nintendo DS have IR functionality. Because these games rely on infrared light to communicate with technology like the Pokéwalker, their cartridges are made of a different material. Under normal conditions, these cartridges look black to the naked eye. Shine a bright light through them, though, and you’ll see that the material is a dark reddish-purple in color.

Nintendo has never, ever produced a grey-cartridge version of the Generation 2 remakes or any of the Generation 5 games. Every IR-compatible Pokémon game has a reddish-purple cartridge. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver are some of the most popular games in the franchise and can be quite expensive. If you’re looking for one of those games and it’s grey, stop. It’s fake. Don’t give your money to scammers unless you specifically wish to buy a reproduction copy. If you’re fine with buying a reproduced copy, consider that these cartridges are not authorized by Nintendo and may not work as well as official copies do.

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Fake Pokmon Games: Game Boy Advance

Starting in 2002 in Japan and 2003 in the rest of the world, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire made their Game Boy Advance debut, with the first remakes in the series, Pokémon FireRed and Leaf Green following shortly after. At the end of the Game Boy Advance’s life, the definitive version of the Hoenn region was released: Pokémon Emerald.

How To Spot Fake Nintendo Video Games

Bootleg video games have been plaguing the industry for a while, but as time goes on its become increasingly difficult to tell the difference between an official cartridge released by Nintendo and a fake. Take these copies of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on Game Boy Advance. To the naked eye, they look strikingly authentic, but only one of them is the real deal.

Image: Nintendo Life

For those of you unaware, bootleg video games are knock offs, counterfeit versions of the real thing. They usually play about as well as the original, but sometimes youll encounter bugs, translation errors and compatibility issues. Plus, when it comes to collecting, its like having a fake first edition Charizard card in your Pokémon TCG collection. Its just not the same.

While bootleg cartridges have been infiltrating the market for a while now, theyre starting to become more prominent with the help of online storefronts and the fact retro games are becoming harder to find and are more expensive than ever. Some sellers online are even trying to pass them off as the real deal as well, and many consumers are falling victim to them. So if youre going to shell out some cold hard cash for your favorite classics, youll want to make sure theyre legit.

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How To Spot Fake Pokmon Nintendo Ds Games

I was playing my Nintendo DS, and the Pokémon game cartridge I was using wouldn’t load. I thought that was strange, the pin on the game looked clean. My played every other game cartridge I inserted. Furthermore, I tried the Pokémon game on a different DS, the game started up, but would then freeze.

Final Words On How To Identify Fake Pokemon Nintendo Ds Games

The longest and hardest way of spotting a fake Pokemon game is to keep playing it until you find a glitch, and it stops working. In this way, itll be more irritating as you lose all of your game progress But that will be too late to discover.

Being a hardcore Nintendo DS gamer, I hope that the information I passed on will help to reduce the circulation of fake Pokemon games.

If you dont want to fall for a fake Nintendo DS game, buy it now from our trusted retro store!

Need more information? Check this video out!& lt A href=”https://https://www.youtube.com/embed/W9DtVh3tl20/?autoplay=1″& gt & lt /A& gt frameborder=0 allow=accelerometer autoplay clipboard-write encrypted-media gyroscope picture-in-picture allowfullscreen=& amp gt

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Spotting Fake Ds/3ds Pokemon Games

Well, you guys voted and Ds/3Ds won. Im still doing the Gba/Gb one as there are many more fakes of those, but for now here is how to spot fake games

Well this is awkward. its seems that fake pokemon 3ds games dont really exist yet.

The only thing I would do is put the game in your 3ds to make sure someone didnt just switch the stickers with a random cheap game.

COLOR:

This is a real pokemon soul silver

It and other games including pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, and Heart Gold have brighter colors opposed to their fake counterparts.

This is an example of a fake soul silver.

Its dark from being photocopied and then made into a sticker. Notice the font of the serial code too.

FONT AND SERIAL NUMBERS:

Fake cartridges tend to have the Nintendo font wrong and the letters can be slightly bigger and more engraved than that of a real cartridge.

This is way to engraved and the font size is off.

There are also instances of cartridges with Nintnedo misspelled but I got rid of the one I had and couldnt find any examples.

Continuing on the back, the numbers and letters at the bottom of the cartridge next to the contacts should NEVER say Nintnedo

This one is some what funny since the creators of the fakes seemed to have tried too hard to slap Nintendo all over the cartridges.

I do not own any of these pictures unless clearly stated.

