Differences between fake vs real Nintendo DS games

[Makar | 1,946]

Fake DS Games. They're a huge problem, almost as bad as fake GBA games. Every popular DS game has been faked, and most of the expensive titles have been faked too. This guide is meant to show you the difference between fake and real authentic Nintendo DS games and how to spot these differences. 

Here's an example of an authentic and fake Digimon World DS game. The real one is on the left. Fake one is on the right. 

 

REAL DIGIMON WORLD DS FRONT AND BACK:

 

FAKE DIGIMON WORLD DS FRONT AND BACK:

SIDE BY SIDE OF THE REAL AND FAKE DIGIMON WORLD DS GAMES. REAL ON LEFT:

 

MORE FAKE DS GAMES:

FAKE SUPER ROBOT TAISEN OG SAGA AND AGE OF EMPIRES MYTHOLOGIES:

 

HOW TO SPOT FAKE VS REAL DS GAMES:

You'll notice several things. The artwork in the case might be slightly off. The front sticker of the games themselves might be off. The backs of the games are always off. Unfortunately, scammers have gotten great at faking DS game cases and labels. Always be careful buying sealed DS games. Ask where the buyer bought them from. No matter how good scammers get, one thing that's still always wrong with DS games is the back. 

The front of the Digimon World DS game says NTR-ADNE-USA. The back of the authentic one says ADNEN0J13. The back of the fake one says CP3EN0J09. The first 4 characters on the back MUST match the first 4 characters on the front of the cart, otherwise it's fake. This method applies to North American, PAL, and Japanese DS games (not sure about other regions, but it probably applies to them too).

All 3 of my fake games have the same serial number thing on the back which says CP3EN0J09. I suspect this is the given serial for the mass produced fake carts. There may be other fake serials for fake carts besides this one. Just match the characters on the front to the back to be sure. 

Another way to spot fakes is the NTR-005 part. It's hard to tell but it's just off on the fake carts. Not placed correctly, it's bigger, and raised more. It's easier to see when you do a side by side comparison with a legit cart. 

Not to sound xenophobic, but if you are buying DS games or really any game for that matter online and it's from China, it is 99.99999% a fake game you're buying. 

One more thing, I've noticed a lot of fake sealed Pokemon games lately. Luckily they're easy to spot. If you see a Pokemon game with the Nintendo label repeating across the middle, it's fake. 

REAL SEALED POKEMON DIAMOND:

FAKE SEALED POKEMON DIAMOND:

 

POKEMON AND INFRARED GAMES ONLY:

There is a very simple way to determine if your Pokemon HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, or White 2 is fake. All of the legit carts of these are black in color, not gray. If your HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, or White 2 is gray, its fake. *NOTE: The legit Pokemon diamond, pearl, and platinum are all gray, not black* If you don't have a gray DS cart nearby to use as a reference or you're not sure, shine a flashlight onto your cart. The legit carts are actually a see through red (which looks black when you don't have a light shining on it). If it doesn't appear see through red, then it's a gray cart. As mentioned by @sceptios, there are indeed a couple other black (really see through red infrared games that this check will work on too. See that list here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_game_card#Infrared_support) Gray legit Pokemon platinum and black legit SoulSilver and Black 2 below:

 

THE RECTANGLE ON TOP METHOD PER @tidaldreams

This is another method to spot fakes. On the top of every legit DS cart is a rectangle. The size can vary from cart to cart but that's okay, a different size doesn't mean it's fake. If a DS cart DOES NOT have any rectangle on the top, then it's fake. This method applies to North American, PAL, and Japanese DS games (not sure about other regions, but it probably applies to them too). Here are some pictures showing the rectangle:

 

The three on the left are all fake. Three on the right are all legit. 

 

12/23/2021 update

unfortunately they’re getting better at faking DS games. This is a real Pokémon platinum game.  

 

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. 

