Vendors in Ohio malls selling Nintendo bootleg NES systems

[Buyatari]

Almost right across from the EB games store in Richmond Hts mall is a kiosk which sells nothing but those bootleg N64 controllers You know the ones which play NES games. The price? $50.00 !!!

Then I went over to the west side of town (Westlake) and they have one there as well.

Does Nintendo even care about this? I know the guys working at EB don't. Man that takes some balls to set up in a mall right across from a game store.

[Lost Monkey]

FWIW, I saw them at Great Lakes Crossing in Michigan as well. I was a little surprised at first but then I was reminded a few days later that they used to be sold on the "Shopping Channel", when I found one of their units at a Value Village...

[Darth Sensei]

Yeah, I saw that booth at Rivertown Crossings in Grand Rapids Mi also. I asked about the legalities and the dude told me to mind my own business. LOL

D

[Raedon]

They didn't when they were just at flea markets. Those sell for under $20 at most places but they tell you, "they are $50 retail, I'll sell it to you for $20 but I'm not making any money." The truth is they could sell it at $15 and make money.

It's odd, but sense the theft of music started to be mainstream I've noticed copyright law violators are making a market out of it in the daylight, out in the open with 1000's of people and cops passing by without a care.

There is this new booth at the Tyler Flea where a guy is selling CD-R's with 'Saturday Party 1' etc music in paper cd jackets for $1.00

He also had a list over 100 pages long of songs and a little PC there. For $2 he would take any songs you wanted and mix them DJ style (some software) for you.

[icbrkr]

There's a booth in our mall (Fayetteville, AR) as well selling the Famiclone for $50.

[EnemyZero]

Those guys are everywhere in buffalo. The mall closest to me has like 3 kiosks selling them for $35 bucks a pop. Same here one is directly across from EB

[charitycasegreg]

same in the mall near me, its fun to play it there though, had a few people watching me beat super mario in under 8 minutes.

[josekortez]

Yeah, I had a lady come into my FYE store and ask if we had the Nintendo thing with 40 games. I showed her the Intellivision plug-and-play and she looked disgusted.

Once I figured out what she was talking about, I told her to check the food court for the bootleg Nintendo booth. She told me that she hadn't seen a booth in the food court all day, and I told her that he was probably trying to allude the authorities by not showing up at the same time everyday. LOL

[tritium]

That machine has been around for about 2years here. They seem to have dissappeared from here lately (Miami, FL)

They are of terribly quality, break easily and is incredibly buggy.

Buyer beware

-Tritium

[Flack]

k8track bought a PowerJoy III while he was here ... we got the same line, "these usually sell for $50 but I'm selling them for $25."

I bought mine at the Grapevine Mall in Dallas from a legitimate store in the mall. At least a few of the places I've seen selling them seem to think that they're legitimate products.

I've seen the same thing with music too. One of the flea markets around here has a guy with a laptop and a big CD booklet. You can pick as many songs as you want for $1/song and he will burn the CD while you shop.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Yup, they got a booth set up in my malll (natick,MA), with a bunch of brazilians selling them.

Worse part of it was that they have a "no refund" sigh up. X_x

[Algol]

There's a guy selling these things at my mall too. I'm really wondering if Nintendo knows or cares.

[Cobra Commander]

We have them down here as well. I was going to buy one. You know, just to have it. This guy though told me they were $60. Then he went on to descibe how good a deal it was; all those games for that. "That's not even a buck a game!"
Yeah, no thanks.

[Raedon]

The Power Joy III is actually a GREAT famiclone.

The N64 like controller take AC or 4 AA's and has AV out the controller. Very portable.

It comes with the largest number of REAL games on a famiclone that I have seen.. like 60? 63?

It has a Famicome port on the bottom for import playing.

It comes with a Gun and a Genesis like controller.

For $20 that beats any Atari stick with a piss poor selection of games at the same price.

[MegaDrive20XX]

They are here as well...my question is, where are they coming from? I heard rumors that they are from Mexico or Taiwan or probably Hong Kong


Many have stated to stay away from them, some crash, some of the roms are illegal Famicom roms, and probably more so.

