Review: Dragon Ball Z – Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3)

As gamers, we tend to want a good deal, but with all those shifty SOBs out there trying to make a buck, it can be tough sometimes to avoid getting taken. eBay has a reputation, because of the management’s small government attitude, of being a haven for counterfeiters of all kinds, and it’s getting harder and harder to spot a fake.

So what brought this on?

I was thinking about that Harmony of Dissonance cartridge that failed on me not so long ago, and how strange it was to open the thing up and find the battery soldered to the board. I only had a very passing understanding of what a bootleg GBA cartridge looks like at the time, and I ended up discarding it when I destroyed the thing trying to replace the battery. A failed battery is a common sign of a bootleg game, but there are more specific ways to tell while the game is still working. Unfortunately, these things don’t tend to leap out at you in an auction listing, but there are a few things that are a clear tipoff that something’s not right.

Don’t trust these games. Certain games are more frequently counterfeited than others. Nintendo’s popular brands like Mario and Pokémon are obvious choices. Other games that tend to go out of print quickly and are often fake on eBay are Castlevania games and Majesco’s Bookworm port for GBA.

Look closely at the label. As is the case in every industry, ripoffs tend to look like ripoffs. Know what the label on the cartridge is supposed to look like before you go shopping, and make sure you’re looking at an exact match. If there’s no picture, it’s suspect. If it’s a stock picture, it’s suspect.

Does it come with the box and manual? Seeing a complete game with all the inserts (like registration card) is very promising. This is a step in the right direction, but not 100%. After all, a bootleg game could be put into a legitimate box and manual, or the box and manual can be faked. Several of my games are now sitting in boxes and manuals that originally came with a different copy of the game. These things happen when people build collections.

Where’s it coming from? If the seller is in a country where it doesn’t make sense to be selling an English-language version of the game (as opposed to a Chinese language version) it’s almost certainly counterfeit. This is even the case if it comes with a box and instruction manual, because these people even make fake boxes and manuals. Often these games will find their way into the country and then the person who buys it will resell it on eBay, with or without any knowledge that theirs is a fake, so there’s really little way to know.

I bought a copy of Super Mario World for GBA in 2003. It came with the box and manual, but was a counterfeit from a user named revolution852. A look in PayPal shows the name Siu Cheong Yip. Nowadays, I would never have made that purchase.

How can you be sure?

History is the only way to be confident before the game arrives. Look over the seller’s feedback for any sign of people complaining they received a counterfeit game. Even one complaint like this should be enough to discourage you from bidding, because for every one complaint, you can be sure a hundred fakes went out unnoticed. If you see an obvious fake being sold, with a fake label for example, report it to eBay to make these people’s lives difficult.

Until the game’s in your hands, you can’t be certain though. Once it’s there, you can tell by looking at the board. On a GBA game, this entails looking in the connector end of the cartridge for the Nintendo logo, which is printed on the board if it’s a legitimate game. You may need a flashlight to see it, but it’s pretty big and it’s there. Unfortunately, it’s at a very hard angle to photograph without opening the cartridge, so don’t expect to see pictures of it in the auction. Promises that the game isn’t a bootleg shouldn’t be taken lightly though, because specifically saying it’s not implies the person knows how to tell the difference. Further, there’s that much more to use against the person if it turns out to be a fake when you get it.

Keep your wits about you when shopping, and protect yourself by using PayPal. Check your games as soon as they arrive, and tell on the bad guys when you find them. eBay’s not going to shut these people down without people complaining about it. Good luck!