Hopefully that helps! If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Makar

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Good one, usually the best way to do it is just the un-matching setup of the product code on sticker to printing on the back.  It's bizarre something so easy to fake those idiots can't line up the letters since they're running them anyway onto the plastic.  I can see how maybe it would be trickier to do the sticker on the front, getting the sizing off, perhaps color bleed or slightly shifted, etc, lots of ways to blow it.  But that code on sticker vs back, no excuse there, and always has been for me a 100% give away.  When I buy DS games on ebay, if I can't see the back I move onto the next.

[Makar | 1,946]

15 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Good one, usually the best way to do it is just the un-matching setup of the product code on sticker to printing on the back.  It's bizarre something so easy to fake those idiots can't line up the letters since they're running them anyway onto the plastic.  I can see how maybe it would be trickier to do the sticker on the front, getting the sizing off, perhaps color bleed or slightly shifted, etc, lots of ways to blow it.  But that code on sticker vs back, no excuse there, and always has been for me a 100% give away.  When I buy DS games on ebay, if I can't see the back I move onto the next.

Exactly. If the back is jacked up, it's not legit. Another dead giveaway for listings on eBay that it's fake are those little clear square cases. Almost every single fake loose DS game comes in those for some reason. And I'm the same way. If I don't see pics of the back of the DS cart, I'm not buying it.

[Trifecta | 235]

@Makar What about this one? https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-DS-2009-Cartridge-Only-Tested-/264860153294?nma=true&si=%2BdniGDDTKKpupIy4tiEbP8GqdPE%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The buyer gave the seller negative feedback because he stated it was a fake. Based on what has been discussed above, the pics shown look legit to me. What do you think?

[Tanooki | 4,936]

@TrifectaThat to me looks real.  If I wasn't anti-loose game for small cards like that (and disc based stuff) I'd be comfortable buying it.  I'd love to know the justification for calling BS on it.  The code on the front matches the back. The back plastic molding with Nintendo etc junk is in the right place, space, and alignment.  Details on the front sticker line up, don't see any misplaced or blurred/fuzzy art either.  Seems like someone just wanted to be a paranoid dick or did it out of spite over some other issue.

[Makar | 1,946]

On 9/10/2020 at 9:18 PM, Trifecta said:

@Makar What about this one? https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Spirit-Tracks-DS-2009-Cartridge-Only-Tested-/264860153294?nma=true&si=%2BdniGDDTKKpupIy4tiEbP8GqdPE%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The buyer gave the seller negative feedback because he stated it was a fake. Based on what has been discussed above, the pics shown look legit to me. What do you think?

I'd have to agree with @Tanooki on this one. It looks legit to me. However, there are a couple weird things on the back that may just be because of the bad picture quality. The black characters are very black. Usually they're more faded. There's also a weird bluish color towards the pin connectors on the bottom. Never seen that before but I think it's just the picture. Also can't really see the NTR-005. If I were buying this I'd ask for clearer pictures of the back just to be extra sure, but from the looks of this, I'd say it's 99.99% legit. 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Makar

[Trifecta | 235]

Thanks guys.

[attakid101 | 267]

Thanks for taking the time to share this @Makar

[Makar | 1,946]

3 minutes ago, attakid101 said:

Thanks for taking the time to share this @Makar

No problem! I'm probably going to do a GBA one soon too since that's almost equally as big a problem with fakes. I don't own any fake GBA games though so the pics probably won't be as clean but I'll look around for some pics online to do side by side comparisons. For GBA, usually the front label is actually the dead giveaway. 

[tidaldreams | 654]

I find that the easiest way to tell fake vs. real is to look at the arrow at the bottom of the front of the cartridge and the small rectangle at the top of the cartridge.

Fake (left) vs. real (right) HeartGold:

Ignore the colors of the cartridges for a second, because you can easily tell the left one is fake because it's a grey cartridge. It's difficult to see in the picture, but notice how the arrow on the left cartridge is indented vs. the real one on the right is a lot more subtle?

