PSA some asshole is doing spot on counterfeits of NWC now

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 hour ago, fcgamer said:

To me, one repro spoils the broth, er the collection. Let me explain.

If we are talking about old bootleg carts, or even repros of items that never had proper releases, like Sim City NES, then I think it's acceptable on various degrees, as it still can be distinguished easily for what it is.

But if we are talking about items that look near identical, if one item is known to be a fake / reproduction, then I personally wouldn't touch any of the set with a ten foot pole. Likely there could be other fakes in the collection too, and therefore I don't want anything to do with it. So one or two fakes in a set would definitely make me call into question the authenticity of the whole set, whether a dozen items or thousands of items. Yikes.

 

Yeah, I agree.  My only exception is when an original doesn't exist or wasn't released publicly.  So, for example, I really like the homebrew game Lan Master, but it was just offered up as a freeware ROM with no physical release (Yes, I know it's on Action 53, but I despise x in 1 carts) so I made my own cart and ordered a nice looking box and cart label off the internet.  I then keep this reproduction/homebrew stuff on a different shelf apart from my 'canon' NES set, so the homebrew/reproduction stuff never gets mixed in with the legit pre-97 officially published releases.

I even think it degrades a collection when a guy will have like a shelf of CIB North American NES games with a PAL Stadium Events mixed in with it... wtf is the point of that?  Are you looking for fake street-cred from the collecting community or what?  Either you own an item or you don't, there's no in-betweenzies!  It doesn't make any sense to me, but then again, I'm representing the really old guard in NES collecting...

[Tanooki | 4,929]

15 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

More evidence of where the hobby is going.

These are just average people getting into collecting games and as mind blowing as it seems some actually do just throw up a repro on their shelf with the real ones and call it good. I find it fascinating to watch the tides turn like this in real time. Especially outside the more serious collectors bubble

Well I think really what you're seeing on that reddit post, he's looking for other likeminded people, and they are out there.  With all the hard upticks in taking advantage of the virus times last year into this, people want to play, want to use something tangible, but both don't want to run emulator or use a rom loaded flash kit.  They want the specific game they want, but not play some third party the clown rates going on as they're just too high to justify to most normal individuals.  If you're a collector, especially one who can afford it and/or has been at it a long time so you know ways around the beating, you just justify, snicker at their stupidity, and move on as it's normal...but you, you're a minority in the end. The person buying the bootleg(repro) also buys third party consoles, third party controllers, and use other stuff as they just want to enjoy it on the cheap, have a lot of fun or passing fun, and not get screwed out of a heap of cash to do it.  It makes sense to me.  I refuse to be a bitch and pay what...600-1000 for Shantae on GBC...so I paid LRG I think $35-40 whatever it was for the modern licensed re-release.  Sure it's licensed, but it is in this case a real repro.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

7 hours ago, fcgamer said:

 

But if we are talking about items that look near identical, if one item is known to be a fake / reproduction, then I personally wouldn't touch any of the set with a ten foot pole. Likely there could be other fakes in the collection too, and therefore I don't want anything to do with it. So one or two fakes in a set would definitely make me call into question the authenticity of the whole set, whether a dozen items or thousands of items. Yikes.

 

I actually agree with you. Everything on the shelf comes into question if one item is a fake. But that's not really the point. The point is the people getting in now, generally speaking, don't care about that, like at all. A lot of the ones I see on reddit won't even consider a flashcart. They often scoff at the cost of the Krikzz (only real good option for some consoles) carts and say they only care about maybe 2 or 3 games, at best they MAY consider the bootleg flashcart like an ED64. The collecting world is changing and like I said many posts ago your getting to the same point classic cars are in. There may be the whales who go numbers matching, original paint, etc but the vast majority of the people will be perfectly happy getting a brand new fender out of the repro catalog and bringing it down to Bubba's for a new coat of paint. The average person who wants to play some old games has been priced out and this is the inevitable result. 

