How to Identify Fake Retro Video Games - Retro Bird
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- Опубликовано: 24 сен 2020
- Nobody wants to buy a game that they thought was authentic, but turns out to be fake. I provide some tips for spotting fake cartridge and CD games, as well as some general thoughts to put your mind at ease.
How to Identify Fake Retro Video Games - Retro Bird / How to Identify Fake / Bootleg Retro Game Cartridges / How to Spot / Avoid Nintendo and Sega Bootlegs / Counterfeit / Reproductions / How to Verify your Retro Video Games
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I had a guy get extremely frustrated with me and refuse to show me a picture of the back of a game he was selling. Needless to say I didn't buy the game. Be careful guys.
Hahah what did he expect? No purchase!
The biggest red flag for me personally when it comes to fake games is when the seller refuses or gets nervous when I ask if I can open up the cartridge or check the cd.
Yeah, it does no harm to the game. Let us check 'em out!
Almost bought a fake mortal Kombat collection, this morning but this just saved me from that.so glad I watched this
Great to hear! Glad I was able to help :)
If it’s advertised as “Brand New” that’s another way of saying “Not Authentic”
In high school I bought a fake copy of Pokémon Sapphire off Amazon by mistake. Cartridge was bulkier than your typical GBA cart, and the save data could easily get erased if I removed it from the GameBoy. It was possible to get to the end by leaving it inserted, but that is not a hassle I want to work with again. Now I own a real copy and I feel much better.
That sucks. Usually most repros will at least function properly.
Gameboy collector here. I can’t say this with 100% certainty but I have yet to see a fake game pass this test. Without even opening the cartridge, look at the pins on the bottom. You don’t need to look at any of the copyright info or numbers or anything, as those numbers can vary between printings. The absolute easiest thing to notice is in the corners of the board itself. Authentic games have white rounded corners in the board next to the pins, fake games tend to have sharp, 90 degree corners in a green board next to the pins. It’s so easy to look for this compared to analyzing the font on the label and whatnot. The nes and snes games I own also have rounded corners, so I imagine this works for those cartridges as well.
Again I’m not saying this will absolutely catch every fake game you find, but it’s by far the easiest way to check and will catch almost every fake you’ll come across.
Thanks!
The Nintendo DS counterfeits really get me. I haven't been able to figure out how to open those carts non-destructively to verify I have a real one. There's a bunch of $30-$40 games I'd love to have but can't quite pull the trigger on.
Just buy the fake one until you come across the real one for your collection.
The fact that this is something to worry about saddens me to no end...
Great vid, I'm glad that I haven't run into this issue. Other than finding some janky box art, repro manuals, and the wrong game in a case I've done alright...it saved me some cash. As for looking fakes, since I'm mainky buy CIB, I try know what all variations of a case and cart look like.
Generally, when you buy CIB you should be okay. Especially if it has any wear at all. It's typically pretty obvious when you're looking at the real thing.
Such an important thing. Realistic repros are all fun and games until someone passes them off as real...intentionally or not.
Totally. Some of the people who buy them have the best intentions, but there will always be people who either abuse them or are unaware.
A similar issue that luckily I've never had is buying a game from the wrong territory. It must suck.
Hahah that's an easy one to avoid so long as you check for it :)
@@RetroBirdGaming Sometimes it's obvious, like with the SNES because the cartridges are different.
Off topic, but...I think you should show off your video game collection in a near future video :)
I definitely will at some point, but I need to think about how I would do it. I would also probably wait until I had more subscribers.
Great video as usual! Interesting topic too,; fake artwork. I’m in the midst of sorting my collection and I’ve got a chunk of so many random inlays and inserts, manuals and promotional leaflets - selling them as a bundle to other collectors and I’ve made damn sure to include many pictures to let people know they’re genuine!
Interestingly my wife has a custom label and greeting card business and just this week had someone ask her to create a card using a very specific and famous font which she declined straight away due to copyright.
The next day had someone ask her to print what I knew straight away was a repro for a video game cover.... a little internet search and we found a whole eBay page this chump was hosting which was full of rip off fonts, artwork and crappy fake games! Scumbags. Great content dude. Love the vid, keep it up! 👍🤙
Hey, pretty interesting how this ties in with your wife's business. Thank you for sharing that! Good investigative work to find that person online!
I often wonder if any of my games are fake. I think the PCBs are legit, but perhaps the label/case are not. Great video, I think you covered it all and I have nadda to add.
