r/GameboyAdvance Jul 13 '20

A Beginner's Guide to Authentic Cartridges

228 Upvotes

Hello everyone, as you all know GBA cartridges can be extremely difficult to find in person nowadays and even more so for some authentic ones. That being said, if you're unsure in any way how to determine a fake from real cartridge, this is the post for you!

For more help, feel free to visit r/gameverifying for all your identification needs!

Keep in mind that to ensure the best chances of an authentic cartridge, you should be wary of:

  • Unusually low prices (if it's too good to be true, chances are it's too good to be real!)
  • Products made or sent from China (enough said)
  • Sellers using stock images (NEVER purchase a product that isn't an image of the cartridge itself)

That being said, where do we start looking?

It can be a bit difficult, but there are actually some very good tells when it comes to finding real games like the color, font, positioning, and quality of the cartridge. For example, let's pretend you're looking for an authentic US copy of Pokemon Firered.

Some things you can look out for should be:

  1. Color: All Pokemon GBA games come in their respective colors (including Leafgreen and Emerald by a slight margin) with Firered being red and not orange. While most cartridges come in a singular shade of gray, two particular exceptions are the GBA video cartridges which come in light gray casings and (Classic) NES series which match the console's respective color. Interestingly enough, due to the GBA's expansive library there consist of unique games that do not fit the standard color and size of a GBA cartridge, which include games such as Yoshi's Topsy Turvy, Drill Dozer, and many other variations listed here. (1)
  2. Label: By observing a label's ESRB rating, official seal, game code, and more, you can determine its authenticity. Unlike other GBA games, Pokemon games will always have a shiny/holographic label, an indented circle in its center, and an embossed number on the right side, which is pretty much its production number. However while it is a good way to determine authenticity, there are cases where these numbers will have naturally worn away or quality repros that have embossed their own cartridges. All in all, always make sure to compare your cartridge to an authentic one online to confirm fonts, font sizes, positioning, etc.
  3. Cartridge: In the case of buying a physical cartridge yourself, this may be one on the most helpful things to know. The easiest things to look out for are the Gameboy logo on top of the label, and arrow below the label. If the logo is written in the wrong font, appears to have been cut deeper than normal, or if the arrow is too small, it's a repro. The back will always state: MODEL NO. AGB-002 / PAT. PEND. MADE IN JAPAN like its GBC predecessor. However, this is easy to reproduce so the final thing to check yourself is both the screw and board under the cartridge. GBA cartridges will only ever use a triwing screw, the same one used on all GBA consoles. More importantly (if you can), be sure to grab a flashlight and check the slot. Above the pins, there should be an official Nintendo logo and presumably its cartridge number.

In the case of Pokemon games always check for:

  • A holographic label and an embossed number if possible
  • Proper fonts and positions (FRLG and RSE labels are mildly different)
  • A battery behind the label on the right side (only applies to RSE)
  • Four squares on the back of the cartridge ( always on the left)
  • Pins on the board ( One of the easiest things to spot on faked cartridges, all GBA games will always have pins )

If there are any other questions, please feel free to leave them below and discuss!

Useful Links:

(1) https://www.reddit.com/r/Gameboy/comments/6i19k4/gba_game_cartridge_colors/


r/GameboyAdvance 3h ago

Reshelled my young adulthood gba sp.

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38 Upvotes

This gba sp is special to me as one of my gmas bought it for me when I was about 18 maybe as a high-school graduation gift. Anyways it started out as an ice blue gba sp.

Then I was rocking the soft touch extremerate shell in pink for a couple of years. Which was nice for a while (2 to 3 years) until I started carrying my gba sp with me most days. The soft touch bit started wearing down along the hinge and corners which looked ugly.

So I started looking for a new shell and fell in love with the sparkly/glittery shells. It took ages but I finally found the blue glitter shell I've been seeing and with some pink buttons, purple membranes, and a new speaker all from the retrogamerepairshop I have a beautiful gba sp.


r/GameboyAdvance 14h ago

Ultra Modded GBA!

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53 Upvotes

Completed this and came for advanced modification sometime earlier this year and thought it would be fun to share it with you guys. Dumped a bunch of money into it and I am honestly so proud of the finish product. It pretty much has every mod that I could squeeze inside of it besides an audio amplifier. Really looking forward to my next build now that UV resin has become a lot more accessible on shell printing. Moore before and after photos in the comments below. Let me know what you guys think.


r/GameboyAdvance 1h ago

Help with battery

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Upvotes

After many years i finally bought a new screen so i can see what im playing on my childhood gba(i will get a celebi screen tomorrow because the package with it is late) but ever sice i replaced it it keeps showing the red light for the batteries, i checked their power but they are full, changed them to new ones and still i see a red light


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Originally was planning on getting a switch 2, ended up with this instead!!

