Fake or Real?

[GemMint10]

Hi everyone,

I’ve at some point wanted to expand my Pokémon collection and get into sealed games.
Still reading about this part of the hobby.

On searching ebay, i noticed these two games

The top one is graded and the bottom one is not. On the bottom one you can see that it has a Nintendo strip going across it, the graded copy doesn’t.

Was the production changed or is the bottom one a fake?
The listing for the bottom one was in German but said repro

I did bid on it and won, but I still had my doubts and just moments ago, the seller cancelled the purchase.

Any insight, education on this is much appreciated

[ascendedbidoof]

Bottom one is fake, unfortunately. Sealed Diamond/Pearl/Platinum don’t have that Nintendo strip on the front. You can also tell by the ESRB symbol, the bottom one is thinner than the top one. I saw these pop up quite a bit when I was looking for my games on eBay and they seem to sell often because they do look convincing.

[Quuador]

@dipzy I don’t know anything about games, but just googling around a bit I’m pretty sure it’s indeed fake. I came across this listing on Alibaba (a Chinese website similar to the slightly more well-known AliExpress):

www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Pokemon-game-cartridge-Pearl-Version-for_1600051104447.html

The picture of the Platinum version looks even more fake:

Near the bottom of the description it mentions:

Notice:
These game cartridges are NOT ORIGINAL, just as you see in the picture. Not in original box.
These game cartridges aren’t manufactured in the original factory. Made in China
They are only for experiencing game content and fun, not for collecting value.
Please think it over carefully. Thanks you!

Whether real games with the Nintendo strip exist I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure the one you bought (and was luckily cancelled by the seller) is indeed fake. (PS: ‘repro’ is short for ‘Reproduktion’ in German, which as you may have guessed, means reproduction or counterfeit in English.)

Good luck with your new collection goals.

Greetz,
Quuador

[GemMint10]

Thanks for the input guys, I can now see a lot more differences
What also got me was the low prices and the fact that the one with the Nintendo strips was very very crisp.

Still deciding if I want to go the already graded route or buy and grade myself.

[dragonwarrior]

@GemMint10

Thanks for the input guys, I can now see a lot more differences
What also got me was the low prices and the fact that the one with the Nintendo strips was very very crisp.

Still deciding if I want to go the already graded route or buy and grade myself.

I went with graded for these games. There are so many fakes of these running around that I was not willing to take the risk. DS games are also a lot easier to fake which made me even more nervous.

[ascendedbidoof]

@dragonwarrior

@GemMint10

Thanks for the input guys, I can now see a lot more differences
What also got me was the low prices and the fact that the one with the Nintendo strips was very very crisp.

Still deciding if I want to go the already graded route or buy and grade myself.

I went with graded for these games. There are so many fakes of these running around that I was not willing to take the risk. DS games are also a lot easier to fake which made me even more nervous.

I don’t recall seeing many fake sealed gen 5 games. I’ve really only noticed that problem with Gen 4 and I have no idea why that one has so many sealed fakes circling around. If you’re talking about the cartridges Gen 4 is hard to tell real from fakes but all of the cartridges from HeartGold/SoulSilver and Gen 5 have a red tint to them when held up to light.

[dragonwarrior]

@ascendedbidoof

@dragonwarrior

I went with graded for these games. There are so many fakes of these running around that I was not willing to take the risk. DS games are also a lot easier to fake which made me even more nervous.

I don’t recall seeing many fake sealed gen 5 games. I’ve really only noticed that problem with Gen 4 and I have no idea why that one has so many sealed fakes circling around. If you’re talking about the cartridges Gen 4 is hard to tell real from fakes but all of the cartridges from HeartGold/SoulSilver and Gen 5 have a red tint to them when held up to light.

I’m mainly talking about Diamond/Pearl. There are some really good looking fakes that make me wonder how VGA is able to even authenticate the real ones.

[ascendedbidoof]

@dragonwarrior

@ascendedbidoof

I don’t recall seeing many fake sealed gen 5 games. I’ve really only noticed that problem with Gen 4 and I have no idea why that one has so many sealed fakes circling around. If you’re talking about the cartridges Gen 4 is hard to tell real from fakes but all of the cartridges from HeartGold/SoulSilver and Gen 5 have a red tint to them when held up to light.

I’m mainly talking about Diamond/Pearl. There are some really good looking fakes that make me wonder how VGA is able to even authenticate the real ones.

I wonder that too, if it weren’t for the shrink wrap and some of the small details on the label you wouldn’t be able to tell this was a fake just from the photo.

[augustdifirenze]

Just to add on to what’s already been said, the EU version of Nintendo games often have the extra Nintendo logos on the wrapping. It doesn’t always mean the game is fake though obviously this one is.