Scummy Retro Game Store Practices

[Ramminchuck]

Ok so this isn't a particularly upbeat first forum post but I want to get the opinions of retro game enthusiasts and collectors.

Let me set this up for you. Store in my city sells used games exclusively. They have everything from Intellivision games to virtual boys, 360 HD DVD drives and a large rack of current gen games. Now they charge an arm and a leg for old stuff that people would actually know. Basically any rpg is going to cost you around $80-$150. That isn't my big problem here though. They make carts of games that were either cancelled and never saw a release ANYWHERE, or of games that never came out here. I don't know how exactly they do this but I assume it has to do with roms. Two specific examples (one of which nailed me) are Nightmare Busters and the original Clocktower.

Now Nightmare Busters is a game that WAS in development by a French company called Arcade Zone. However it got cancelled, then later picked up by Super Fighter Team who are working on it now. This is what got me as I saw the cart and thought the game might be finished and someone had traded a copy in. At $80, not too much more than what it would cost to buy the game from SFT and have it shipped to Canada, I thought this was an alright amount to pay. I did look at SFT's site but glossed over the part that says the game won't be out until 2013. As far as I know there are no carts of this game in existence anywhere. When I went to return it the guy tried to tell me it was a translation of a released Japanese game. I called him on his bull as the game wasn't released, this is when I found out about the copy of Clocktower.

He told me they had a guy who translated Japanese games and put them out as playable North American style Snes carts. Quick wikipedia check and, yup, Clocktower on Snes never left Japan. Now the practice of putting fan translations on carts (or hell even unreleased games like Nightmare Busters although I'm pretty sure it's unfinished) and selling them to people doesn't bother me. The price tag of $80 does. More importantly, putting these fake carts in with real carts and then not telling customers that they are indeed fakes, pisses me the hell off. Is it just me, or is this a really scummy thing to do?

Also is there an easy visual thing to check for so I know what I may think is an official cart is authentic?

[emwearz]

They are not 'fake' as in bootlegs, I think most people tend to call them Reproductions / Translated carts, they tend to sell for $50-$100 online depending on how well polished they are, some members here make them and sell them. A lot of places require you to send in certain donor carts in order to buy the repo carts.

The amount of work that goes into them as well as the equipment needed paired with the small amount of people who offer the service means they have a fairly high price.

The only thing I see wrong about there practice is that they don't label them as reproduction / translation carts.

[Ramminchuck]

They are not 'fake' as in bootlegs, I think most people tend to call them Reproductions / Translated carts, they tend to sell for $50-$100 online depending on how well polished they are, some members here make them and sell them. A lot of places require you to send in certain donor carts in order to buy the repo carts.

The amount of work that goes into them as well as the equipment needed paired with the small amount of people who offer the service means they have a fairly high price.

The only thing I see wrong about there practice is that they don't label them as reproduction / translation carts.

Fair enough about the prices I suppose, at least of the repo carts. Also I'd need to look at the carts again but I think they may have put the Nintendo seal on them. Or at least nintendo's name at all. Doesn't that violate some sort of license laws?

[Gunstar Green]

Well most people who buy reproductions want them to look as authentic as possible so it's not surprising if the Nintendo Seal of Approval is on label. Yeah it's a gray area but it's usually kept between collectors and the people who make the reproductions and both parties are aware the game isn't legitimate.

But you have a point and this case is different. If they're representing these cartridges as authentic, official releases and not as homemade reproductions they're defrauding their customers and selling counterfeits.

[Ramminchuck]

But you have a point and this case is different. If they're representing these cartridges as authentic, official releases and not as homemade reproductions they're defrauding their customers and selling counterfeits.

Neat, guess I get to track down then have a fun conversation with the store owner.

[SamuraiMegas]

Think of it this way; you may get a large in store discount if you get angry enough.

[AppleQueso]

Think of it this way; you may get a large in store discount if you get angry enough.

Or just plain banned from the store. It's what I'd expect a store that tries to pass off reproductions as legit carts might do.

[Ramminchuck]

I'm a little less angry about it. At the very least I'm going to go in again and try and get them to separate and label the repro stuff as such. If they refuse to do that well...guess I'm sticking to finding all my stuff online.

[AppleQueso]

my main worry would be that if they're willing to pass off unreleased repros as official carts, they're probably selling repros of especially valuable games (Earthbound, for example) and trying to pass them off as real carts as well.

[Ramminchuck]

my main worry would be that if they're willing to pass off unreleased repros as official carts, they're probably selling repros of especially valuable games (Earthbound, for example) and trying to pass them off as real carts as well.

I am a little worried about that too as there was an Earthbound cart there priced at $250. Hopefully if I can talk to the owner I can get them to properly identify what carts are reproductions.