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These methods of verification have been debunked. As a result, we should not be using these methods as a sole means of verification. Ever.

Contents

  1. AI/LLM's (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.)
  2. Nintendo DS
    1. The Dual Screen Logo
    2. The Light Trick for NTR-031
    3. Top Seam
    4. Inked Codes
    5. Square Dotted "i" in Nintendo Debossing
  3. Nintendo Game Boy DMG/Color/Advance
    1. Number Stamps
    2. Golden Rectangles
    3. Pins/Vias
  4. Nintendo Switch
    1. Top Seam
  5. Software/Hardware
    1. Analogue 3D, Duo, Pocket
    2. Epilogue GB Operator
    3. Epilogue SN Operator
    4. TWLSaveTool
  6. Special Thanks

Artificial "Intelligence"/LLM's

The use of Large Language Models (LLM) or other variations of AI should not even be considered for a port of call for verifications. This includes but is not limited to ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Gemini. This is because most AI's cache data from outdated sources, and then parrot said outdated and debunked information without fact-checking said info; along with using vast amounts of energy and causing the price of RAM to spike. The below images were sourced from ChatGPT, and it's "infinite" wisdom.

Example of a Mani-produced DMG cartridge.
Mani is a Chinese company Nintendo licensed the Game Boy brand to in China and Hong Kong.
The MASKROM for Ruby was swapped to a AGB-E06-20 board. Whilst a common PCB used for Game Boy Advance titles, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald only use AGB-E05-01 PCB's.

Nintendo DS

The Dual-Screen Logo

Every DS cart should have the dual-screen logo. However, there are instances where the logo has been omitted due to printing errors. This is rare. Most dual-screen logos include a skewed marker, but there are some carts have the marker squared off, such as Pokemon Black 2. This is also normal, and as a result, we shouldn't be using this as a verification method.

Legitimate Dual-Screen logos for the NTR-005 and NTR-031 carts. Skewed, straight and missing.

NTR-031 - The "Light Trick"

Pokemon games are among some of the most counterfeited carts, including those that use the Pokewalker add-on. Luckily, these fake carts are very easy to spot in comparison with other grey NTR-005 carts. The main difference between the standard NTR-005 and NTR-031 carts are that the NTR-005 carts are grey, NTR-031 are black with a reddish tint when held up to any form of light - this is because of the IR used with the Pokewalker add-on. NTR-031 carts were also used with DS games that required the use of a pedometer, such as Personal Trainer: Walking.

The issue with the light trick however, is that the translucent carts aren't as foolproof as once thought. There are three main issues with using the light trick for a verifcation:

  1. Relabels: It's easy to remove the label from Walk With Me/Active Health, and tack a third-party label for an NTR-031 Pokemon game. Consider the profit gained from a £3 game, with a £7 label. £10 upfront cost for £40+ profit, based on loose prices in 2024.
  2. Counterfeits: Yes, the NTR-031 casings can be faked. These cartridges have been on sale on AliExpress since May 2023, regularly available loose for £10 +shipping. The casing is close to the originals, being 0.12mm thicker, however. The majority have NTR-031 engravings, although we have noticed more fakes including NTR-005.
  3. Recasings: This is entirely dependent on the mounting mechanism used on the NTR-005 cartridges, as some NTR-005 cartridges use 2-pin or 4-pin casings. Due to the rear and front casings being "hot-welded" together, it's very difficult (but not impossible) to re-close the casings after disassembly. The NTR-031 cartridges require the 2-pin variants.
1. Example of the "light trick" using a relabeled HeartGold. Not a verification method as a result. Backside image of same cart, code is for Active Health.
2. Example of the "light trick" using a gen 3 counterfeit SoulSilver. Not a verification method as a result.
3. Example of an IRC PCB in a NTR-005 shell, disproving the misconception that failing the light trick automatically means fake.

