The End Is Near: Gamestop accepting retro game trade-ins

[Kosheh]

geez, I don't work for Gamestop but lemme throw in my two cents. this is kinda silly

#2 All they need to worry about is if it works?? It's not a matter of vintage vs functional it's about REAL vs fucking FAKE. That's what determines the fucking prices of the goddamn games, the fucking rarity. If gamestop thinks that a repro cart of Earthbound is real they're gonna sell it for like $80 along with any real ones. Not to mention it's probably not legal to knowingly sell them.

Reproduction carts are cool for rom hacks/translations etc. but they should NOT be sold as though they're the genuine article. ALSO blowing in your carts does literally nothing but corrode the contacts.

gee, helmo, you sound mad. lemme quote koh's post 'cos it's relevant here too

But that's exactly my point Helmo.  Unless you've got an obvious unlicensed chinese game in that reproduction cartridge or something, it IS the real Earthbound.  It just happens to be in a newer case.  Reproduction cartridges are made of old games all the time, especially the rarer ones that only have a small handful of the original cartridges still out in the world.  As long as it works, and it is indeed Earthbound or whatever it claims to be, that should be enough.  Who cares if its in the original plastic versus new plastic?

You know, this came up while I was looking at the list of games - and that's partly why there's a carefully-chosen list of games.
I was actually shocked when Earthbound wasn't listed, but then I realized why - most copies of Earthbound you see on auction sites now are reproductions or bootleg copies. Gamestop wouldn't knowingly take that chance, and if they did, their employees would need additional training: they'd have to sit through like a webinar on intermediate cartridge care and each store would need the right security bit to open the games and inspect them for the proper carts. Knowing the foot traffic GS sometimes gets, this just wouldn't be feasible and for them it's simply not worth the trouble. On the other hand, who the HELL is going to bootleg a copy of Battletoads or TMNT Tournament Fighters?

If gamestop thinks that a repro cart of Earthbound is real they're gonna sell it for like $80 along with any real ones. Not to mention it's probably not legal to knowingly sell them.

it's funny you mention this - there's a ma & pa game store that sells videogames, and several times I've seen bootleg games sitting amidst their selection.  it's usually GBA games. They just so happened to have several bootleg copies of Final Fantasy games, including Tactics and VI, and I pointed it out to the clerk on shift. I pointed out every single difference between the two, and she immediately brought them to the store owner and relayed the information. He just shrugged and said "so?" My blood actually boiled right then and there - that's depressing. ):

I just kept my mouth shut afterward, hoping a real whistleblowing nerd will alert Nintendo that they're knowingly selling bootleg cartridges and the place will have no choice but to stop carrying them (the owner is a real dick, too - I won't get into that, though)

I've gone into other ma & pa game stores around here, found SEVERAL bootleg games, and explain why (the label's usually enough) - they open up the cartridge, look at them and say "oh. yeah, you're right actually. thanks for pointing those out!"

Reproduction carts are cool for rom hacks/translations etc. but they should NOT be sold as though they're the genuine article. ALSO blowing in your carts does literally nothing but corrode the contacts.

There's actually local stores here that sell repro carts, and one even has an agreement with a repro cart maker that occasionally supplies his shop with them (though, for your sake, I should mention that while talking to a friend who works at one said store [spoilers: it's ROBBYDUDE!] the repro cart manufacturer absolutely refuses to make repro copies of anything Earthbound) and...uh, well, that's awesome :V



Humorously enough, I've NEVER had an issue with fake cartridges at Gamestop, EVER. I have a friend who sold a bootleg copy of Pokemon FireRed he bought off of eBay to one and they took it - but that's the only time I've seen a bootleg at Gamestop.