Fake Pokmon Games: The Back Of The Cartridge

Pokémon Pearl , Pokémon Platinum , Pokémon HeartGold

Any seller worth their salt will post pictures of the cartridge from all sides, with bonus points if they prove that the pictures posted really belong to them usually by including a piece of paper with their username. If you look closely enough, the back of the cartridge can give you a lot of information.

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You’re A Pokmon Master

And… that’s it! You are now an official Pokémon game detective. A Detective Pikachu, if you will. When purchasing items from sellers both online and in-person, remember to keep your wits about you and be on the lookout for any shady behavior. A reputable seller will always entertain your wishes to prove a game’s authenticity before buying. Know your games, and look at some previously sold games online to have a feel for what an authentic copy looks like. Soon you’ll be a Pokémon master in no time!

Have you ever purchased a reproduction game, thinking it was authentic? Let us know in the comments below!

The Nintendo Seal / Imprinted Numbering:

The Nintendo seal should always be clear and the Nintendo seal print should be very visible and legible. With the fake label, the Nintendo seal has worn off. The label on the fake game does not have a number imprint just above the Nintendo seal. A true Pokémon game will have a number print such as: etc.

This is probably the quickest way to check for a fake or legit copy is whether there is an Imprinted Number. 95% of all the pirated carts I’ve encountered don’t have the imprinted numbering. Labels do get worn, so you may need to angle the cartridge to get a good view of the label.

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How To Spot Fake / Counterfeit Pokemon Games

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum cases will appear shiny/holographic where the counterfeit ones will regularly have no holographic shine to them. The easiest way to spot counterfeit Pokemon games for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance is to check out this official list of games: Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red,

Quick And Easy Ways To Spot A Bootleg Nintendo Ds Game

by Richard Cook February 13, 2011, 8:31 pm EST Total comments: 11

Dont be fooled by counterfeit imitations when completing your game library.

Bootleg games are illegal copies of legitimate games. There are four quick and easy ways to spot if a Nintendo DS cartridge is a bootleg. If suspicious, check multiple items not all bootlegs will have the same flaws.

#1 Cartridge wont boot in a Nintendo DSi unit:

As the newest version of the DS system on the market, the Nintendo DSi includes a newer version of the operating system from the manufacturer that does a better job at detecting bootleg software and rejecting it with an error message. After launching the game, youll see the message below displayed on the bottom screen.

Non-booting DS screen

Power down the system, remove the cartridge and re-insert it. Power the system back on and try to launch the game. If you receive this error again, its very likely you have a bootleg game.

#2 Cartridge Construction is of low quality:

Two things you can quickly check without having a Nintendo DSi handy is the quality of the cartridges construction. First, with any Nintendo DS cartridge youll notice a seam down the middle of the side. If you tug on this with a fingernail, the cartridge should not separate at all. If it does, youve got a bootleg.

Back of cartridge

#3 Matching the Serial Numbers:

Serial numbers

#4 The Case of the Odd Case:

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The Esrb Rating And Nintendo Seal Of Quality

If you’re purchasing Pokémon games for the Nintendo DS, you should know that you aren’t limited to games from your region. Nintendo DS games from Europe and Australia will work on systems from the North America and Japan regions. However, the language cannot be changed in most games, so make sure you can speak the language of whatever game you’ve bought.

If you’re purchasing an out-of-region game, you may notice that the stickers look different. Pictured here are my NTSC-U copy of Pokémon HeartGold alongside my fairly new PAL copy of HeartGold. Both games are genuine, but they both sport very different-looking stickers.

Here’s what you can look for in North American and European/Australian games:

The differences are subtle, but there nonetheless. In addition, games have a different three-digit code in the bottom right-hand corner of the sticker. North American games display “USA”, European and Australian games show “EUR”, and Japanese games feature “JPN”. If you see a game with a North American code that doesn’t have an ESRB rating, the game is fake.

Watch Out Fake Pokmon Games Work:

This point is really what got me started with this article. With bootleg pokemon games, the game will start up like normal. Except, the save files are not immediately accessible. The game will ask you if you want to load the save file, which is definitely different from the authentic games. With authentic pokemon games the game will load up like normal, and once you press start you have the option to view your save profile.

These are just a few of the points to look for with pokemon fake games. Is there any missing here? Do you have any tricks to tell if a Pokémon game is real vs fake? Please use the comment section below to further educate ourselves with any experiences youve had dealing with reproduction carts.

