There are fake N64 games circulating everywhere...and the fakes are getting better!

Make sure to take the time to investigate whether the N64 game you are about to buy is real or fake. Fakes have been lowering the values on Price Charting for awhile now because it's tough to even tell on eBay if they're real or not (and Price Charting doesn't account for refunds).
The fake Diddy Kong Racing was one that one of my friends recently picked up on eBay marked as a real copy.
Use this to help compare labels (as long as there are pics of labels for the item): www.pricechart...
Here's a list of N64 games that actually have batteries: consolemods.or...

[@111455]

my only issue is the lack of transparency, there are many who wouldn't care about repro so long as they were able to play the game on original hardware. of course this issue really started cropping up when values exploded.

[@gumptendo]

That is true, a lot of people don't care if they are getting a real one or a fake one, as long as they can play the game. There is a quality issue with fakes, but in some cases $5 is a better bargain than $500. Back around six years ago, I remember the main fake I'd see was Earthbound. The sad thing is some of the back labels for Earthbound fakes look better than the real ones! lol

[@Eshyyyyy]

@@gumptendo Personally as long as a reproduction copy is like, borderline identical (and works) and the seller is upfront about it being a repro, I'm perfectly fine with buying one. Though of course I'd rather buy a real copy, some games have super expensive real copies so it's a hard ask to buy some games.

[@tuuhoang5757]

If I just wanted to play the game on real Hardware I don't care if it's a repro as well, esp for rare games. The problem lies, when they misrepresent them as real and try to scam someone for top dollar.

[@brandonwombacher2559]

I have a Everdrive 64 which makes the original carts almost worthless.

[@tuuhoang5757]

@@brandonwombacher2559 that's great for playing them but there's a bit of nostalgia of owning the original carts. At least for me the franchises that I grew up with. In recent years I have been able to buy quite a few of them cause of my trips to Japan. Although they are in Japanese, you can't get the same kind of deals in the States that you can there for this stuff.

[@ozmond]

every time you think about buying one of these fake cartridges, put some money aside to buy a flashcart like an Everdrive. Don't support fakes.

[@gumptendo]

Everdrive is a cool device. I don't own one, but I've looked into them for research value. The fakes I've spent money on (that weren't donated/borrowed), were purchased specifically to make videos to warn people about them. The GB, GBC, and GBA fakes are about $4 each, but then you have the issues of their poor quality. I know people like buying the fakes because they're cheap, but looking into your advice would probably be better for their wallets in the long run.

[@ArtisChronicles]

​@@gumptendo I tried a fake Pokemon Emerald just to see if I could trade to to Leaf Green or to transfer forward... Unfortunately learned that I couldn't do either of those things.

[@colinmcmasters5819]

Genuine question, why do you believe it's better to give your money to the people who make every drive over the people who make repros? Neither of them own the intellectual property. Most Repros are sold as Repros.

[@Zombytes]

It sucks that everdrives are so expensive, and I really dont get why. They cant be that much more to produce than a repro is

[@beesree39]

i do not care for flashcarts at all

[@RIPdixiecarter]

Sad part is one or a few those scammers have probably viewed this video and will subsequently correct most of these differences making the cartridges virtually indistinguishable unless they're meticulously dissected

[@gumptendo]

That does seem to be a common concern I've seen. I honestly don't think the counterfeiters are going to go through the efforts because it would cost money for them to change their ways, and as it is people are currently buying their products. If people stop buying their stuff, then they may change.

[@christopherdowling1478]

Sometimes they are original carts but they have a replacement label on them. Only way to really tell is to open it up.

[@gamesystemaddict3949]

As long as they are priced appropriately and sold as repros, then i love these. My entire collection was stolen and i couldn't afford to replace it. The ones ive bought so far work just as good as my originals.

[@gumptendo]

Sorry to hear your collection was stolen, but it's good you're able to get replacements to play for cheap.

[@ngantnier]

Putting an R or similar on the label could be a good.idea so they don't eventually enter the secondary market.

[@BTSCamel]

Is there any significant difference that you can tell between the real games and repros? I had bought a first gen Zelda game that was known to be glitchy and it was. Then I bought a repro without knowing and it worked and looked how the real one should. I think I might start getting them if there’s no difference in gameplay.

[@patpatboy2]

I'm significantly more upset that they listed Ocarina of Time as "ZELDA The missing link"

[@gumptendo]

That same person sells The Missing Link, in addition to fake OOT, Mario Party, and others. Guessing in his scamminess, he made a mistake lol

[@raygunpyle]

My first thought of the fake "road worn" Mario Kart 64 was that they wanted to make it look real by looking used but it always makes sense they made the mods to cover up the fake signs. I always think PCBs always seem like dead giveaways in repo carts because it seems factories just don't or can't make PCBs that look like original N64 carts anymore. Look at a PC mobo from the mid 90s and a PC mobo today and you can see how much PCB manufacturing has evolved.

[@gumptendo]

Yeah, I'd hope most people selling would understand someone buying it wants to see the board. FunnyPlaying makes good quality blank ROM carts, but there's a premium for them. I'm guessing with these ones, it's more of cost savings to mass produce the garbage looking ROM boards of poor quality just to make a few bucks quickly.

[@caegame9748]

I only buy from sellers that have a good reputation and that shows the item properly with enough photos.

