6mo ago

Fake Pokémon Cartridge Spotted At GameStop Raises Concerns Among Retro Gamers

www.retronews.com Concerns Over Fake Pokémon Cartridges at GameStop

A Reddit post reveals a counterfeit Pokémon cartridge at GameStop, alarming retro gamers.

A Reddit post in the GameBoy subreddit caught some eyes. It showed a fake yellow Game Boy Pokémon cartridge displayed at a GameStop. The post received many comments, pointing out the poor quality of this bootleg Pokémon game.

36 comments

This has sparked concern, especially with GameStop launching new Retro GameStops across North America, where retro game authenticity should be a priority.
Lol, it's Game Stop not the Library of Congress. These are minimum wage employees they're not trained in repro carts
- I'm not blaming employees here, but if GS is specifically marketing older games, they should be taking measures to ensure authenticity. Not that I think anyone should trust GS at this point. Still good to hold them accountable.
- That doesn't make it okay for them to be selling counterfeits.
  Especially selling the counterfeit for $50 USD.
- If they're cheap and common games, I don't think it's a big deal to have fakes mixed in if it doesn't bother the buyer either.
  Now for more rare stuff, it matters more. Feels like mtg cards, where a certain threshold it should be graded for authenticity and condition
  
  Video game grading is a massive scam. Karl Jobst did a series of videos on it, and it's basically price rigging and speculation investments for profit.
  
  No one is going to be making a fake Madden 99 cart for the gbc, it's always going to be the heavy hitters like pokemon or atlus games. Idk how they prevent fakes on both ends tbh, from taking in fakes to selling them as well. But if they're going to sell them they better be responsible about it.
  In any case, isn't it illegal for them to not ensure they're legit? Selling counterfeits is definitely illegal
- I think the employees would have a database of titles to ascertain value, so they are basically trained in this field.
  
  I would argue that the employees may be negligent in the need to verify with the database due to being overworked minimum wage part timers who are just looking to "get the job done" and not care about mistakes made.
  The presence of a database also does not mean they are explicitly taught to say "you need to use this database to verify, here is how to query it and ensure it looks right"
  GameStop could probably address this partially with hyper-focused UI walking them through a review but then employees are just going to hit "next next next" just to get it done
  I think this idea is cursed and a bad idea for GameStop to implement because this is inevitable and we are going to see this over and over again. This was already a recurring joke at some locations selling older games, esp. Pokemon, prior to GameStop formalizing the "Retro" branding

I'm into retro audio, cassettes, records, etc. I've noticed that all the thrift stores get raided by the resellers often. Same with the good clothes. There's a "vintage" store at my local mall that sells old thrift clothing, like the nice band t shirts, and they sell them for like $50
The whole retro game market has become this as well, just resellers buying up all the games and reselling then for absurd prices
- This really does seem like the endgame for all collectibles--to eventually get capitalized to the point that outsiders come in and start speculating/buying out new releases/limited editions solely to flip for profit.
  In plenty of cases I've seen, they never even have the product in their hands--they'll just transfer the order to the highest bidder. I guess it's the nature of collectibles and limited-edition stuff, but it just takes away the fun for a lot of the people who enjoy the hobby/collectibles/etc... it's kinda deflating when you can't even get the item without paying a premium to some rando that has no interest in it first (instead of just paying the vendor/manufacturer directly at their list price).
- My local used game store rarely has the valuable old games anymore.

Someone buys fake on eBay. Plays it. Sells it to Gamestop. Minimum wage employee does not spot that it's fake and it ends up on the used game shelf.
None of this is new.

For any GB, GBC, and GBA fans, I highly recommend the GB Operator from Epilogue. It's a super simple USB device that will not only play your games and back up your saves, but will also authenticate your cartridges. It's great for something like Pokémon Ruby and Saphire, which has a lot of bootlegs floating around.
- Or alternatively just download a rom and save money and a piece of plastic.
  
  It can actually rip entire cartridges, so if there's a game out their that you can't find a rom hack of, you can make your own ROM, or make your own home brew version on GB studios.
- That's true, but won't stop you from buying fakes, just confirm that you did. The best thing you can do is to educate yourself on what a fake looks like, especially if you're going to be buying pokemon emerald for $200.
  
  For sure, but that second layer of confirmation when you get home is good to have. The fake in this picture is very obvious, but the GBA games can be a lot more subtle.

Is the image of the post in the article not the actual thing they're talking about? It says it was obvious because instead of "GameBOY" it just said "GAME" along with other issues that the image of the reddit post included doesn't match at all.
The only thing in the image included in the article that is gnarly is the fact they are trying to sell it for nearly $50.
- The image from reddit seems to be a mix of Japanese and US yellow edition? Not sure but here are both in comparison:
  Original:
  Version from reddit:
  
  I'm surprised that they don't take even a minimal amount of effort to clean those things up before selling it. A little dab of isopropryl alcohol does wonders.
  That cartridge looks like it spent the last 20 years in a butt.
- I noticed the same thing in the post, but after seeing the pictures in the reply comment, I see they're referring to the part where you put your thumb that's partially obscured by the price sticker. It just says "GAME"

The GameStop problem is that the corporation has a trade in quota for each store. Even if the employee knows that someone is trying to trade in a repro they're encouraged to buy it to meet the quota. That shit gets sent to a centralized warehouse anyway.
GS as is will be an absolute shitshow of chinese knockoffs

The funny thing about that is the game store I really like also sells fake cartridges/ROM hack cartridges that are clearly fake and not labeled as the real deal. Don't know how they source them, but I could probably buy something like Shadow the Hedgehog on Genesis.
Also, I really don't expect anything even slightly good to come of this GameStop retro games thing considering the fact it doesn't matter whether the game is legit or rare, they'll buy at as low of a price as possible then sell at least 2x the going rate online. That, and their workers probably aren't gonna be given any training whatsoever to spot even the most obvious fakes and will probably get severely reprimanded over buying a fake.

Perhaps the solution here is to buy only from reputable sellers?
You know like with literally anything that's a commodity, someone's going to try and sell you a fake.

There's just no way you could reasonably expect retail employees to verify games. There will need to be an automated system that is more difficult to bypass than it's worth, and that will likely be more expensive than it's worth.
We are getting to a point where there are fakes out there that are 100% identical to the real thing, and aren't all that cheap. It's an interesting situation.

Probably planted by Michael Pachter
- Who?
  EDIT Apparently some Xbox dude
  
  Michael Pachter
- This whole thread...
  
  …is about little shit weasel Michael Pachter

36 comments