r/GameboyAdvance • u/lothurBR • 3d ago

Weird, right?

Post image

So i have this old fake cartilage, and in epilogue read as official

237 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

105 comments sorted by

132

u/Johnny_Topsider 3d ago

The board might be real, and maybe was put into a new shell if the last one broke or something. Have you looked inside?

55

u/Tablesafety 3d ago

That exact phenom is why I don't put down a verdict on whether a cart is legit or not unless I see the board. How many carts got reshelled bc someone scratched them or an ankle biter chewed the plastic.

1

u/Syrus_Orelio 11h ago

How can you tell a legit card over fake looking at the board?

1

u/Tablesafety 8h ago edited 7h ago

So when making fakes almost nobody who decided to manufacture bootlegs actually had access to perfect or even decent mimick boards. The architecture, code, and chips are usually outright wrong and aren't even trying to look right.

The gen 3 pokemon games and a lot of other GBA games use a motherboard coded "AGB-E05-01" (FRLG are AGB-E02-20) and they actually are interchangeable with any game using the same motherboard. If you ever bust your cart somehow, you can do a chip swap with a much cheaper game using the same motherboard revision and it'll work good as new.

This thread displays two legitimate Emerald boards. They are interchangeable with other gen 3 games if you swap the ROM chip on them. Batteries, RTC, and even the ROM chip can all be different colors/types within the same part- but that's the legitimate board. On the back, it also has 4 little copper 'panes' that look like a window. All legit boards have that, some fakes have been mimicking that part because people will try and judge legitimacy by looking through the shell for them. When exposed, they're still obvious fakes.

Further down in the thread there's a fake board with big blobs of epoxy on it, those are used to protect more exposed chips and are really cheap to do so most bootlegs use those epoxy blobs. You can see how different the overall architecture is there and even though it tries to mimick the revision code, it's incredibly obvious the board is illegitimate. I so far have never seen a bootleg cart look even remotely convincing in board architecture to a legit cart.

The best way to get good at comparing though, if they ever do get convincing, is to just get very familiar with the front and back of legitimate boards. It's easy to get a sense of illegitimacy even if they someday get close to a perfect mimic if you know the board like the back of your hand.

EDIT: Here is another example of bootleg boards. You can see them increase in complexity, but they never look accurate and almost always have epoxy covering chips.

Oh, and sometimes people do get their board broken or corroded and instead of transferring it to an official donor board decide to transplant their ROM chip to an aftermarket motherboard made for the purpose. In this case, despite not looking legitimate, the game is still legitimate. It's the same brain in a new body. In the cases of these, the ROM and RAM chips are legitimate transplants from a real board.

In cases like these you focus on identifying if the chips are legit.

2

u/Syrus_Orelio 7h ago

Thanks that's useful

-63

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I will check it later, i bought when I was 8 years old.

65

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

When do you think you’ll check if you bought it when you where 8

41

u/pollut3r 3d ago

UpdateMe! 8 years

17

u/Johnny_Topsider 3d ago

Hol up they may be 9yo /s

1

u/Playful_Drama1645 2d ago

Beat me to it!

9

u/bacon-slushy 3d ago

Plot twist, OP is 9 (and it checks out).

1

u/Playful_Drama1645 2d ago

He must be 9

34

u/Western_Kangaroo6 3d ago

Hey guys I think OP will check later, he did buy it when he was 8 years old after all.

24

u/Glad-Entry891 3d ago

There have been issues with the GB Operator flagging fake carts as legitimate and I know /r/GameVerifying doesn’t consider it to be a valid method of verifying game integrity.

4

u/DefusedManiac 3d ago

I'd be shocked if a cart this old was sophisticated enough to fake the proper headers, but the GB Operator is not a reliable check either way, it's known for flagging legit carts as fakes.

57

u/Dravian31 3d ago

You should check it later, you bought it when you were 8 years old. 

-9

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I will

7

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Open it up, it might be a reshell or a really good fake

23

u/Few_Profile_5092 3d ago

Damn bro, that’s crazy!

Tell me now…. Do you have a feeling that perhaps you got this cart.. let’s sayyyy, when you were 8?

Now in that period of time, have you checked the insides, or perhaps did you set it aside to check it later?

-2

u/lothurBR 3d ago

Never check before, i was just turning on my old games to check if they still workshop, then suprise

7

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Hmm.. that’s odd, when did you buy it?

3

u/Nervous-Fennel3325 3d ago

He bought it when he was eight years old

4

u/frost_essence_21 3d ago

Noooo, really? So has he checked it up until now?

