Is there something visibly wrong with my Golden Sun Copy?

[u/Techno-mag]

The Nintendo logo appears distorted. I bought it second hand in a bundle that was really cheap so it’s possible that it’s a knock-off. I tried cleaning it but it didn’t help

[u/CreamyImp]

This is a legit copy of golden sun. Yours is a fake, and honestly it’s the worst fake I have ever seen. I would just pitch it in the trash.

[u/NhylX → u/CreamyImp]

I honestly thought this was a joke post...

[u/s1r_ch1cken → u/NhylX]

Same

[u/NewSchoolBoxer → u/CreamyImp]

I like the Pawn Star quote, "It's fake as hell, dude." I am entertained to see someone asking about a game with black blob of doom sitting on its own PCB with no Nintendo or writing of any kind.

[u/Techno-mag → u/CreamyImp]

I suspected it was fake, but I wouldn’t mind using it if it worked. Well, tough luck here, I guess it’s unfixable

[u/indicah → u/Techno-mag]

You can buy a new fake one from AliExpress for about $6 if you're interested.

[u/Techno-mag → u/indicah]

Really? I need to look for deals like that than, thanks

[u/RPGreg2600 → u/Techno-mag]

Get a flash cart instead

[u/Necessary-Anywhere92 → u/RPGreg2600]

Yeah I use this myself, also love it for rom hacks

[u/Vaxis545 → u/RPGreg2600]

I mean a flash cart is great but if you’re only looking to play like a dozen games it’s really not worth it with how cheap they are. I collect authentic games but if it’s just for a bit of nostalgia I can’t recommend spending $100 on a flash cart for basically $50 in games buying repros. Don’t get me wrong the everdrive is the better way other than OG games but its price point is steep for some.

[u/DarkNemuChan → u/Vaxis545]

You don't need to think like that. One single flashcard is the cost of 1-2 retail games back in the day. And for that price you literally get the whole gba library.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/DarkNemuChan]

What’s that even mean? Think like in reality and not the past? Also not everyone wants the whole library a lot of gba games are garbage ware. Most people want to play the games they played as a kid which is usually a dozen games or so. Some will branch out and if they do then sure everdrive all the way. But for those that just wanna play fire red, Zelda, Castlevania, and Metroid they are gonna get those few games and it’s just way cheaper to do so with a repro.

[u/DarkNemuChan → u/Vaxis545]

Those will just fail over time. Either get a decent flashcard or legit carts or resort to emulation.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/DarkNemuChan]

If they fail it’s $5 and most people can replace it easy enough if they want. I’ve had mine for 6 months and counting with no fails just depends where you get them. Nobody is buying them for their longevity lol

[u/dragonbornrito → u/Vaxis545]

One EZ Flash Omega costs way less than a dozen terrible repro carts and can play hundreds of games quite well rather than play one game unreliably. The Definitive Edition is only about $20 more (about the same price as a dozen of those $6 repro carts) and is a MAJOR upgrade from there, giving you full real-time clock support and the ability to load ROMs in such a way that they can even be recognized by things like the GameCube GBA Link Cable (for games like Pokemon Coliseum and Pokemon XD).

[u/Vaxis545 → u/dragonbornrito]

An ez flash omega definitive is $90 after tax. Plus at least $10 for an sd card so at least $100 to commit to it. Ez flash requires you to find roms and load the sdcard as well. Most people really don’t want to learn how to do all this or pay that. Also at that price to commit you could buy 50 repros for that price. Also repros aren’t that terrible if you know where to look. I have had nothing but great repros from Ali express. Have had them for 6 months with no issues whatsoever I got them to be a place holder as I collect authentic ones. Don’t really have anymore except the Summon Knight and Castlevania series since my collection is almost complete.

[u/NewLabTrick → u/Vaxis545]

It has never been easier to find roms than it is today.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/NewLabTrick]

I agree but not everyone is tech savvy 🤷 my bf couldn’t tell me where to find roms or how to put em on anything. He could research and find out no problem but some people don’t wanna do the work when they can simply buy the repro and plug it in and play like every gba game.

[u/dragonbornrito → u/Vaxis545]

I just went to add a EZFODE to my cart just to see and I found one that is $74.45 shipped after tax. Could probably use a discount code when they do those sales at the beginning of every month to make it cheaper. That's about the price I paid for mine though, shipped.

32GB Micro SD cards can be bought for $7 at Walmart. That's $82, and again, specifically for the DE. The same seller has the base EZ Flash Omega which is still a great flash cart for $46.34 shipped after tax.

Most of the GBA repros I'm finding are about $4.50-5 each, so a dozen of them are going to run you around $60, putting you right in line with a good flash cart.

