Hate to bring this up again, but I thought the only way to prove authenticity was the back label. How can this be advertised as "authentic"?

s://m.ebay.com/itm/The-Legend-of-... OAAAOSwOA1Z~5c2

Seller has a lot of good stuff and 100% feedback, I'm assuming he or she is well known and has a good reputation

That's fine. But thats not the point. The only way to authenticate the cart is the back label. It doesn't have that.

Maybe because the seller bought it off of someone who did repair work for Nintendo, as a lot of other folks who ended up with these did?  Who knows, why not ask the guy?  It's possible it's a phony, but given the guy's other inventory and reputation, probably not (or at least they don't know about it if it is).  If you've got doubts, ask.  If you still have doubts, don't bid.  That honestly seems way too much for a technically damaged cart that, unless somehow specifically verified and then forever sealed in a plastic prison by one of the grading companies, will always suffer the same doubt by those in the know that you're expressing right now.

Holy smokes. That they do. That Hagane box is crisp. 


 

I've actually come across this seller several times on eBay. From what I have seen them sell or put up on auction had been all legit.... So idk....

I'm not saying the seller is trying to sell a fake. I'm merely pointing out that it's advertised as "authentic", when there is no way to verify that without the label on the back

I wouldn't touch that one. Not worth the hassle without the back label.

So, in the interest of finding the truth I think we should do a little game theory here.

If this was "fake", meaning, if this was a different test cart that was gutted and replaced with a zelda sticker/pcb, then wouldn't it be just as easy to replace the back label as well? Why go to the effort to replace the front label but not the back label?

My zelda test cart has a REV-A (top right) NES-ZL871104 (bottom left) label that is gold.

I don't think that the shell is fake, it looks the right color. Im not saying it cannot be done, but I've not spotted a fake shell yet that had the right color...they are always noticeably off color.

Yes, that seller is legit. Him and his brother (I'm assuming) run two different eBay stores, both with a little over 20k feedback. "twobrothergames" and "cjmarq" or something. They get some really nice stuff, and prices can be all over the place from pretty fair to outrageously high. My only problem with them is that their communication is awful. I've probably asked them 10 different questions over the last few years and have never once gotten a response.

I think it is probably real, but it will always be questioned. So if you buy it and ever decide to sell it then you have to answer the same questions all over again. So unless it's a super deal (which it isn't), not worth the hassle.

NGD inspected my cart in person and compared it to his zelda cart and believed it to be real. The plastic is definitely a legit yellow test cart. But there is no back label.

https://i.imgur.com/8ux9k2r.jpg...

Have we really gotten to the point when people question if a damaged cart is real or fake?
It is a damaged cart.
In any other hobby a damaged item such as this is worth 5-10% or less than that of one in mint shape.

Yes, again, I'm not questioning if the seller is legit. Regardless of how amazing the seller is, according to all of the information that I have run into on these zelda test carts, the only way to really show that they are "authentic", is the back label. It's missing the back label, as is mine, however, they both are legit yellow carts. Somebody would have to destroy a yellow test cart to make the zelda one. Seems highly unlikely to me. But my point about this post, is that the item was listed as authentic, but there really is no way to authenticate it.

If the only thing that points to authenticity was removed, wouldn't you question it?

The back sticker does help authenticate it, yes, but I doubt it was a universal mandate
Most of these seem to have been thrown together in test centers with leftover shells and labels anyway

If it is worth say $200 in a damaged state and you would have to sacrifice another yellow test cart to make it, no I wouldn't question it very long. 

Yea. Honestly I think thats just how these test carts go. There simply is no way to authenticate them since there was no standardized protocol for creating them. What was even the purpose of putting the sticker on the back shell anyways? Its not like it was going to be sold to the public and needed licensing/copyright info.

NGD = NationalGameDepot?

Im sure he's qualified to assess things, but since there is no real standardized protocol in the creation of these carts, how can he authenticate them? The only thing we can really do is use the hivemind of the community to assess the situation to determine the confidence of authenticity....and that's the best we are ever going to get. Its a retail zelda pcb with a zelda sticker and nothing else that could distinguish it from a retail cart other than the yellow shell. So at we can really do is look at the shell, its color, its attestment to age/wear, and speculate on it being an original.
 

Does the back label of a Zelda test cart actually differ from the normal retail cart? I can't remember.

No, it does not, and that's why it cannot be used to authenticate anything. 
 

Isn't it really hard to remove a label from an NES game and still have it look right? I feel like a relabel would look pretty obvious. Does anyone have pics of a confirmed fake, that looks genuine?

It certainly does. The test cart is not embossed like the retail label

Shit, you are totally correct. I completely forgot about that little detail and now that you mention it I remember going through this before. Its been a few years though :/

For preservation, I have taken a snapshot of a regular zelda label vs my test cart. It does indeed lack the embossing.

https://imgur.com/a/ZGEGl...