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