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Opening a cart is the best way to verify a cart. However, you can verify that a game is genuine or fake without opening carts. Pokemon games can differ, so there is a separate section especially.

Contents

  1. Carts
    1. How many types of cartridges are there?
  2. Labels
    1. Regions
    2. Number Stamps (Not a Verification Method)
  3. Board
    1. Golden Rectangles (Not a Verification Method)
  4. Verifying Pokemon Titles
  5. Special Thanks

Carts

  • "GAME BOY ADVANCE" should be shallowly etched under the grip/lip.
  • Bootlegs have a tendency to mold everything too deep. Everything from the "GAME BOY ADVANCE" down to the arrow at the bottom. Some fakes are better than others. In this picture, the "GAMEBOY ADVANCE" on top isn't the most obvious. The down arrows however, are dead giveaways. Authentic games don't have them even half a millimeter deep.
  • The back of the cart should also have the following etchings:
    • The Nintendo typeface.
    • AGB-002 for standard cartridges (AGB-003 is related to the battery pak, AGB-033 is not a valid AGB code). Other AGB-0xx codes are used for different cartridges.
    • PAT. PEND. MADE IN JAPAN - spaced correctly.
    • Injection molding entry point.

Most bootlegs won't get Nintendo's logos right. Nintendo's logo is thick vertically and thin horizontally. If the font is consistent in its thickness, it's bootleg. The logos at the back are also a telltale sign. As stated previously, some are better than others. In the picture, "pretty good" has the logo etched a little deeper, another thing mentioned earlier.

How many types of cartridges are there?

There are 29 different variants of Game Boy Advance cartridges, spread over 8 types. Whilst the Game Boy Advance in backwards-compatible with the majority of DMG and GBC, the below table only focuses on the GBA-specific cartridges.

AGB-002 AGB-013 AGB-019 AGB-019A
AGB-021 AGB-021A AGB-023 AGS-006

These variants differ in colour, shape and size.

More information on variants can be found in our casing variants section.

Labels

  • In most cases, the cart label art will not be the same as the box art. What's the best way to find your game's proper label art? Google.
The label art for these games shouldn't be just cropped box arts. Rarely does that ever even happen.
  • ESRB's logos are NOT a good way to identify bootlegs. If you search for images of different carts, you'll see that the only thing consistent about them is their inconsistency.
    • Unless they're unusually thin, like, not even in bold style font. Thin "E"s are usually a dead givaway for bootlegs.
  • Low resolution, home-printed label. A very easy, noticeable trait of fake carts.
  • The code printed on the label being incorrect, if the code is even there.

Regions

Some titles have region-specific labels, meaning that what was released in one region wouldn't hold true for the other.

  • The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap is a great example of this, with a green label in the European region and a red label in the US region.

Number Stamps (Not a Verification Method)

The number stamps can be punched into the label using a 3mm die kit, but there are situations where legitimate games by third-parties and even Nintendo first-party titles do not have the stamped number during production. Over time, UV exposure and physical wear on the label can cause the number stamp to visually disappear. Any bloke and his dog can obtain a 3mm die-stamp kit and a rubber mallet for less than $15, and get stamping away on fake carts.

Fake Pokemon My Ass, with number stamp. Not a verification method.
Legitimate Fightbox GBA, no number stamp. Not a verification method.

Board

Without opening the cart, a portion of the board should still be visible.

