GRcade Retro Gaming Chat

[Lazy Fair]

I’ve asked to see a photo. Will see what they say. What is the main issue if it’s a fake? Would it still work? For a fiver I’m not massively fussed as long as it works ok.

[Lotus]

Shouldn't there be an arrow on the bottom of the cartridge? Not a great photo, but I can't see one there. Usual signs would be no box/manual, seller doesn't accept returns, dodgy fonts/logo placements, incorrect item codes, etc.

[kerr9000]

To be honest if you just want to play it lots of fakes work perfectly fine, you do get the odd shoddy one won't save etc but then with old games you get knackerd ones too.

I have a fire emblem sacred stone I'm pretty sure is fake and I've used it to play and finish the game.

[Lotus]

Would be better not to feed the demand, though...

[Cheeky Devlin]

I think (from the minimal reading I've done) the problem with some of them is that there is an internal battery inside some fake carts. When that battery dies the game will stop working.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/identifying ... aq.327354/

[Green Gecko]

Sorry but I have a real cart and that doesn't look right to me. Yes I thought all GBA carts have a little arrow at the bottom, the plastic colouring even regarding photo variations etc. looks too dark it should be a charcoal grey and the "METROID" text is very fuzzy, I'll check against my cart for you when I get a moment (that I bought in store originally so it's definitely real, also this game is a real target for fakes because it is quite valuable).

The mould for the cart looks aftermarket to me because the edges are too sharp, a bit like when you get mould lines but not quite the same, if you see what I mean. It lacks the finesse, it looks a bit like it's been pressed in a sort of resin rather than the original plastics (although not actually resin - resin casts have a very "sharp" and inorganic look to them).

The logo text is also very off centre and one other detail to look for, there is usually a code pressure printed into the label (not printed), that shows up under light pretty easily and there's definitely not that here.

I would be very cautious of this one, but it's been known to get authentic carts that were just made in a different factory and for some reason had a different quality to them.

Metroid isn't really a game you want the savefile to die on, even if you can complete ZM in about 4-8hrs.

For a fiver I’m not massively fussed as long as it works ok.

Yeah the chances of that being genuine are pretty much 0.

The games run fine as they are just ROMs written to some memory on a cloned circuit that may be produced more cheaply but the battery backups either die or don't work at all based on what I've seen and received. You may feel like you saved money but honestly I still felt really ripped off when I got one. It's not nice feeling cheated.. however if you know it's fake, I guess that's different.

Still, the value of that is pretty much nothing as you can just run a backup from your own flash cart and at least then benefit from save states etc. If I wanted ROMs and emus etc I would just pirate rather than buy from pirates. Otherwise it's just piracy without any of the benefits

[Hypes]

Oh yeah, it's missing the triangle

[Jazzem]

Man GBA carts on ebay have been a minefield for the longest time, so many fakes out there :/

[Green Gecko]

Yeah man just checked against my cart and it's 100% fake, the most obvious being as has been mentioned the missing triangle impression at the bottom but also the dip in the middle that's easily identifiable with the genuine glossy labels, and I have the number "08" pressed into the label just under the bottom right corner of the logo.

If you want to go by the label the background is supposed to be a rich indigo/purple, and the border of the logo should be a thin outline of yellow (on the vertices of the METROID text which is actually 3D). The TM and the product code in the corner should be very thin.

So look out for these things.

Good luck!

[Hypes]

I mean I looked at my cart and didn't see half these things

[Jazzem]

I ended up with a pirated cart of Ninja Cop off ebay years back, wish I could find it. Got a refund without having to send it back, was actually reasonably happy since it's an outrageously expensive game that's right up my alley, amazing 2D ninja action platformer. It seemed to boot up and fine completely fine, though I was always wary of trusting it to keep a save.

...I say I wish I could find it because the last time I picked it up the plastic casing fell apart in my hands

[Green Gecko]

I mean I looked at my cart and didn't see half these things

Autism wins again

Can't do what I do without dem superpowers

[Balloon Sod]

Think my Mario vs Donkey Kong is fake?

[kerr9000]

My Japanese N64 arrived today as did A boxed complete Japanese copy of G.A.S.P id paid £5 for and an American N64 cart of Rogue Squadron id spent £5 on.... I then proceeded to make the alterations so it can play American games without a convertor and went on to order a few more Japanese carts (Choro Q, Mario Kart, Blast Dozer and a boxed copy of Human Grand Prix for £20) ..... so basically Ive thrown £45 at playing 60hz N64 stuff .... I already have Japanese copies of Kirby and Flying Dragoons id played in 50hz via a European machine and a convertor.

Why do I always seem to set myself projects?

[Hypes]

Think my Mario vs Donkey Kong is fake?

Definitely

[Jazzem]

Think my Mario vs Donkey Kong is fake?

Definitely

Oh my god, it's been a while since I've seen such magnificent engrish

[Green Gecko]

I was about to say it's quite hard to tell from a box before I started reading.

[Preezy]

Looks legit (good old legit, he was 40 pixels!.

[jawafour]

"Good old Donkey" .

[Lorn64]

Think my Mario vs Donkey Kong is fake?

"Today he is a high resolution polygon model in all his glory..."

My Japanese N64 arrived today as did A boxed complete Japanese copy of G.A.S.P id paid £5 for and an American N64 cart of Rogue Squadron id spent £5 on.... I then proceeded to make the alterations so it can play American games without a convertor and went on to order a few more Japanese carts (Choro Q, Mario Kart, Blast Dozer and a boxed copy of Human Grand Prix for £20) ..... so basically Ive thrown £45 at playing 60hz N64 stuff .... I already have Japanese copies of Kirby and Flying Dragoons id played in 50hz via a European machine and a convertor.

Why do I always seem to set myself projects?

Sweet... I'm tempted to get a Japanese N64 myself, mainly because I've taken an interest in time trialing Diddy Kong Racing and the Japanese version of the game is the fastest (I miiight even delve into runs of the game if I can get good at it). I could just get a Passport or something, but they cost a fortune now and I've heard there can be issues with them.