Tuesdays at GBA - Spot Fake Gameboy Advance Cartridges

Sure, the Gameboy Advance is slowly falling to oblivion, but it's massive library back then (and until now) proved to be too popular that we saw the existence of fake Gameboy Advance game cartridges. Yes, you read it right.

And so for our first GBA Feature (which will happen every Tuesdays Hong Kong Time,) we take a look at ways to spot a fake GBA cartridge. I will not tell you to open up your Gameboy Advance cartridge just to look for the presence of an internal battery and whatnots. We'll be looking at the outsides of the cartridge and examine it well.

Tips on Spotting a Fake Gameboy Advance Cartridge:

Is the cartridge slightly heavier? Does it fit perfectly in your GBA or in the GBA slot of your Nintendo DS? If not, big news, it is fake.

Are all the words that are printed correctly spelled?

Is the "Made in Japan" text at the back written with spaces between the words? No? Then that is a fake.

And the surefire way to know if your GBA cartridge is legit?

Get a light. Tilt the cartridge upside down. Turn the lights on. Just above the contacts there should be a Nintendo logo in there printed in white.

And yeah, I know, perhaps the pirates have already perfected this one and can literally passed a pirated copy as legitimate now that official support for the Gameboy Advance is dead...

..But fret not Nintendo collector! If you are on a mission to collect Gameboy Advance game cartridges, then equip yourself with anti-piracy knowledge by knowing the signs I wrote above so that you'll easily know the difference between a fake GBA cartridge from a legitimate one.

We celebrate the life and success of the Gameboy Advance here at Tuesdays at GBA.Together, we will tell the world how Sprite-based gaming successfully coexisted side by side the likes of the PS2 and Xbox.

Check out a user at Bulbapedia discusses his take on how to spot a fake Gameboy Advance cartridge