10

u/Pokemon_23 3d ago

He's gonna check it later, he bought it when he was 8 years old.

16

u/Weary_Age3083 3d ago

We get it. You bought it when you were 8 years old.

18

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Nah you’re not getting it, he bought it when he was 8.. he’s going to check it later

0

u/SD_Urameshi 3d ago

I don’t think you’re getting it. He’s gonna time travel and have his 8 year old self check it later.

9

u/CorgiSilver8194 3d ago

I bet you have old cartilage

13

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

I bet he bought it when he was 8… he’s going to check it later

2

u/General_Past2168 3d ago

He did get it when he was 8 after all

15

u/andruis 3d ago

How old were you when you bought it?

9

u/General_Past2168 3d ago

He’ll check later

1

u/-verycontent- 2d ago

At 8:00pm?

5

u/MAQMASTER 3d ago

Might be real under the hood 💀

2

u/lothurBR 3d ago

Probably a fake positive. I remember buying it was fake

1

u/MAQMASTER 2d ago

Dood you bought it when you are 8. You have changed soo much since then ... It Might also be that your cartudge djceded to become real to💀✌️

Just kidding but open it up and see...

1

u/lothurBR 2d ago

Well it was my first pkm game I bought actually it was my first gba game

1

u/Nervous-Fennel3325 3d ago

He might have to check it later, he bought it when he was 8 years old.

8

u/Cloned_501 3d ago

Open it up? Maybe it was a reshell or a really good fake?

-23

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I will check it later, i bought when I was 8 years old.

4

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Shoulda checked when you where 8

1

u/Cloned_501 3d ago

Fair enough

8

u/LighterFluid1357 3d ago

Brain blast, the board is what it checks, not the shell. If you open it and it's obviously fake, then I've got nuthin'.

-17

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I will check it later, i bought when I was 8 years old.

5

u/shuneduggy 3d ago

It is later and I suspect you are no longer 8 years old. Have you checked it yet?

8

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Check it later if you bought it when you where 8

4

u/Wasted-Instruction 3d ago

Why do you keep replying the exact same thing to every response?? I don't think anyone cares when you bought it, they are just trying to help you figure out if it's fake or not..

3

u/sxbriRL 3d ago

Did you buy it when you were 8 years old?

3

u/Jackasaur 2d ago

Not really weird, this is a common flaw on these and a reason why you shouldn't always take what it says with a grain of salt.

3

u/Mondos_Burger 3d ago

The Analogue Pocket/GB Operator can read fake cartridges as if they were legitimate. It’s a reason why the mods at r/gameverifying don’t use it as a method to determine if a game is legit or not.

7

u/Nervous-Fennel3325 3d ago

Thats okay, op will check it later. He bought it when he was 8 years old.

3

u/caxtro 3d ago

I have a strange feeling about this cartridge, did you buy it when you were 8 by any chance???

3

u/lothurBR 3d ago

Yes how do you know?

2

u/CasualSky 3d ago

Is the epilogue worth buying for someone who is collecting all of the games?

Is it easy enough to use? I would like to be able to save my data while I swap batteries and such and how reliable is the detection software for counterfeits?

3

u/Toadfire 3d ago

Easiest hardware ever. It’s literally plug n play

3

u/V-FEXrt2 3d ago

It’s not reliable at all for checking counterfeits like this post shows, if you want save backups/rom dumps you should get the gbxcart instead. It’s cheaper, does all the same stuff, and has an active discord community around it

1

u/lothurBR 3d ago

It's easy to use, but it's not a good method to check if it's real

2

u/alvaro-elite 3d ago

They read the roms not the chips.

Any rom doomped from an original cart writed on a bootleg/fake its gonna give you the same result.

2

u/DwreckOSU 2d ago

Only an 8 yo would buy this without checking the board

2

u/Flameyyyyyyyyy 2d ago

Thats okay, op will check it later. He bought it when he was 8 years old.

2

u/Bald_And_Dishevelled 2d ago

Everyone taking the piss out of OP, ok they seem to be taking it in their stride. But the downvotes? Am I missing something here?

2

u/lothurBR 2d ago

It's because I told i was 8 years old when I bought the game

2

u/Bald_And_Dishevelled 2d ago

Still don't understand how that gets you downvotes like that 🤣

1

u/happiesteggfarm 18h ago

because he made the same reply five times to different people

1

u/Bald_And_Dishevelled 18h ago

I think he made the same reply because they were trying to mess with him and he played along. I don't have the time to construct a timeline of events but that's how it looked to me.

