New to NDS collecting Need help understanding and what to look for.

[JVOSS | 1,775]

Good day. 

I recently completed the GB USA Sets and now I have started the NDS NA Set. I have a modest start and looking for some help/info on how not to get screwed when buying carts.  I know that the pokemon are "top" fakes and don't want to waste time and money on buying fakes.  Unlike GB(DMG) i know nothing about the NDS games.  any and all information would be useful.

[Trifecta | 247]

Take a look at this thread:

 

[Reed Rothchild | 10,013]

Most fakes are loose carts, that's a big way to weed a lot of them out.

[Makar | 2,080]

I need to update that thread a little. They’re getting better at making fakes but still messing up. 

this is a real Pokémon platinum  

 

this is a fake Pokémon platinum

 

notice that they both start with CPUE on the back. That used to be a quick way to spot DS fakes but they’ve figured that part out. What they still get wrong is the placement of the numbers and letters in black. On authentic DS games this part is always above that little rectangle I circled on the right side. On fake cartridges the black numbers and letters are on the same line as the rectangle I circled. 

[JVOSS | 1,775]

way cool i just received a large joblot of DS games and started going through them.  so far i have one fake and 250 good ones. 

 

why did some of the games come in red cases?  and what carts should be in the red cases (ie.  are the games a version update?)

[JVOSS | 1,775]

also with 3ds games what is the LNA and the CTR mean in the catalog code??  ie  LNA-CTR-AFJE-USA

i know i asked this before but unable to find the answer now. 

What dose TWL mean in NDS games

and what dose the NTR mean in NDS games

is the order of game go NTR then TWL then LNA?  or did i miss something in between? 

sorry for the questions but looking to see what set is better to go for.  

[Tanooki | 5,189]

The red cases, meaning the plastic snap cases they ship in?  Officially if I remember right, Nintendo themselves for 1st party used RED cases and they were re-issues of games, and if they so happened to have some silent v1 to v1.1 update in there, that could be a thing too, but good luck figuring that out.  They for Marios 25th I recall started placing the current and out of print/old print DS Mario branded games in those red cases.

 

NTR on DS is NITRO, the codename the hardware had, just like DOL for DOLPHIN for Gamecube, and REV for REVOLUTION on Wii.

TWL I thin is a 3DS thing and I think it means it's basically region locked.  LNA is used on a 3DS sticker on the front and CTR in the rear on the ink.

Another is DIS, that's a distribution demo.