Hi Steve, I used to have a business repairing electronic musical instruments and came across this resin in a synth that I was fixing. The resin breaks down over time and sort of becomes a capacitor, thereby stopping the chips from working properly. The fix simply involved soaking the circuit boards in acetone (nail polish remover) overnight. The next day, I could peel off the resin and the circuit came back to life! It might not be the same with your games but it's worth a try eh? Keep making the videos, they're great entertainment.

1000% fake everything on the GBA stuff. But noble efforts in trying to make them work. I've binged your channel over the last month and you're one of my favorites to watch now. You really have found "your KZfaq Voice". Keep up the great work!

Hope you reported the scammer, stuff like this shouldn't be allowed much less circulated... they even had the audacity to make fake boxes.

Discovered Steve’s channel whilst I was in hospital recently. Easily the best and most entertaining repair channel I’ve seen. The raps are simply spot-on too…..🤣 keep ‘em coming Steve mate x

I love it when you repair old consoles. I am really amazed how the gbc cartridges all have the same problem.

First thought the boxes look incredibly fake, but even the plastic the cartridges are made from doesn't look right either, plus I've noticed that with clone carts, they tend to stick out a teeny-tiny bit above the game slot. Not surprising when you opened them up they looked like that, good stuff as always Steve

The best way to tell once you’ve got the cart open: the ROM chip will have the game’s serial number printed on it, and on the back of the board is the 4-square date code. You can see the date code on the back of the GBC games at the start of the video.

btw, IPA also works like magic for removing hotglue - just a few drops, let them crawl under the glue and after a few seconds you can take off the glue like its never been glued😉 (not that there is any hotglue in this video but it might come in handy later down the line)

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite KZfaq channels. I think over the last week or so, I've binged about every one of your videos. Cheers!

I'm pretty sure Nintendo don't soldier little boards with the chips on them to another board which you insert into the gameboy. Love the work you do Steve, keep it up 👍🏻

Love how it suddenly went from fixing Game Boy games into secret agent decoding a hidden message.

Very easy to tell if a Gameboy game is fake without opening it, if it has no stamped numbers on it. I have never seen a fake one with stamped numbers.

I love that every new video I check your subs and it's climbing! Congrats man, entertaining content and people are liking it! You should be getting some sponsors come calling now

One of my new favorite channels, makes me want to buy the equipment you have and fix my own games!

I had a fake pokemon emerald cartridge once. You could tell it was fake as the material that made the casing felt cheap and whenever playing the game, it would constantly freeze while saving and corrupt your save as well. It annoys me that second hand shops are selling fakes as they don't know how to tell the difference

Man, this channel is exploding with new subscribers! Every time you upload you almost double your subs, it's incredible. When I first started watching at the start of this year you had like 2-3k subs, now you're at 30k!! Damn good job mate. Keep it going!

I liked that little auto arrange icons edit. Very creative made me smile.

Just wonderful as always. I don't even do any of this stuff but it's interesting to watch and your humor and editing is fantastic. I hope you get a few hundred k more subscribers, you deserve it!

I LOVE your videos. You have inspired me to learn to weld ever since I started watching your videos!

The first thing I look for when I suspect a fake GBA game is if I can find a number or letter stamped on the cartridge's label. It's embossed and I have never seen a reproduction going as far as trying to copy that. If you open a cartridge and see black blobs it's a fake one. A battery is also most likely a sign of fake. They are used to keep save files on reproduction but real cartridges don't have batteries unless it's a Pokemon game with a clock feature.

It looks like a lot of time and effort went into making these knockoffs. I just don't understand how it is cost effective to sell them so cheap.

My thoughts on why the pins get loose is because its where you grab the cartridge to push it in and pull it out. Possibly putting pressure on the chip.

Hi steve. Pity about those 3 games, but another great video nonetheless! On another note I just finished uploading the firefox f7 repair video. It was a different fault to the one that you repaired.

my new fave channel aha, so glad i found you Steve, the vids are really relaxing and comforting. Much love and thanks

From my experience on fake carts, the pads on the cart that touch the cartridge slot of the console are also very bad quality... The pads degrade quickly and they start to make a bad connection with the console, even when they look kinda shinny. I don't know how to fix a cart pad :S Maybe put solder on top of it? But with solder on top we might damage the pins of the cartridge slot on the console.

Great video as usual mate. I'd definitely send those gba games back though especially if the seller didn't state they were bootleg in the description.

HAH! I absolutely LOVED when a mouse cursor appears out of nowhere and you autosort the icons. That made my day! Have watched loads of your videos and do appreciate the editing effort with throwing batteries and such. But this one was the best so far! :D

Loved the align to grid video transition, glad to see fame hasn’t affected your attention to detail!