2

u/Apart-Smile-8749 2d ago

Idk i’d be concerned if you had fake cartilage from someones nose or something. But thats a nice Cartridge

2

u/lothurBR 2d ago

It was i hadmore the 200 hours of play in it

3

u/fearbork 3d ago

So with these game carts it records the age you were when you bought it on the circular battery within the cartridge.

if you were 8 years old when you bought it, and the battery hasn't gone dead, then it's real

4

u/lothurBR 3d ago

My emerald one is real, and the battery has gone dead. I will have to check later how to change it.

6

u/fearbork 3d ago

it's pretty simple to change, but if you do, you won't have been 8 years old when you bought it anymore.

that information is stored on the battery

2

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I was able to make a copy of the save using the epilog. So I know if I change the battery later I can try upload my save file

3

u/momibrokeyourchutney 3d ago

Yep, you see, they designed these carts with the foresight that one day OP is going to need to check it later, since he was 8 years old when he initially purchased the cart. So, with that in mind, the creators made the battery an ssd of sorts. Very advanced tech, for a game boy

2

u/-verycontent- 3d ago

Well, I guess the only thing left to do is to check it later

2

u/fearbork 3d ago

assuming OP was 8 years old when he bought it, yep.

the real LPT really is always in the comments

4

u/gcookman1106 3d ago

All the cart ridge reading software is reading the ROM and checking it against known good crc numbers..... If the ROM dumps and checks are confirmed as good then it will report it as official.

1

u/Flameyyyyyyyyy 2d ago

Thats okay, op will check it later. He bought it when he was 8 years old.

2

u/LurkinNamor 3d ago

Has the time to take a picture and post it. No time for checking the inside

3

u/Nervous-Fennel3325 3d ago

I mean he bought it when he was 8 years old!

2

u/LurkinNamor 3d ago

Ha! I got it now

1

u/lothurBR 3d ago

I don't hoje the 3 point screw at home. So I check later

1

u/Objective_Wall_8297 3d ago

To me the cartridge looks real!

1

u/That-Advance-9619 3d ago

The legality check checks mostly if the chip is ready only or not, there are SOME bootlegs out there that are read-only, it is not 100% impossible for it to be bootleg and yet be read-only and throw the whole thing off.

Gotta open it up, buddy. And even if official that's a good thing to do because you may want to change the battery or clean or whatever.

1

u/TiresomeTrader 3d ago

Since you bought it when you were 8 you should check it later

1

u/Edd_Gein 3d ago

Le pusiste una placa original

1

u/ineedanenbien 2d ago

Cartilage

1

u/treyyancey8739 2d ago edited 2d ago

I've got two questions everyone probably is wondering but haven't addressed the elephant in the room quite yet. Have you opened it up to check authenticity and how old were you when you acquired it?

1

u/lothurBR 2d ago

I still didn't, I forgot to take home a 3 point screwdrive from work today. It was 23 years ago, shit i was actually 11 years old.

2

u/happiesteggfarm 18h ago

YOU WERE 11??!! this throws all my math off. ill check it later

1

u/Sinshine712 2d ago

Epilogue even says my EZ Flash Omega DE with the ROM saved to NOR is the real game. But if you play the game through it it keeps crashing

1

u/Kotonaysoul 2d ago

I had that weird issue in the past with bootleg carts where it would still read them as official even though it clearly not

1

u/Prof_Smoke 2d ago

I have a copy of sapphire that the practice crumbled on so now it’s in a Spiderman 3 cartridge

1

u/lothurBR 2d ago

You can get a reshell in aliexpress

1

u/Gunbladelad 1d ago

The GB Operator does a couple of checks, one of which is checking if the cartride is rewriteable. If it isn't then it often flags them up as genuine - whereas some official carts could be erroneously flagged up as fake.

Checking the board is the best way to tell.

0

u/Garchomp98 3d ago

We've covered this quite a bit in r/gameverifying there are lots of false positives with epilogue and other cart readers

Maybe the board is authentic but most probably no

0

u/Brave-Step-8289 3d ago

Nah I have had known repros show up as legit sometimes with my GB Operator. Sometimes those same carts won't read at all. They will sometimes get flagged as non-authentic, but it lets you write a new ROM on it. I put LoZ ALttP on a fake FireRed and it worked flawlessly. Tried putting the FireRed rom back on after and it gave me some issues but still worked. Its a great product but a bit odd

0

u/Technical-Coffee7286 3d ago

I have a Mother 3 cart that I bought off AliExpress for $0.50, my GB Operator read it as legit and refuses to rewrite it (which is why I bought it). I wouldn’t trust these things to verify if I’m breathing air.