Very convincing GBA bootlegger on eBay...

[ki_atsushi]

Holy fuck, I just got this in the mail today, and boy is it a convincing bootleg. The first thing that stood out was that it was slightly tall for the cart slot on my OG GBA, all other games sit flush with the top of the system, while this one sat about half a millimeter above the surface. But the label looked good at the time (more on this to come), so I was thinking this has to be real.

So I played the game a bit, and ran into something weird... the game locks up for a whole second or more when you save. I've owned 2 copies of this game in the past and there was never any lag when saving, so this is what started me thinking about it's authenticity.

I opened up the cart with a triwing screwdriver that I fortunately had lying around from when I did an OG Gameboy mod and behold! Epoxy glob, right in the center of the board.

Then I started looking closer. The label looks really, really good. But the colors are just ever so slightly off and the the label even has a number embossed into it like a legit copy. The biggest tip off was that the 'D' in metroid has white in the center, while the legit games I started comparing pics with all have black in the middle of the 'D'.

Looking closer at the cart shell again, there are slight font differences in the "GAME BOY ADVANCE" text on the front, and on the back text as well. The fake has a slightly less bold font, and the letters are actually in higher relief than on the real cart.

TL;DR - This motherfucking cart looks really good unless you take a lot of time picking it apart. If it didn't lag while saving I probably wouldn't have thought twice about it's legitimacy.

 

[cdamm]

filing a claim i hope? flush that turd.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Oh yeah, and another tipoff... I explained all my findings to him at 9:33 pm tonight, and a whole 4 minutes later he issues me a full refund and tells me to keep the cart. Hmmm...

Looking at his account, he joined this year, only has 8 feedback, and they're all GBA or DS games that he's sold, including another Metroid Fusion cart he sold last month with the same art.

 

[cdamm]

thats fucking quick. huge redflags there.

report him.

 

[ki_atsushi]

Yeah, I'm going to. By the way, the board even has legit looking silkscreen on it, the only thing that doesn't match up is the chip placement compared to another AGB-E05-01 board (and the glob of epoxy in the center ).

 

[Dr Shroom]

someone get werejag on this one, he's an expert on gba bootlegs

 

[ki_atsushi]

Son of a bitch, looking at all the other games he's sold, the embossed number 11 is on all of the labels. Every game is supposed to have different numbers.

 

[GohanX]

I pretty much assume all GBA/DS games on Ebay are now counterfeit these days.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I pretty much assume all GBA/DS games on Ebay are now counterfeit these days.

There's definitely a lot, but I've been lucky up until this one. The fakes are usually off enough somewhere that you can tell right away. That embossed number was visible in the photo so it fooled me, because it's usually the first way to tell other than the art being way off on most boots.

 

[Tripredacus]

Looking at his account, he joined this year, only has 8 feedback

I look at these things before even thinking of buying or bidding on something on ebay.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I look at these things before even thinking of buying or bidding on something on ebay.

Yeah I usually do too, but I had been looking for a sub $20 copy on there for awhile and when that one popped up I just went for it. Didn't even think to check.

 

[Liquid Snake]

Common GBA bootleg is for US or JPN version?

 

[ki_atsushi]

The Chinese seem to go for US boots. Japan probably doesn't even import shit from China.

However, I think this guy (who's from LA iirc) has a more sophisticated boot operation. Probably even 3D prints his cart shells.

 

[Tripredacus]

I think the bold text is due to making a mold of an actual item. I would expect molds to be used in this case, rather than one of those duplicator machines that KO toy companies have been known to use. And also not 3d printing, as that plastic has a different look and feel to it.

 

[Jag-Master]

Good catch bruva. I don't follow the Gameboy or handheld market much but WOW. Can't really say that I'm shocked at the prices for some games during this so called "retro game renaissance bullshit" but this seller seems to have gone to great lengths to make some boots.

 

[DNSDies]

I bought a copy of Castlevania Double Pack that ended up being a very well done forgery as well.

Luckily, you can tell right away when you open them up if they're fakes or not.
For example, the only carts that should have a battery are Pokemon Emerald/Sappire/Ruby

Bootlegs use them because they have cheap SRAM instead of Flash/EEPROM for their saves.

From the outside, there's a few easier ways to tell:

1) The "pull lip" of the cart where you grip it to remove it is too high, and/or doesn't gently merge into the rest of the cart, and doesn't have slightly rounded edges.