It would probably feel kind of bizarre to find out a game you've had for a long time is actually a bootleg :)
Love your videos!!
i clicked on this fully expecting a shot of you holding a banana with a sticky note with the name of a video game written on it, ponderingly, trying to ascertain whether it's authentic or not. i must say i was sorely disappointed by this video being entirely helpful and informative
3:58 *(bottlom left of fake one) that has got to be the top 5 jankiest ways to put a cap down assuming they make a lot of them.
Awesome video man!
I've learned to spot the small things...
Such as the dot over the i in Nintendo on the back and various other small things.
I think the screws thing might not be true for every region!
When I was a kid my uncle gave me his old Megadrive games when he sold his but my Brazilian Megadrive couldn't run all of his games, he used to had a Spanish Megadrive iirc.
I remember that I had Super GP Monaco 2 that gave me a region lock error and had a copy of Bonanza Bros which had the Japanese Megadrive cartridge format so it just didn't fit on my own console.
And I remember that I was like 8yo and simply got a regular screwdriver and swapped the inner parts of both and the Bonanza Bros game worked perfectly on the Super Monaco GP 2 enclosure!
It was a happy day!
I use this method on N64 carts.
When I buy a Japanese region game, I also buy the cheapest available NA region game as well.
Switching the NA back onto the Japanese game defeats the "region lock" on an NA system.
I’ve only been burned twice with fakes. But both games were inexpensive so replacing them wasn’t a huge burden. I took it as a lesson learned. My question is, why go through the trouble of reproducing a game that costs less than $20? Lol
one trick i learned is to angle the game to see an Imprinted Number on the Label
numbers like 00, 02, 22, etc
on NES, SNES, & N64, they're on the Back Label, and on GameBoy, GameBoy Color, & GameBoy Advance, they're on the Front Label
The worst fake game I bought was a fake Advance Wars for my GBA. It was another eBay scam artist. The ad and the photos looked good. When I got the game, it wouldn’t play. Opened the cart, the PCB board and and chips were melted. Of course, it was one of those eBay criminals who knows the system so when I tried to file a refund claim, the listing and all evidence of it was gone. Couldn’t be tracked down to submit a report. Just had to toss the cart in the trash.
Now, I don’t buy carts unless the photos include open case PCB board pics. Even then, it’s a gamble buying online.
One tip to add is to be obviously very suspicious of traders, who only use stock pictures or one and the same set of picture for a whole lot of identical games. Yes, some may do this out of convenience, when they sit on a bunch of copies of the same game. But it also is a cop-out to have counterfeit stuff flying under the radar.
I like my gaming screwdrivers that are build right on to a handle, no bits to lose. Never thought to take them to my local game store, but definitely would to a convention where I know I'll never see those people again. If they dont want to verify the legitacy of an expensive game then I'll pass.
To be honesy, if a game is super expensive I'd probably prefer to buy a repro at a proper cheap price. I just want to play games.
I have a black glob top Star Fox for the Snes. And apparently it's authentic. Thanks for the video.
Yes, I'm pretty sure that Star Fox for SNES is one of the games that's supposed to have glob tops.
I know that Tetris gameboy has a black glob top as well, I don’t know why but it’s there.
GBA games and 64 games are the easiest to tell if an item is authentic, as the pins on the back of a GBA cart can tell all. For the 64, if the dot in the back on the Nintendo logo, if It is a square, it’s authentic, vice versa.
Yeah, I just learned about the i in the Nintendo logo on the 64 cart recently.
Ahhh, the ol' square dot on the "i" trick. Making sure there's a number imprinted on the back sticker is a good tell also.
I wonder if the reproducers have caught on to this by now? I recently bought a repro n64 memory card, and the logo looks authentic
The same square dotted I tactic works for SNES carts too
If you’re collecting ds games make sure the back 4 characters match the front 4
I’m not worried about fake games. I’m worried about fake boxes. Can you do a video on that?
Yes, perhaps I may do a video about that in the future. Thank you for the suggestion.
Retro Bird sweet! Some of the fake boxes are pretty darn convincing.
Can someone tell me the lyrics of the outtro song, its killing me not knowing. Another great discussion bird. I always like what you have to say. Thanks.
Alot of times with Genesis games look for the obvious chip in the side of the cartridge. Big red flag.
Yup, those classic dead giveaways!
