How to tell if a game is genuine: reproductions, repros and fake seals

A reproduction or “repro” is a copy not made by the original publisher: a cartridge with a generic board and the ROM flashed onto it, a burned disc, or a box and manual printed from scans.

Not all of them are sold dishonestly. Some people buy a repro box to complete a loose cartridge, or a repro cartridge of a game that never came out in their region, knowing exactly what they are buying. The problem starts when a repro is listed as genuine: the price of a rare original can be dozens of times that of a repro.

The most common targets are expensive cartridge games (Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance) and Pokémon games on any Nintendo handheld.

The label

Compare it with a photo of a genuine copy of the same edition. Repros tend to have oversaturated or washed-out colours, less crisp text (sometimes you can see the pixels from the scan), a different sheen or badly trimmed edges. A brand-new, flawless label on a thirty-year-old cartridge with a scratched shell is also suspicious.

The shell

Genuine Nintendo cartridges have the logo and text moulded into the plastic on the back, with a specific finish and colour for each console. New shells usually have plastic in a slightly different shade, flashing along the seams or less defined lettering.

The screws

Genuine NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and Mega Drive cartridges are closed with security screws, not ordinary Phillips screws. A Phillips screw does not prove it is fake (someone may have replaced it), but it does show it has been opened and the inside is worth checking.

The board

This is the definitive test if you can see photos of the inside. A genuine board has the manufacturer's name, reference codes and a date printed on it, and the chips have their own markings. Repros usually use generic boards, modern flash memory chips or obvious hand soldering. On games that save with a battery, check how it is fitted as well.

Games that never came out in PAL

If a game never had a European release, any “PAL” copy is a repro. On Super Nintendo that applies to EarthBound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy VI. Before you pay, check which regions it was released in.

• Colour of the data side. Genuine original PlayStation discs have a black data side. A burned CD looks greenish, bluish or gold. On PlayStation 2, CD-based games have a bluish data side and DVD-based ones a silver one.
• The inner ring. Factory-pressed discs have the product code and manufacturing codes etched around the centre hole (since the mid-nineties, the so-called IFPI SID codes). A home-burned disc does not.
• Dreamcast. Originals use GD-ROM, which visibly shows two areas separated by a ring. A burned CD-R has no such separation.
• The label printing. On originals it is sharp, with flat colours. A sticker on the disc or blurry printing is a bad sign.

Repro boxes and inlays are printed from scans, so the most common flaw is sharpness: small text on the back blurred, jagged logos, colours that do not match another copy.

• Paper and card. Repros are usually thinner, glossier or a different weight. On Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 or Game Boy cardboard boxes, look at the folds and the inside: the original has a specific finish on the inside.
• Manuals. Count the pages, check the staples and the trimming. A thin manual printed on photo paper or with uneven margins is not factory-made.
• Language. A “Spanish PAL” game with a manual or inlay in the wrong language may be a put-together copy. We explain this in what Spanish PAL means.

A sealed game is worth far more than an opened one, and that is why resealing exists: opening a copy (or assembling one from loose parts) and closing it again in shrink-wrap to sell it as new.

The Y-fold is a Y-shaped fold that some factory sealing machines left at the ends of the box. It is mostly associated with North American market games, which is why it comes up so often. It needs to be used with care:

• Many factory seals, especially European ones, have no Y-fold, and that does not make them fake.
• A Y-fold can be imitated, so its presence does not guarantee anything either.

What usually does give a reseal away: plastic that is too thick or wrinkled unevenly, burnt or uneven seams, loose plastic at the corners, or a seal that does not look like those on other copies of the same edition and country. With an expensive item, the safest option is to compare it with photos of graded copies, or to turn to grading.

1. Check that the game was released in the region the listing claims.
2. Ask for close-up photos of the label, the back of the cartridge and, if it is expensive, the inside.
3. For discs, ask for a photo of the data side and another of the inner ring.
4. Compare the box, manual and inlay with photos of a genuine copy of the same edition.
5. Be wary of a price well below normal for a game known to be expensive.

The buying second-hand without getting scammed guide goes into more detail on which photos to ask for and how to pay.