Old Bootleg Carts -- What are they worth?

[RH 4,053]

Today finding bootleg carts for the NES, SNES Game Boy or any cartridge based systems are pretty easy.  These games are easy to churn out and cheap to make.

However, even back in the 80's and 90's you could run into bootleg titles, although it wasn't common in the US. I know it might be widely different depending on the region they were released from, but I'm curious about the general value of very old bootleg titles for the main cartridge based consoles?

Anyone know where these are priced at?  Today I'd imagine that some could be rather rare.

Edited November 26, 2019 by RH

[barrels 124]

1 minute ago, RH said:

Today I'd imagine that some could be rather rare.

i agree on this point. I get genuinely excited when I come across them.

That being said, unless they have particular games on them (I never remember the big ones), the value doesn't follow the rarity. I always assume $10-$30 for NES bootlegs, personally never paying more than $20.

[RH 4,053]

Good to hear. I didn't think they'd be that much. When I got started early on, I got a very old bootleg of a GB game. Not a popular game either.  It was in a yellow shell and inside was an EPROM chip and it didn't fit well in the case.

I gave it away but, now four years later, I've never seen an old GB bootleg and I wish I still had it.  It was a neat piece.  I wondered if there was a developing market for these.  Obviously, I think it that's ever going to happen, it'd start with the NES because the NES is always the hot trend setter.

[Tanooki 4,557]

Yeah I'd have to agree in general your common standard 80s/90s made old bootleg one off or multicarts fall into that stretch of value in many cases.  It isn't always true though.  For example if you find that right multicart, like one called Golden Game and it has Wild Ball on it, collectors will go after that unique game, and some years back I'd commonly see it hit 70s +/- on ebay.  Then you could get some rare expensive Famicom game like Moon Crystal and even a multicart would be over $30 easily just because the original was a rare (for then and still even now) 3 figures cart only purchase.  Stuff like that made in the 20th century that has held up despite their cheapo heritage of pirate parts really can vary on what they're worth.  It doesn't matter how many are on one or that one game just is one game.  It has to be that special specific title (or titles) on a mulitcart or some expensive game gone famiclone that still creeps up despite that as it's still a savings.

[fcgamer 3,933]

Oh I love bootleg games, I've often thought about selling my Famicom full set and just keeping my Taiwanese bootlegs. It sounds strange, but I have some local friends who did just that. In a similar way, collectors from Poland, Argentina, and other "bootleg" regions much prefer old boots to original official releases. 

FWIW, one of my guys just sent me pictures of some bootleg carts he got yesterday (he always gives me first go, since I'm always serious with buying and will generally buy anything I don't have, that's fairly priced). $75 for three games, while he didn't price the carts at $25 each, the divided cost works out to that. Don't be fooled that there's no value.

[MrWunderful 2,589]

Just posted some pirates here:

 

[fcgamer 3,933]

For bootleg carts across the board, it all depends on the item in question. Something that is just 1:1 obviously won't have much value, unless it's of a popular / expensive game. If the game is exclusive to another region though (such as Silver Surfer or Jaws, never released on Famicom), a bootleg easily fetches $40 - $50 in collector circles. But again, boots of those two games are also rare, compared to something like Captain America.

I got some bootleg stuff I'll likely be auctioning off here in the next week or so. If nothing else, please watch how I market it. I feel there are also some items that are undervalued at the moment, which could command a slight premium in the future due to historical purposes.

 

[RH 4,053]

1 minute ago, fcgamer said:

For bootleg carts across the board, it all depends on the item in question. Something that is just 1:1 obviously won't have much value, unless it's of a popular / expensive game. If the game is exclusive to another region though (such as Silver Surfer or Jaws, never released on Famicom), a bootleg easily fetches $40 - $50 in collector circles. But again, boots of those two games are also rare, compared to something like Captain America.

I got some bootleg stuff I'll likely be auctioning off here in the next week or so. If nothing else, please watch how I market it. I feel there are also some items that are undervalued at the moment, which could command a slight premium in the future due to historical purposes.

 

Thanks.  You have any bootleg Game Boy stuff?  That's primarily what I'd personally like to focus on.

[fcgamer 3,933]

2 minutes ago, RH said:

Thanks.  You have any bootleg Game Boy stuff?  That's primarily what I'd personally like to focus on.

Yup, I've got quite a bit I'd like to sell, cheaply at that! Some 1:1 copies, some multicarts, some with "localised" packages for Taiwan market. I think the latter definitely could in the future become somewhat collectable, since it's a finite set, for a specific region, despite being bootleg.