[@gumptendo]

That's excellent advice for people with eBay shopping. I know eBay has its protections in place, but definitely buying things from reputable sellers is a great idea!

[@haydenbennett3547]

As a former owner of Majora's Mask, i can also tell you that the label on the cartridge has a moving graphic texture, so the image changes when you move the cartidge. And yes, the cartridge is just gold without glitter specs. The ONLY N64 cartridge to have glitter was Pokemon Stadium 2, and it was to match the cartridges of Pokemon Gold and Silver.

[@gumptendo]

There was a later release of Majora's Mask that had the gold cartridge (no glitter still) without the lenticular sticker. First time I saw a Pokemon Stadium 2 cart, I thought it was fake since it was dual-tone! lol

[@haydenbennett3547]

@@gumptendo I remember getting Stadium 2 as a kid but being upset because it didn't come with the gameboy attachment

[@gloriusk7105]

I have pretty sure real MM and Pokemon stadium 1 & 2. Bought like mid/late 2000s after moving and wanting to play n64 games. Currently waiting for cheap RGB chip from aliexpress to mod my n64.

[@Kreege]

the holographic image-changing label was only on the first printing/pre-order cartridges. Later editions had a regular label.

[@StiffAftermath]

$25 Ocarina of Time? At that price, they DO know it is a repro. Those that dont, price them appropriate to what they think it is: a legit copy. Unless you are at a real garage sale..

[@commonsensei8719]

There we have it folks. Simple logic is always the best. I fully agree.

[@starpier]

As soon as you see that the cartridge uses SMD components, instead of PTH, it is a give away that it does not come from the late 90s. The battery is also a nice indication. I must say, though, the labelling is very close. It would be easy to buy a fake if certain details are omitted in the auction.

[@gumptendo]

I haven't thought about that. I've had to change so many capacitors on SNES, Genesis, and N64 games I've gotten from lots that this observation is awesome! Good catch!

[@elektrokinesis4150]

Early surface mount was most notably used by NASA for soldering chips in the Apollo Guidance Computer in ~1969.

[@starpier]

@@elektrokinesis4150 thats cool to know! It took quite a while before they became common in consumer electronics. =]

[@ALGDabs]

I have no issues with reros as long as they are obviously repros, I hate it when people try to pass them off as the real thing

[@drew8235]

Unfortunately, sharing information like this will also contribute to fakes getting better over time. I imagine there will come a time when we just really won't be able to tell anymore.

[@gumptendo]

I understand this could be sort of a double-edged sword, but I don't know if we have to worry too much. The counterfeiters haven't cared about quality up to this point, so there's a good chance they probably won't in the future, either.

[@DC-Nigma]

@@gumptendo jup if they upgrade to embossed numbers it will get real hard.

[@jmac79ers]

Probably will have to open them up to look at the pcbs, especially anything pricey

[@aPoorsPerspective]

I don't think they'll put more money into manufacturing to make them resemble the original. They'll always go for cheaper materials to maximize profits.

[@Nolan2448]

There will always be a way to tell legitimacy or not. If you know your stuff identifying fakes is super easy.

[@Unit27]

Big difference I'm noticing is that the real ones use through hole electronic components instead of more modern surface mounted ones. Makes sense as currently it's easier to mass produce SMT boards, something that wasn't an easy option in the 90s.

[@Known_as_The_Ghost]

Another distinguisher is at 7:59 You can see on the bottom one, on the inside of the casing(between the 'top' screw holes) there's number/letters there. Whereas the fake doesn't have these characters on the inside of the case.

[@LadyNicola]

I get mine straight from Ali Express. Didn't realise they take those and try to resell them.

[@brocksamson9737]

I greatly appreciate you bringing light and having a unbiased and open-minded view on the possibilty of someone unknowingly having a fake cart. And the potentiality of a buyer getting mad at that said seller. The only reason I can only imagine someone getting mad, if there a scumbag reseller.

[@fluffycritter]

Another sign of the fake ones is that they don't have molded text on the interior of the cartridge shells. Also the fake ones have much more of a "scallop" taken out of the "o" in Nintendo for the (R) symbol.

[@chaoswatcher2215]

another easy way to tell if the cartridge is real without taking it apart is to shine a light inside of the slot on the cartridge, you will see numbers molded into the plastic if it is a real cart

[@gumptendo]

Great advice! Some of the NES fakes are starting to add the F and B with numbers on the front and back shell parts, but haven't seen that yet on SNES or N64.

[@AzurePrizm]

Note, this is my first time looking into this but you can also notice a difference in the connectors where you blow into the cartridge, if they look white between the little connectors, it’s obviously a new motherboard. Hope this helps you guys spot them easier and faster.

[@gumptendo]

That's true most of the time. I have seen games like Resident Evil 2 and Ogre Battle 64 with the lighter colored boards, but haven't seen a fake yet that is the dark brown color. Best way is just to pop the game apart and take a look inside.

[@jesterscorner879]

@@gumptendo Those are the only 2 exceptions. For all other titles it holds up. I agree that taking apart is best, but checking the cartridge strip is arguably the best of quick methods.

[@georgemeyer8521]

Yes, but that is not always possible.@@gumptendo

[@JayAyCollections]

I used to think that since the label was worn down that it could be an authentic cart but that seems like its not the case. Great video.