Here is my story. I bought a copy of Final Fight 3 for SNES on eBay and it clearly had a fake shell. The current shell looks brand new, the label was clearly reproduced, and the back did not have the Nintendo engraving. The seller had like 5 other SNES games that looked legit but I didn't look closely enough t this this one before I paid. It likely has a legit circuit board as the game does work on the Retron 5. My understanding is that repros are not supposed to work on this third party console.
Sorry to hear that. The PCB may still be fake unfortunately. There are plenty of bootleg PCBs that still work, even on a Retron.
Most of the time you want some minimal wear and tear to verify an item's authenticity...
Funny enough...My SNES library is actually ENTIRELY made up of repros! All the games I wanted for the system were the heavy hitters: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Mega Man X, etc. So I just embraced the repro game, sought them out and to me, they might as well be the real thing :) It's like real-world emulation lol
Just like fake shoes and sneakers...
reproduction labels.. they can make some good ones now.. but they can never get the nintendo seal of quality logo right .. never has the sparkle in it
The seal of quality seems to be really difficult for them to get accurate.
Repros are good if you want to play the games on the actual hardware without spending a house in the process. They’re also good if you want to play an English patched game on the actual hardware as well since the original game may have been Japanese only. I own a couple repros for the sega saturn, Dreamcast and n64 for these reasons. With that being said I avoid repros for any other console especially if they are easy to emulate. The handhelds especially have hundreds of ways to play through emulation with flashcarts being the best and most affordable option and I would 100 percent suggest those rather than buying a repro cart of a game. For collectors repros are absolutely torturous to deal with and I consider myself a collector and I will say unless it’s a sports title or an inexpensive overproduced title, to not buy expensive retro games from online unless you truly believe the seller is genuine and or you are very knowledgeable with the naked eye to be able to distinguish a real game from a repro
I think the english-patched games are one of the best exceptions because your options for playing it are more limited, and the game is clearly a repro since the game didn't officially come out in that region.
Retro Bird Correct, I think even as a collector, English patched repros are something people should add to their collections, although I’m not a fan of people profiting off of reselling those when you had people go through all the trouble of translating those games for free for people to play
I would like to get a repro of some of the prohibitively expensive games, like Nintendo World Championship.
The back of Snes carts should have a double digit number imprinted on the back of the cart on the label that came from the factory. You can see it if you put it in the light. Also the board shouldn't have connector pins on the sides. Only pins for the console on the bottom.
Izzat Mega Man X2 I hear in the background?
It sure is! Along with the gameplay footage seen throughout, as well as the PCB pictured in the thumbnail. I tend to put lots of little nods like that into my videos :)
See the problem is when someone in my family gifts me a game there's a good chance it's a repro and it's a darn shame. Cuz it's like thanks now I have mario kart 64 again but in the same breath it's like I still have to buy it though because I have to have a real one.
i got a good tip. on snes games, on the left and right edges of the front label, there is a small little hickup in the factory cut. the cut looks straight but if you look very close on some games there is a tiny notch in the cut. not all games have it but if you do see it then its safe to say that is an authentic cart. i looked through my games right now and some have it on the left side and other have it on the right. some games i dont notice it on but i already know all my games are authentic anyways.
I got bit by a fake SNES cart a few months ago from an eBay seller, Chrono Trigger. It was maybe $75 less than the going rate too, so it wasn't too obvious. Once I got it in hand though, the illusion started falling apart. The cart was way too clean, the label was too glossy... I have Game Bits so I took it apart and what do you know, fake board. I sent the guy pics of his game & an original that I took apart side by side to illustrate the differences. He initially refused to take it back, but I got eBay to force him to accept a return/refund and the guy actually deactivated his account not long after. He had apparently tried the exact same scam on someone about a month before I fell for it (should've checked his feedback).
Edit: I never did try and get another SNES copy of Chrono Trigger after that fiasco. I have my PS1 copy, and I got probably 4-5 other games instead.
I recently bought two spindles of loose games at a flea market. It was a mix of PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1, Xbox, Xbox360 games. He wanted 2 bucks a disc... I looked through them and Some were in bad shape but most were pretty decent.. but then I saw it... PS2 Haunting Ground! I immediately asked what he wanted for just both spindles... and he said 20 bucks... there was also a tub of "broken" consoles for 5 bucks he said I could just have it. So I thought oh by I scored. Well when I got home I realized once I wasn't standing in the Sun after a day of hunting and sweating that it turned out the be a fake disc... There happened to be about 7 or so fake discs in the lot. All the rest were legit. The thing is it won't even play in my PS2 so must need a modded PS2 to play burnt games.
