Game Boy Advance, a very successful handheld game console from Nintendo. This console has an excellent library of titles from Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, MegaMan Battle Network, Advance Wars, Wario Ware etc.

However, if your one of those people who take the chance to get a bargain for a video game, now is a good time to be very careful! Many GBA games unfortunetly which are sold on Ebay for cheaper than a RRP are most of the time a fake copy which won't do some of the functions of the original legit copies such as Save Data which are on many games and for the Pokemon games, the clock feature won't work.

In this guide, Ill explain how to tell if a Game is legit or a crappy fake.

1. Pictures on auctions!

Do check carefully, most sellers who wish to flog a fake game will use a library image of the Front Cover of a game, look carefully as most of the time it will be a U.S copy with either RP or the actual rating of the game, but I will say it will be a U.S cover art as Japanese GBA games are popular and as soon as a GBA from Japan has been released in America, then you will see a lot of conterfeit GBA games.

Legit sellers may have library pictures again but they may go into more detail about the game in the auction and they may have an actual picture of the item for sale and you can confirm if it is real. Its easier that way to confirm.

For other Games on other consoles, they will have been burned onto a DVD-R but you wont find them sorta games on there as its againest Ebays agreement so they'll remove the listing automatically.

2. Feedback

Feedback plays a big role in a sellers experience on Ebay, to be safe from buying a fake, check feedback to look for negatives or neutrals, some people will leave positives coz they dont care if they get a fake, but if your one of those people who wants legit copies, do look at feedback!! If you happen to get a fake, report it to Ebay. They'll take action and if other people help, Ebay will block people from using Ebay to purchase or sell ever again.

3. Item Location

Again, by looking at the sellers location, you can tell if the seller maybe selling fakes. Fake games usually come from the East of the World like China, Hong Kong. But also, there are sellers from those locations who sell real games, but this is where you check feedback and previous auctions. Follow through these and you can prevent yourself from getting a fake.

4. Delivery & Item checking

Deliverys of GBA games may come with the box flattened and will hardly have any content, but most sellers do this to keep the game in good condition.

When you look at the box, the Nintendo Seal of Quality will be Gold but it will also SHINE on real boxes, fake boxes may have a poor description about the game, poor box quality, jpegs for the images and randomly throw on the back Game art from the game.

Real Games usually come with Box, Instruction Manual, GBA Game and booklets and leafets relating to the Game and Nintendo Health and Safety thing. Fake ones will come with Box, Manual and Game and will carry a Nintendo Seal of Approval which happens not to shine.

5. Cartridge

When it arrives, you can probably tell if a game is for sure fake. On the back of the cartidge, it should have a Nintendo Logo engraved onto the cartridge with Model NO. AGB-002 with under it PAT.PEND MADE IN JAPAN. Fake copies wont carry this information on the back and will either just have nothing on the back.

The cartridge quality on a fake maybe weaker than a legit make. As fake copies are cheaper, so will be the quality. The cartridge will weaker and it is capable of damaging your GBA as the GBA is designed to take certain size cartridges.

6. Auction Listing

This is a golden rule, look for details about the game being sold, check feedback, item location and do read all of the auction, some sellers will try to say its okay by saying "99% new" "Resealed" "Works". When they mean resealed new, it means shrink wrapped, if you want a legit game for GBA, it will have Nintendo Factory Seal on it with multiple Nintendo Logos on the seal.

7. POKEMON

Pokemon, great game as it is, also a great game to conterfeit. In this section, I'll explain how to idenitify a fake.

Pokemon editions such as Emerald, Fire Red and Leaf Green all come with a Wireless Adapters. Conterfeit copies of these Pokemon games will come with a cartridge which is grey and will not have a Wireless Adapter. However, some sellers will state if the Wireless Adapter is included or not, some fake sellers just leave it and say BUY NOW ITS POKEMON.

As from the early editions on the Game Boy, Pokemon has coloured cartridge representing the edition of the game.

Pokemon Ruby - Dark Red - seethrough

Pokemon Sapphire - Dark Blue - seethrough

Pokemon Emerald - Emerald, darker than the Leaf Green cartridge, has shiny patterns which are specially designed on the box art which respond to the light which are also on cartridge.

Pokemon Fire Red - Red, seethrough but brighter than Ruby cartridge

Pokemon Leaf Green - Green cartridge but brighter than Emerald Cartridge.

Another thing which is easy to identify is the Clock function, as like Pokemon Gold and Siler did, the GBA versions carry events responding to the time of the game. On conterfeit cartridges, it will prompt with an error before you start a new game and will stay on the same time throughout the game.

These fakes may also be early English translated versions which were released before the U.S release of Pokemon Fire Red and Leaf Green, they will have Pokemon's names which aint spelt correctly and the English language isnt correct.

Its also likely you can trade with different language versions of the game which is something you cant do with the legit versions as the trading is restricted to one language.

8. Ebay Shops

To avoid these sorta problems, search for Ebay Powersellers which specialise in video games, this eliminates the chance of getting a fake. Powersellers have amazing amounts of positive feedback so you are getting a good experience with that seller and then the both of you are happy.

9. Game Details

When your about to purchase a game, do look at a site like Gamespot, IGN.com or browse through a game magazine, this will be very handy as they usually carry the game art, cover art for the game and release dates of the game. As I said in the Pokemon section, some games which aint out yet maybe released by a hacker who has changed the language and done a poor job on translation. Do check at the release date, it can tell in a way if the game your about to buy on Ebay is legit.

I hope this guide helps you to prevent getting fraud games. Good luck and happy shopping on Ebay!