Top Seam

The method of using front and rear bezels, and the top seam for a verification was commonly spread on YouTube from 2020 onwards, but we do not recommend the use of this method due to the fact that some legitimate cartridges lack the identifying molding lines and indents this method was known to use. There are five main issues with using the top seam for a verifcation:

  1. Some legitimate cartridges lack the molding lines on the rear bezel.
  2. Some legitimate cartridges lack the rectangular indents within the top seam, separating the front and rear bezels.
  3. Some legitimate cartridges lack the molding lines on the rear bezel, AND the rectangular indents within the top seam, separating the front and rear bezels.
  4. Recasing a fake PCB into a legitimate casing, or relabeling a cheaper cartridge.
  5. It is becoming more common for fake cartridges to include the molding lines and rectangular indents, as counterfeits evolve over time.
Top Left: Legitimate NTR-005 cart lacking molding lines on rear bezel.
Top Right: Legitimate NTR-005 cart including molding lines on rear bezel.
Bottom Left: Legitimate NTR-031 lacking both molding lines on rear bezel and rectangular indent on seam.
Bottom Right: Fake NTR-005 lacking both molding lines on rear bezel and rectangular indent on top seam.

As a result, the top seam is not a valid verification method.

Inked Codes:

Contrary to popular belief, games with the stamp ending in "xxxxN0J09" and "xxxxN0J22" do not equal a fake game. Legitimate games also have these inked codes. There are instances where the inked code looks pretty piss poor compared to a legitimate cartridge, and also instances where they look very close to the really thing. Take a look at Pokemon Diamond below. It's almost perfect.
Fake US Pearl with 0J09. Legit PAL Platinum with 0J09. Fake US Diamond with 0J22. Legit White 2 with 0J22.

There are some cases where the inked codes on legitimate cartridges do not match to a label. This is why we can not use this as a verification method.

Square Dotted "i" in Nintendo Debossing

The dot in the "i" of the Nintendo logo must match Nintendo's typeface, being square. A circular or ovular dot equals a fake. However, there are fakes with the square dot, and in certain lighting conditions and picture quality, the square can appear chamfered. As a result, this is not a verification method.

Nintendo Game Boy DMG/Color/Advance

Number Stamps

Any bloke and his dog can obtain a 3mm die-stamp kit and a rubber mallet for less than $15, and get stamping away on fake carts. This is exactly why we don't use the number stamps for a verification method. Whilst the majority of legitimate cartridges do have number stamps; a number of third-party titles, and even games produced by Nintendo themselves are known to completely omit the number stamps.
Fake Pokemon My Ass, with number stamp. Not a verification method.
Legitimate Fightbox GBA, no number stamp. Not a verification method.

4x Golden Rectangles

The golden rectangles are no longer a verification method. This is because:

  • Some counterfeiters have cottoned onto this being a (once) useful method of verification, and readily produce games with the 4x golden rectangles from 2017 onwards.
  • For the DMG era, some third-party manufacturers (e.g, Bandai, Mani, etc) and even Nintendo for some PCB variants completely disregarded the use of golden rectangles in their own boards.
  • In some exceptionally rare cases, some legitimate Pokemon games using the AGB-E05-01 PCB variant (Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald) omit the golden rectangles during production. Nintendo's QC was good, but some errors slipped through the cracks.
  • Some GBC and GBA PCB's do not include the golden rectangles. Some have a singular golden rectangle, 2x golden rectangles, and others have printed white rectangles.

As a result, the presence or absence of the golden rectangles does not mean a game is legitimate or fake. This is no longer a verification method; and is, in fact, a very unreliable method. This goes for DMG, GBC and GBA cartridges.

Fake Shantae GBC including the 4x golden rectangles. No longer a verification method.
Fake Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen including the 4x golden rectangles. No longer a verification method.
Legitimate Tetris DMG excluding the 4x golden rectangles, manufactured by Nintendo. Third times the charm... NOT a verification method.
Legitimate Pokemon Sapphire GBA excluding the 4x golden rectangles, manufactured by Nintendo. Very rare case, but further proves that this is NOT a verification method.

So what are the golden/white rectangle(s) used for, if not a verification method? They're a marker for confirming the production date of a cartridge, down to the month. Not to be confused with the copyright date on the PCB itself (this marks when the PCB was first designed). Based on the 4x rectangles, a section can contain up to 3 dots. 3x4=12. This is why 1, 6, 7 and 12 are marked on the offset of the quadrant, to make dating the cartridge easier; along with the year of manufacture in two-digit form (e.g, '00). If a dot is adjacent to 7 and continues down to 12, this means the cartridge was produced in July.

Mary-Kate & Ashley: Pocket Planner on DMG-KFCN-01 board variant.
Note the 1998 copyright design, and the production date of October 2000.

2x Golden Squares

There are also 2 gold squares on the top left and bottom right of the cartridge's board, front side. This confirms the authenticity of the board. If you're looking through the translucent plastic, three should be one easily seen square on the top left corner of the cartridge.