[@gumptendo]

Thanks! And yes, things like worn labels and dirty pins would make sense to be legit, but some of these fakes have been around awhile or are purposefully made to mislead. Scary what people go through to try to scam someone these days.

[@jceggbert5]

So... Do I spend $12 on a fake straight from the source, or do I spend $60-80 for something that is claimed to be used real but looks totally fake on eBay? Assume I'm just looking for a cart to play on my system, not to collect for resale later.

[@gumptendo]

I may be making a follow-up later on because of other things I've learned since this video, thanks to the SNES fake video. Look inside the shells! On the front shell, there's "F" with some numbers and on the back shell there's "B" with some numbers.

[@earendurvoneinzbern7585]

Scammers: Thank you for spotting the imperfections, now to make ours more identical!

[@gumptendo]

I'm guessing that since people still knowingly buy the poor quality ones, they aren't going to spend the money to improve quality.

[@earendurvoneinzbern7585]

@@gumptendo You have a point.

[@chrismansi4855]

Thank you for this video, as I'm only just now realizing I've owned a reproduction copy of Majora's Mask for several years now. Never realized (or bothered to look into) that the sparkly gold cartridges aren't legitimate, and now as I'm comparing it to my other games I can see how clearly smooshed the ESRB logo looks on it's sticker. A shame, but I'm happier to have been made aware so that I won't mistakenly try to re-sell it as legitimate. Thank you again.

[@gumptendo]

Sorry to hear you unknowingly got a fake. As long as you've played it and have had fun playing it, that would be the bright side of the situation at least!

[@chrismansi4855]

@@gumptendo Absolutely! 100% completed the game on that cartridge, I have nothing to complain about. But thanks again for the video, so now I know to mark the cartridge as a repro in my collection! And also for giving me some great tips for scrutinizing the rest of my purchases.

[@Thingsyourollup]

Imagine buying something off of facebook and it turning out to be fake.

[@gumptendo]

I've seen lots of fakes on FB, but haven't bought any fakes from there yet. I usually just stick to buying video game lots people are selling, so if I end up getting a fake it's because it was in someone's collection. I bought a bag of a bunch of loose Personal Trainer Walking at a garage sale for $3. There were at least 50 of that same game in the bag. I got it in hopes they were fake so I could use them to compare against real ones, but they all ended up being real, sadly!

[@BlueEyedVibeChecker]

I bought all my GBA games back when they were still relevant, prior to the DS launch; still have the boxes and all. Once an american guy on Facebook tried to tell me it was fake because the PAL Nintendo Seal of Quality is a different shape than the NTSC region equivalent which was wild. But as a rule, I never buy games for the GBA/NDS these days unless I can see it in person first.

[@gumptendo]

That's awesome you still have the boxes and everything! I was a big dumb-dumb and in school for a presentation, I cut up the box for Final Fantasy 3 to glue it onto paper to present. Great rule to have when purchasing games.

[@AdrianDX]

Don’t buy repros. You never know how well adjusted the electricity in them are. Save chips are often of poor quality (slow and/or prone to failing). Also don’t blow in your carts. Use cotton swabs with isopropyl alcohol.

[@gumptendo]

All excellent advice! Sad thing is, I've had a couple cartridges where I clean them really well and they still don't work, so a last moment "joke" I just blow in the cartridge and try again, then they work. I usually clean them afterwards to get all the saliva and junk from mouth air out.

[@drakebushmire227]

I remember coming across a Pokemon White 2 online for sale. A game I never really saw faked up until that point, and it was ABUNDANTLY clear as it was literally an R4 cartridge with the Pokemon White label. I contacted the seller and was like "hey man I'm not sure if you know this but your card is fake" and he said "I know I'm just trying to get my money back."

[@iliketrains263]

as someone else said the biggest issue is lack of transparency. i dont care if the game is "fake" does it play on og hardware just fine? thats all i care about but im not a collector im just someone who really enjoys classic games. since nintendo wont we have to turn to other sources for available products.

[@souta95]

The fake Diddy Kong Racing has a nice date code on it that you can see at 8:51. The 2337 in digital clock font on the circuit board means it was made on the 37th week of 2023. Some of the smaller chips on the genuine cartridges also have date codes. I believe the ones I saw were from 1997 (97__).

[@gumptendo]

That's pretty cool, I did not know that's what those numbers meant. Thanks for the info!

[@israelpena747]

simple hack is ask for a picture of the inside of the cartridge… orrrr the nintendo logo in the back is different - the i in nintendo is squared.. the fakes will be rounded. also the pcb will hold nintendo branded marks

[@street_sharq]

Dude this makes my clutch my original collection a little harder. I managed to keep DK64, diddy kong racing, and a few others along with the original n64 itself lol im now so happy i kept anything from the 90's 2000's era since i hadnt realized the significance

[@reitairue2073]

The only significance is nostalgia man. No big deal.

[@ralf5789]

@@reitairue2073 not really, my 64 collection is worth $$$$$$

[@tommarshall7749]

The conundrum with sharing how to spot them just makes the fakes even less distinguishable.

[@gumptendo]

That is true, but most of the counterfeiters don't care enough about quality to change how they're doing it. I'm sure they will get better at faking them over time, like with Diddy Kong Racing, but still won't match the quality that Nintendo produced decades ago.

