Any way of telling if a game is a fake?

MSI Magus

MSI Magus

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So my wife just bought me a copy of Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story from ebay. The seller came from China and after she won for only $15 shipped she noticed in his feedback while 98% of it is positive feedback that there are 2 or 3 people complaining his games are fakes. I just got my copy in the mail and if its a fake its a damn good one, however the coloring of the box does seem a little different then usual and the game was sealed different them im used to. Both of these things could be my imagination, but they could be real too. I have also noticed a rise in Chinese sellers on ebay unloading brand new DS games at amazingly cheap prices....so that could be another sign.

So is there any way of telling if this game is a fake or not?

Edit - *smacks himself for not doing a google search*

Found my own answer. The game is a fake since its missing the Nintendo logo on the inside of the box in raised lettering next to where the cart goes. Its a damn impressive fake though. Guess ill report the guy and hope that I either get my money back or that the game continues to play properly.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']So my wife just bought me a copy of Mario and Luigi Bowsers Inside Story from ebay. The seller came from China and after she won for only $15 shipped she noticed in his feedback while 98% of it is positive feedback that there are 2 or 3 people complaining his games are fakes. I just got my copy in the mail and if its a fake its a damn good one, however the coloring of the box does seem a little different then usual and the game was sealed different them im used to. Both of these things could be my imagination, but they could be real too. I have also noticed a rise in Chinese sellers on ebay unloading brand new DS games at amazingly cheap prices....so that could be another sign.

So is there any way of telling if this game is a fake or not?

Edit - *smacks himself for not doing a google search*

Found my own answer. The game is a fake since its missing the Nintendo logo on the inside of the box in raised lettering next to where the cart goes. Its a damn impressive fake though. Guess ill report the guy and hope that I either get my money back or that the game continues to play properly.[/QUOTE]

One of the trademarks that still has never changed with fake games are the half assed manuals, lol. That is always the first place to go. The cover and the first pages are all the same, the table of contents, the safety precautions, and then eventually you get to the awful screenshots of the game and reviews from online review sites inserted into each page. And the back of the manuals are always blank, but if it was a real manual, they all at the very least have a logo of the company or an ad on the back of the manual. You can also feel that the texture of the cartridge is completely off. Thats how I could tell when I got mine. Sometimes some of the cases has the Nintendo logo on it, so don't always go off the case because the one I got had the logo, but all the other things I just talked about is what I used to narrow it down.

And of course by far the easiest way to test it is to pop it into a DSi. As you may have noticed, anytime it comes from a different country and states it does NOT work for a DSi, it is bootlegged 100%.

Even with sellers in the US as of the past year, they will also say, does not work in DSi, and make up excuses of why not, but really they are just masking that they bought bootleg games in bulk from oversea bootleg manufacturers and trying to peddle them off to unsuspecting buyers. eBay makes me sick because of this.
 
[quote name='Squarehard']One of the trademarks that still has never changed with fake games are the half assed manuals, lol. That is always the first place to go. The cover and the first pages are all the same, the table of contents, the safety precautions, and then eventually you get to the awful screenshots of the game and reviews from online review sites inserted into each page. And the back of the manuals are always blank, but if it was a real manual, they all at the very least have a logo of the company or an ad on the back of the manual. You can also feel that the texture of the cartridge is completely off. Thats how I could tell when I got mine. Sometimes some of the cases has the Nintendo logo on it, so don't always go off the case because the one I got had the logo, but all the other things I just talked about is what I used to narrow it down.

And of course by far the easiest way to test it is to pop it into a DSi. As you may have noticed, anytime it comes from a different country and states it does NOT work for a DSi, it is bootlegged 100%.

Even with sellers in the US as of the past year, they will also say, does not work in DSi, and make up excuses of why not, but really they are just masking that they bought bootleg games in bulk from oversea bootleg manufacturers and trying to peddle them off to unsuspecting buyers. eBay makes me sick because of this.[/QUOTE]

Ya its def a fake. Besides the before mentioned lack of a raised Nintendo logo next to the game slot the last page of the manual is also blank and there is a fuzzy stuck underneath the lament sealing of the game case itself. Its a damn good fake and would have probably fooled 99% of people, hell I bet I could go trade it in at gamestop if I wanted!

Ill try contacting the seller with a warning that if I dont receive my money back ill file a paypal dispute, if that doesnt work ill hope the paypal dispute actually does.....in the mean time hopefully I can at least play the game. Going to start it now and see if it at least saves.

Edit - BTW love your chinchilla avatar!
 
Sorry your g/f got duped. Here are some resources for you or anyone that might run into the problem.

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/tips.jsp

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/platform.jsp?platformId=2&categoryId=0

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/platform.jsp?platformId=3&categoryId=0

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2006/06/13/spotting-pirated-nintendo-ds-carts/

http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-POK...HENSIVE-GUIDE-PICS_W0QQugidZ10000000004240408



As far as ebay goes, using these simple tips can go a long way.

1. Be wary of buying an "English text/voiced" game from a country that doesn't primarily speak English. Why would someone in China import an english version of Pokemon Platinum, only to then ship it to someone in the U.S. for 50% of the price? Would that make sense financially after all the shipping costs? The biggest offenders of fake DS/GBA games on ebay are from Hong Kong/China.