[GPX | 1,369]

1 hour ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I actually agree with you. Everything on the shelf comes into question if one item is a fake. But that's not really the point. The point is the people getting in now, generally speaking, don't care about that, like at all. A lot of the ones I see on reddit won't even consider a flashcart. They often scoff at the cost of the Krikzz (only real good option for some consoles) carts and say they only care about maybe 2 or 3 games, at best they MAY consider the bootleg flashcart like an ED64. The collecting world is changing and like I said many posts ago your getting to the same point classic cars are in. There may be the whales who go numbers matching, original paint, etc but the vast majority of the people will be perfectly happy getting a brand new fender out of the repro catalog and bringing it down to Bubba's for a new coat of paint. The average person who wants to play some old games has been priced out and this is the inevitable result. 

I think there are 2 separate points of discussion:

1. Can people collect what they want to collect? Yep, I’m all for variety! 

2. Just because it’s getting more popular, should it be socially accepted? The repros with obvious markers are fine in my opinion, but when we delve into near exact replicas where the average consumer might be none the wiser, then there is a huge ethical/legal conflict.

The legal conflict being the near-exact copy is infringing on copyright laws, and is a probable tool for scammers and fraudsters to do some evil deeds. You can’t simply turn a blind eye and say “more people are into it, therefore it should be accepted”. Kind of like more scammers are scamming, should we simply approve and ignore?

[fcgamer | 4,719]

1 hour ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

I actually agree with you. Everything on the shelf comes into question if one item is a fake. But that's not really the point. The point is the people getting in now, generally speaking, don't care about that, like at all. A lot of the ones I see on reddit won't even consider a flashcart. They often scoff at the cost of the Krikzz (only real good option for some consoles) carts and say they only care about maybe 2 or 3 games, at best they MAY consider the bootleg flashcart like an ED64. The collecting world is changing and like I said many posts ago your getting to the same point classic cars are in. There may be the whales who go numbers matching, original paint, etc but the vast majority of the people will be perfectly happy getting a brand new fender out of the repro catalog and bringing it down to Bubba's for a new coat of paint. The average person who wants to play some old games has been priced out and this is the inevitable result. 

I think we within this hobby there are three (at least) distinct groups of people:

1. Collectors. They mostly do care and want originals.

2. Gamers. If they aren't collectors, they likely want a pragmatic way to play these games.

3. Investors. The sealed HA Wata guys.

Although there is a bit of a spectrum, I think generally all three of these groups generally stay more or less isolated. So the folks going this route imo aren't usually the guys hopping onto this site.

The problem is the possibility for scammers. So I don't think that things are particularly changing, rather we are just seeing more of it due to current prices.

i know that a cib repro makes a much better Christmas present for a casual than a beat up loose cart. 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

i know that a cib repro makes a much better Christmas present for a casual than a beat up loose cart. 

They'll just rip the box open and throw away the packaging like they did in 1993 lol people don't change. 

I see being ok with counterfeit stuff as not actually being interested in that particular hobby, genre, scene.

Like if a perspn ok w wearing fake shoes, then they don't really care about shoes, they just wana look like they do. I think the same goes for counterfeits in video games. It just make it seem like they're part of the scene. 

[Estil | 1,261]

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I think we within this hobby [system] there are three (at least) distinct [yet equally important] groups of people:

1. Collectors. They mostly do care and want originals.

2. Gamers. If they aren't collectors, they likely want a pragmatic way to play these games.

3. Investors. The sealed HA Wata guys.

These are their stories  

 

[NierAutomata | 23]

With this one it's simple, contact all grading companies and tell em about this, they'll add some notes in order not to grade those numbers of NWC, since everyone would have the idea to but this and grade it sooner or later (if they already haven't lol). 

If she indeed knows how to make these games, you can't stop her from doing it, just don't buy from her. The thing is, if she knows how to do it, someone else is gonna indeed try it (anything can be copied with enough knowledge). 

She's missing the big picture though, she could be making quality repros of games with translations, like pair herself with the translation dudes of certain games and make their own quality repros which would totally sell for premium price. Or pair with a company like Strictly limited, limited run games, etc.