Fake Dragon Fighter (NES) on Ebay

[Ninja Warriors | 86]

Dragon Fighter Nintendo Entertainment System Game cartridge 1992 | eBay

 

Nice job putting scratches on the label to make it look authentic.

Reported.

[Orange_Kiwi | 11]

I'm curious.

How do you if it is a real one or not ?

Thanks 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Orange_Kiwi
Typo

[Driftwood | 209]

I’m also curious about that...  sorry not a huge nes collector

[Tulpa | 3,492]

The label hues do look a little too dark, and resembles some of the fake ones coming out of China.

[Orange_Kiwi | 11]

27 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

The label hues do look a little too dark, and resembles some of the fake ones coming out of China.

I'll take your word for it, I doesn't know those label as I knew SNES ones.

Sadly, the only to way to tell, at least for the electronics hardware side (PCB + IC) is to get a good view of the interior of the cart.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

I don't know for sure, but looking at the ones on eBay, there's one or two legit ones (at least they're asking for market value) and a couple of Chinese knockoffs. This one looks more like the latter, IMO.

[Ninja Warriors | 86]

11 hours ago, Orange_Kiwi said:

I'm curious.

How do you if it is a real one or not ?

Thanks 

The positioning on “TM” on the front of the cart.  The “M” is typically right on the edge of the label or partially missing.  Also, the positioning of “Dragon Fighter” along the top of the label is all wrong.

Since there is no picture of the board, I cannot say that the board is fake. Although a fake label with fake wear n tear are the tell tale signs of an overall fake.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

1 hour ago, Ninja Warriors said:

The positioning on “TM” on the front of the cart.  

Not just the position. The font's the wrong size, too.

Looks like they grabbed the label image from the box art.

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

Another big red flag is "as-is, untested" in the description, and yet they show an angled picture of some screen playing the game. 

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

100% fake.  While MMC1 boards exist with all 72 pins on them, the expansion port pins were removed by 1990.  Since Dragon Fighter came out in 1992, it should not be possible for all the pins to be present on the board.  Even without the other red flags, this is an obvious oversight on the part of the faker.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

On 9/25/2021 at 8:01 PM, Ninja Warriors said:

 

Nice job putting scratches on the label to make it look authentic.

i wonder if he got screwed and is passing the buck.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

4 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

i wonder if he got screwed and is passing the buck.

Looking at his feedback history, I've found a bunch of purchases as a buyer (item isn't listed, just the feedback) from some Asian replacement part dealers, so my first thought was intentional...but then I looked at what those sellers were actually selling, and not one was dealing in chips.  My guess is that he saw a deal on the page of one of his usual sellers' pages, bought it, and discovered it was a repro when he got it.  So yeah, that'd be my guess.  And it would explain why a guy who buys a LOT of repair parts (and thus likely has game bits) would not be willing to post pictures of the PCB.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

The Nintendo logo should almost be touching the dude's foot. This is all wrong.

The F in SOFEL should be where the sword is, that whole botto left corner is all wrong.

[Woobie | 46]

Real on the left, fake on the right. You can see the wing is going through the wrong spot on the title. Usually first thing I check is if the colors look "off" or even just when they dont show a board I dig a bit deeper (especially on more expensive titles...)

Usually its "small" details they miss like that.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

@the_wizard_666

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Seriously though, look at the pin connector.  I've seen legit games with fake labels before, but 72 pins means an automatic fake.  By 1992, every cart should be missing the pins in the middle that go to the expansion port.  I'm not gonna judge the veracity of his statement, but buyer beware, because this is 1000% a repro (and not a typo - I'm THAT sure it's fake).

[Estil | 1,264]

20 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Seriously though, look at the pin connector.  I've seen legit games with fake labels before, but 72 pins means an automatic fake.  By 1992, every cart should be missing the pins in the middle that go to the expansion port.  I'm not gonna judge the veracity of his statement, but buyer beware, because this is 1000% a repro (and not a typo - I'm THAT sure it's fake).

I always did wonder why there was that middle gap in the connector pins...

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

I always did wonder why there was that middle gap in the connector pins...

