Are any loose cartridge Game Boy/C/A collectors worried about the myriad of bootlegs?

[Strange | 1,706]

I used to be really big on collecting original Game Boy and Color. I also enjoy collecting GBA, but to me it seemed like the bootleggers hit the GBA with more enthusiasm than the original and Color. Nowadays however, I’m starting to see more fakes online of higher end OG and Color cartridges. And I have a really hard time telling the difference on Game Boy stuff.

Is anyone else concerned with this at all?

[RH | 5,058]

Honestly, not really.  IMHO, these are still quite obvious if you know what to look for.  I'm actually in contact with a guy on reddit who bought a GB cheap from a lady who had 4x bootlegs, but she said she bought them when she bought the game boy.  They don't look great, and the plastic is obviously not the same, but some of the logos look far more legit than the stuff you see today.

I do think the fakers try to do their best with the Pokemon games because those are the easiest to sell.  I'm not really a GBC or GBA collector but so far, most of that stuff has been obviously fake to me since I've handled and looked at a bunch of carts.

[Tanooki | 4,972]

Honestly, not in the least bit.  If you know what you're looking at, they're not hard to ID.  In the cases when they are, if you're buying from a place with protections(ebay/amazon) or a warranty then you can just get your money back even if it is a slight hassle.  Personally I figure if they allow more people to play on original hardware and as a potential bonus might even int he slightest help dip some prices due to fear, all the better.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

It concerns me when I see bootlegs of NES and SNES games that aren't all that expensive. I have Everdrives for all of my consoles, but if I was still buying loose carts I'd be looking carefully at everything.

[NierAutomata | 23]

Labels are always a giveaway and the missing numbers in it, but in the end you have to open all the carts. Anyone who doesn't open them will end up sooner or later getting hosed. 

[Craigly1234 | 110]

8 minutes ago, NierAutomata said:

Labels are always a giveaway and the missing numbers in it, but in the end you have to open all the carts. Anyone who doesn't open them will end up sooner or later getting hosed. 

Exactly this. That's why I have no worries, and in all honesty, at least for gba, there arent THAT many games that people seem to take outside of pokemon/zelda/mario and the two real pricey ones

[Sir Centroid | 79]

No, not worried at all. In most cases it's fairly easy to tell fakes from the real thing.