  • In most cases above the gold terminals, the Nintendo logo should be visible followed by a serial code. The Nintendo logo can be in an ovular shape, or just using Nintendo's typeface. This used to be a common verification method, but due to high-quality fakes getting Nintendo's typeface correct (along with the use of the copyright-busting Nlhlehde, Nlnlendo and even Nlhtendo), we cannot use this as a verification method.
An example of three of the common silkscreen printings used in counterfeits as you would see it using this method. The line denotes a rough location of where the casing can obscure the rest of the text, with an example at the bottom of how this would look.
  • A common misconception is that the date on the PCB must relate to the release date of the game in question. This is not the case. The date printed on the PCB denotes when the PCB variant was designed. For example, this is why some cartridges released in 2004 may have a date of 2002. Nintendo had a lot of stock of previous PCB variants, and would use whatever they had at hand when producing cartridges. "But why didn't Nintendo produce PCB's with an up to date year?" The answer is simple - tooling costs. It doesn't make any financial sense to develop, design and produce different PCB for just one game when you can use what you've already got; otherwise you'll be pushing up prices and selling less at a lower profit margin as a result.
Legitimate PCB's, but can be difficult to view at the right angle and easily misread.
  • The pins above the gold terminals must be straight, and have a constant diameter of 0.2mm. However, there are legitimate PCBs produced by Nintendo that omit straight pins throughout the board; along with counterfeit cartridges having straight pins too narrow, too wide or at the perfect diameter.
Straight pins at the perfect diameter on a bootleg AGB-E05-01 PCB.
  • If the font of the Nintendo logo doesn't look right or if the quality of the print looks shoddy, it's probably a bootleg.
  • The majority of the motherboard shouldn't be visible from the bottom either. Some bootlegs have their entire boards exposed from the bottom.

Golden Rectangles (Not a Verification Method)

The golden rectangles are no longer a verification method. This is because:

  • Some counterfeiters have cottoned onto this being a (once) useful method of verification, and readily produce games with the 4x golden rectangles from 2017 onwards.
  • In some exceptionally rare cases, some legitimate Pokemon games using the AGB-E05-01 PCB variant (Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald) omit the golden rectangles during production. Nintendo's QC was good, but some errors slipped through the cracks.
  • Some GBC and GBA PCB's do not include the golden rectangles. Some have a singular golden rectangle, 2x golden rectangles, and others have printed white rectangles.

So what are the golden/white rectangle(s) used for, if not a verification method? They're a marker for confirming the production date of a cartridge, down to the month. Not to be confused with the copyright date on the PCB itself (this marks when the PCB was first designed). Based on the 4x rectangles, a section can contain up to 3 dots. 3x4=12. This is why 1, 6, 7 and 12 are marked on the offset of the quadrant, to make dating the cartridge easier; along with the year of manufacture in two-digit form (e.g, '00). If a dot is adjacent to 7 and continues down to 12, this means the cartridge was produced in July.

Unpopulated AGB-E02-10 board variant.
Note the 2001 copyright design, and the production date of May 2002.

Verifying Pokemon Titles

Pokemon games have noticeable differences compared to other Game Boy games, hence the different section for the Gen 3 "mainline" titles.

The fastest way to verify a gen 3 Pokemon game is look for the battery terminals in the front. The carts are translucent and you should be able to see them easily. If there's only a battery but no molding on the space on the cart for the terminals, it's bootleg.

Here's how to spot them in Pokemon carts without opening them. If you look at a Pokemon cart and it doesn't have this at the upper right corner of the label, it's bootleg.

Label

  • The labels for Gen 3 games should have a gem-like/metallic effect, not glossy. Think hollow/foil trading cards.

Here's a definite comparison between true and fakes:

Cart Colours and Translucency

  • Translucent colored carts. The carts should be the right colors and amount of translucency. Click here to view the translucent cart variants.
  • Fire Red and Leaf Green shouldn't be as translucent as Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. It should barely show in a lot of photos, and look more opaque than translucent.
  • For comparisons, please read our casing variations guide.

Board

  • Given the translucency of these carts, identifying whether the board is authentic or not should be very easy even without opening the cart.
  • The Nintendo logo and the serial code in the proper font above the gold terminals. Some carts will have the Nintendo logo with just "Nintendo" written and some will have the enclosed logo.
  • For Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the batteries should not only be visible but should be oriented properly with one terminal pointed towards the lower left and the other pointed towards the upper right.
  • There should also be space molded into the cart's front half in the same orientation as the battery's terminals. The two corners of this rectangular molding should easily be visible around the upper right corner of the label.
  • Fire Red and Leaf Green should have no batteries at all but the rectangular molding for the battery terminals should still be visible on the carts.

Other Factors

  • You should still be following the GBA information.
  • Be suspicious of seller listings for full sets or cheap items. Pokemon carts are amongst the most pirated games due to their popularity.
  • FireRed and LeafGreen will never have batteries.

Credits

  • Special thanks to SeanOrtiz for writing the initial version of this guide, and giving us permission to use.
  • Thanks to u/Dizzy-Ad-3073 for the image of the fake Gen 3 cartridges.