Bootleg cart at Gamestop = fail

[Hobie-wan]

So someone had posted that the PS3 Williams Pinball had been knocked down to $10 new at Gamestop. I already have and enjoy the PS2 version, but I went to look it up and it has a few more tables. I figured it was worth picking up for the higher resolution and tables since it was cheap. I headed to a slightly further away GS so I could check through different used stock while I was there. I was excited to find a Rocky & Pocky with Becky in their GBA carts. I asked the price and he said $5. "Score! I'll have something to post in the find of the day thread" I thought to myself. It was close to closing time, so I paid and left without really checking it.

I get home and take a better look. Then I notice the label is crooked and the image is squashed. There's no number stamp in the label.

Uh oh.

What's this? The molding on the cart text looks like ass, and is that a small label about the size of a price sticker under the label? Well horse shit! I open up the cart, and man is it ugly. To top it off, the monkey who was using photoshop put the wrong code. AGB-APRE-USA, which is on the cart, is for Power Rangers Time Force, the correct code is AGB-APKE-USA.

So yeah, I get to go back tomorrow. I didn't peel up the label to show the bad molding on the text on the back of the cart so that GS doesn't think I'm trying to pull a fast one. I'm just going to make them compare the crappy front, point out that the code is wrong, and the fact that you can't see the silkscreened Nintendo in the business end when its closed up. Yeah it was $5, but GS employees should know better and this is garbage. All the times I've mentioned what to look for on GBA boots, then I let my guard down at Gamestop.

Fake on left side, real on right.

[millerjm2]

It is a lot more common than you think. Nothing to really add, but this has happened to me on numerous occasions. I always check the label, screw, and weight of the cart beforehand. Actually I believe the first time this happened was with a Ninja-Five-0 cart like the one you have pictured. The label (like your Pocky and Rocky cart) was ajar, odd, and downright messy.

[Hobie-wan]

Thankfully my Ninja Five O is legit. It was just the first thing I grabbed of mine to make a comparison scan for others to see what a bootleg looks like.

[AARST]

There's plenty of ways to catch the fake carts. The best is shoddy labels, either they're not put on straight or the image is of really bad quality. I usually recognize it first by the bad quality plastic, though.

It's really crazy how little game knowledge or eye for detail some people who work in retail have. But I guess only nerds would say that... >.>

[(-_-)]

That cart is absolutely disgusting. The inside is a complete mess. There's a chain called cash converters here that is the worst for this type of thing. I've seen those gameboy carts that are in chinese and say "100+GAMES" and the best is when they sell burned psx/ps2 games. It's clearly not a retail disc just from looking at the box and the crappy printed covers. Then you look at the disc and someone has actually hand written the name of the game on them. Used retail is just weird sometimes.

[lisalover1]

Wow, it's like night and day; for one, the GBA logo is totally different, the lines on the back of the cart are more indented, and the whole cart just looks cheap.

[pureevil]

i'm sure most of us have bought fake carts at some time by mistake.Don't be to hard on your self theres alot of fake gba in uk just like to one you have pictured.

Surely you can take it back for a refund I would.

[bacteria]

Indeed, it isn't always easy to even know if you have a fake product. I am sure we all have some without knowing it.

[joehero]

Wow, though I dont have any highly collectible carts, Im going to go through and check mine. I did buy a Mario vs Donkey Kong a couple of months ago out of China for around $2.

Well, It's been confirmed. My Mario vs Donkey Kong was made in China! Also my Super Mario Advanced 3. Thats the last time I purchase on ebay from sellers in China. I guess the user name, IMAKEFAKES, should have tipped me off.

[Breetai]

...but GS employees should know better and this is garbage....

Why should they? They make what; $8 an hour? They don't get paid to know this stuff.

Still, I agree that it would REALLY piss me off to realize that I'd been sold a pirated cart at a legit store. That's a lot different than buying them from a box under the main display in some underground subway mall in Shanghai.