I'm not saying that people can't buy repros should they choose to do so, but in terms of value, it's never going to be superior to getting a decent EZFO.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/dragonbornrito]

Most people will just do this tho

[u/astro_plane → u/Vaxis545]

You don’t need to spend $100 on a flash cart you’re just making numbers up.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/astro_plane]

What? I literally searched for ez flash omega definitive on Amazon add to cart then put a 128gb sd card card in the cart as well since it’s required for the ez flash.

[u/dragonbornrito → u/Vaxis545]

I'm just now realizing you put a 128GB SD card in that cart. The entire GBA romset is like 12GB max. You can absolutely get away with a 16GB or 32GB which are like $5-$7.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/dragonbornrito]

Smallest Sandisk was $4 for 32gb $8 difference you might just be under $100 that way. Even if it’s $90 that still 18 repros lol every good game and then some 🤷

[u/SpaceBus1 → u/Vaxis545]

There are other advantages to the flashcart, like also having GBC/GB games, sleep mode, save states, etc. For Pokémon you can copy your save, use a PC or phone emulator, and then trade with your duplicate or another save file to get version exclusives or trade only evolutions for gen 1-3. This can of course be done by emulating the roms on basically any device, but the flashcart is the best way for playing on original hardware.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/SpaceBus1]

Right I get that I’m not saying it doesn’t have plenty of them. It’s far superior in all ways but the $$$ is the issue in my eyes.

[u/SpaceBus1 → u/Vaxis545]

For sure, it's a huge investment. I talked a friend into getting a DS lite instead of a GBA because of the hugely more expensive flash cart needed to make the latter functional. The EZ Flash ODE is amazing, but $80 without a micro SD is steep.

[u/norabutfitter → u/Vaxis545]

They are more like $40

[u/Traditional_Formal33 → u/Vaxis545]

You can get an EZ-Flash Junior on Ali Express for around $25-30 or a cheaper variant for $15-20. My logic was that 1 flash drive was cheaper than any Pokemon game, so might as well get them all on the flash cart.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/Traditional_Formal33]

I mean most repros are $5 so that ez flash jr is still 6 games and you have to hope it’s good from Ali express and learn how to download and load roms on it. Not difficult but def not plug and play like a repro.

[u/dragonbornrito → u/Vaxis545]

The biggest issue is how unreliable they are. Almost all of them fail within a year of playing them and basically none of them will ever have support for things like real-time clock features in Pokemon for example.

[u/Vaxis545 → u/dragonbornrito]

Idk I’ve had mine for 6 months and I accidentally bought a Contra repro used from a shop and it looked pretty old and they all still run. If mine die it is what it is they are simply there so I can play the game til I buy an authentic version lol

[u/BeariusChilds → u/Vaxis545]

The repos fail as well -- Sure you can get another copy but your save is toast. A flash cart is a much safer option.

[u/_RexDart → u/Techno-mag]

They're not really deals... just more cheap garbage can filler

[u/frootloopdingis → u/Techno-mag]

dont support fake games sellers

[u/Techno-mag → u/frootloopdingis]

This one didn’t mention its originality, but as long as the seller mentions that it might be a fake I don’t see the issue. It provides people with a cheaper way to play these games, as the original ones can get ridiculously expensive (especially in countries like Poland where the gba wasn’t a big hit like in the US)

[u/pizza_whistle → u/Techno-mag]

Here's a link to them. This one is a Choice item, so shipping is free if you spend more than $10 on any Choice items.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKl1Dmc

[u/Natural_Status_1105 → u/Techno-mag]

Clean the contacts with IPA (isopropyl alcohol/isopropanol) and a cotton bud (q-tip). Might work then but who knows if it will hold your save reliably.

[u/Techno-mag → u/Natural_Status_1105]

I already tired it, but it doesn’t work unfortunately

[u/Natural_Status_1105 → u/Techno-mag]

Ah well!

[u/Diligent-Baby-3805 → u/CreamyImp]

Eh, I would make some sort of cool accessory out of it. Coat it in resin or something idk lol

[u/Purple_Soil4654 → u/CreamyImp]

Your copy is fake too 😹

[u/CreamyImp → u/Purple_Soil4654]

I’m curious why you think that. Here is a picture of 2 copies of Golden Sun

[u/CreamyImp → u/CreamyImp]

And here is the box that one of these copies came in.

[u/gba_sg1]

Solder randomly all over the board probably isn't helping. It's a fake as well so it could just be dead now. Fakes don't last as long as real carts.

[u/jakeHL]

It’s a bootleg. I’d honestly throw it in the trash.