Around here they sell them at $35

[mosesshirai]

Yup i have the famiclone out here in Hawaii too. Right next to the kaybee toy store in Ala Moana Center. They also have a virtual ping-pong and tennis game with little rackets and a sensor that goes on top of your tv. The kiosk was called GAMEBOXX. They had about 10 units on each side that were playable. Most, if not all, of the pseudo n64 controllers were broken. Yet, they were still selling like hotcakes at a lumberjack eating contest. Nuts.

:hmm:
Laters

[Raedon]

If it's a Power Joy III, it is 50/50 that the Famicome port works.

I've had no problems with mine. It's about the same as having a GBA and nes emulator without the screen.

I wouldn't buy one for over $20. Just walk away and I'd bet you good money the funny man in the booth calls you back for a sale.

I think the problem here as I see it is Piracy isn't evil bad bad until someone makes a living off it. That was always the unwritten "rule" of piracy back when the C64 was the big thing. No profit.

[Cmosfm]

Yup, they got a booth set up in my malll (natick,MA), with a bunch of brazilians selling them.

Worse part of it was that they have a "no refund" sigh up. X_x

I can give a little insight on the "no refunds" disclaimer.

I own a Jewelry kiosk in my local mall, have for going on 2 years now, we do the same thing. Honestly, it's because sales aren't that great for us, and 25% of the time after people buy something....they change there mind and decide that they don't want it. If we gave refunds to everyone that decided they didn't want it...we'd lose LOTS of sales.

Most of those places will make good on there items, if it's broken they will replace it. I have excellent customer service here, you buy an item and it breaks...I will fix it...watch battery dies within a week or 2, I'll replace it free. I make sure my customers get top-notch satisfaction without refunding there money, thus staying in buisness. I very very rarely have a person come ask for a refund and leave dis-satisfied.

FYI - I am American. I can't say I approve of the buisness practices of a lot of foreigners here though, they can be quite shady.

Now, the Power Joy systems that these places sell, to us, are overpriced and not nearly as good as the originals. But look through the eyes of Jane and John doe consumer....you get 80 something games for +/- 40.00. Not only are there big name favorites like Pac Man, Mario, Duck Hunt, Donkey Kong, etc....but there all on one portable low priced controller! It's an excellent concept at an excellent price.

We have one here, run buy an American couple who are the nicest people you would ever meet. They tell people how many games are ACTUALLY on the systems, have them set up for display, will replace if breaks, and provide the type of customer service I pride myself on. I commend them for that.

Kiosks fall under a lot of stereotypes, and it's discouraging, I get a bit upset whenever I hear some idiot walk buy saying "check out all that fake jewelry over there"....Sad really that people let themselves believe these things without taking a few seconds to stop and notice the sign that says "sterling silver". We get a lot of flack we shouldn't, we pay rent here, we have to apply for a buisness license, tax license, insurance, set up phone and credit card terminals, etc etc. Basically, everything that the in-line stores had to do to get set up....we have to as well.

So yeah, give us a chance before passing judgement.

:)

[anagrama]

Quick! Someone call Epicenter - there's evildoers that need apprehending! LOL

[Overbite]

local mall has some too. never found out the price.

but i dont see how this can be legal unless they have permission from every company that has a game on that unit. Wouldn't telling the mall managers that the booth is selling illegal products shut them down?

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Briarwood Mall has them here in Ann Arbor. Its really close to the EB in the mall, but not right across from them. I have also asked about the legality of it, and the guy said that he didn't know, he just sold them. They were selling them for $35 a pop, and people were buying. They also had the really crappy tennis paddle game and dancing game.

[Oobgarm]

They had them here at Eastgate Mall near Cincinnati a few months ago, they've packed up and moved down to the new local hotspot, Newport. They've got a littel kiosk set up outside in the seller's square near the aquarium.

I bought one for $40, kinda silly, but I think it's kinda cool. And illegal. But oh well.