Hi Steve, really been enjoying the content , my question is what do you do with the items you fix ? Do you have an ebay or do you dish them out to family and friends

That Gamboy advance with the ips screen is a perfect machine. Nice fixes Steve!

I haven't been invested in watching all the videos of a new channel I found, for a long time. I don't know what it is you got, but you got it. Exception are those that don't show your face. Your "on screen presence" is a vital part of the whole experience. Keep it up!

bootlegs uses flash memory to store the game rather than mask-rom, so sometimes since they use cheap worn-down chips the game can get erased/corrupted over time, nothing you can do about it. Might explain the few non-working ones.

Your ideas and originality for the video design always surprises me... amazing work!

Always lovely to see someone's solder learning project.

I wasn't a fan of the singing in earlier videos, but the rapping is bit gangsta. "I approve!", said random youtube guy.

Another point in the "clone cart" basket, I'm 99% sure those contacts should NOT be silver. They should be a brassy gold.

Your videos have inspired me to study electronics. Thank you very much. You are amazing.

From my experience all nintendo genuine cartrige's have two digit stamped number barely visible (not a print), on a front or back label. Never seen repro with it.

I'm so happy you uploaded a new video! I was running out of content in your channel to watch hahahaha

you need to sneak more of the playful raps into the videos,this just made my whole month. Hilarious!! I play your videos every night when I’m veging out with a warm meal. Love it!!

Sadly, not much you can do with fake games once they stop working. All you can do is give them a cleaning and check for any obvious damage. If that doesn't work, the chips on the board are almost certainly dead and there's nothing you can do about it.

Dude, you're going pro with the raps and the covers.

I guess im not your only new viewer but i think i've found my ASMR. Great work, thanks!

I died when you started rapping. Love it!

Get in!!! I'm not even 1 minute in and I just had to say that your "sort files" edit was top notch!

Steve you can u are a legend, just discovered your channel and I'm so glad! Thank you my dudeson!

Its always super exiting to watch your repair videos. I learned so much trough your past videos and you ale alwya so calm. PLease never stop doint this, I wanna learn more XD

It just goes to show how people will pass off dodgy or fake games it happened to me a few years ago but good effort trying to fix them Steve 👍

All those gba are fake. If you got that on ebay, just open a claim for counterfeit and ask for full refund. EBay is EXTREMELY harsh on counterfeit. The seller will have not choice to refund you and if he wants those fakes back, he will have to pay full shipping back to him. I did that multiple time and always got the full refund and kept the game since the seller will never want to pay for shipping back.

I found your channel 3 days ago and I am so addicted to watch it. First I came to watch the console and gamecartridge repairs but now I watched through so much else like the singing bass or repairing a pinball machine. x) Great videos! Also this is super motivating to learn something like this as well! :D

Another Good Video, Sorry you got scammed. I really enjoy the content your putting out. Hope you have a good weekend!

That David Beckham impression was top notch 🤣🤣

i bought a copy of forza motorsport 2, sealed off of amazon from a reputable seller. while the game disk and manual were genuine, the box art was obviously fake. i contacted them about it, sent photos of the cheaply made cover art and they refunded my money and had me keep the game.

I just completed my first ever electronics project, an infrared remote control with 8 buttons :D it's so cool making something to fix a problem (eg no TV remote). Need to improve my soldering skills though lol 😆

Typically, if you find a GBA game outside of America with an ESRB logo on it, it's all flavours of fake.

I don't mind clone games as long as they are high quality and clearly inform what they are. These GBA games failed on both fronts.

Love your videos sir. Keep up the awesome work.

as an avid collector of everything Gameboy I can confirm that all the GBA games and boxes are fakes but the Gameboy Color games are real :)

I just subscribed the moment you started to rapping the patreons, that was clever dude hahahaha, I enjoyed every bit of this video!

Love love love your channel. It actually helps me cope with chronic illness. Can’t thank you enough.

loved the "auto arrange" reminded me of the Amiga

bruh that song in background was sick like the song from "The gentlemen" movie like weird and ironic but yet sick af enough to bop and add to my Spotify playlist

Hi Steve I love watching your channel with my 3 year old and I love how you have taught me loads of tricks. Your videos are cool and I love it when you say nice lol. Have a lovely day

Hi Steve, love your channel had to subscribe. Got an amazing skill of fixing things, very entertaining and fun to watch 😄

That DB impression was uncanny

Smudge a bit of white thermal compound on the mystery chips and the markings will magically pop out. 😁

best patrons introduction ever!

Nice Beckham impression 😆 if you had made Beckham work it may have been satisfying to break it again permanently!

