RetroGaming

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.

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 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

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.

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 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.

Probably planted by Michael Pachter