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How To Spot Fake Classic Video Games

Fake classic games are everywhere: At the flea market, in your local game store, on eBay, and maybe even mixed in with your own collection. The bootleggers who make them are churning them out, meaning that the market will only become more saturated with them as the years go by. If youre going to collect games, youll need to learn how to watch for counterfeits.

Bootleg video games are nearly as old as video games themselves. There were knockoff Atari cartridges, ersatz 100-in-1 NES games, and enough PlayStation CD-Rs to reach the moon and back during their time. But those bootlegs were easily identifiable by their shoddy quality. More to the point, most people buying them knew they were fake. They just wanted to play the games.

Todays counterfeit games, by and large, are meant to fool you into thinking youre buying the real thing. And while many are aimed at those who just want to play games, theyre also trying to fool collectors, too. That means that todays bootlegs are much more sophisticated in their attempts at chicanery. If youre going to be spending significant money on old games, heres what you need to know.

How To Tell If A Nintendo Ds Game Is Genuine

Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:23 am

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Postby Cake»Wed Jan 04, 2012 1:11 pm

Method 1 Where the game was purchased.Method 2 The Look of the game.Method 3 The game case.Method 4 Wifi and Online functionality.

Postby IronicTitanium»Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:17 pm

Cake wrote:

RegalReshiram wrote:I purchased a Pokemon Heart Gold game used at GameStop a few weeks ago as a Christmas present for my sister. Upon opening it today, we discovered it was a counterfeit. The two things we noticed were the bulging plastic, the loose front of the casing, and the code “SE03K1008” instead of IPKEXXXXX. I will return it on Friday.

You have to be careful at GameStops too. If you know how to spot fakes, you can avoid problem in your future.

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Fake Pokmon Games: Game Boy And Game Boy Color

The Game Boy is where it all began, way back in 1996 with Pokémon Red and Green in Japan, and in 1998 with Pokémon Red and Blue in the United States. Fake Game Boy games are relatively easy to identify, so you shouldn’t have any issue knowing your way around.

Remember: While it’s not too difficult to identify fake Game Boy and Game Boy Color games based on outward appearance alone, it’s always best to have a handful of tools with which you can open up games. You can find special tool kits online that offer security screwdrivers, which are needed to open Game Boy cartridges.

The Game’s Unique Code

As previously mentioned, every Nintendo DS game has a 10-digit code at the bottom of the cartridge’s sticker. The code can be broken down as follows:

• System code The first three digits display the letters NTR. This stands for “Nitro,” a code name for the Nintendo DS during its development. Every game features these letters at the beginning of the code.
• Game code Every game has a four-digit, game-specific code relative to their region. As can be seen above, Pokémon HeartGold has a game code of IPKE in North America and IPKP in Europe and Australia. Keep in mind your game’s region when buying, and compare the game code to other cartridges being sold online.
• Region code Make sure the region code corroborates the game code. USA for North America, EUR for Europe/Australia, and JPN for Japan. A genuine North American copy of Pokémon HeartGold should always have the code NTR-IPKE-USA at the bottom of the sticker.

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The Game Cartridge Board

For many games, opening up the game and examining the circuit boards can be a dead giveaway for spotting bootleg pokemon game. A real Pokémon gameboy advance game has its internal chips on the motherboard, marked with the lettering MX. Where most bootleg carts do not or have Japanese writing on them.

You will also notice in the photo, the font, and font size for the lettering Nintendo is different on each board.

This photo was taken with a real and a fake Pokémon emerald. A Pokémon emerald always has an internal battery. The battery has been removed, but you can see the solder points for the battery. As you can see, the fake game, does not have a battery.

Cartridge Color And Embossed Text

If you see a North American or European Pokémon game in a gray cartridge, run away. Nintendo has never produced any Pokémon title on the Game Boy or Game Boy Color in a gray shell. Each game’s cartridge color corresponds with their name Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow have red, blue, and yellow cartridges. Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal have golden, silver, and icy blue cartridges. In Japan, Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, and Silver games were produced in gray cartridges, with Gold having a darker cartridge than the others. If you see a gray cartridge with a sticker showing any language other than Japanese, it’s not authentic.

There’s a concave thumb grip at the top of every Game Boy game with text that reads “Nintendo GAME BOY”. Meanwhile, Game Boy Color games have a convex thumb grip that reads “Game Boy COLOR”. Fake games often don’t have this text or may just say something like “GAME.” Make sure you check for this text, as it’s one of the easier ways to tell a dud from the real deal.

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