Again, some counterfeiters have cottoned onto this, and readily produce games with the 2x golden squares. As a result, this is no longer a verification method.
Fake Mother 3 US GBA including the 2x golden squares. No longer a verification method.
This cartridge is even foreshadowing the next section...

Pins

There are perfectly lined up holes above the pins of legit games. Some fakes have been spotted that share this trait, therefore it is no longer considered a reliable point of verification.
Fake Generation Three Pokemon games with perfectly lined up holes. Not a verification method.

Nintendo Switch

Top Seam

The top seam of reproduction and legitimate cartridge casings are identical.

Software/Hardware

Analogue 3D, Duo & Pocket

The Analogue 3D, Duo and Pocket have a library feature: whenever you play a cartridge, or CD in the Duo's case, it first attempts to identify it from an internal database of games. If it finds the details, it will display a screen with the game information - who developed it, who published it, the region it was released in, any image you've associated with it, the system it runs on for the Pocket, and any additional hardware support on the 3D.

If it doesn't find a match in its internal database, it will launch straight into the game (Pocket, Duo) or display "Unknown Cartridge" (3D).

The shortcoming with this is that, in order to make cart identification a fast process, it's not doing a full validation of the game (a full validation isn't guaranteed either, as many bootlegs don't modify the ROM code). It's only reading a small segment of the game's bytecode (first 512 bytes for the Pocket & the Duo's HuCard reader; first 512 bytes of the 2nd track for the Duo's CD drive; first 8KB for the 3D) & comparing a CRC32 signature of that to the values in its internal database.
Bootleg Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The game code has been modified to use SRAM instead of EEPROM, but it is still identified correctly.

Since it's only comparing a small segment of the game's code, this means that any bootleg that doesn't modify that part of the code will be identified by the title. OK, but what about if it doesn't get identified or it identifies as a different game? That means it's fake, right? Well, no.

  • Sometimes the library is missing information. (e.g. until the most recent firmware updates for the Pocket & Duo, a number of games for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 would never get identified properly.)
  • Sometimes a cartridge isn't making a good enough connection that it manages to calculate the signature properly.
  • Sometimes the information is just wrong. There are a number of games that have the incorrect regions listed (e.g. Pokemon revisions that it claims were only released in Europe or the USA, but were released in both.)

And for a few games (particularly ones on non-Nintendo platforms), the signature is not unique, resulting in real games being identified as different games.
Bootleg Cotton for the Neo Geo Pocket Color. Because it's not just GB/GBC/GBA games that this can happen to.

Epilogue GB Operator

The GB Operator is a device marketed by Epilogue that allows you to play, back up saves and detect bootleg cartridges - this is the issue. It doesn't detect all of them.

Here's an example of a bad fake of Pokemon Gold for the Game Boy, marked as "legit" by the GB Operator.

Fake Pokemon Gold, marked as "Legit" by GB Operator. Not a verification method.

Legitimate Pokemon Silver, marked as "Rewriteable Cartridge" by GB Operator. Not a verification method.

According to Epilogue's website (as of Feb 5th 2026), 388 "suspected" counterfeit cartridges were identifed through community reporting, and "achieving" a 98.7% detection rate under "controlled laboratory conditions". This means that out of 388 supposedly fake titles, 5 were deemed legitimate. As Epilogue do not make their "controlled laboratory conditions" public, nor the condition/images of their sample; we cannot prove the veracity of their claims.

Epilogue SN Operator

The SN Operator is a device marketed by Epilogue that allows you to play, back up saves and detect bootleg cartridges for the SNES. Using a similar architecture to the GB Operator as previously explained, it doesn't detect every fake cartridge; and in some cases gives out false positives.

TWLSaveTool

TWLSave Tool is a save file reader/writer. This allows you to back up saves rewrite to flashcarts. Modern counterfeits with accurate copies of ROM's have no issue fooling this save tool into believing a copy is legitimate.

Credits

  • Thanks to u/jakacop for the image of the PAL Pokemon Platinum in the "Stamps" section.
  • Thanks to u/flygon333333 for the images of the US Pokemon Diamonds in the "Top Seam" section.
  • Thanks to u/g026r for the write up on the Analogue devices.
  • Thanks to u/DonkeyKongOnN64 for the images of the fake Pokemon Gold in the "GB Operator" section.
  • Møøse trained to mix concrete and sign complicated insurance forms by u/Frontzie.