With the holiday shopping season upon us it seems only appropriate for a little refresher course in spotting counterfeit game cartridges.  Today's lesson is about how to identify a fake Game Boy Advance cartridge.

The real cart has a well-printed, well-designed, cleanly cut label. The fake has a blurry, poorly printed, poorly cut scan of the cover art. Nintendo would never let graphic design like that get out the door - it looks like hell. You can see the difference in the logo molded into the plastic between the two cartridges. The real cart also has numbers embossed on the label that are not present on the fake.

While picking out gifts for friends and loved ones this year be sure not to be taken in by fake cartridges and accessories.  Remember that the fakes aren't limited to appearing only on eBay, as sometimes actual physical stores wind up stocking counterfeits.  Always insist on the genuine article.