Also, in the ® symbol has a solid white background on the fake cartridge, instead of being transparent so you can see the metallic green behind it. As you’ll notice, the text on the seal is very hard to read on the fake cartridge, but is clear as day on the real one. This should have been the first red flag for me, but everything else seemed legitimate so I brushed it off as shoddy camerawork. Also, the fake’s border is a lot thinner and the font is a little different. In the fake logo, Nintendo is off-center because the ® is in-line with the text. Notice how in the real logo, Nintendo is perfectly centered within the red border, with the ® symbol a little above the last letter in Nintendo. So, how can you tell when a much more convincing cartridge is a fake? It has a metallic label, it has the Nintendo logo printed on the circuit board and has all the correct letters on the front and patent number on the back. It seems like the people who made the cartridge did their homework about how to make a good counterfeit cartridge. After playing the game for a few minutes, it became clear there was something off about the cartridge I had just purchased. When I got the game, the plastic felt a little bit cheaper than the GBA games I’m used to, but the cartridge seemed to show a bit of wear and tear, like someone had played it back in 2004. It had all the signs of a legitimate cartridge listed in this guide. I was aware of fake cartridges but the pictures on eBay looked like a legitimate copy of the game. So, I decided to buy the remake, LeafGreen, on eBay.

I finished Black and just started Soul Silver, which made me really want to play the original game again. I was a lapsed player until I picked up Pokémon Pearl, excited by the possibilities of the online features and wireless trading. Well, I never had Mew but hey, it’s still 150. My friends and I caught all 150 legitimately. I played the original Pokémon Blue for the Gameboy when it came out. With Pokémon X and Y just a few months away, I really wanted to take a look back and revisit some of the older Pokémon games.

Pokemon leaf green gba