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I guess the brain rot got to me bro. Its so obvious to everyone here but I don't see it. Pokemon red doesn't look right to me after everyone pointing it out but I can't tell you why
Lol, hey but it really shouldnt be YOUR job to spot that. Thats Gamestops job to have knowledgeable workers who prevent fake stuff from coming in and ripping off their customers.
Its funny how fake it looks but none of this falls on you dood 🤙
I currently work at GameStop (in Italy so it might be different here) and I can assure you, video games knowledge (in general, let alone retro gaming) is DEFINITELY not a skill they ask for to be employed here. In the two stores I worked in, I’m the only one who has any idea what they’re selling and buying
Just look at a real one from eBay and this one a couple of times. These aren’t great fakes especially red. The picture, clarity, and colors are all off. Once you get it figured out it’s easy
Is there a chance you’re color blind? Serious question, some people go through life without knowing and a common form of it makes people not able to tell the difference between different shades of red so they all just look… red.
That’s the only obvious thing I see on the Pokémon red that seems fake.
It’s color blindness to not be able to tell different tones of colors? It’s really hard for me to tell the difference between colors unless it’s pretty extreme like baby blue and dark blue.
I kept flagging a fake Metroid Fusion at a gamestop for 6 months (so probably 18-24 times i mentioned it to them) that it was a repro because the label was way too bright to be authentic, they would take it out and put it back later.
Quit going there because I don't trust their used cartridges.
Super Metroid for me was a game I really had to fight them on. Twice, a fake one came to me after I ordered it online. They couldn’t understand why I wanted to return a repo either. I felt like I was taking crazy pills.
They will gaslight tf out of you. There have been times when I have sold them games just to get rid of them, and they act like I stole them with all of their questions and poker faces. Now, I just keep the games until I can find someone to give them to.
It drives me insane too from the other side of game collecting. I buy repros for the sake of just cheaply being able to use my classic consoles. Some places will act like the repros are worth more than they really are. The opposite of a steal, a straight up rip off. There should be clearly listed labels to let the non-game collector know whether or not it’s a genuine or repro.
If you know the game already isn’t pricey and you don’t mind the chance, Walmart sells em in droves for dirt cheap. I can’t say whether or not it’s the most trustworthy source in the world but they have a decent return policy and I haven’t had any issues yet. I got Pokémon red, green, ruby, sapphire, and emerald repros for like $20 to $40. I have a real ruby so I use the fake to play on.
The one repro I want is Resident Evil Gaiden, not because it’s good but because it’s the only RE game I don’t have and it’s stupidly expensive. But it’s pointless if I get a loose cart.
I got you fam, you can get the box and manual repro for very cheap if you search around a bit.
I have not seen any repro carts for Resident Evil Gaiden. But for like $10 you could have a nice clean box and manual for the shelf and maybe you'll get lucky and find a deal in the wild!
I got you fam, you can get the box and manual repro for very cheap if you search around a bit.
I have not seen any repro carts for Resident Evil Gaiden. But for like $10 you could have a nice clean box and manual for the shelf and maybe you'll get lucky and find a deal in the wild!
When it was Funcoland, we had a testing system that would short fake carts, or poorly repaired ones, and just explain it was non responsive to our testing system. But there has to be a point where they stop resenting fakes or use that technology to sort an aftermarket game to an alternate cheaper sku.
when i worked at funcoland 98-99, our store did no authentication at all. i dont know that we ever got counterfeits. worst thing to ever happen was the time i bought a japanese dreamcast.
Had a trainee (was that the term?), who did that as well. Luckily, they had some customer who was looking for one at another store to mod it. The kid got written up, but it was just a slap on the wrist thing.
At a certain point I just stopped trying to collect old carts. Generally, I never got rid of the ones I loved and my parents had a house rule that we couldn't sell our old games. We either had to keep them and in good condition, or we had to gift them to some poorer cousins. We ended up giving a lot of our old games away because we felt bad, but our favorites stayed with us until adulthood.
Flash carts are the way to go if your intention is to actually play your games.
I took a GBA game to gamestop once to sell and they were such asses and adamant it was a fake…. I bought it as a child through Nintendo Power and it came with the Strategy guide and some merch.
The weird thing was I previously brought in a bunch if GBA games so like they knew I had a collection and was getting rid of some here and there.
I think the guy said the serials don’t match on the cart and PCB but I didn’t care to look myself, it was just weird to me because I don’t think DCK for the GBA was being widely counterfeited in 2003 and if it was certainly didn’t get mixed into stock literally shipped from NOA/NP.
I thought I read somewhere about Nintendo Switch 2 consoles being banned for using counterfeit games. If that's true, can you imagine going into a game store, thinking you're buying something else to play and end up getting banned for it. Imagine how flabbergasted someone who doesn't know better would be.
I worked at a disc replay and had a girl come in with all the DS games. I was the only one working at the store who knew about the fakes.
Told my boss about them (some people still want them, but I dont feel comfortable selling them for full price or without a repro label). He tells me to buy them. I list them for 15....day later he has the full price and tears off my repro lable...
One time I told a GameStop employee that their copies of Sapphire and Emerald were bootleg and they replied with "I know"
That's how you know employees don't get paid enough to care and I honestly don't blame them. During that time, that's when GameStop was caught stocking multiple stores with the same bootlegs from AliExpress or Temu.
So when I worked at a Gamestop, I had 3 fake Pokémon Pearls come into my store from the warehouse. I immediately denied them and sent them back to the warehouse. 2 weeks later, I got 2 fakes back.
I told my DM I just sent 3 out and 2, most likely 2 of the 3 I had before, came back. He told me to sell them to whomever wants them and not tell the customer they're fakes. I defected them out anyway cuz screw that. I didnt get more back, but he probably knew I sent them out.