[@tommarshall7749]

@@gumptendo Loose carts and opened games are one thing, it used to be so obvious that even my parents would know what to avoid, but we can see how much it’s come along in the past few decades. Where all this becomes extremely dodgy is with sealed games, as long as you have a decent quality scan and print of a box, along with a decent repro of red strip sealing plastic, you effectively have a perfect fake as no one is ever going to break that red strip seal to check the contents. Even if any of the grading companies did any due diligence and x-rayed a sealed game (which I highly doubt they do) you could easily get round any conflicts by using identical PCBs from cheaper games, possibly from another region. If they did any extra due diligence (which I doubt even more) they’d know the exact weight each sealed game and each revision should weigh, but even then you could simply use paper to attain the correct weight. The entire sealed game market is one YT video away from total collapse. Trust me on this one, the numbers simply don’t add up, there’s too many sealed games out there for the market to be 100% legit, no one back in the day was dropping £50/$60 on a game just to keep it sealed on a shelf somewhere.

[@FuzedBox]

I'm so glad I finished the bulk of my collection by the early-mid '00s. What little is left that I'd care to own can be relegated to flash carts and FPGA systems. Counterfeiting is abhorrent.

[@bradye21playsIndieHorror]

Unless you are looking for new in box / mint, expect it to have minor scuffs, scrarches and wear, especially the labels. Use your phone flashlight.

[@gumptendo]

That is true about some wear, but the Mario Kart example, the person who sold it purposefully made it look like it was in rough shape. I've seen a few other ones on FB Market that are obvious Pokemon fakes with ripped up labels and tri-wing screws on the backs.

[@Braindizruptor]

so what exactly are those counterfit versions? are those ROMs on a usb inbetted in that cartridge? what is the difference except the outside?

[@gumptendo]

They're just ROMs saved to flash storage. Kind of like the concept of saving and running a game from an SD card.

[@brett6626]

Do you think it’s a risk to buy a refurbished, n64 console on Amazon.? I see a lot of mixed reviews.

[@gumptendo]

There are some refurbs on Amazon that would be okay, but expect to have to spend a bit more than the average going rate for the system. They do offer a 90 day warranty on ones like this that may be worth it for paying the premium: www.amazon.com/Nintendo-64-System-Console-Certified-Refurbished/dp/B07F2N1VNY It's always worth tossing into Google something like "retro game stores near me" to see if there are any near you that might have any retro systems and games in stock that you want to get.

[@brett6626]

@@gumptendo i actually orderd a GameCube from Amazon, and so far it works just fine with some stains other then that it does work and play games.

[@Evixyn]

This is heavily helpful and informative. Many thanks as I had been "Scammed" before on a switch pro controller and it was marked up as if it was the real thing, it took awhile to get my refund but I managed to get it :D

[@gumptendo]

I'm glad you found this helpful! Sorry to hear you were scammed, but good you got it resolved.

[@DeeKnow]

I quit collecting N64 since around 2016 I stopped finding anything that wasn't repro in most places. Ended up having to go the Everdrive v2 and Steelstick route because it made more sense than ordering games and returning them due to being repro's alot.

[@gumptendo]

That was a great time for buying retro. It was before values started to jump up. In 2020, people needed hobbies and were given checks, so values of collectibles like retro games and Pokemon cards jumped up. We get a lot of our retro games from local retro gaming stores. I don't trust online sales as much for consoles other than 3DS and Virtualboy. Last I read, neither of those are getting hit by fakes like everything else is.

[@xtlm]

lol they are trying to make the labels look old. Like "It's worn, can't be a fake!"

[@gumptendo]

Exactly, can't trust anyone these days! At least the original ones will probably have crusty old orange/brown glue where the label rips off instead of being clean looking.

[@juanneox]

Also on the back label, there was a typo on both fake ones, on the spanish portion it says "Information" in the fake ones instead of "Información" like on the real ones

[@gumptendo]

Good catch! I'll have to remember to check that.

[@ShadowAngel606]

Same with the german text, they alway lack the umlaut.

[@leg0luk37]

I’ve bought fakes in the past just because there have been games I’ve wanted to play but I couldn’t afford a real cart lol

[@gumptendo]

Legit reason to buy them! Some of these real ones are just so expensive.

[@BeefJerkey]

More about the circuitboard: The battery holder. I'm pretty sure Nintendo never used those battery holders to make batteries easily replaceable. They just used batteries with spot-welded tabs, soldered directly to the board. But, since I haven't seen N64 games much myself, I'm not 100% sure they never used holders, but it seems like they probably didn't. Also, those fake boards sometimes have lots of unused solder points, for components that weren't needed by the game. The fake Diddy Kong Racing in this video was like that, it even had a spot for a battery holder on the back.

[@LinkageAX]

I think the MM could look glittery from certain angles from memory due to the texture of the cartridge and how light hits it, OoT cart was smooth though

[@TheJadeFist]

I pulled mine out and looked at it, the picture he showed looks like it might be a bit too glittery but the Majora's Mask cart is textured, if you got a light shining down on, possibly not a fake.

[@S-Video]

I read this comment before watching the video and was worried Mischief Makers repros were finally surfacing.

[@gumptendo]

I just added some images of real vs the fake MM cartridges to the community tab. The glitter effect was not there on real versions of MM.