Because those pins go to the expansion port on the bottom of the system.  Once Nintendo decided there wasn't going to be anything using that port (like, y'know, a disk drive or something), they stopped putting those pins on the carts to save money.  A fraction of a cent doesn't seem like much savings, but over hundreds of millions of carts, it adds up.

[Estil | 1,264]

4 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Because those pins go to the expansion port on the bottom of the system.  Once Nintendo decided there wasn't going to be anything using that port (like, y'know, a disk drive or something), they stopped putting those pins on the carts to save money.  A fraction of a cent doesn't seem like much savings, but over hundreds of millions of carts, it adds up.

Yeah what a waste that it wasn't used until their FOURTH system (GC) that they finally found something to use that bottom expansion port...and I personally can't live without it (Game Boy Player).

Edited September 30, 2021 by Estil

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

13 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Seriously though, look at the pin connector.  I've seen legit games with fake labels before, but 72 pins means an automatic fake.  By 1992, every cart should be missing the pins in the middle that go to the expansion port.  I'm not gonna judge the veracity of his statement, but buyer beware, because this is 1000% a repro (and not a typo - I'm THAT sure it's fake).

i wasnt trying to argue the board was legit.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

12 hours ago, Estil said:

Yeah what a waste that it wasn't used until their FOURTH system (GC) that they finally found something to use that bottom expansion port...and I personally can't live without it (Game Boy Player).

There wasn't anything that the NES expansion port could use that the front controller ports weren't already geared up to use anyway.

Other than the Minnesota Lottery cart modem to allow very simple communication, but it wasn't like the NES was ever going to see full online capability or anything.

Edited September 30, 2021 by Tulpa

[Estil | 1,264]

47 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

There wasn't anything that the NES expansion port could use that the front controller ports weren't already geared up to use anyway.

Other than the Minnesota Lottery cart modem to allow very simple communication, but it wasn't like the NES was ever going to see full online capability or anything.

Yeah I remember hearing about that but I guess they didn't like the idea of promoting underage gambling...shoot now even pretend casino games must have the "simulated gambling" ESRB qualifier!!

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

9 hours ago, Tulpa said:

There wasn't anything that the NES expansion port could use that the front controller ports weren't already geared up to use anyway.

Other than the Minnesota Lottery cart modem to allow very simple communication, but it wasn't like the NES was ever going to see full online capability or anything.

Why not?  That was done on the 2600...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameLine

Of course, that wasn't even the first attempt at online downloads...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayCable

So in theory, it could've been done.  The thing about technology is that the only limitation is what they're willing to try and achieve.  I guarantee the idea was pitched several times, however the tech was either not at the point it needed to be, or it was too expensive to widely release it. Though things like the XBand, Satellaview, Sega Channel, and countless other products showed that the idea of online play and distribution was on the minds of many in the industry for a LONG time.
 

10 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

i wasnt trying to argue the board was legit.

I didn't say you were, I was saying that people were so focused on the label being fake that they didn't consider the rest of the package.  I was responding more to the seller's reply than yours.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

8 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Why not?  That was done on the 2600...

No technical reason, as you alluded to it was just general Nintendo apathy regarding anything ambitious towards the NES once it was cemented as the top console. The Famicom got a ton of interesting accessories that had no technical obstacle to being put on the NES. They just ... weren't.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Tulpa

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

2 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

No technical reason, as you alluded to it was just general Nintendo apathy regarding anything ambitious towards the NES once it was cemented as the top console. The Famicom got a ton of interesting accessories that had no technical obstacle to being put on the NES. They just ... weren't.

In fairness to Nintendo though, a LOT of those accessories flopped in Japan.  Why would they want to go to the effort to making them for the American market if they didn't think they'd make money off it?  I know ROB is gonna be brought up as a counterpoint, but that doesn't count - although it had a slim chance of success, it was something that could (and did) sell systems due to it's uniqueness.  When they're trying to come into a dying market and sell a console, they needed something drastically different.  But if the NES was already in America when ROB was released in Japan, I guarantee they wouldn't have brought it over here.