Pirated Game Guide

[Nz17]

I've been on an import Dreamcast kick lately, wanting to add to my modest collection of Japanese and European games, so I've been browsing the selection available on eBay. Now I noticed that a lot of these "Japanese" copies of games are from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and am quite aware of the rampant bootlegging in those parts of the country. As such, I am quite leary of buying from sellers located at those locales.

However, this venture birthed a notion -- why don't we, the member of the Digital Press Retrogaming Roundtable, form a pirate game FAQ? This guide would be somewhat similiar to The Pirate Anime FAQ ( http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html ), but instead would focus on the most common pitfalls of game buying from the three most popular regions (NA, JP, EU) and possibly others (SA, AU).

So I'll get this guide started.

___Common Signs___
-Anything called a "backup" or a "bonus" is most likely pirated
-Any games from Japan that are new and sealed should include a spine card
-Scans that show full-color art on the disc that has poor arrangement are pirate
-Lack of copyright and trademark notices are a dead giveaway
-Games from Europe should have multiple languages on the back of a case
-Games on CD-R are pirate
-Offers of 100s or 1000s of games are pirate

[thegreatescape]

Ill add that so far every pirated Mega Drive game ive seen lacks the SEGA logo on bootup or on the front/rear cover, though pirate carts are usually a lot easier to spot than pirate anime cd's or DC games.

EDIT: hey whats wrong with games from australia? :P

[digitalpress]

Sounds like a great appendix to a future book. Let me know if you need any additional help. Great idea!

[sisko]

Sounds like a great idea, I've looked this stuff up several times.

Super Famicom:

Poor quality or blurry labels
Lebel not placed on cartridge correctly (peeling, crooked, or bubbles)
Multicarts
Obviously imported games in the shape of a US SNES cartridge (like Dragon Ball Z in a US casing)
Generally lower quality casing

[Nz17]

Sounds like a great appendix to a future book. Let me know if you need any additional help. Great idea!

The only help I really need is people with knowledge about the subject posting what they know. So if anyone out there knows some tell-tale signs of legitimite and/or pirated games, let us know in this thread. After all, signs of authenticity help eliminate pirate carts/CDs as well as surefire signs of piracy.