[@GuyManley]

Bought a repro of Mother 3 with the Tomato/JeffMan ENG patch so I could pretend I lived in an alternate time line where we got a localization.

[@gumptendo]

How is Mother 3? I'm so surprised Nintendo still has not released it. They just need to have the company that remade Mario RPG remake the Mother trilogy for Switch.

[@phyllojoe5346]

Thank you so much! I only knew how to tell gba fakes, no idea that they were pulling this in the second hand n64 market

[@WarioSaysSo]

Personally I'm all for re-production games, boxes and manuals that is made with great quality! Considering how crazy the market has been with retro video games from childhood (NES, Sega, SNES, N64) that prices are sky-high and a LOT of people I despise buy them not for that they really want them but want them for there financial value and sit on them till they can sell them for even more (!) That is making retro video games playing and collecting from luxury leisure to IMPOSSIBLE leisure on original hardware with that original touch. BUT... What I'm not okay with is like many others agree on is the problem when they sell re-production products as ORIGINAL/VINTAGE = Lie and fraudulent. Of course those who are genuine oblivious what they have can be spared all the anger, but we are talking about the bandits who lie and deceive people with those products and demand high prices on goods that are not what they say. That not only ruins for the sellers but also the buyers, and it all bubbles up to non-trust relations that in turn makes sour business ventures. Being honest like the Bible teaches us is not what many carries with them these days in general.....

[@Lenoh]

I got scammed for Street Fighter EX3 once, they sent me a weird disc and told me “Oh yeah, just use Swap Magic!” Problem is, my PS2 was unaltered.

[@gumptendo]

Sorry to hear you got scammed. Were you able to get a copy that worked on your PS2?

[@chansonjoy]

the chips in the fake carriage use modern package technology, i.e. you can see the pins are smaller or somewhere invisible compared to chips from 20+ years ago. from the print on the chips, I think its a FPGA chip that programed into the original game.

[@gumptendo]

Thanks for the info. I need to learn more about chips and stuff about the boards. Any suggestions on resources to start?

[@chansonjoy]

The print on the chip on the counterfeit cartridge says "Altera" if i read it right, So I assumed it's FPGA, google Intel Altera. they are one of the main players in this field besides Xilinx.

[@m2pt5]

The ALTERA chip is a dead giveaway on the fake. So is the style of the chips, I doubt any of the original boards are all surface mount.

[@rwdplz1]

I noticed this when buying N64 games as gifts this year, the VAST MAJORITY of Mario 64 and Zelda game listings are fakes. I took the games apart to clean them once I got them to make sure they were real.

[@gumptendo]

Yeah, it's sad finding so many fakes when you're trying to find real ones. I know some people don't care, but people should be marking their copies as fake and selling them for fake prices lol

[@ExcelMK]

Yeah been noticing a lot of new N64 fake carts on eBay. Like a lot of them. Paper Mario for 20 was an easy to spot fake but some are actually pretty well hidden. Might get into SNES collecting first because there aren’t as many clones out there.

[@gumptendo]

If you're buying on eBay, make sure it's from people with a high amount of good ratings and a return policy. Also, screenshot the description before putting in an offer. The Diddy Kong Racing cart was from eBay. One of my friends got it. It was being sold as the real thing. He was luckily able to get a refund. As far as SNES, there are fakes, but from what I've seen it's mostly with the big titles like Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, EVO, Link to the Past, etc. I'll try to acquire some of the fakes to make a video for SNES games, but mainly look for that number stamp on the back label and Nintendo on the main board.

[@TrU-STaR--31]

Amazing Video. I have a question. My pokemon gold deletes my save file every time I turn the game off. Is there anyway to fix this problem?

[@gumptendo]

Thanks for the kind words! It sounds like your Pokemon Gold needs a battery replacement. The type of battery is a CR2025 and it will require soldering. If you don't have the equipment to do that, some retro stores charge around $10-20 to change the battery for you. May just need to call around to local stores around you if that's the route you need to take.

[@TrU-STaR--31]

@gumptendo Thank You ! You just made my day.

[@billcook4768]

Thank you. I see this all the time, and basically have stopped collecting anything other than super cheap carts. I figure it’s unlikely for someone to bootleg for so little &, or at least if it is fake I’m not out that much. What pisses me off is that the vast majority of retro game collecting channels are silent on fakes.

[@gumptendo]

You're welcome, glad this was helpful to you. I have a feeling other retro game channels don't want to deal with the trolls and down votes. I see all trolling and down votes as activity on my videos that makes them more noticed! lol

[@zomfragger]

The easiest way to tell a fake from real is the lockout chip. Official nintendo carts from the nes to n64 have lock out chips on the boards. These are designed to stop bootleg games from running. Most modern bootleg carts emulate the lockout chip but a few from back then use donor chips.

[@gumptendo]

Thanks for the info! I have a few of the Wisdom Tree games for NES that were some of the first "hacks" for that console to bypass the lock out chips. Fun stuff!

[@RobertJ-vo4bk]

Trust me, if I see a game called Daddy Kong Racing... I'm probably gonna buy it anyway.

[@gumptendo]

I'm right there with you!