Love your videos Steve. You’ve inspired me to start learning electrical engineering. Recently took on my first baby project and replaced the screen and shell of a faulty PSP 3000. Went pretty well. Can holy hand grenade patrons contact you directly? Like ask you a question? I’d love to know more on your background. I know you didn’t say it here, but Everytime you say the “incorrect amount of thermal paste” it makes me laugh my ass off. I watch a lot of electronics videos and know exactly who you’re talking about. Your videos are the best. As your followers we should start blowing up I fix it to sponsor your videos lol.

Love that clip of you singing other side by red hot chili peppers.

the vast majority of all fakes are ESRB rated as PAL artwork at a decent enough resolution is less readily available (and counterfeiters don't much care about splitting batches if people are still going to buy them anyway), in our store they're always suspicious.

Before you even said anything, I thought those boxes looked off a bit. Thought maybe it was a Europe difference at first... Then the blob chips... pretty sure that's not standard on GBA carts... I'm assuming they weren't sold as fakes/clones?

Enjoyed you trying to fix stuff its very good

I like how the quality of your videos just keeps getting better.

I was most impressed by the rhcp at the end, Steve has height and depth impressive, even more so coz I can imagine him recording with a brew and a hob-nob.

I think this would be a perfect time to use those "fake" games and see how to mess with the BLOB!

This should go without saying, but if the battery has no voltage, it needs to be replaced. I'll bet that Yoshi's Island won't save.

I've found a good technique that tends to work on most sports titles - if you put them in the bin, the problem goes away. Fire also works.

I've found from experience that even if fake GBA games work, it doesn't mean they will save data. Not for long at least.

Great video Steve love the channel. You should see if you can find a dodgey gamecube to fix up soon? Would love to see that, Cheers for the laughs.

"I bought stuff off of eBay and I got scammed." That's a redundant statement. LOL

patreon rap was great. loving the videos 😄

9:32 I'm not sure if he understood what Norma Stitts actually meant. Guy got pranked good, and the worst part is that he sang it, along with all the other names.

God really put an amazing gift in you. You're awesome!! Absolutely love it.

You're gonna do it dude. you're a million subs channel in the making

I’ve never really been a handheld kinda guy. But the library of games is quite intriguing.

The “auto arrange icons” by itself made me like and subscribe

Just a tip, if you have those black resin blobs, you can get them off by heating them up to 125-150 degrees with your rework and pluk away any them with cheap pair of tweezers

Your using that mic from your last repair arent you steve😉👍👍👍 good work! fake games are a nightmare arent they

GBA games like Yoshi's Island don't use battery-powered SRAM. I've come across maybe five that do, but I swear the majority use some form of solid state like FRAM, EEPROM, or flash (authentic games have silk screened markings for which chip it is).

Did anyone else catch that when steve put in tarzan?(maybe) it was talking about a burnout game??

I discovered Steve's channel due a video of his being recommended to me.

In your next episode, could you try to speak in an American accent for the entire show? That would be excellent.

hit the blobs with hot air it will soften and you should be able to clean it up with IPA. They look like a main board with a daughter board soldered on for the actual game chips. lots of potential bad joints

Yo that patron track was fire

Just across your channel, you have a new sub, great and entertaining, keep up the work mate 👍

LOLOLOL Norma Stitts. Best Patreon ever!

LOL I died at your David Beckham voice

One thing u should check on the Gameboy games is the battery they fail on those and the game still works till u save the game the battery keeps the ram active on holding the save data steve

Hi Steve, here are some tips and tricks to spot fake GBA games. You should employ then when shopping for those on the internet: 1. The Game Boy logo. On real carts, the logo is made of a slick, sharp, flat logo. On bootlegs however they can appear very round and almost like bumpy. Now that you have bootlegs carts, I recommend you to compare them with the real ones. This will help you a lot in the future. 2. Most of the time, real carts have a Factory number pressed on the game sticker. You can see these with a little bit of sun reflection, but it may be difficult to spot on online photos. 3. The stickers itselves are sometimes made our of poor quality print, and even sometimes use the a totally wrong sticker. On Zelda Minish Cap bootlegs this is evident, because they will try to use an European game logo (Witch makes it suspicious) and even then, they use a silghtly different european game logo with a white shine around the logo that makes it obvious it's a fake. 4. Also, look for abvious wierd colored cartidges and check if thats normal (Kinda obvious, yhea) 5. Is it too cheap to be true and/or the seller is uncollaborative in prooving the validity of the cartidges? Then perhaps not worth the risk. Other tips that can help you after buying them: 1. The black blobs of doom, of course. 2. Lack of a circular battery, most of them use them. Double check though. 3. Wrong or lack of Nintendo (C) trademark and year. 4. Comonents being out of place, or wierd components present.