Are my games fake?
I'm new to these forums, but I'm pretty sure you've heard this story before: I bought two games, Pokemon Diamond and Platinum, off of ebay in used condition, and I'm wondering if my games are fakes or not. I was pretty convinced they were real when I bought them, but something happened that made me think.
The two games were sold as a bundle. Only a few hours after I paid for the two games I received an email from ebay that they had removed the offer from their website, claiming it violated either their policy or someone's copyright. They told me that if I had already paid for the items, I should wait 10 days and if I still hadn't received them I could get my money back from them. Naturally, I sent the person selling them an email asking why the item was removed. The seller contacted me the next day, saying it was because ebay thought he was using the pictures of another seller.
Today I received the two games in the mail. They were sent from the UK (I live in the Netherlands) and arrived after only a few days. Awesome. I took them out and compared them to the only other 4th generation game I own, Soul Silver. A few things immediately stood out to my now sceptic mind:
- The game serial number on the front is USA, and not EUR.
- The cartridges are dark grey, opposed to my Soul Silver cartridge which is black.
- On the back of my Soul Silver cartridge, the Nintendo logo and the line below it (NTR-031. PAT.PEND.) are in dark black ink. On the back of Platinum and Diamond, they are a darker grey than their cartridge and appear to have been 'engraved' into the cartridge.
- The serial numbers on the back of the Platinum and Diamond cartridges are in a darker ink and can easily be read when I tilt them. The serial number on the back of Soul Silver turns 'invisible' when I tilt the cartridge at a certain angle.
Now I'm 99% sure my Soul Silver game is legitimate: I bought it when it came out from my country's #1 online store. But I have no experience with the new Generation other than Soul Silver, and no experience at all with games from other regions. I'm wondering if they're real. Can anyone help me determine that, so perhaps I can try to get my money back if they're not?
I've added some pictures as attachments so you can see what I'm talking about.
Any help would be awesome!