[@Badspot]

You sort of glossed over the real giveaways on the PCB, which is the presence of TSOP flash chips instead of the DIP mask roms, and the altera FPGA chip. These things were not used in the 90s if they existed at all. Also on n64 games that used batteries, they'd be soldered instead of socketed - though I wouldn't fully rely on that since a modder might replace the battery to keep the game working. The trend for ebay listing seems to be to show the board, which I think is good. You just can't economically make a fake 90s pcb with modern tech. I would still be cautions of ultra high end games though because I think making fake dip chips is possible if the money is there.

[@MisterE3]

Fakes for Nintendo games usually have one sure fire way of being found out, I ask you to go back and look at every games' Seal of Approval, if it's real the seal looks like actual gold but a fake usually looks like white gold or tan.

[@12Milkmen]

I saw some fake carts at a vendor shop luckily they were labeled as reproduction and had no value in a collection. But I do like the idea of repros to lower price of these games N64 games shouldn't be a luxury item

[@TheJadeFist]

The fake Mario Kart also had a mistake on the Nintendo on the back, the little copyright make is too big and intruding on the O at the end of Nintendo.

[@gumptendo]

Good catch! The Diddy Kong Racing fakers definitely did a better job at some things, but even that one doesn't quite look right at the Nintendo logo.

[@seannapier2298]

And this is an example of why emulation is the safer and more efficient route.

[@BobtheExile]

I found an Identical Majora's Mask cartiridge at a local game store in my area that apparently had somehow gotten past the authenticity check they do, and I actually bought it (I had no idea at the time and some strange stuff happened from it, which I'm recording and compiling for a youtube video, I'll link when I upload). I took it back to the store and the guy said that they actually do sell repro's, and that what I had was a reproduction without a doubt, so he offered me a refund. I ended up just getting the difference because I wanted to keep it for the aforementioned video. I knew as soon as I saw it in this video exactly what it was. I had to take a closer look at the others on screen with it to recognize them as fake, though

[@ChristopherMcLarenExperience]

I had almost an entire trash bag of yugioh cards from the years where my dad bought me yugioh cards, they were all fake and i didn't even know lol.

[@unguidedone]

im shocked someone would make counterfeits of n64 games

[@umbrellacorp.]

🎶 One of these things is not like the other. One of these things doesn't belong. 🎶 Anyone remember that Sesame Street song?.

[@ShuajoX]

I suspect the damaged labels are to make the cartridges look aged as if they were made back in the day and less new.

[@gumptendo]

Yeah, that's my assumption to it, too. Most of the old games I've seen with damaged stickers actually have spots of yellowed glue where the sticker used to be, these fakes with damaged labels don't have the old, crusty glue.

[@tuuhoang5757]

Thanks for the info on these fakes, the one you shown that was supposedly Mario Kart, the fake had a sticker said Sammy CR "Hokuto no ken" or Fist of the North Star? was that a recycled chip and they were just lazy to remove the sticker? weird... Yes, the engraved number on the rear label I noticed it also in all the N64 games I've owned. Good to know there are fakes out there, I personally have not come across any but seems like they are being sold on Amazon or Facebook Market Place. Never seen any of these fakes at second hand shops in Japan which is a good thing. But they are sneaky to beat up the label on that Fake Mario Kart to try to pass it off as real, I would have fell for it at first glance.

[@gumptendo]

You're welcome, glad it was helpful! And yes, the issue with a lot of these counterfeiters is they are lazy and cheap. They cut corners and it shows in the lack of quality.

[@damian9303]

Why would they be creating fakes out of even the more commonly available games like Mario Kart 64? The Zelda’s are somewhat understandable, but I’m surprised there was no Pokémon Stadium

[@gumptendo]

There are fakes of even cheap GBA games. Not sure why they're faking even the easy to find, cheap ones, but they are lol

[@damian9303]

@@gumptendo it sucks getting into GBA SP since the special editions are almost always counterfeited off of disparaged units with excessive wear. If you don’t take a close look at the listing photos or take a hint at the fact it’s listed as “refurbished”, it’d end up feeling much cheaper like of hollow plastic. Counterfeit sellers like those are only giving resellers like DKOldies more credit than they’re worth.

[@matt92hun]

I'm more surprised fakes are not better with all the easily available information about the real ones.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

It's not worth the effort given that there's a good number of people who'll buy it anyways. Peruse the comments here for examples.

[@matt92hun]

@@NinjaRunningWild That makes a lot of sense.

[@ericvanderaa]

It is also knowledge. As always is the information in these video golden for bootleggers/pirating. You can zoom in on every aspect in that is mentioned to make/mold a perfect copy. It would be great if the repro’s just would a give dead give away but keeping the feel so people have a choice to buy or not.

[@gumptendo]

Totally agree! The counterfeiters would probably be better off just putting "reproduction" on the label and selling as that instead of trying to make them to fool collectors. More people would go to the source for saving money and knowing what they're buying.

[@ShadyPlatinum777]

I’ve just started collecting N64, so this is very helpful. Thanks

[@gumptendo]

You're welcome! What's your favorite N64 game?

[@ShadyPlatinum777]

@@gumptendoSin and Punishment

[@spoonified52]

I noticed on the fake boards also had date codes on the chips were later than the game. Also that Altera Max II cpld chip didn't come out until much later (2004 I think), and I don't think Nintendo ever used programmable logic in there carts. Lastly I also noticed the circled R to the upper right of the O in the Nintendo impression on the back seems to be pushing the plastic back into the O on the fake cases.

