[help] Castlevania Double Pack GBA Fake?

[Beak]

Hello. I bought the above game from a seller on eBay. The label looks fine (to me), but when I put the game in, I immediately noticed something weird. It doesn't quite want to fit, and it's really tight going into the slot. Also, the top of the cartridge sticks up and does not make a clean line like other games.

I then investigated some and added the following suspicions: the seller has sold multiple copies of Castlevania Double Pack, Fire Emblem, and Pokemon Saphire. Like... 5 each. I guess I should have done better research but he had positive feedback and the game wasn't weirdly priced. 2. The cartridge is in fact several millimeters wider and taller than my other games. 3. The "Game Boy Advance" logo is slightly raised on the cartridge unlike most of my other games. 4. There were no save files on the cartridge when it arrived.

These are some pictures. Please advise! The seller says he does not sell counterfeits and wants me to pay return shipping. I just want to do my homework if I'm going to make a case to eBay.

Does this seem legit? I don't know.

http://imgur.com/a/4duPl

[ninjainspandex]

100% sure that is a fake, that cheap chinese "glop top" chip is a dead give away, I actually have a metroid zero mission that looks just like it. Get your money back son. Contact Ebay directly, selling counterfeits is a bannable offense and you should be able to get your money back instantly without sending it back. Don't let the seller intimidate you, just get ebay involved, I'm sure the seller is not dumb enough to risk his account being banned over a $2 hong kong special. I told the seller to just refund my money or I was sending ebay that picture and his account could be banned, all of a sudden the seller changed his tune and he instantly refunded me. Who is the seller? Is he in the US or China? If he is in the US you could also threaten him to report him to Nintendo for copyright infringement, but if he is in China he won't give a fuck.

Sadly the amount of GBA bootlegs on ebay is ridiculous it is at least 50% bootleg, I highly advise against it. As you can see counterfeiters are getting crafty and are now stamping the nintendo and serial number on the PCB but there is still one surefire way to tell if it is real, every gba game has a number stamped onto the label. It is very hard to photograph but if you can't see it ask the seller if it is there. If the seller says no it is 100% a bootleg. I have yet to see a bootleg with the number indentation on the label, apparently the number was to indicate what factory it was made at.

[Ziggy]

The glop top doesn't automatically indicate a fake. I don't know if any authentic GBA carts ever had glop tops, but I've seen a few authentic Nintendo carts with them before. My NES SMB/Duck Hunt and FC Contra carts both have nothing but glop tops, and they're not bootlegs.

The thing that's suspect to me is the flash chip on an adapter board. I've never seen that on an legit cart before, but they're common on knock offs carts of all kinds. Also, it looks like it's a standard model ST chip. It's not uncommon to find branded chips inside of carts, but even when you do they usually don't have model numbers of standard off-the-shelf parts. Standard chips that you would buy would be writable, bootleg carts will have this type of memory. Legit carts almost always have mask ROMs. In the pic of the Castlevania Double Pack cart, the model number off the ST chip has one or two characters obscured (might be a W) so I can't search for it.

[ninjainspandex]

no authentic GBA carts use glop top chips, I'd like someone to prove me wrong.

[flojocabron]

yeah. definitely fake.

I dont really see the numbers indented into the labels like others said.

Also the Gameboy advance logo is wrong like you said.

Send it back.

[ExedExes]

That's a very authentic looking fake, if it is indeed the case.

- (c)2002 Nintendo was printed on the board. That's a sign of a usually authentic game.
- The label has all relevant information: ESRB rating, Licensed by Nintendo, and Nintendo Seal of Quality. Most knockoffs miss one of those things.

What may I ask is a glop top? I find it funny that a smaller chip was in the spot where a longer chip would normally be.

[Ziggy]

What may I ask is a glop top?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic ... g#Glop-top



Those black blobs are glop tops. I've also heard them called glob tops, but most people agree on glop top. Usually an IC is contained in a "chip" but glob tops are the IC encased in an epoxy. The reason why a lot of bootlegs have this while most authentic carts don't is because this is a cheaper method.

Also, that pic is of an authentic Star Fox PCB, which is why I pointed out that glop top doesn't automatically mean fake. If it's true that no authentic GBA cart ever had a glop top, then you could say that any GBA cart with a glop top is a fake, but I didn't want people thinking a glop top means fake in EVERY situation.

I find it funny that a smaller chip was in the spot where a longer chip would normally be.

Yeah, that's the adapter board I was talking about. That PCB was made for a SOIC chip but they used what looks like a BGA flash chip. Hence the adapter board, they retrofitted the BGA chip where a SOIC chip was suppose to go. Nintendo would never do something like that. They'd design the PCB to accommodate whatever package ICs they wanted to use.

[CRTGAMER]

The glop top doesn't automatically indicate a fake. I don't know if any authentic GBA carts ever had glop tops, but I've seen a few authentic Nintendo carts with them before. My NES SMB/Duck Hunt and FC Contra carts both have nothing but glop tops, and they're not bootlegs.

THIS. My NES Gyromite Cart (left) is a "Glop Top". The Bootleg on the right is a bit more "glopped" on though.

[ninjainspandex]

perhaps glop tops were used in the early days by Nintendo when the chips were much more expensive, but by the late 90s early 2000s only glop tops I see are in bootlegs. Just my 2 cents

[BoneSnapDeez]

That thing screams fake to me. I've opened 50+ GBA carts and never seen one that looks like that.