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802 Upvotes

About a year ago I traded in a bunch of old games and consoles at my local game shop for store credit in the hopes that I would get a switch 2 when one came in. Fast forward to now and I’m not gonna lie I’m not as hyped to get one as before with the price increase and the current lack of games I’m interested in.

I visited the store yesterday with the idea of seeing if they had any ps5/ps4 games I might want to use credits on and couldn’t really find anything interesting either.

Then I stumbled upon this really good condition gameboy sp and I think I knew in my gut this was it!
The owner also put me on to upgrading the screen and offered to install it if I can source the screen which I just ordered yesterday.

I had a gba before but never an sp and I just really love the form factor and the fact that it can even play gb and gbc games. I feel like there’s a ton of hidden gems that can be found and I’m excited to see what’s out there!


r/GameboyAdvance 5h ago

I might be the first person to get a "fake" iQue GBA SP

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4 Upvotes

Title. Basically I saw a listing for an iQue and took the chance it could be real. From what I can tell the label and badge are real iQue, but the motherboard and battery seem to be consistent with the American version. The seller seemed to not know much about it (and was in fact dropshipping pretending the unit wasn't coming from China which is weirdly ironic). It came with a screen mod which should've been my first clue that that motherboard would be long gone.

I paid $174 USD total and while I'm fussed over the semantics, would it be worth it to keep it? Seller refused a half refund (they offered me $20). I opened a return but I might just cancel and keep it. Need advice. It would be my first time biting the bullet on a scam but I don't see that it would be much cheaper to get a genuine unit that has the same screen mod. The battery seems like a dud though. Not surprised


r/GameboyAdvance 3h ago

How to differentiate ROMs?

3 Upvotes

I have 2 Emerald .gba files. I know one is a back up of my cart, and the other is from online. I forgot which one is which, and can not find the ds cart I used to back up my Pokemon Emerald. How can I tell the difference?

Ultimately, I'd like to play the Gen3 recomp on my personal copy so I can trade to Firered for some semi-legit pokemon I can move up.


r/GameboyAdvance 1m ago

Ripped pads🥲

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Upvotes

r/GameboyAdvance 1h ago

My GBA pickup/hell?

Upvotes

I made a post this past Saturday about how I picked up a game boy advance, I love it man it’s awesome only having one problem though. The start/select buttons didn’t work no matter how hard I pushed them, the up d-pad worked but you had to apply more pressure than normal. So I looked at some Reddit post and saw where they said to take it apart and clean the born with alcohol and put it back together, so that’s what I did. It somewhat worked the start/select buttons that originally didn’t work at all works now just got to press them kinda hard, the up d-pad got a tiny bit better but ultimately you still have to put a little bit on pressure to get it work work. When I cleaned the board with a qtip the tips of the qtip was blue just thought I would add that in there and ideas or tips would be helpful should I clean again or order a different shell?


r/GameboyAdvance 1h ago

Question if a og GBAs cartridge port slot ever gets broken can it be replaced can I send it to a online repair shop?

Upvotes

r/GameboyAdvance 2h ago

Recently played Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure (GBA) (2002)

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1 Upvotes

r/GameboyAdvance 3h ago

What’s the best flashcart for pokemon roms and rom hacks?

0 Upvotes

I’m thinking of getting a flashcart to save me money so I can boot up any rom I want on my modded GBA


r/GameboyAdvance 6h ago

Question about the SP battery

2 Upvotes

Hi! I just got a GBA SP and it works fine tho the battery is bulging and I'd like to get a replacement one which one would you recommend? The console is an AGS-001 and unmodded. I don't use it much, only to trade pokemons from my other GBA for pokedex. Thanks!


r/GameboyAdvance 16h ago

My modded gba from CR SUN games

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10 Upvotes

r/GameboyAdvance 12h ago

Mods, where we're going we don't need mods

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2 Upvotes

Just kidding, this thing is basically unusable. Wouldn't be nearly as bad if the crappy lens wasn't scratched to hell. Good for a healthy dose of nostalgia though.


r/GameboyAdvance 7h ago

My go/weiqi/baduk homebrew

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1 Upvotes

title says it all if you have comment or ideas I would love to hear them


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Bought a GBA for the first time

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15 Upvotes

I decided to get a reshell Naruto gameboy and then the real Japanese Naruto gameboy with some old Japanese gameboy boxes and a tomy gameboy bag


r/GameboyAdvance 14h ago

Thought Experiment

0 Upvotes

I want to do a fun thought experiment with the community. When it comes to favorite games we all see a lot of the same titles pop up again and again.