[@fremiamagus]

Another way to tell they are fakes is that chips back in the 90s were not flat like they were starting mid 2000. Even gameboy and game gear chips are not that flat.

[@gumptendo]

That's true. None of the fake chips have any pins or solder points sticking through to the backs.

[@Connection-Lost]

I can recognize the real nintendo back logo a mile away. I own dozens and rented 100 in the 90s.

[@koltyrion4188]

Omg i had a revelation. A game called Pet Racer stole music theme from Diddy Kong Racing. I'm not sure if it's the exact same song but it sounds almost ideal.

[@STHelton1]

Any chance your channel is inspired by @RetroRepairs on KZbin? I get a very similar vibe from your channel. I’m really enjoying your content since finding it this week.

[@gumptendo]

Glad you've been enjoying it! I haven't seen @RetroRepairs, I will check that channel out. I got into fixing games from buying a few lots from FB Market and things "tested and working" didn't work and some had exploded batteries from over 20 years ago in them lol I found @TronicsFix and learned how to do some of the more complicated things from that channel. The scam stuff is because of how many fakes I've been seeing on FB Market these days. Almost every Pokemon game and N64 game sold individually is fake on there.

[@yeolemillinial8295]

the ink is so blury on the mario cart you can't see the castle in the background too

[@BobbyxZx]

if you're buying anything over 100 bucks, ask the seller to open it up and show you the board. it's totally normal at this point. you can't replicate 90s era boards in the modern day and the chips will have nintendo labeling on them. when the prices start going over 500, the bootleggers get more sophisticated with the shells, but you can always tell by opening it up. i saw a hagane the other day that looked almost perfect, but at 1000, you have to be absolutely sure. almost everything you see (and actually want) on ebay is a repro now, so def beware. honestly, the best way into a new to you retro console is an everdrive.

[@Nolan2448]

If you look at newly listed N64 (or whatever console) games, most are legitimate. It’s when you have the default which is set to "Best Match” that you get flooded by fakes. But yes anything over $100, unless you are positive, definitely contact seller.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

They're not all repros. That's a gross exaggeration. Most sellers selling expensive carts show the board & it's very obvious if it's real.

[@A..D..D]

Generally they use cheaper plastic while older games naturally have a little fading or yellowing so the color will strike. Missing details in artwork. Nintendo logos missing or muted…etc

[@gumptendo]

I've also seen major misspellings on the boards of fake games. Some are pretty funny how bad the spelling can be for even "Nintendo".

[@VGMRealm]

The fake is so easy to spot to me! but i assume for most people who didn't grow up with this console could easily be fooled.

[@gumptendo]

Depending on the quality of the fake, or if the game had to be re-shelled or re-labeled, it can still be challenging at times to tell the difference without seeing the board. I am going to get a second N64 video together to go over board colors and a few other items, too.

[@RicardoFiorani]

Does the fake diddy kong racing works saving? Looks like there was the place to add the battery on the board but someone decided not to.

[@gumptendo]

Yeah, most of these games use flash memory for saving, so you don't need a battery.

[@clshortfuse_]

If you check the ® on the back, you'll notice the fake ones lack the precision and warp the lowercase "o" in Nintendo. Edit: Also the label itself has some spelling errors (information instead of información) though a better bootleg would just scan the label.

[@Zombytes]

If nintendo was smart, they would still be making and producing N64 games, obviously there is still a market for them. They missin out ha. Maybe just make them a bit different than the original so you could easily tell the difference, but if it was actually made by nintendo, that would be awesome!

[@gumptendo]

Even just making some of the old retro controllers would be enough to make me happy. So many of these aftermarket ones are garbage and it can be tough or expensive to find OEM controllers for some of these systems!

[@Zombytes]

Yeah I know what you mean. That would be a great start. Retro-bit makes some sega licensed genesis controllers which is actually pretty dang cool. Nintendo should do something similar. It would be better if they actually manufactured them, but id take nintendo licensed controller too haha @@gumptendo

[@Amdrel]

I noticed the fakes have different font kerning on certain parts of the back label in a few different places.

[@messnet6706]

Give me an affordable repro every day of the week. They're cool. Just don't try and pass a real one off as a fake. I don't mind paying $15-$30 for a well made reproduction, just tell me that's what it is.

[@johnnydropkicks]

On the Mario Kart 64, you can see that the ESRB stamp on them is different.

[@RideRedRacer]

This is why i only use eBay. They let me return anything if item is not as described

[@gumptendo]

Make sure to take a screenshot of the description and images on eBay. Scammers gonna scam! But it's good you can return items!

[@Ian-of9oi]

I bought a fake Mario 64. I can’t tell the difference playing it. Probably should carve RE-POP on the back to make it more obvious for the next guy.

[@gumptendo]

Most games you won't really have a difference while playing. I'm finding that out with the Pokemon ones on Gameboy as I've been testing things for shorts.

[@Zombytes]

I have a fake pokemon red, and i cant use the pokemon storage system without the game crashing. Had to play the whole game with the same 6 pokemon lol. Sometimes they will have weird glitches like that @@gumptendo

[@MatthewCenance]

6:31 I did not know only a few Nintendo 64 games used save batteries. That was surprising because Game Boy and Game Boy Color games did use them until like the end of the system's life in 2002, even though technology to have battery-less saves was being used in 1996.