Fake (top) vs. real (bottom) HeartGold:

On top of the cartridge, a small rectangle is present on the real one whereas it isn't on the fake one.

I find this method works best, as some of the others are difficult to tell unless you have a real one to compare (e.g., the artwork on this fake isn't that bad compared to the real deal and the label is pretty centered).

BTW, this method works on all DS games, not just pokemon.

[tidaldreams | 654]

BTW, you can't always count on that nintendo strip being present on fake sealed games. Here's a fake sealed pokemon platinum that doesn't have it (not my picture):

[Makar | 1,946]

21 hours ago, tidaldreams said:

I find that the easiest way to tell fake vs. real is to look at the arrow at the bottom of the front of the cartridge and the small rectangle at the top of the cartridge.

Fake (left) vs. real (right) HeartGold:

Ignore the colors of the cartridges for a second, because you can easily tell the left one is fake because it's a grey cartridge. It's difficult to see in the picture, but notice how the arrow on the left cartridge is indented vs. the real one on the right is a lot more subtle?

Fake (top) vs. real (bottom) HeartGold:

On top of the cartridge, a small rectangle is present on the real one whereas it isn't on the fake one.

I find this method works best, as some of the others are difficult to tell unless you have a real one to compare (e.g., the artwork on this fake isn't that bad compared to the real deal and the label is pretty centered).

BTW, this method works on all DS games, not just pokemon.

Hey, mind if I add some of this info to my original post? I just looked at my fake and legit DS carts. I don't think the triangle method is reliable. The triangles all look identical on all my fake and real carts. The rectangle method however holds up. None of the fakes have a rectangle on the top. And yes there are a crap ton of fake sealed Pokemon games both with and without that Nintendo label across the middle like you mentioned.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Makar

[tidaldreams | 654]

26 minutes ago, Makar said:

Hey, mind if I add some of this info to my original post? I just looked at my fake and legit DS carts. I don't think the triangle method is reliable. The triangles all look identical on all my fake and real carts. The rectangle method however holds up. None of the fakes have a rectangle on the top. And yes there are a crap ton of fake sealed Pokemon games both with and without that Nintendo label across the middle like you mentioned.

 

Of course, lol. I find it disgusting the amount of fake DS carts that people are hawking on ebay/amazon, so anything to get more info out there. Can you post close ups of the arrows or pm them to me? But even from the quoted pics, I can see the indent in your fake carts. The arrow in your real carts is much "softer" and not really an indent.

[Makar | 1,946]

11 minutes ago, tidaldreams said:

Of course, lol. I find it disgusting the amount of fake DS carts that people are hawking on ebay/amazon, so anything to get more info out there. Can you post close ups of the arrows or pm them to me? But even from the quoted pics, I can see the indent in your fake carts. The arrow in your real carts is much "softer" and not really an indent.

Okay awesome. I can see what you're getting at now. It is a very subtle difference and not that easy to pick up, especially if you don't have a cart to compare it too. If you tilt the carts it's easier to see the very slight indent in the triangle on the fake carts, whereas the triangle on the legit carts is flush. 

And yea it is disgusting how many fakes are out there and how many people casually just pass it off as "Brand new great reproduction! Works just like the original game!" Well yea, but it's illegal lol. 

[tidaldreams | 654]

Just want to clarify that authentic Pokemon Diamond and Pearl in addition to Platinum are gray cartridges, so you'll have to use the other methods posted here to determine their authenticity. All other mainline series authentic Pokemon DS games are black cartridges as @Makar mentioned.

Edited September 15, 2020 by tidaldreams

[Makar | 1,946]

3 minutes ago, tidaldreams said:

Just want to clarify that authentic Pokemon Diamond and Pearl in addition to Platinum are gray cartridges, so you'll have to use the other methods posted here to determine their authenticity. All other authentic Pokemon DS games are black cartridges as @Makar mentioned.