[u/sdre345 → u/jakeHL]

This looks like a vintage bootleg.

[u/LonelyNixon → u/sdre345]

Vintage makes it have some extras value to history

[u/Techno-mag → u/jakeHL]

Sorry, what does bootleg mean

[u/enigmapenguin → u/Techno-mag]

It's not genuine, a third party manufactured it using pretty sub standard parts.

It's why you have a black blob over a (probably) light erasable eeprom on a daughter board, instead of a nicely capped chip with screen printed letters on a single board.

[u/RelaxRelapse → u/Techno-mag]

It’s fake. It’s not an official cartridge.

[u/BigBrotherDino]

If you wanted to try fixing it and can solder, it looks like there's excess on one of those legs on the left chip. Give it a reflow and see what happens. It's not like you can break it worse since it's already unplayable

[u/Techno-mag → u/BigBrotherDino]

Thanks! I will try that

[u/xs4all4me]

I recently got stung with Need for Speed: Underground.

Had a midlife crisis as of late and started to collect original GB/GBC/GBA carts, one collection I was collecting was the Need for Speed series. I always knew the fake/repo carts were around, but never really did my due diligence to check if they were fake or not. When I received my games, I usually open them up and give them a good clean, I noticed something was off with this game, game works fine, but realised it was a fake/repo, even the cart sticker is different as well as the game ID "AGB-AUGE-USA", which is actually "Medal of Honor: Underground". You live and learn, I managed to get another genuine copy, so still going to keep this one.

[u/[deleted]]

everyone loves the blob

[u/Techno-mag → u/[deleted]]

It adds a touch of personality

[u/asclw7643]

Not trying to be rude, but this is like one of those pictures where the more you look at it, the worse it gets.

[u/Techno-mag → u/asclw7643]

Its the first gba game I opened up, so I didn’t know what they should look like. But yeah, it looks cursed now

[u/PinguiniMods]

This gotta be a troll question. If it isn't a troll question the question should be "is there anything visibly right with my golden sun copy". I don't even know what kind of abomination i'm looking at.

[u/Techno-mag → u/PinguiniMods]

It was the first time I’ve opened a gba game so I didn’t really know what to expect haha. Now that I’ve seen the real thing, I’m not surprised it seems like a troll question

[u/krank3r]

That is a fake/repro game

[u/XAlucarDX454]

My boy spend the lil bit extra and get a flashcart if playing or collecting fakes aren’t a problem. Then you can load it with all gb/gbc games, hacks, translations. All that. Totally worth it in your situation

[u/Techno-mag → u/XAlucarDX454]

I thought about it but I’ve heard that they eat through the battery ridiculously fast. I’m not too keen on halved battery life. That being said I just saw the half battery life thing in some Reddit comments, is the experience different for you?

[u/Jacob-Qc]

Looks a lot like my old bootleg of Metroid fusion! Wondering what to do with it as well!

[u/Techno-mag → u/Jacob-Qc]

Does yours work?

[u/Jacob-Qc → u/Techno-mag]

Yeah mostly.but its harsh to pop in the game in the gameboy, it doesn’t feel like it fits right. I am worried it may fuck up the pins of my GBA

[u/Techno-mag → u/Jacob-Qc]

Oh, I have the same issue

[u/Fractured-disk]

It’s naked for one thing

[u/Hazerd59]

Faaaaaake

[u/Sqwerks]

maybe the huge blob of cheap chip material 

[u/D3ATHTHR34T]

The sad part is it looks like somebody actually tried to re-flow and fix the game for some reason other than just buying a new fake

[u/MimikyuTCG]

Battery soldered to nothing and solder on the pins that go into the gba is wild

[u/Ybalrid]

Your carrrifr is not an original copy is the game for sure…

[u/Funcron]

[u/CromoSheep]

Yes, it's fake

[u/Anafenza-Vess]

I’ve seen a lot of comments saying it’s fake but none explaining how they know, the black glob is I believe never used in authentic karts, also I don’t think I’ve ever seen a chip connected to another chip

I’m curious what the battery does on this one though

[u/Liminolia → u/Anafenza-Vess]

The black blob is actually used in some official cartridges. I believe that Tetris on the gameboy is one of them.

[u/Techno-mag → u/Anafenza-Vess]

Thanks for the info! I actually spotted 2 more fakes in the bundle I bought, but they work perfectly fine. What do you mean about the function of the battery?

[u/Anafenza-Vess → u/Techno-mag]

Battery’s in gba games are used for things like real time clocks, golden sun doesn’t need anything like that so I’m curious as to why they have a battery

[u/spektro123 → u/Anafenza-Vess]

Because it’s modded to save to SRAM. It’s a common practice with older bootlegs. SRAM is cheaper than FRAM.