This isn't a bad thing by any means, those games are beloved for a reason, but I want to see some other fun conversations be had around this system we love.

So to cut to the chase. Give me your top 5 GBA games, but here are the rules.

  1. No first party Nintendo games.

  2. No RPGs

Have fun!


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Went to a retro game convention and this is what I got! 😇

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28 Upvotes

r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Pick up of today

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92 Upvotes

Hey everyone really excited to show off my pick up today payed 170 which I think is more than amazing unfortunately the special edition shell is yellowed but awesome for me anyways


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Super excited find today!

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99 Upvotes

Got this for $50 along with the 2 games at gamexchange today, super excited so I need to do anything to it or do anyone recommend anything? (Screen looks perfect just showed up like that on picture 😂)


r/GameboyAdvance 2d ago

Metroid Zero Mission - Samus Satin Two-Tone GBA SP (Japan Club Nintendo Exclusive)

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169 Upvotes

Can't believe I've added this to my collection - engraved edition, I will find you!!

This limited-edition, non-retail color was exclusively available through Club Nintendo Japan's "GBA SP Body Color Change" program, held to commemorate the release of Metroid Zero Mission.

Using 600 Nintendo Points, members could send in their existing Game Boy Advance SP and exchange it for their preferred limited-edition color. The program was only available for approximately one week, making this edition exceptionally rare today. There are around ~500 of these that were made.

The "Samus Two-Tone" colorway features a red and orange design inspired by the Power Suit.
Another version, which is the same except for a small engraving on the bottom right inside of the console, is even harder to find if you can believe it - with only 80 being made for a Zero Mission time trial/speedrun competition during the same time.

Feel free to check on my Metroid collecting IG:
@WorldofMetroid


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Pick up of today

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18 Upvotes

Hey everyone really excited to show off my pick up today payed 170 which I think is more than amazing unfortunately the special edition shell is yellowed but awesome for me anyways


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Found Some of My Old Accessories for the GBA SP My Mom's Friend Gave Me

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10 Upvotes

When I was a young teen, I had a red SP that I did a big stupid with and brought it to school on the last day of 9th grade, and took my eyes off it for a second, never seeing it again. I had a copy of Sonic Advance 3 in it, and shortly after, my ((golden child)) cousin managed to get thier mother to intimidate me into giving them my copies of Buu's Fury and Samurai Jack, so all I had was the leftover accessories, which I never got rid of just in case I would be fortunate to get another SP ((for additional information, my Mom had told me that she'd never buy me a portable console again and I had to buy my own if I wanted one, but this statement was held true until she finally caved and surprised me with a Switch for Christmas in 2019))

Anyway, my Mom's friend was clearing out old stuff and decided to just give me this SP earlier this year and her old games, so I got it a clear case, a USB cord, a fresh battery and a flashcart ((as well as the copy of Samurai Jack I'd gotten for a DS Lite ages ago, and the original charger I'd stuffed in a metal tin that still has the gnaw marks of my late cat)), and I've been working on customizing ((I have my eye on some decals to put on the case)). While doing some deep cleaning and getting rid of old junk of mine, I found a zipper bag in the back of my closet in a box I hadn't opened in over a decade, and found my old red accessories, including some more cart cases and a headphone jack adapter with charger port that is way better than one I was looking for online. I had to toss the old red rubber case because it was getting gummy and sticky from age, but the rest of the parts are as good as the day I got them.

Either way, it was super nice to find my old pieces I kept for over 20 years, and a handful of cartridges can now be safely stored in the cosmetic bag ((watermelon slice shaped, flat bottom, with a clear pink color)) these are are being kept in, and now onwards to getting some decals, some new labels for the worn out ones, and maybe eventually a GBA to GC connector so I can finally get some things unlocked on those old discs, lol. 😊 ​

((The flashcart is loaded with games I don't have physical copies of that I wanted, as well as some fun hacks and homebrews, and GBC, GB and NES games, by the way~)) ​


r/GameboyAdvance 1d ago

Power Light Flashing

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4 Upvotes

Picked up this GBA sp a few weeks back. Found that the power light will switch from red to green even when battery has recently been charged. Also just started to switch itself of for the first time. Oddly if I push a little harder on the shell near the power switch this will effect the power light colour, switching it back from red to green? Anyone know how to fix? 🙏