Holiday Shopping tips: How to Identify bootleg DS games

RP for Radically … Poor?

With the Holiday shopping season hitting full swing and many clamoring to get those last minute deals before Christmas it is now more so then any other point that people are more susceptible to accidentally buying a bootleg game. The internet is the prime suspect for perpetuating these fakes most notably Ebay and iOffer which are both poorly policed for people or groups which sell bootleg copies of any product. Typically the games are offered at unbelievable prices or set up as auctions where they wind up selling for significantly more then the game normally sells for. A prime example of games going for that which they are not valued at is the Pokémon series of games; the Pokémon DS series of games will often be found floating around one of the auction websites for prices ranging from $5-$10 or start an auction at .99 cents.

I’m obviously Masochistic.

I being a glutton for punishment purchased several of these bootleg games to better gauge the quality of them at this juncture. As I mentioned in my previous review the quality of bootleg games are increasing and to the untrained eye very often a bootleg game will pass under the radar long after it had been purchased and it’s warranty or return period has expired. The game can experience no end of problems ultimately dependent on the quality of the fake purchased, these problems are not limited to:

1. Contact Issues: When inserting the game it will not be noticed or read by the Nintendo DS.
2. Save Corrupting: After a period of time averaged at around two months or so the save may corrupt and you will lose all your data.
3. Incompatibility: The DSi, DSi XL, and 3DS will not read the game and in most situations will give you an error message.
4. DOA: if the fake is of exceptionally poor quality the game will be dead on arrival.
5. Poor Build Quality: As with a DOA bootleg the quality of the game may be poor enough that instead of utilizing flash memory the game may instead use a battery which will inevitably run dry. Commonly the bootleg will be made of materials which are of subpar quality.

There are other a great deal of other possible problems but these are the most notable ones and the ones most commonly encountered in the purchase of a bootleg game.

Now that I have turned you away from the prospect of knowingly purchasing a bootleg game I shall now explain how to identify aforementioned game. We shall begin by discussing the Label as that is commonly the first thing you will see (in assuming the game you purchase does not come with a case). The first and most telling feature of a fake game in general is the wrong art on the game, very often bootleggers will take the art from the cover and just shrink it down to label size and slap it on there.

It’s like they don’t even try sometimes.

It is imperative that before the purchase of a game off a non-reputable site that you familiarize yourself with the label arts for the games and the cover art for the case so you can spot early on whether the game is a fake or not. A google search will usually yield the desired results and if upon doing the search you feel wary of the game then I recommend contacting the seller and asking to return the game.

Now upon further examination of the label you should see the following in these EXACT places:

1. In the lower Left Corner the games rating (i.e. E, E10+, T, M, etc)
2. In the lower Right Official Nintendo Seal
3. On the very top you should see Nintendo DS ™
4. In between the rating and the seal you should see any other marking indicative to whatever company published or made it (i.e. The Pokemon Company, SEGA, etc.).
5. At the bottom should be a code that begins with NTR and ends with USA, and example would be Pokemon SoulSilver’s code which would be NTR-IPGE-USA

Ballin'

Before advancing to the back of the cartridge lets look at the label as a whole. Is the label off kilter? Is the label a little to round? Is the label just not there? These three things are signs of a fake as real Nintendo DS games have their labels factory cut and pressed.

Now onto the back of the cartridge, on the back you should see embossed into the back of the game the Nintendo Logo, the code NTR-005 PAT. PEND., and below that you should see a code in ink that may fade over time so you will have to shine light on it at an angle to see it. The code will be nine alpha-numeric digits that make up  the games serial code and will ALWAYS be on the cartridge. Typically fake cartridges will be lacking in all three of those marking on the back of the game, however some high quality bootlegs will have often have the Nintendo logo and NTR code embossed on the back, though very often they will be larger then they should be. In my experience I have never encountered a bootleg with the ink serial code below the NTR code, so that can be a telling feature of a bootleg game.

Now if by this point you have not found anything out of the ordinary you will have to look at the games contacts to see if there is a serial code of varying digits or if it only has the words “Nintendo” on it. This is a slightly more unreliable way of telling, because there are Nintendo DS games that do have either of those two on them. Typically if the game does not have the serial code you can consider it a fake. Just use this means of checking with a grain of salt as unlike GBA games you cannot just pop open the game and check the board for the logo and code and know its legit. Fake DS games will always label the board with the Nintendo logo, which is why you, depending on the game, have a 50/50 chance of being right in using this method in determining the legitimacy of the game.

The best way to avoid getting a bootleg game is to exercise both caution and prevention. On Ebay and other websites you will notice that some items are being sold in countries they are not native to and this is generally a warning flag for a bootlegger, the usual culprit will be Hong Kong, China as it would appear they mass produce bootlegs and set up many identical accounts to sell off their goods. These bootleg games will usually be sold without their original cases and instead will be sold in tiny plastic cases. Another warning flag you will notice is the awkward descriptions that will be given to describe the product they are selling;

Example:

“The game is used, 100% new,
no box and manual,only cartridge,Games are in English.
This game has been tested carefully and found to be working perfectly! Please assured to buy. If you encounter any problem,please feel free to contact us. we are here to assist you at any time!Thanks

English Version
Play on any Nintendo NDS or NDS Lite  or ndsi or 3ds”

Oh and all cases should have Nintendo DS embossed in it.

It is not to say that they aren’t cooperative when you attempt to return the game, but you should avoid purchasing english games from countries that are not english speaking. I advise exercising the same amount of caution as recommended in my previous shopping tips, i.e. don’t buy games from places that you are not native to or have dubious/awkward descriptions.