[SMB]

I saw the same thing at Eastion Mall in columbus, N64 controlller, regular controller for the system itself and a gun for duck hunt, hogan's alley... the guy selling it was like mexican and when i asked him how much he kept saying this " Its Oldschool" and he wouldnt tell me the price that all he would say. It was probably the best one out there. it played great :)

[ECWSandmanECW]

They sell these in the Exton Mall as well.

[RetroYoungen]

They have these things, I don't know the name, at my local mall as well. Those thigns are just so illegal, what's really funny is that they don't even try to hide it.

"Hey you! You wanna try out this game? It plays Super Mario Brothers and Galaza!"

Those things are so illegal, and no matter if they get busted or not, they just keep coming back. And the people selling them have no idea. When I first saw that thing I went up to him and asked him if it was legal what they were selling. He just gave me a blank stare.

"Well, I'm sure it is, otherwise they wouldn't be selling it... right?"

Geez... some people...

[MegaDrive20XX]

Forgot to mention, there are many flea markets as well who are dishing these "80" games in one" senarios for $33 a piece...

When will Nintendo crack down on these guys like they did to Hong Kong? (Yet notice it still continues?) You can't win all your battles I guess

[calthaer]

Those things are everywhere. I've seen them at various computer faires, too. They'll get shut down sometime by somebody.

[Jasoco]

My Mall sells them too. And people are always playing them. But no one ever calls me back to try it. I am temptred, but I don't want them actually trying to sell it to me. I hate those Kiosks. (Just those ones with the persistent sellers.) I had a guy with a head massager come to me and massage my head trying to get me to buy the wire thing with the balls on the ends. He kepy lowering the price. You could tell he is paid on commission. If he doesn't sell enough, he is in trouble. Well, here's to his new job.

Oh, and Csmosfm..

I own a Jewelry kiosk in my local mall, have for going on 2 years now, we do the same thing. Honestly, it's because sales aren't that great for us, and 25% of the time after people buy something....they change there mind and decide that they don't want it. If we gave refunds to everyone that decided they didn't want it...we'd lose LOTS of sales.The first time I heard your story about you owning a Jewelry Kiosk in a mall and wanting go open a store of your own, I thought you were a woman. I actually had it in my head you were a woman. Not because of the Jewelry thing, but because of your Avatar at the time. It was a woman. And I was new. So I actually thought you were a woman.

Of course, now I know different. LOL

[Raedon]

Wouldn't telling the mall managers that the booth is selling illegal products shut them down?

Malls are in trouble in many places. Some have even shut down. I remember when the mall was THE place to go for shopping but in my town whole areas are boarded up. The problem mostly is Malls keep raising rent on stores to the point where moving out into a Best Buy type location makes more sense.

Enter the Kiosk seller. They help pay the bills of a dying way of commerse. If you were just breaking even would you stop taking money from someone because they have some "import" items?

[delafro]

Wow, I'm surprised that this is so widespread. Maybe the same operation is running all of these, that would be interesting. Anyways, you can buy them from a kiosk in Concord Mills in Concord, NC as well. Funny, because that place is normally crawling with cops too, and then there's this operation right under their noses.

[rbudrick]

Recently bought a Super Joy III at a kiosk in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashu, NH last week....best famiclone ever......well, up there any way. 70 something games built in, plus a cart port, plus a Player 2/zapper port (both of which were included).

Tip: Talk them down! Especially toward the end of the day when the hinted hand wants to go homw and there's only a few units left.

BTW, did anyone else get the pitch from one of these vendors that the cart port is for the expansion pack coming out next month?

-Rob

[rbudrick]

Crap, double post...sorry.

-Rob

[SegaAges]

i live in omaha, NE and have seen these for sale. this is pretty widespread. i know this because a few months back i went to hollywood for a business trip and went to that big tourist trap mall and they had a kiosk there as well.

[sisko]

I've seen these things everywhere both in Phoenix and Detroit.

I'm surprised the big N hasn't cracked down on these guys yet.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I've seen a kiosk selling some "76,000 games in 1" device in Alderwood Mall, which is located in WA. It's been there for about a year or two, so I wonder if Nintendo's tried to do anything about it.

[Nuadha]

I've seen the bootleg booths at several location in Michigan as well. I'd buy one if they weren't asking such a ridiculous price.