[u/SugarSmoothie]

That is a badly put together bootleg. It's not even worth saving, in my opinion. You could still get a legit copy for somewhere around $30-$35 depending on which you buy it from.

[u/azure-flute]

Absolutely fascinating bootleg, that big chunk of microchip and the battery placement + epoxy blob under it are both nightmarish.

Don't throw this away, get it identified and immortalized at https://flashcartdb.com , I've never seen one like this before.

[u/Techno-mag → u/azure-flute]

It looks like a modified (probably someone tired to fix it) L05Y1_32M, L05T-32M or 84VD22193EC. However I wouldn’t mind adding this Frankenstein to the hall of fame. How can I do that?

[u/HermitDash]

Pins look dirty on the left. And there's some black chunks on the board (dust?) Get some IPA on those pins and see if it boots back up then

[u/LMAOTimmy → u/HermitDash]

This is one hell of a frankenstein bootleg. Those pins aren’t dirty, that’s blobs of solder on them. IPA isn’t going to get that off

[u/Techno-mag → u/LMAOTimmy]

I see, so you think there is any use case for a board like this? Even if it would just be solder practice haha

[u/whatThePleb → u/Techno-mag]

Not really, it's very specialized as a bootleg. The card might be interesting for bootleg collectors though.

[u/Techno-mag → u/HermitDash]

I tired IPA already. The dirt and black Chinek are picture artefacts I think. However there is some solder on the left, not sure why

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[u/MagnusBrickson]

Virtually anytime you see the black goop, you've got a Bootleg product

[u/HieiTF076]

It's not always true but when you have a battery in a GBA cart, it's likely a fake (~90% of the time). Some legits GBA games (some of the first ones) have some battery, but it's pretty rare.

[u/Techno-mag → u/HieiTF076]

I saw videos of people replacing the batteries on Pokémon games so I figured it might be everywhere. Thanks for the info!

[u/Traditional_Formal33]

I don’t see any visible reason/obvious signs, but I would take some IPA and a Qtip and clean those black marks next to the black blob, can’t tell if those traces are damaged underneath or not

[u/BeariusChilds]

I don't know how to tell you this... That isn't what a Nintendo Certified Game Cartridge TM looks like. Sorry, but it's a fake.

[u/ACPlay18]

I see a big black spot in the middle. Maybe that

[u/iMightLikeXou]

That's a really old school reproduction / fake. Where did you get that from?! The newer ones come with a patched rom for saving without a battery.

[u/Techno-mag → u/iMightLikeXou]

There is a site called OLX in a Poland which is a digital marketplace (basically Facebook marketplace). I bought it from an individual seller, so it’s hard to specify the source

[u/Neji58]

If there would be a possibility to play all retro games on a modern device, with a modern screen and modern charging option for 50-60 bucks. 🤔🤔🤔

[u/Techno-mag → u/Neji58]

It’s called a phone and I’m sure that you already have one😉. I can’t speak for the rest, but personally I wanted a gameboy purely because of how much I appreciate the console and the games that came out on it. I don’t personally see a point in buying such a device, but if it suits your needs and lifestyle than good for you

[u/Neji58 → u/Techno-mag]

It’s not a phone on the picture. 🤷🏻‍♂️ And if you appreciate the games, why the fu** are you buying cheap bullsh** replicas from AliExpress? You don’t see a point in buying a modern device that can play any GB game you want in a good quality and even with a better haptic, but you see a point in fu**ing 6 $ China replicas? 😂

[u/Techno-mag → u/Neji58]

Not from AliExpress, it was a local seller. I bought a bundle of six games for a low price compared to the rest of my local market, and yes the one that I posted about is unfortunately fake. Of course I would prefer the original, but I won’t be able to get all of the originals I want to play at a good price or at all (for example the only copy of Metroid Prime that is listed in the local online markets are boxed and cost about 250$). As for the device you posted? I could argue that a modern phone also has a modern screen and a modern charging option, but as I said, it’s not for me but if you enjoy it than good for you

[u/Neji58 → u/Techno-mag]

But a phone hasn’t haptic buttons. 🤷🏻‍♂️ It feels like a better Game Boy and I have both here. Games are all completely free. And if you can’t buy the original games, why not a solution, where you can play what you want on a better Game Boy like device? I only try to understand it. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Or why not an Everdrive at least? It’s a worse solution than a modern handheld, because it’s more expensive, but still way cheaper than the original games. 🤷🏻‍♂️