Well Have a Happy Holidays!

Holiday Shopping tips: How to identify a bootleg Gameboy Advance game.

With the Holiday shopping season now in full swing you have to be increasingly aware of products which are either to good to be true or are of disputable quality. Ever since the Gameboy Advance’s release back in 2001 there has been a steady influx of bootlegged games being pumped into the video game market from places like Mexico and China. These fake games are for the most part surprisingly unconvincing. Bootlegs are typically brought in through border flea markets or online stores, but once they make it in they are here to stay. Now you may be thinking that the possibility of getting a bootleg game is exceedingly low but that couldn't be farther from the truth because unless you are purchasing a game used from a trusted retailer (i.e. Lukie Games, or some other company that checks its games for authenticity) you have a chance (albeit small) of getting a fake game. Bootleg games even wind up in used game stores (like GameStop) because the person who originally purchased it noticed it was fake, or because it stopped working and they wanted to get rid of it, this isn’t totally uncommon though you will most likely encounter bootleg games at flea markets.

The overall lack of quality makes me want to facepalm.

Bootlegs tend to be of more popular game series like Golden Sun, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, etc. So when you go to purchase one of these games you need to keep your eyes peeled to avoid purchasing a fake. Now you might be asking “Why should I care if it’s a bootleg if it still plays?” Well I’ll tell you why! Bootleg Gameboy Cartridge’s use very short lived batteries to retain their save files instead of having flash based memory as DS games do and a handful of Gameboy Games. So after a period of time the battery will die and you will lose everything on the game. You can change the battery out yourself, and there are plenty of wiki’s to show you how, but the meat of the matter is that the quality of the bootlegs are incredible bad.

It really sucks just getting to Zerumus and being told your Save is corrupted.

Now if you are an avid EBay shopper like me than you should know that eBay is overflowing with bootleg games, most of them come in the form of incredibly cheap versions of popular games (as mentioned above). Some will charge an exorbitant amount of money for multiple fakes.

It’s a sad day when you wind up shelling almost forty dollars for a fake game.

Now not all cheap games on eBay are bootlegs, but you still have to watch out for several signs:

1. Label Art – Quite often with bootlegs the label art will be different from the original. Things like the color of the label or the picture which is supposed to be in the background will be different from the original and often times bootleggers will just put the box’s image on it and call it a day. In recent years bootleggers have upped the quality of their fakes and now some have begun to use design of the legitimate label. So you may be ask me “If they have the original label image and text than how will I know its fake?” Well I would direct you to the lower right side of the label, if you see a set of numbers and and/or letters there (if in the US it should start with AGB and end with USA) that means that its legit also look for the Nintendo Seal, which should read: “Official Nintendo Seal”

On the upper Right side of the label should be two sets of double digit numbers stamped into the label as well.

Class, can you tell me what’s wrong with this cartridge?

2. The back of the game cartridge – The back of your game cartridge should have a Tri-Wing screw in it, these screws look like a “Y” and can only be removed with a special screwdriver. Some bootleggers will instead opt to use a regular Phillips screw which looks like a “+” this is a tell tale sign of a bootleg, as all Nintendo Licensed games use a Tri-wing screw. Another thing to look for is the where its made, bootleggers sometimes replace the “Made in Japan” with “Made in China” (they aren’t all that good at masking things.)


3. Finally and most definitely is the contacts and board of the game itself. If you open up the game by taking out the screw you should be greeted by a regular board and DEPENDING on the game a possible battery with a red ring around it. Certain GBA games do not use a battery for saves and instead use flash based memory which means it saves directly to the carts memory so if you were to find a game which should save in that manner but instead uses a battery you can tell that it is a bootleg. If you look on the bottom of the board near the contacts in white lettering you should clearly see Nintendo, and a product number which shows that Nintendo manufactured it.

Real.

Fake.

Another thing to watch out for are those “175 (or 250, or whatever amount) games in one” those are typically modified flash cartridges (Cart’s used to bootleg games). They tend to be limited in ability and the “Games” they come with are typically multiples of a single game and are all quite illegal (especially if you live in the UK).

You zany Canadians.

Now I’m going to get very specific now and target the Pokémon series as this franchise has been hit the worst by bootleggers. There is no reason to ever pay money for that which is free correct? Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, right? Pokémon fans love making their own Pokémon games, there are so many Pokémon hacks and homebrew games on the internet that it’s absurd. Consistently bootleggers will put out these hacked or homebrew games and claim that they are actual Nintendo releases and will sell them on places like eBay, iOffer, or flea markets. The truth of the matter is that many of these games aren’t exactly finished, and they are not stable, meaning that corruption and game breaking glitches are regular.

Not pictured: Human Decency.

If you are a fan of the series it is best that you realize that if it wasn’t announced by Nintendo, then there is a good chance the copy of “Shiny Gold” you picked up is a fake.

What you don’t remember Quartz? Why it was only the best Pokémon game of 2005!

Now you may wind up going your whole life without ever having a bootleg game fall into your hands, but there is credence to the saying “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Ben Franklin really knew what he was talking about and I’m sure he would agree that to arm oneself with knowledge is the best way to avoid disaster later on (by disaster I mean getting a bootleg game that winds up being a waste of money). If you follow the above rule for identifying a game you should be golden, especially if you avoid ordering North American games from non-North American regions (i.e. China, Mexico, etc.). Well I wish you all the luck in your shopping and stay tuned for my tips on how to avoid purchasing any bootleg Nintendo DS games.

There will be complaints, lots of them.