Cheap Pokémon Games (GBA, NDS) on eBay from China?

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Dude c'mon of course they're fake... Read that eBay guide carefully. The ESRB logo and Nintendo logo doesn't look right at all. 

 
Yeah, GBA carts are ridiculously ease to counterfeit. Generally GBA counterfeits are good for a few years, but RTC will almost never work on those cheap clones, meaning Pokemon games are some of the worst to buy fakes of.

 
Yeah, GBA carts are ridiculously ease to counterfeit. Generally GBA counterfeits are good for a few years, but RTC will almost never work on those cheap clones, meaning Pokemon games are some of the worst to buy fakes of.
RTC?

Dude c'mon of course they're fake... Read that eBay guide carefully. The ESRB logo and Nintendo logo doesn't look right at all.
That's what the ESRB looked like when the game came out, I cross referenced.

Oh I don't doubt they're fake or at least something fishy...

Just was curious as to what was going on, as I said I was skeptical.

 
Real-Time Clock; the Pokemon games use it to keep track of time - day/night, day of the week - stuff for daily events and berry growth.

Realistically, there's no plausible scenario in which a bulk seller in China would've paid for dozens or hundreds of legitimate US-region carts, only to sell them ten or fifteen years later at a massive loss compared even to the current street value.

 
RTC?

That's what the ESRB looked like when the game came out, I cross referenced.

Oh I don't doubt they're fake or at least something fishy...

Just was curious as to what was going on, as I said I was skeptical.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9sCZ2ZKhMUo/Ud3izwnpvMI/AAAAAAAAADY/UjZOX2uE530/s1600/GBA_Pokemon_Emerald_Version_cartridge_cover.jpg

Notice the E is way thicker than the bootleg one and the Nintendo logo is slightly different. Do not buy any of those. Does it make sense they'd be selling them at the fraction of the cost if they were real? No.

 
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Everything is coming up Legit on emerald/leaf green

The code on the back of the NDS game isn't coming up though, and I still don't trust it.
They're all bootlegs. I can buy those GBA carts for about $2 a pop. It's glaringly obvious when you deal with overseas sellers as often as I do. It can "look" right, but it's a fake.

 
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9sCZ2ZKhMUo/Ud3izwnpvMI/AAAAAAAAADY/UjZOX2uE530/s1600/GBA_Pokemon_Emerald_Version_cartridge_cover.jpg

Notice the E is way thicker than the bootleg one and the Nintendo logo is slightly different. Do not buy any of those. Does it make sense they'd be selling them at the fraction of the cost if they were real? No.
As I said, it seemed off/suspicious, also thank you.

They're all bootlegs. I can buy those GBA carts for about $2 a pop. It's glaringly obvious when you deal with overseas sellers as often as I do. It can "look" right, but it's a fake.
Interesting, I am curious how often you deal with this.

 
They're all bootlegs. I can buy those GBA carts for about $2 a pop. It's glaringly obvious when you deal with overseas sellers as often as I do. It can "look" right, but it's a fake.
There are plenty of US based sellers who sell fakes too... like, these are actual sellers in the US, not just faking the shipping address. I got some bootlegs Brooklyn and some from some place in Louisiana.

 
My brother, who is heavy into pokemon, was trying to get a old one off Ebay a while back. Emerald, I think it was?

He ended up with 3 fakes before he got the real thing, I think he was able to return two of them, the other one, he used for soldering practice, then had mom run it over with the car.

I'm more into RPGs myself, I hope that fakes aren't common say, with the GBA version of FF6 or something like that...

 
Unfortunately they're common with just about every GBA game; dunno what the prices are like now but for a while the GBA FF games were hard to come by. Just take a good look at the cart before you pull the trigger.

The fake FF6 cart I had was pretty blatant, at least; three of the main characters' walking sprites were plastered on just beneath the logo.

 
I just got a fake DS game from GS.com... they have no CS for online orders outside of email support (which I've had awful luck with, they take over a week to respond, at best). I took it to a store and the manager there, who's a nice/cool guy, wasn't sure how to deal with it and gave me a number to call. I called them and was told they'd send me a replacement copy but I have no way of knowing if they're actually going to or not. 

 
Lol, FEGuy is right, there's no practical business advantage to having bought such a huge inventory of a regional product and selling later for much less than they would have been bought for.

On the other hand, if the price is not too bad, you can try to buy it and see how it works, and then just blast the seller with a negative review if it is fake. At worst you'll make the eBay community .0001% more transparent, and you'll have a uniquely terrible game to talk about.

I remember years ago some kid at a summer camp had a GBA Pokemon game that someone had gotten him when they travelled outside of the country (maybe China?). He let me play it for a few minutes, and it was one of the most bizarre concepts I have seen for a Pokemon game. In short, Pokemon were summoned by cell phone, and you had to get their number or something after defeating them to "collect" them. I also believe the "main" Pokemon (like they usually display on the cover of each version) for that game was a generic, cartoony looking whale. Good times. 

 
I remember years ago some kid at a summer camp had a GBA Pokemon game that someone had gotten him when they travelled outside of the country (maybe China?). He let me play it for a few minutes, and it was one of the most bizarre concepts I have seen for a Pokemon game. In short, Pokemon were summoned by cell phone, and you had to get their number or something after defeating them to "collect" them. I also believe the "main" Pokemon (like they usually display on the cover of each version) for that game was a generic, cartoony looking whale. Good times.
Sounds like one of the Telefang games (translated/bootlegged for the GBC as Pokemon Diamond and Jade), although I don't know if any similarly translated bootlegs existed for the GBA versions.

 
Sounds like one of the Telefang games (translated/bootlegged for the GBC as Pokemon Diamond and Jade), although I don't know if any similarly translated bootlegs existed for the GBA versions.
Spot on, I was wanting to say it was called Pokemon Diamond, but I also spent a lot of time trying to forget that garbage. It may have actually been a GBC cart, as it's been more than a decade since, haha.

 
There are plenty of US based sellers who sell fakes too... like, these are actual sellers in the US, not just faking the shipping address. I got some bootlegs Brooklyn and some from some place in Louisiana.
Yea there are 2 shops near me with a complete list of the GBA and DS pokemon games.

How do I know if they are legit?

 
I think your best bet for a quick test is to check the Nintendo logo by taking a legit retail game with you. Most people will not pay attention to that small detail, and even if they try to counterfeit it, it may be extremely hard to get the exact same tone of gold-ish bronze whatever that the Nintendo logo uses. If the color is even slightly off, I would be suspicious, since Nintendo has the color formulated exactly, while imitators would have to guess at best.

Of course, this doesn't help with problems like if the game cart has sat in the sun too long and faded, but I would advise against buying one like that anyway. Also, the Pokemon carts tend to have those highly unique cases that I imagine would be ever so slightly harder to imitate, from a cost perspective.

To be honest, your best bet is to just buy from people who actually play the game. If nearby sellers are offering comprehensive lists of Pokemon games, there is obviously a sizeable market nearby where you should be able to get plenty of legit hand-me-downs. The GBA and DS games are widely available on the second-hand market, and even most of the GBC games are too. You're going to have people trying to capitalize on the brand no matter where you are in the world (though some places are obviously worse than others). If a seller offers an absolute complete list of all the Pokemon games on a certain platform, I would suspect they would either know a little more than the average retailer about the games, or I probably wouldn't buy at all.

 
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