[@gumptendo]

Technology for video games advanced pretty quickly. With N64 and GBA, they started using flash storage for saves. It's nice having one less component that can go bad.

[@MatthewCenance]

@@gumptendo I guess the Game Boy and Game Boy Color was declared incompatible with such solutions... imagine if the Pokémon games used flash storage? People might have been able to play their games for longer without losing saves.

[@LimeAtions]

It was cheaper to use batteries. Flash and other solutions weren’t really cost effective till around the time gba came out. flash was a lot cheaper

[@Wyatt_James]

Some earlier GBA games even used battery-backed storage. Advance Wars 1 comes to mind.

[@TrimeshSZ]

It depends on how much data you wanted to store - at the time the N64 came out you could get cheap EEPROMs, but they were very small (2kbit/256 byte), and were typically used for things like storing tuning presets in TVs. That's why games that had larger storage requirements used the controller pak (which was battery backed SRAM). Some later games (like Zelda OOT) had larger storage requirements and would have taken up a whole controller pak, so a new cart type with battery backed SRAM inside was developed. Some later games used FeRAM - this was a technology that had been around for a long time, but had finally reached the point where it became cost competitive with battery backed SRAM - this was used in games like Zelda: MM, Paper Mario and Pokemon Stadium. It also had one significant disadvantage, which was that inside the chip the readout process erases the data - this is normally transparent to the user because the chip has internal logic to write the data back immediately afterwards, but if the power fails during a read cycle it can corrupt your save.

[@ConsueloVillegas-v8y]

what i do is not buy from people who use stock photos and also avoid people who don’t post pictures of the back of the cartridges because i think they are hiding something. when i was a kid i wouldn’t know better and would buy fakes at swap meets without knowing

[@CovenantAgentLazarus]

Its still way too easy to find the fakes...

[@Dargonhuman]

As someone who has no interest in reselling my collection, I genuinely don't mind or care if it's repro or not, just so long as it's priced appropriately and there's no issues playing the game. A side benefit for serious collectors is my repros don't remove legit copies from the market so they can buy, sell and trade legits while I enjoy pkaying my repro.

[@MahkyVmedia1]

Do they make a No Mercy that doesn't have the save issue and it's not $1000?

[@gumptendo]

Looks like No Mercy with the USA-1 is under $300 now. Not saying that's good, just wish there was better news. Allegedly, there's a way you can clear the game's memory to fix that glitch. Looks like you hold down Start when you start the system with the game in there, then a menu comes up with an option to erase the save data from the cartridge. You erase the save data and that's supposed to fix it. Not sure if it works, I don't have the game to test that out.

[@TheNinjaStuff]

What am I missing? There are dozens of copies of No Mercy on eBay for like $30, from reputable sellers.

[@TheNinjaStuff]

My bad... I assume you're saying there happens to be a specific revision of No Mercy that doesn't have the save issue, and copies of THAT are expensive.

[@gumptendo]

Correct, there was a revision that fixed the save issue, but you had to go through the company to get it, so it's rare.

[@wilsvgaddiction4456]

You're doing the Lord's work, big guy.

[@gumptendo]

Thanks! I hate seeing people get scammed. My friend who got that Diddy Kong Racing was pretty defeated after receiving it, so decided to turn his misfortune into something to help people.

[@JTSuter]

The main overall giveaway is the Nintendo seal of quality. They are never as crisp and clear as the original and the gold paint lacks the subtle sheen of the originals. And this goes for NES and SNES games as well.

[@gumptendo]

That is true. Labels are always zoomed differently, blurry, or just look off on the fakes. I've had to get new labels for legit games I've purchased because they either didn't have labels or the shells had to replaced. If you get a label from someone who knows what they're doing, everything looks like it's great quality. These scammers obviously don't care about quality! lol

[@novastorm4187]

One think to tell if its a fake (that you didn't bring up in your video) is some of the txt/font of the back label. There will be errors/typos, or the font looks different or "off".

[@gumptendo]

That is true. I cover it a bit more in the Pokemon videos that I try not to rely on labels. I've had to replace labels before, plus some games have multiple variations of labels. If anyone needs to compare labels, I'd recommend using images for the game on Price Charting.

[@novastorm4187]

@@gumptendo good point... odd tale is I got a game that was fake. Had all the marking of an N64 cartridge being fake. It felt new, the Nintendo logo on the back was off and the like. The game works but I could tell

[@JMA0413]

Great video and excellent breakdown thanks 💪🏽

[@gumptendo]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

Never buy retro games without seeing the board. When I sold my Metal Warriors I made a point of getting the screwdriver bits to dismantle the carts to maximize the value. This strategy works in reverse. You can also compare the stamped numbers & years on the back to other listings & glean what should be there. Fakes often have small, minute errors. I questioned one seller on this (for SNES Dracula X) & he got so angry! 😂 Needless to say I did not do business with him.

[@gumptendo]

Definitely great advice! Like you mention, sellers can benefit by being open about what they're selling.

[@GegaSonicFan]

At 3:33 the fake one the shell is also slightly darker than the real one I noticed

[@gumptendo]

Good catch. They definitely use cheaper plastic than the real ones have. The issue is sometimes you may not have the real one to compare one against when you're out shopping around.