2. Stay away from games that use stock photos. If you are tempted, at least ask the seller to post actual photos of the game. If they won't then they don't need your business. Avoid excuses like "I sell too many items to put up photos". That may be a good excuse to use stock but it isn't a good enough excuse to not post photos at a customer's request.

3. Check the feedback. Unfortunately at the normal Ebay site, you'd have to go back and check pages of feedback to find the negative or neutrals. One simple trick to speed up the process is when you click the link to check someones feedback, you'll see the start of the web address looking like this.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/...

Just ad in a .au after the .com and you'll be able to "click" on the neutral or negative feedback as a separate link. http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/....

4. I've noticed many bootleg sellers adding "won't work on DSi" or some similar wording into the item descriptions on DS games. All DS games work on the DSi except ones that use the GBA slot (ie. guitar hero). If you see that, the seller is a bootlegger.

5. Compare the pictures of the game/case to other games. Again, this goes back to requesting pictures if the seller uses a stock photo.
 
[quote name='SiK99']Sorry your g/f got duped. Here are some resources for you or anyone that might run into the problem.

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/tips.jsp

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/platform.jsp?platformId=2&categoryId=0

http://ap.nintendo.com/detect/photos/platform.jsp?platformId=3&categoryId=0

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2006/06/13/spotting-pirated-nintendo-ds-carts/

http://reviews.ebay.com.au/FAKE-POK...HENSIVE-GUIDE-PICS_W0QQugidZ10000000004240408



As far as ebay goes, using these simple tips can go a long way.

1. Be wary of buying an "English text/voiced" game from a country that doesn't primarily speak English. Why would someone in China import an english version of Pokemon Platinum, only to then ship it to someone in the U.S. for 50% of the price? Would that make sense financially after all the shipping costs? The biggest offenders of fake DS/GBA games on ebay are from Hong Kong/China.

2. Stay away from games that use stock photos. If you are tempted, at least ask the seller to post actual photos of the game. If they won't then they don't need your business. Avoid excuses like "I sell too many items to put up photos". That may be a good excuse to use stock but it isn't a good enough excuse to not post photos at a customer's request.

3. Check the feedback. Unfortunately at the normal Ebay site, you'd have to go back and check pages of feedback to find the negative or neutrals. One simple trick to speed up the process is when you click the link to check someones feedback, you'll see the start of the web address looking like this.
http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/...

Just ad in a .au after the .com and you'll be able to "click" on the neutral or negative feedback as a separate link. http://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/....

4. I've noticed many bootleg sellers adding "won't work on DSi" or some similar wording into the item descriptions on DS games. All DS games work on the DSi except ones that use the GBA slot (ie. guitar hero). If you see that, the seller is a bootlegger.

5. Compare the pictures of the game/case to other games. Again, this goes back to requesting pictures if the seller uses a stock photo.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't really use any of those resources personally, or at least not anymore. Counterfeiting has gotten a lot better since the time all of those articles have been published, and it is really hard to tell using those articles. Pretty soon they going to find a way to make it work for DSi, then itll just make all of our lives even harder when buying DS games online T___T.
 
Counterfeiters don't get everything right. So using those resources as a whole helps. Sure, some bootleggers are better but there are still some that mis-spell words(ex.Nintondo), do shoddy label work, or miss out on all the details that go into the games.

The only real problem with all this is you can't always tell from the pictures/until you get the game home.


One other thing that a gamespot forum user mentioned is that for DS games, to check to make sure the 4-letter combo is the same on the cart and case artwork. At the bottom of my copy of The Legendary Starfy it says "NTR-YSSE-USA". You should also see the YSSE on the back of the cover art near the UPC code (NTR P YSSE USA). He mentioned that a bootleg he received from Ebay had a code there from a different game than what he bought. (you can google the code to check). Its just another detail that bootleggers often miss out on.
 
I bet I know what seller you are talking about. I purchased Scribblenauts VERY cheap from a seller in hong kong on ebay. I played it for a bit and started realizing it have a lot of problems and just crashing. I looked it up and a lot of people had that problem so at first I was ok and just assumed it was the game. Then out of no where i realized it had saved data on it. It was labeled "NEW" and even had plastic wrap on it. Then I looked around on the DS and yeah, no nintendo sign on it. kept Comparring it to my other titles.
 
[quote name='utopianmachine']I don't even buy DS games from Hong Kong/foreign sellers. Seems to be my best bet. Especially when they're selling cartridge only.[/QUOTE]
I agree that Chinese sellers are bootleggers in 99.99% of the cases. However, while looking for a reasonably priced copy of Tetris DS on ebay, I've come across many sellers from the US that would sell it with the disclaimer "won't work on DSi". So, even if it's a domestic seller, you can never be too sure.
 
[quote name='basketb']I agree that Chinese sellers are bootleggers in 99.99% of the cases. However, while looking for a reasonably priced copy of Tetris DS on ebay, I've come across many sellers from the US that would sell it with the disclaimer "won't work on DSi". So, even if it's a domestic seller, you can never be too sure.[/QUOTE]

Most likely, those sellers bought in bulk from the HK bootleggers to resell. So be very cautious on domestic sellers as well, especially if the price is much cheaper than legitimate copies and/or they mention doesn't work on DSi.
 
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