With the increasing prices of SNES titles, especially the rare or highly sought after titles, there's a lot of fakes popping up on eBay and other sources (craigslist, kijiji I'm sure, and even on the forums of various websites like NintendoAge).
The first thing to be on the lookout for is the label. While this isn't always a sure fire way to determine if the cart is legit or fake (some people replace labels from badly damaged ones, as well as bootleggers scuffing them up to show age and wear), this will at least get you to open the game up.
(full size pic:
http://i191.photobucket.com/album... )
The spacing between the edge of the label and the bevel should be even all the way around, with very little spacing in between the edges (about 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch). There should also be a semi gloss look to it and feel to it, though this isn't always the case. Some Majesco labels aren't semi glossy and feel rather cheap, and I believe there are some other titles that are like that as well (ones released from Japan). Now, if there's an alternative artwork, chances are, it's a fake label.
Fake labels aren't necessarily a bad thing - there could be numerous reasons for a fake label, though it's not common in practice.
Next up is the PCB of the game:
Back side of the pcb
(full size pic:
http://i191.photobucket.com/album... )
You'll notice there aren't any wires and the solder joints are perfectly machined. This isn't always a sure fire way to determine a fake or not, as there are plenty of games that people have had to resolder a joint or 2. Also notice there aren't any wires. No wires is a good thing, though there are several methods to reproducing a SNES cart.
The biggest sign of a fake cart is this:
The front side of a PCB
(full size pic:
http://i191.photobucket.com/album... )
See that bottom chip there? That's called a mask rom. All commercially released games use these. If these are not present, the game is 100% fake.
(image from TobyManhattans thread. TobyManhattan, if you don't want me using your pic, please let me know)
This is a TSOP chip and adapter board. Seeing this means it's 100% fake.
The eproms: If you see one of these (they will generally have a sticker over the window there), it's also a fake.
Now, there's one other method a person can use, and that's by using an EEPROM. These look like mask roms. If you have *any* doubt, punch the numbers you find on the chip into google. If the numbers don't come up, chances are it's a legit cartridge (though there should be a complete list with mask rom numbers). If it's an EEPROM, the part number will come up on various websites that sell them.
If anyone has anything else to add, post it here and I'll update the thread
ETA:
nes_pimps how to determine a fake thread:
http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...
As Faltain1 suggested: Check the persons selling history to see how many copies of the rare titles they've sold recently. If they've sold quite a few amounts of the same title, it's highly possibly they're repro'ing them and you will most likely want to take a much closer inspection of the pictures, ask for pics of the boards, and if you're still unsure, grab a pic and ask the community.
ETA: Byuu added some great info:
Originally posted by: byuu
Your guide is spot-on for US games. I'll add what I can.
The following games are in fact EEPROM games, on SHVC-*P** boards:
* Kunio-Kun no Dodgeball da yo! Zen'in Shuugou - Tournament Special
* From TV Animation - Slam Dunk! Shueisha Limited
Both of these will have phillips screws, and the EEPROMs will *not* be socketed.
Any other prototype game will be EEPROM (look for a serial stamp of SHVC-*P**-**, make sure there are no wires or obvious resoldering spots.)
Every other limited edition game (500 or less copies) are always MaskROM.
The following games have golden clamshells:
* Kunio-Kun no Dodgeball da yo! Zen'in Shuugou - Tournament Special
* Super Tetris 2 + Bombliss (there is a gray normal one too)
* Super Bomberman 2 - Caravan
* Super Bomberman 5 - Corocoro Comic
All four of these have only the *outer* shell spray painted gold. If you open the cart up, the insides will be gray, and it's usually a pretty bad job of painting so the gold to gray lines are uneven. This is just how these are, and it's perfectly legit. I've had six different gold carts from six sellers, all the same way. Others have confirmed the same thing. They were cheap in making these, because they were all limited 200 or less run games.
Kunio, Bomberman 2 and Bomberman 5 have custom ROM data and custom label art, so these are hard to fake.
Tetris 2 is much easier to fake, it's identical to the retail game. Be very careful buying this one.
Best I can tell you is to get the other gold carts to compare, and make sure the gold is inside the screw holes too. Sometimes shoddy fakes won't get the paint in the screw holes and you'll see gray there. (Like that Yam-Yam fake. Speaking of that, any Yam-Yam gold cart you ever see is fake. Only one exists, inside Mandarake-Japan, and they won't sell it to anyone.)
The Japanese modem-based games (JRA PAT, JRA PAT Wide) have FlashROM memory chips inside of them, but are not fake. Their cartridge shells are black.
Nintendo Power games come in white clamshells, and use FlashROM chips.
SA-1, SuperFX and Cx4 games sometimes have very tiny MaskROMs (see the pic above), the reduced pinout gives them more board space for other stuff.
Mega Man X2 is SHVC-2DC0N (two MaskROM chips), and Mega Man X3 is SHVC-1DC0N (one MaskROM chip.)
Any ROM chip that is entirely blank (surface writing removed) is from a fake board.
However, not all boards will have serial numbers and model numbers on the ROM chips.
Majesco is particularly bad here, you will see "FAMILY FEUD" only, stamped onto the ROM on their version of said game.
Most PCBs are dark green. Some from EA/Majesco/Maxi will be blue or really light green. But you'll see EA-, MJSC-, MAXI-, SHVC-, SNS-, SNSP- stamped on the board somewhere in gold letters.
Much more insidious are fake boxes and manuals. Since those triple the cost of loose games, you'll see a lot more fakes here. Usually copies are duller, in "too good to be true" mint condition, blurrier, poorly aligned, etc. But some are amazingly good copies. Your best bet here is to scan at 600DPI and verify that it has the screening effect typical of industrial printers. Someone making small runs of boxes is unlikely to be using the same printing process as Nintendo did in the '90s.