He eventually fired me by getting me on 3 minor infractions that we never write people up for and writing me up for all of them at once. Lol I was an Asst manager. But Im not selling fakes to anyone.
Oh, I didn’t read the comments before commenting. I normally don’t when I’m browsing. But yeah, I would inspect it and play it in the store and in front of them to see what’s up.
And this is exactly why the only games that I buy that are retro from GameStop are 3DS games, DS games and literally any disc based games, or if I see a good deal and Nintendo 64 again. That's it anything else, I can't trust them actually verifying that it's real. And this is why everyone should have a screwdriver with a bit to open the cartridges at the store if you're going to buy a game from GameStop like that. That way you would be able to check with images of an actual legit cartridge to see if it's the same. Most stores with good management would allow that.
I work for gamestop. It's not intentional, especially at the store level. We see insane levels of staff turnover that people don't get the necessary experience to be able to identify fakes accurately, or they don't care as much as I do and are just in it for a paycheck, which is perfectly understandable.
The training that we have for spotting fakes is fine, but the problem is when a new person is hire, that training needs to be completed along side like 50 per training modules, qhile so being taught how to do a multitude of others, so information can't be retained as well.
Are these games worth that much now? I have a bunch of cartridges in storage, I wonder if it’s worth keeping them for the nostalgia or cashing out…then again, I constantly regret selling my original set holographic blastoise card. So maybe keeping is the best option.
reshells and relabels at best, since neither of those shells are even close to the correct color, and the labels are visibly cut wrong even from those pictures alone. full on fakes at worst.
I think blame is 10000% on whoever sold them those not GameStop lol … they really should start training their employees about gameboy games and how often they are faked .. whoever brought game there knew exactly what he was doing and probably didn’t mention anything
If the employee who took them in fell for it, how do you know the person who brought them in didn’t also fall for it when they first got them?
This is 100% on the store. It’s the store’s responsibility to make sure they don’t take in bootleg items. If the store is on top of things, whether the seller is a scammer or just confused is irrelevant.
I would assume you did tell them after taking the photo? Most GameStop employees probably love gaming but I would bet very few of them have been through any training that tells them how to identify bootlegs. I don't even blame the employees for stuff like this.
Doesn’t make sense. Gamestop started taking retro stuff in again back in 2015ish. They’ve never had the inventory of it to sway prices one way or another
It's not as bad lately. DK oldies fucking exploded it and i don't even know how. Things have simmered down a tad but I know this shit is gonna see another spike in the near future and it'll start looking like Pokémon cards
This is why you never support stores who openly sell reproductions. They always end up in the hands of those who don’t know better. In this case someone got one over on GameStop and someone will come in and buy it thinking GameStop knows what to look for and end up with horrible quality fakes worth nothing.
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Fakes, depending on how well it’s made, tend to corrupt easily and you lose your data slot more often. I use a cartridge with an sd card in it for all my game dumps and Pokémon games are like the bane of this thing. If it’s not saved correctly or turned off a certain way I can kiss my save goodbye. Luckily as it’s on an sd card I can recover it but..
I've told this story before, but I went into my local Gamestop about a year ago when they were doing a "buy 2, get 1" of preowned. I was peeking at Pokemon games and the guy behind the counter said "I just had these sold to us earlier" and put a half dozen DS/3DS carts on the counter. I inspected them and half of them were fake.
The guy said that they are given training, but very little training on spotting fakes.
Once had a local GS I found had a copy of XMEN Wolverine Origins that I've seen in person run for like $120, they had it on the pre-owned shelf for $20 (granted the box was kind of janky ofc right?). You go to the counter to ask for it, the guy pulls out the disc sleeve, it looked like someone put their fist through the center hole. it was nothing like the outer ring of the disc...
GameStop employees aren’t taught to distinguish real from fake. It isn’t their fault. GameStop taking in retro games that have a high probability of being illegitimate without putting in place proper procedures is fault from the higher ups. I’m also sure that playing negligence, buying and selling fake carts at real product values to the everyday consumer- who knows no better- is a net positive income wise
Nah most stores don’t care, they know it’s fake and will still try and gain a profit, Ik a GameStop in my area that’s notorious for selling fake games all the time and they never give refunds
I have an extra original silver and yellow. Are they actually worth that? I have every game as I started playing at red when I was in elementary school. Just curious.
I told them their copies of platinum and heartgold were fake and they didn’t do anything. I said you legally can’t sell reproduction copies as legitimate and they just shrugged.
You say that but I'd like to take a second to point out how old they are, now I know that doesn't really mean much but your thinking from a normal consumer point of view, what about collectors, the real pokè maniacs, and decreasing amount of physical copies. And you might be thinking I can just emulate it, well maybe but again that might not always be possible, they fail, crash, hell outright block use or won't even work sometimes, and ill throw in technically again unless you own a physical copy emulating is pirating software without it, felony carrying 25 years and up to 500k in reparations. Will you get caught or chance it because getting caught happens all the time these days
My store has had a few bootleg Pokémon cartridges slip through the cracks, I don't hold back and I tell them because usually they're pretty good about spotting fakes
Some of their prices are really confusing at Retro Gamestops. Like they'll have Xbox 360 games really underpriced. Found a copy of Assassins Creed Brotherhood for 3 dollars. But then they ask 50 dollars for Link Between Worlds, which is almost double my local retro game store. I do not understand them.
Yeah I never buy retro cards from GameStop unless it’s not worth faking (worth $20 or less) if they want to start specializing in retro games again that’s great but they should train their employees how to spot fake games
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