Tips for Finding Fake Sealed Vintage Games

[racketboy]

I'm getting ready to put together a post to accompany this video:


Does anybody have any other tips for spotting fake sealed games?
Or if you know of links to other good discussion on the topic, please share them here.

Thanks!

[AznKhmerBoi]

i know when gamestop get new shipment of new games, they actually unwrapped it take the disc out putting it the paper sleeve. Then when you go buy brand new game they take the disc from sleep open the box or case of the game slap a GAMESTOP sticker on it and call it BRAND NEW NEVER OPEN

[Opa Opa]

If the price is too good to be true; it normally is. Just do some searches and compare pricing to see if a game is the real deal or not.

edit: I haven't watched the video yet so I don't know if I just repeated something that has already been stated.

[racketboy]

i know when gamestop get new shipment of new games, they actually unwrapped it take the disc out putting it the paper sleeve. Then when you go buy brand new game they take the disc from sleep open the box or case of the game slap a GAMESTOP sticker on it and call it BRAND NEW NEVER OPEN

True. Although, in this case we're talking about more vintage stuff like like Atari, NES, SNES, Genesis, etc

Sorry I didn't specify

[Bikeage]

For starters I would look for signs of aging (yellowing, brittleness, texture, odor) in the plastic of a shrinkwrapped vintage game. And just common sense, does it look like it was done with cheap plastic and a hair dryer or by a machine? And the older it is, the more likely it should exhibit some some wear and tear. I'd be more dubious about a perfectly preserved 2600 game than a good condition sealed copy of Madden 64.

[Xeogred]

Awesome video, awesome idea for an article.

In some cases the stores around me seal up PSX games all the time, but they still don't sell them as mint new copies or anything. I think it's nice, but I guess a little odd they'd do that too. As long as they're not claiming they're new, I guess that's cool.

[Hobie-wan]

Disc based games are not sealed in shrink wrap like old cart games where. They are in cellophane that's folded and glued at the top and bottom. If needed I have sealed PS1, PS2, Wii, and 360 games immediately handy for pictures. I do have one sealed Genesis game too but I'm too lazy to dig it out at the moment. I hadn't noticed the fact it was a tube with just seams at the top and bottom.

[Crabmaster2000]

Here is a guide some of the guys over at Nintendoage use:

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-to-Spot-Res ... 0001556334

If you want specifics on sealed NES games shoot Bronty or Rare Bucky a PM over at Nintendoage. They are both experts on the subject and seem like very approachable people willing to share their expertise.

For reference Bronty is 3 games short of having an entire sealed NES library. They both have a lot of knowledge regarding authentic seals for other system too, NES just happens to be their forte.

[Curlypaul]

Awesome video, awesome idea for an article.

In some cases the stores around me seal up PSX games all the time, but they still don't sell them as mint new copies or anything. I think it's nice, but I guess a little odd they'd do that too. As long as they're not claiming they're new, I guess that's cool.

Yeah my local gamestation go thru phases of doing that, sometimes the old games are resealed and sometimes they are not. They havnt been doing it lately except for the GBA games. I think they reseal those to keep all the bits inside the half squashed boxes, but I find that annoying as I can't check if the cart is a pirate or not.

To answer the thread, I normally just examine the quality of the wrapping. I've seen some really neat reseals but its never as thick plastic as a factory seal and they never ever have a tear strip.

[Hobie-wan]

Also for PS1 games in jewel cases, the presence of a top seal sticker does not guarantee that it has never been opened. It is easy to pop the bottom hinge and get the case open and get at the contents. I usually do this since it makes it easier to peel the seal off new audio CDs in one piece. You muse see the seal and the folded cellophane wrap both.