Are my pokemon 3rd gen, Emerald and Ruby, cartridges original?

Solution 1:

For me, there is every sign that both of these are legitimate cartridges. Everything looks exactly as it should in a real cartridge, and I can't believe a faker would go to so much effort to make a fake copy - if these are fakes, they're the best I've ever seen!

With thanks to this website: https://chieftain20.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/complete-guide-to-authentic-gba-pokemon-games/ which has full pictures of legitimate cartridges, and a guide to spotting fakes.

Firstly, the stickers on the front. The Emerald sticker is very worn, but it has all the right elements in the right place for a US cart. Similarly, the Ruby cart has all the right elements in the right place for a UK cart (note the CE mark and lack of an ESRB rating, along with the different Seal of Quality and code, indicating the European release).

Legitimate US Emerald cart:

UK Ruby cart:

Stickers of genuine carts will often have an embossed number in them from the factory; lacking this is not a sign of a fake, but having it is almost a certain sign of a genuine copy.

Looking now at the back of the cases, here are the genuine ones:

The text font and positioning of your carts looks correct, and you can see the right layout on the insides.

Looking at the circuit board, there are a few different styles that it could be, so don't worry that your didn't match that other website - instead, yours seems to match this one:

Your circuit board looks to have all the right components in the right place (albeit with a replaced battery), and the right text and font written on it. The 2002 text on the Emerald cart is also correct, based on this image (note that this particular Emerald cart is using the other style of chip inside):

In short, everything is so close a match that I'd be confident to say they are legitimate. As mentioned in my comment, though, getting hold of a fourth generation DS game and attempting to use the migrate option would provide firm proof (counterfeit games would likely fail Nintendo's anti piracy checks and this be unable to migrate to gen 4).