2) The "Game Boy Advance" label under the pull lip is too heavily defined, and raised too high.

3) the Nintendo Seal of Quality is too dark.

4) the ESRB logo will have the wrong aspect ratio, and will have oddly spaced character.

5) any "white fuzz" around the label. This isn't 100%, but it usually means it wasn't die-cut.

6) The stamped letters on boots are usually done too deeply, and use the wrong font.

Here's a legit Metroid Fusion:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metroid-Fus...dvance-2002-/181891359398?hash=item2a5991e2a6

The GBA letters are very low on the cart.
The pull lip has rounded edges, and slopes gently into the cart.
Even though the label is a little faded, there is no fuzz on the edges of it.
The stamped letters are shallow, and match the font on other carts.

If the booters were smart, they'd buy up shitty GBA games in bulk and re-purpose the shells for their boots.

 

[ggallegos1]

Some very early GBA games save on battery. Castlevania Circle of the Moon comes to mind.

I dont buy GBA and DS games on ebay due to the prevalence of boots. This has been an issue for some time now, but it looks like the games are getting much better at address the signs of a boot.

 

[sparksterz]

Some very early GBA games save on battery. Castlevania Circle of the Moon comes to mind.

I dont buy GBA and DS games on ebay due to the prevalence of boots. This has been an issue for some time now, but it looks like the games are getting much better at address the signs of a boot.

Yeah I refuse to touch GBA collection because I don't want to be arsed to check all 50 things you need to in order to spot a potential fake. It seems the list just continues to grow...I haven't heard of many DS boots though...

 

[DragonmasterDan]

I pretty much assume all GBA/DS games on Ebay are now counterfeit these days.

If they're boxed with the manual there's a good chance they're legit. Or if they happen to be games that have very little value.

 

[pulstar]

I haven't heard of many DS boots though...

They're almost as prevalent as GBA boots and have been for a while. Games from Super Mario 64 DS to Pokemon and everything in between have been bootlegged on DS.

 

[sparksterz]

They're almost as prevalent as GBA boots and have been for a while. Games from Super Mario 64 DS to Pokemon and everything in between have been bootlegged on DS.

Ugh christ...I knew Pokemon was pretty much always an issue, but didn't realize there were many other DS games...Guess I'll cross that off my list too and start buying all my hand held games at retail.

 

[GohanX]

I bought a copy of Castlevania Double Pack that ended up being a very well done forgery as well.

Luckily, you can tell right away when you open them up if they're fakes or not.
For example, the only carts that should have a battery are Pokemon Emerald/Sappire/Ruby

Bootlegs use them because they have cheap SRAM instead of Flash/EEPROM for their saves.

From the outside, there's a few easier ways to tell:

1) The "pull lip" of the cart where you grip it to remove it is too high, and/or doesn't gently merge into the rest of the cart, and doesn't have slightly rounded edges.

2) The "Game Boy Advance" label under the pull lip is too heavily defined, and raised too high.

3) the Nintendo Seal of Quality is too dark.

4) the ESRB logo will have the wrong aspect ratio, and will have oddly spaced character.

5) any "white fuzz" around the label. This isn't 100%, but it usually means it wasn't die-cut.

6) The stamped letters on boots are usually done too deeply, and use the wrong font.

Here's a legit Metroid Fusion:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Metroid-Fus...dvance-2002-/181891359398?hash=item2a5991e2a6

The GBA letters are very low on the cart.
The pull lip has rounded edges, and slopes gently into the cart.
Even though the label is a little faded, there is no fuzz on the edges of it.
The stamped letters are shallow, and match the font on other carts.

If the booters were smart, they'd buy up shitty GBA games in bulk and re-purpose the shells for their boots.

That's all very good info, thanks.

 

[Ip Man]

i had my share of gba bootlegs from ebay,i bought final fantasy 4,kingdom hearts and some pokemon games back in 06 which turned out to be bootlegs.can't believe people are still pulling that shit in 2015.it's gba for pete's sake.

 

[NeoSneth]

Why would someone bother to bootleg such a cheap cart?

 

[DNSDies]

Because you can buy the bootleg carts 100 at a time on alibaba for $3 each

http://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...040371771.html?spm=a2700.7724838.30.17.9aP8ZA

See the description for a list of the most popular boots!