Notice on the fake one, how the lettering and the oval line around "Nintendo" is much too fat. If it is missing, like the fake above, it's fake.

Our Mission. Funny Fakes. How to detect fake:. The first thing to look for is overall printing quality and label alignment. Next, look at the quality and the print on the official seal.

As for prices, the MSRP is actually pretty much the same no matter what region the game is being sold at. For the masses though, they settle for pirated copies as is the norm there. What pisses me off is that some of these Asian vendors are using ebay to sell off pirated copies to everyone worldwide! Naive suckers like the OP here gets fooled into buying them for the super low price they see, and then they wonder why they are receiving a bootlegged imitation.

Message 6 of Apparently the pirated game sellers and their associates have managed to figure out how to get around the security measures in the DSi, DSi XL, and possibly even the new 3DS. It used to be that the bootlegged copies only worked in the original DS and DS Lite before, but not anymore it seems! Anyway, you do what you need to do when you receive it. But I hope that in the future, you'll keep away from these Asian counterfeit game sellers. Good luck.

Message 7 of Got it today. It was packaged in a clear DS case about 2x as thick. The sticker was crooked, and the manual wasn't printed on glossy paper.

And to top ALL that off, it's the wrong game. It has the Pokemon sticker on it but when I put it in, it's a Finding Nemo game. I tried to play it but got an error message. I heard those Chinamen where good at bootlegging games but this was just sad. A mentally handicapped monkey could tell that it was a bootleg. How should I go about getting a refund? I heard that if I tell eBay this, they will make me ship it back to Hong Kong for my refund.

Message 8 of I wanna' say I told you so, but this is tragic beyond even what I thought would happen. Yes, ebay most likely will have you ship the item back to the seller, and they'll want to see tracking information that verifies the delivery to the seller was completed.

You can try to tell ebay that the game was a counterfeit and should therefore be destroyed in accordance with ebay policy, BUT then the seller is most likely to refute your claim, and you'll be asked to just return the game to the seller if you want your money back. Well, I hope you learned your lesson and will stick with buying legitimate game packs from now on. Remember, if you see an incredibly low price being offered, and the seller is from Hong Kong or the greater China area, the game is most likely a bootleg.

This article has been viewed , times. Learn more Well some knock-off games may be easy to spot, but sometimes it's more difficult to tell; this guide will point out a number of ways that you can spot the difference between a legitimate game and a fake. Log in Social login does not work in incognito and private browsers.

Please log in with your username or email to continue. No account yet? Create an account. Edit this Article. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. By using our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Look at the box. This is the very first indication of a not-so-authentic DS game. First off look at the text and the pictures on the front- are they poor quality or pixelated?

If yes this suggests that it's not a real copy. Second off, take out the paper cover - it's usually always high quality glossed paper and some parts of it may be shiny. If it's just regular printing paper then it's not real. Next look at the back, there should be a seal verifying the game's authenticity see picture , the image on the right shows what the European Nintendo seal should look like note that the image on the left is the official seal for North American Nintendo releases - so if it looks like this it may be a North American copy of the game.

Look at the inside of the box. First things first, is there a game booklet? If there is, it should be staple-bound and be in full colour. Once again, pixelated text or images suggest it's been made by someone other than Nintendo.

In the image, 14 shows the serial number in the top right corner of the booklet and that the first 8 characters correspond exactly to those on the game cartridge - if there is no number it may indicate though not always that the booklet is fake.

Often in pirate games there are no booklets due to the effort expended creating a fake one, but similarly if you're buying the game pre-owned the previous owner may have misplaced it so legitimate games may also be without one.

If there is no booklet, what else can we look at? Well it isn't too hard to pick up empty cases for DS games, but there are a few differences between those which contain authentic Nintendo products and those which do not.

More subtly, 8 , which is not visible in the picture, shows that the small protruding nodes on the spine of the game do not have a ring around them in authentic boxes, but they do in the fake boxes. This may seem like petty detail, but the pirates who take your money for fake games don't expect you to be so vigilant when identifying these kinds of errors. One more thing that is easy to check from the box is that in real games, the box has the 'Nintendo DS' logo embossed directly onto the plastic of the box.

If there is no logo, the game is a fake for sure. There are tips on how to identify counterfeit software for all consoles, not just the DS family, and photos for each category too. Haven't you made this thread before? However if you spot a US-sized case in Europe that's normal, some games the ones I remember are some of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games have been released in the slim black boxes.

Also look for the plastic wrap, in Europe it's a foldwrap not a shrinkwrap and there's a ripcord running across it. On Nintendo published games that ripcord has the Nintendo logo printed on it, I think some other games may have that too. If those things are missing it's a re-wrapped copy and you should probably look for another one.

I guess I don't have to worry, I don't buy used DS games and I have never bought games online and would never buy one on eBay. I've experienced this. It really sucks. I tried to get Metroid Prime:Hunters off of Ebay about a year ago, and got a cartridge that was obviously bootlegged.

Anyway, great article! Glad to be of some help. Quote from: JDE I've experienced this. How long ago was this? Here's a great tip for when you get screwed with a bootleg online - First things first, file a complaint at your local Post Office assuming the item shipped via USPS. The seller may be liable for Postal Fraud. Do this even if the item did not ship from within the US - as enough complaints may potentially flag incoming packages at customs.

Next, contact the seller for a refund. Explain that the item is counterfeit. If they ask for the item to be returned, only send it back under two conditions: 1. They must reimburse you the full cost of the item, plus your shipping cost to mail it back to them - upfront.

If that fails, then contact PayPal. Likely, they'll require that you mail the item back before they'll refund you. This is not acceptable, as the seller has already shown that they are not trustworthy - you require reimbursement up front before you will send out the item still not via USPS and still at the seller's cost.