Thanks! Just edited the original post to clarify all of that. Yea, HeartGold, SoulSilver, Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 are the easiest fake games in the world to spot just because of that different cart color.

[tidaldreams | 654]

EDIT: This check is no longer 100% definitive. While it may still help, please use other methods as well. You will still NOT be able to actually connect a fake cart to a Pokewalker.

 

Forgot there is another 100% foolproof way to determine if your HeartGold or SoulSilver is authentic (won't work for other games). Simply put it in a DS, and check for the "Connect to Pokewalker" option in the main menu. Fakes won't have this option:

Edited September 16, 2020 by tidaldreams

[Tanooki | 4,936]

That and I suppose another foolproof method, keep a ghetto barely serviceable DSi on hand, battered ones are cheap.  They will NEVER load a fraud into the menu let alone boot it up.  Easy to just leave powered on asleep, slip in and out, if it's goes dark it's a fake.  If the icon appears you're in the clear.

 

For me since ebay is sketch, I'm all about the front/back product code because for some dumb reason they never want to fraud that specifically accurate which is a good thing.

[tidaldreams | 654]

16 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

That and I suppose another foolproof method, keep a ghetto barely serviceable DSi on hand, battered ones are cheap.  They will NEVER load a fraud into the menu let alone boot it up.  Easy to just leave powered on asleep, slip in and out, if it's goes dark it's a fake.  If the icon appears you're in the clear.

 

For me since ebay is sketch, I'm all about the front/back product code because for some dumb reason they never want to fraud that specifically accurate which is a good thing.

Is this just for DSi specifically? My fake HeartGold loads and boots just fine with the correct icon on my DSi XL, which is the scary part.

[Tanooki | 4,936]

10 minutes ago, tidaldreams said:

Is this just for DSi specifically? My fake HeartGold loads and boots just fine with the correct icon on my DSi XL, which is the scary part.

Any model DSi has anti-bootleg tech so any of those typical bootleg carts you see slip by gamestop or on ebay will just not work.  You only get around it with hacked firmware to run those flash kit carts that's about it.

[Makar | 1,946]

54 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

That and I suppose another foolproof method, keep a ghetto barely serviceable DSi on hand, battered ones are cheap.  They will NEVER load a fraud into the menu let alone boot it up.  Easy to just leave powered on asleep, slip in and out, if it's goes dark it's a fake.  If the icon appears you're in the clear.

 

For me since ebay is sketch, I'm all about the front/back product code because for some dumb reason they never want to fraud that specifically accurate which is a good thing.

EDIT:

This isn't true on a DS lite. My fake age of empires mythologies loads up just fine on my DS lite however, my fake super robot taisen og saga and Digimon World DS both cause my DS lite to freeze. 

 

Edit: just tried again and got my fake Digimon World DS to work too

Double edit: and now my fake super robot taisen og saga works too

 

Edited September 16, 2020 by Makar

[tidaldreams | 654]

1 minute ago, Makar said:

This is not entirely true. It is true for some fakes but not all. My fake age of empires mythologies loads up just fine on my DSi however, my fake super robot taisen of saga and Digimon World DS both cause my DSi to freeze. 

Yeah, my fake HeartGold plays just fine in my DSi XL and it is not hacked.

[Makar | 1,946]

Just now, tidaldreams said:

Yeah, my fake HeartGold plays just fine in my DSi XL and it is not hacked.

Mine is not hacked either. I believe all of these work on my normal DS and 3DS as well but I'd have to double check. 

[tidaldreams | 654]

1 minute ago, Makar said:

Mine is not hacked either. I believe all of these work on my normal DS and 3DS as well but I'd have to double check. 

I didn't check my 3DS because it was a bit tight getting in so I didn't want to put it in all the way.

[Tanooki | 4,936]

Makar the system you just loaded that game up onto is a DSLite, I said DSi.  Or did you load up the wrong proof images?  I've never known a boot to work on a DSi, lite definitely does.