How to identify pirates

[ericj]

I think one of the best ways to tell if a game is a pirate is to look at the backside. They usually always have some weird label or the cart itself is imprinted with text. It'd be nice if you could always see the backside when buying, which isn't always available on auction sites. 

[UglyJoe]

Quarth is a small Konami cart with no hole on the side, just for reference.  Judging by the dates, their later games didn't have the hole.  Also, the labels don't expand up to the top.  It's just the forward facing and back label.

I think one of the best ways to tell if a game is a pirate is to look at the backside. They usually always have some weird label or the cart itself is imprinted with text. It'd be nice if you could always see the backside when buying, which isn't always available on auction sites. 

One of my legit carts has a back label that says "Top Boy Famicom Shop" on it.  It looks like some used game store put their label overtop the old one (you can still kinda see the standard warning label behind it).

[Medisinyl]

The only Pirate I have that someone new to famicom may get confused about is my SMB2j cart that uses art similar to a real cartridge, feels more sturdy than my other pirates, and it doesn't have a glob top anywhere on the board.  Of course, it has its obvious signs as well, and anyone that knows SMB2j doesn't officially exist on cart couldn't be fooled.

[nintendodork]

Yeah, the obvious sign on that cart would be the label.  All the writing doesn't have a 2 next to it.  It just says "Super Mario Bros."  They probably just altered a SMB label, and stuck that SMB2 graphic on it

[namakubi]

Also the label looks like a bad photocopy, and the fact that the image itself is from a handbill advertisement for SMB2 Jp.

[Medisinyl]

/\ You are right, it is slightly blurred/glossy in person as well.  But most casual collectors of NES games that look over to famicom for a few choice items wouldn't know the difference (without looking up threads like this of course).  My guess is that most people don't even know anything about pirate games...again, not anyone that is part of a forum like this. 

[JC]

Biggest problem: Nintendo never released their games in carts like that (What is that...the Namcot design?). Nintendo only used the standard Famicom cart design for retail releases.

[Medisinyl]

/\   I wouldn't say that is the biggest issue as there are many different cart types even just this thread has gone over...  so again, someone that didn't know any better wouldn't be suspicious over the cart, the label is in the format of a real label, and it has the sturdiness and weight of real carts of the same size (unlike my SMW that feels like an eggshell).  I think the biggest issue is what was mentioned above about the quality of the label appearance (for someone unknowing to suspect anything about whether the cart is legit or not).  Someone having read a thread like this would certainly suspect the cart appearance as you've noted.

[nintendodork]

Apparently it's pretty hard for pirate companies to make a quality label, because all the ones I've seen are blurry on at least one part...
i.e: My Mario 8 cart has clear font, but the sprites are blurry

[133MHz]

Apparently it's pretty expensive for pirate companies to make a quality label

There, fixed that for you.

[namakubi]

Apparently it's pretty hard for pirate companies to make a quality label, because all the ones I've seen are blurry on at least one part...
i.e: My Mario 8 cart has clear font, but the sprites are blurry

It's not that it's hard, it's more like most companies making counterfeit games don't care enough to make it look professional.

[JC]

Some of them cared, but I think you're right that most didn't. Most of them wanted a quick buck. But, some of them tried to perfectly duplicate the entire cart and label. Some companies, later on, made high-quality labels that looked nothing like the original labels because they wanted them eye-catching -- holographic or what have you.

[djdac]

One way you can tell if a cart is legit or pirate is looking at the back label.

Some legit carts have numbers and/or letters stamped or printed on the top corners of the back label. Below is a legit cart with a double digit number stamped on the left corner and a letter stamped on the right corner. And there are also six numbers on the bottom of the label.



And some legit carts just have a double digit number stamped on the left corner as seen in the pic below.



Other legit carts have a double digit number printed on the left corner, and others have just a letter printed on the right corner. As seen in the pics below.




In the pic below is a pirate cart. Notice how there are no numbers or letter stamped or printed in the corners. Also notice other differences as the top text not being circled and there are not 6 numbers at the bottom.



But please be advised that this is not always a 100% accurate way of telling if a cart is legit or a pirate. Below are two legit carts. The one on the left has no numbers or letters in the corners, but does have six numbers on the bottom. And the one on the right has a totally different label made by Namco with the company and console name on it.



Also some legit carts have Family Computer written on katakana on the bottom of the back label, or the (FF) Famicom family logo.

[Toneman]

Yup, and what's crazy is that to non Japanese speakers,"株式会社ナムコ" (Namco Manufacturing Company) would be very unobvious. Not only the console and the name is on it, but the game name as well. And that particular one is Tower of Druaga. LOL I had to say that, had I not known a little Japanese I would've passed that off as any ol' FC cartridge just cause I didn't see the front :p