Sorry to hear about that. Yeah, I don't blame you for pulling the trigger "in the heat of the moment" (get it?) for that price. You don't see many fake PS2 games compared to other systems.
Foam and styrofoam inserts can be faked as well. Not sure why someone would do that but it can be done. Also if you are buying an expensive CD game, make sure the case is real as those are faked as well. Sellers will often swap out the case with a brand new repro/non original one so that it looks nicer which = more $$$. Be sure to inspect the artwork as well since almost anyone can print out high quality box art with the right printer paper and a google search.
Especially for Sega Genesis cases. All you gotta do is slip the cover art in there. I've found that cheaper replacement CD jewel cases will often have a little more "bend" to them when you apply pressure.
I've been bootlegged by Zelda Minish Cap, and hence my research into fakr games started
My cousin bought a Chrono Trigger with a swapped PCB. It wasn't Madden though. It was a Japanese title.
In south America, we had an explosion of chinese clone systems (famiclones), but not all of them were trying to be a convincing rip-off. They were more like a cheap alternative and you would know what you were doing when you bought them. Argentina has a huge market of pirate megadrives and family/japanese nes repro or multicarts, so they are easy to spot.
With CD's however, with the advent of PSX, PS2, Dreamcast; we got lots of copies made in Paraguay which looks indistinguishable from the real thing. I still keep one copy today and it still works great (It's a PS1 metal slug X, it works on an unmodified ps2, but the PS3 won't read it). They even printed very convincing surfaces on the disks. The only dead give-away was that the case's materials were not always optimal.
A good thing is that it is not that hard to find someone who makes repros out of original boards (donor carts), so there's that option too. Ali Chinese repros on the other hand, nobody wants them.
Dreamcast actually did have copy protection. However, there’s a way to circumvent it. I believe it involves action replay.
I think it's fine to have repro's of expensive games like Little Samson and Nintendo World Championship, but what angers me is that some people making them don't have the decency to put the word "reproduction" on the cartridge. I think the word "reproduction" should be stamped into the plastic similar to the word "Nintendo" on the back of a SNES cart. If I have a repro, I thought about using a black marker and write the word "repro" on the back on the cart.
Yeah, unfortunately we can't trust that everyone who makes repros is going to mark them as such.
What there are fake games out there? Preposterous! This did not put my mind at ease at all.
The doctor said to take 2 bananas & play Retro Games every 4 hours! Repeat as needed until you feel better!
You remind of the guy from dazed and confused
Being from a third world country myself (Argenitna) I have never seen or bought a game tha came with a case nor a manual. I have never seen a NES or a SNES for that matter... I guess genesis cartridges were easier to fake.
I bought a game and was told online that it was fake. Come to find out it was authentic after I sold it.
It’s always very easy to tell, for me.
That's great for you!
Gameboy Advance games are the worst man there's so many fakes out there you need to be careful especially when you're looking for the high-end games like Castlevania Metroid zero Mission ,Fusion only fake I ever bought was Zelda with the four Swords Link to the Past GBA it came with a box manual and the game 40 bucks long story short guy got it as a gift didn't know it was a fake I bought it for 40 bucks whatever you live and you learn : D
Game Boy Advance has so many! Heck, fake Pokemon games are practically their own industry at this point :)
Yeah I think gba games are probably the worst when it comes to repros. There are plenty of honest sellers on sites like eBay, mercari and offer up who would let you know whether it’s a fake or not but my honest suggestion is to buy a gba game in person so you can see those numbers stamped on the cartridge yourself and so you can open it up to see if it is real or not. Specifically games like Pokémon, Metroid, Castlevania and even some first party games like DK country tend to be the ones you should watch out for.
Well this wasn't a game but I collect a lot of ps3 games so I decided to get an Xbox 360 Elite alongside it for more freedom with buying games from that generation but
When it came to my house it had a replacement hard drive and power cord but the console worked so I played it for about an hour turned it off and later when I wanted to go back to playing it failed with the red ring of death which had 3 rings and after desperately turning it on and off it went back to normal but after thinking about what to do I opened it up and it had a strange substance inside which seemed like battery acid then I knew what had happened the seller had seen it fail and then go back to normal and sold it but anyway after some fighting with the seller I got a full refund and didn't have to ship back the console knowing the seller didn't want it i threw it away because it wasn't even in the condition to sell for the parts
I ended up spending the money on some games for a few different consoles
100% Authentic Little Samson $999
From China
watching this today its jarring to see how far your personality and identity has come. Also you are too tall and redheaded for your front door.