How to tell if a Game Boy game is fake

Fake Game Boy cartridges turn up everywhere: online marketplaces, flea markets, even mixed into lots of real games. They're cheap to make, they look right at a glance, and most of them play just fine. That last part is why "it works" proves nothing.

The good news is that most fakes fail at least one of a few simple checks. This guide walks through them in order, from a 30-second look at the label to opening the cartridge. It covers the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color and the Game Boy Advance. Pokémon games are the most faked of all, so they get their own guide.

Fake, bootleg or reproduction? People use these words loosely. A bootleg or counterfeit is made to pass as the real thing. A reproduction ("repro") is a copy that may be sold openly as one. Either way, it isn't an original Nintendo cartridge, and it isn't worth what an original is.

The 30-second checks

You can do all of these without tools. If you can, keep a cart you know is genuine nearby to compare, or pull up photos of a confirmed original of the same game.

1. The stamped number on the label

Tilt the cartridge under a light and look at the front label. Original Nintendo labels have a small two-digit number pressed into the paper. It's an indentation, not ink, so you often only see it at an angle or where a little dirt has settled into it.

Fakes usually have no number at all. Some have one printed in ink, or one pressed in far too deep. A missing number is one of the strongest single warning signs.

2. The label print and logos

Genuine labels are sharp. Look closely at the small text and the logos:

• Blurry or pixelated print, or a visible dot pattern under magnification, suggests the label was printed from a scan.
• Colors that look off, too saturated, too dark or washed out, next to photos of an original.
• The wrong artwork. Some fakes use the box art instead of the cartridge art.
• The product code. Original labels carry a code such as DMG-…-USA (Game Boy), CGB-…-USA (Game Boy Color) or AGB-…-USA (Game Boy Advance), ending with the region. Look it up: fakes sometimes use a code that doesn't exist or belongs to another region.
• The Nintendo Seal of Quality. On US and European releases it should be there and crisp. On many originals it's printed in metallic gold ink, which a regular printer can't copy. Japanese releases don't have the seal, so its absence there is normal.

3. The molded text on the shell

On original Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts, the top edge of the shell has "Nintendo GAME BOY™" molded into the plastic. On fakes this text is often missing, cut short, in the wrong font or slightly misaligned.

Turn the cart over, too. Originals have Nintendo markings molded into the back, and Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts also say "MADE IN JAPAN." (The exception is a small number of official releases made for the Chinese market.) A blank back, odd wording or thick, soft-looking letters are red flags.

4. Shell color, texture and fit

Most original Game Boy carts are gray. Black carts are games that work on both the original Game Boy and the Game Boy Color, and clear carts are Game Boy Color only. Some titles, including the Pokémon games and Donkey Kong Land, came in their own colors, so check what the original of your game should look like.

Then feel it. Many fakes are cast from molds of real carts, and the surface ends up smoother, shinier or a shade off in color. Look at the bottom edge by the connector, too: originals are cleanly finished, while fakes sometimes have gaps or openings in the shell.

5. The screw

Nintendo used security screws:

• Game Boy and Game Boy Color: a 3.8 mm "gamebit" screw.
• Game Boy Advance: a tri-wing screw, with three flat blades.

A regular Phillips screw on any of them means the cart is fake, or at least that it has been opened and reassembled. So does the wrong security screw, like a tri-wing on a Game Boy cart. Some fakes even have a dummy screw head that holds nothing. The reverse isn't true, though: plenty of fakes now come with the correct screw, so a correct screw proves nothing on its own.

Open it up: the circuit board

If the outside checks leave you unsure, the board inside is the most reliable test. You'll need the matching screwdriver (3.8 mm gamebit for Game Boy and Game Boy Color, tri-wing for Game Boy Advance), which is cheap and easy to find. Take a photo first, go slowly and don't force anything.

Signs of an original board:

• The Nintendo name printed on the board, along with a board code.
• A board that fills the shell properly and sits snugly.
• Chips with printed markings on them.

Signs of a fake:

• Black epoxy blobs covering the chips. Very few original Game Boy boards use them, and most fakes do.
• A small or oddly cut board, boards stacked on top of each other, or stickers inside the shell.
• No Nintendo text at all, or a misspelled one.
• A rewritable memory chip holding the game, where an original uses a mask ROM chip.

The best reference is a photo of a confirmed original of the same game. Collector sites and hardware databases document which board each game should have.

Game Boy Advance: extra things to know

GBA fakes are especially common for popular titles. On top of the checks above:

• Use the screw and the back as quick checks. A tri-wing screw and cleanly molded Nintendo markings on the back are what you want to see.
• Look hard at the label finish. Genuine labels are sharp and evenly glossy. Fakes are often too shiny, too flat or slightly blurry around the text.
• Check for a battery where there should be one. Some GBA games have a small battery that runs an internal clock. Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald do, for example, while FireRed and LeafGreen don't. Fakes of clock games often skip the battery, so the in-game clock doesn't work.

Things that don't prove anything

These come up all the time in listings, and none of them settles the question:

• "Tested, works great." Most fakes run fine on real hardware.
• "It saves." Many fakes save, at least for a while.
• A dead save battery. Original Game Boy and Game Boy Color carts that save games use a small coin battery, and after decades many have run dry. That's normal aging, not a sign of a fake.
• A worn or replaced label. An original cart can have a replacement label, and a fake can have a label that's been worn on purpose. Check the shell and the board, too.

Red flags when buying online

• The price is far below what the game usually sells for, especially for in-demand titles. Knowing the typical value is one of the easiest ways to catch a fake listing.
• Several identical "new" copies of a game that has been out of production for decades.
• Stock photos, or a single blurry photo of the front. Ask for the back of the cart, the label at an angle (to see the stamped number) and the top edge.
• "Repro" or "reproduction" buried deep in the description, or words like "aftermarket" or "unofficial."
• A seller who won't send more photos. Honest sellers usually will.

Tip: Before you buy an expensive cart, ask whether you can return it if it turns out to be fake, and check what buyer protection the marketplace offers.

Found a fake? What now

Fakes and reproductions have little or no collector value. If you bought one as genuine, contact the seller and use the marketplace's return or buyer protection process. If you want to keep it to play, that's your call. If you ever sell it, say clearly that it's a reproduction. Passing it off as an original isn't fair to the next buyer and breaks most marketplaces' rules.

Where RetroWorth fits

To be clear about what the app does: RetroWorth identifies the game from a photo of the label and shows an estimated value range for an authentic copy, as loose, complete or new, in the US, European or Japanese market. It does not check whether a cartridge is genuine, so do the checks above first.

Once a cart passes them, scan it to see its estimated value and add it to your collection. And when you're shopping, check the usual value before you buy. A price far below that range is a good reason to take a second look.