How to Recognize a Fake Video Game!

In this sense, it follows the same rules of engagement as any other context in which the law of supply and demand applies: just as in all low-cost technology widespread around the world (we’re talking about mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and so on) and sold in stores. The video game medium is not excluded either from a business that often far exceeds that of “useful” technology, as it is defined by those who perhaps have never really understood much about video games.

Albeit this, what I would like to talk to you about today is not the universal method for recognizing a 'fake' product, that is, a counterfeit, from the original one released by the Nintendo, Sony or Sega factories, to be clear, but rather I would like to draw attention to how important it is to know the subject you are talking about before making reckless purchases and finding yourself with a copy of Megaman for Game Boy in your hands, as fake as the Ark of the Covenant in the warehouses of a well-known company.

Tralasciando the question (as far as I know there are no hidden artifacts of this kind, but anything is possible in this strange, crazy world), I mentioned Megaman not by chance: the game in question, starring the cheerful and deadly cyborg with the blue helmet, had an incarnation for the Big N's handheld console that became over time an illustrious victim, due to the proliferation of fake copies.

If it is true that in the early days it was much easier to recreate fairly accurate copies, over time and with the increasing attention from major production companies toward piracy, things have changed drastically. Examples? The watermark, which must be of a certain thickness and not another, or the Nintendo logo, with the characters that must be precisely that color and those dimensions. We are talking about millimeter-level examinations, let that be clear: just one misplaced comma is enough to declare a game “fake,” there is no escape and it is good to know that from the outset.

Ad example in the gallery below you can notice misaligned colors for our copy of Mega Men V, a brown Nintendo seal and not gold, a print that ends on the curvature of the upper header fold or even a complete offset of the print on the sides (in the case of the CE side, it is even crooked).

Se invece analizziamo il libretto si noteranno subito the streaks in the printing, which instead should be uniform and without those "jumps" in the upper part, not to mention the strong smell of ink.

Infine the final combo! The cartridge! In the gallery below you can clearly notice several issues such as the size of the label print which is not only out of focus and with bright tones, but with smaller dimensions compared to the original ones (moreover to the touch it is rubbery and creates friction on the fingers).

The locking screw is completely fake compared to the star screws on all Nintendo products and the outer plastic shell tends toward pink and not its classic gray. Do we want to go on talking about the internal electronics? Without dates (the classic 1989) and official Nintendo gold logos printed on the circuit is the final proof of its fakeness.

Today’s collectors are very careful when it comes to distinguishing a fake piece from an original one, because getting ripped off, let’s be frankly honest without unnecessary beating around the bush, is always just around the corner: many collectors and enthusiasts have bought counterfeit copies for astronomical sums, and this may have happened for various reasons, but I identify two in particular, recurring and fatal: they did not rely on experts for a preliminary appraisal, to begin with, or impatience took over to get their hands on it and have it at home all to themselves.

Whatever the reason, both are true capital sins in this sector.

The rules of a good collector are many, therefore: the humility to appreciate the value of sharing with other collectors, so as to obtain opinions and confirmations, for example, can be one of these. If you want advice, find a place in your city where experts and enthusiasts like you can advise you in the fairest and most honest way, and become friends.

Very friends.