Picking up non bootleg GBA carts

[toythatkills]

The thing is, these days if it works 100% and runs (like Game C) then who cares? The GBA is to all intents and purposes a dead system, all sales will be 2nd hand so you're not doing anyone out of their profits.

I would care. A game running fine now is no guarantee that it'll stay running fine. I lost about 30/40 hours on a save file of Robopon on a cart that I didn't realise was fake until too late

[abigsmurf]

The vast vast majority of GBA games on ebay are fake and they can be incredibly hard to tell until you find that a game won't save because it doesn't have any flash on the cart. I'd say avoid like the plague in general.

General advice : Go for regular auctions, avoid the stores and BIN only sellers. Look at what they've sold previously. If it involves scores of GBA games, he's likely a pirate seller. Go for auctions with the box and the cart shown, not just 2D cover images. Look at the 'Gameboy Advance' text on the cover. Very few pirated games have the differently coloured EU GBA logo.

[topper]

I would care. A game running fine now is no guarantee that it'll stay running fine. I lost about 30/40 hours on a save file of Robopon on a cart that I didn't realise was fake until too late

Well, this is it. I don't want to get halfway through Golden Sun and find my save deleted. Actually I tested it - I tried saving at the first point, and it didn't load, so it's already ****ed.

As I said above, I /didn't/ buy them from Ebay - generally far too dodgy.

[honeymustard]

If you can post some hi res photos of the box, it's usually fairly easy to tell if its fake. Also if you can unscrew the cartridge and have a look inside, you should be able to tell straight away.

[Golgo]

I was burnt with an 'EU' Made in Wario. Should have guessed, though, when xeroxed instructions for Warioland 4 fell out of the box.

[vertigo]

The only time I bought a GBA game from eBay it was fake. It was the 3rd Castlevania, turned up with a blurry cart label, cart slightly lighter grey, box screenshots had Gamespot/IGN markings on them. Got my money back and the guy's account shut down but his feedback was well over 9000 and wasn't a clue to it because so many people either don't know or don't care, they're just buying to shut the kids up and give a positive because the games are cheap.