Bootleg video game system fun, and my wicked haggling plans!

[Mitsukara]

First off, I'd like to say I'm very sorry if this is against the rules/something that shouldn't be posted at AGN, and I would be happy to edit/remove parts/all of it if so desired (or be okay if the topic needed closing). I wasn't sure if it would be okay or not, but posted anyway. I hope it's okay! >.<

Okay, so I was in a mall in a smallish city in Texas today (about an hour's drive away from where I live), and there was a dude in a kiosk selling this AWESOME video game system. This sweet package includes:

Consoles available in four colors, good for boys AND girls
Two controllers, one with a unique three-handle design and a good firm joystick in the middle (I believe it must have a hidden mechanism that looks the joystick to free up and become useable, but alas, I failed to find it in my brief and wondrous time with this masterpiece of electronics), and one with a sleeve wave-like curved design with two small points sticking down on each side, with three buttons lined up in a row on the right and a D-Pad on the left
A light gun bearing resemblance to a Desert Eagle
And an awesome game cartridge- 44 GAMES IN ONE!

No more cartridge-swapping, 44-in-1 has it all!! From Super Mario Bros SWQ to Mario Bros CJB, you'll have hours of entertainment. And judging from the packaging, the console's mascots seem to be Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul, pictured in a sweet lightsaber duel on the box. It left me wondered, boggled, and amazed!! Even two old ladies were interested in it, hoping to buy one for their hip grandchildren. And all for the low low price of just $39.90!!!

Unfortunately, I didn't have $39.90 and think it would be somewhat economically unviable to buy games I already own on the FAR INFERIOR Nintendo Entertainment System (pshaw! Is that name injun talk or what??) and on this come-pyoo-tore device of much mysteries. But, judging from how many the guy actually sold in the 20 minutes I was around, I'm sure they're selling off like hotcakes, crushing lame competition like the Nintendo BS and Playstationwagon 2. Hopefully, if I can make a return trip to the grand city that sold these FINE devices, they'll still have one.

Now, here's the deal: I don't think the police will track me down and bang down my door because I illegally buy this FINE system that's too good for mere American and Japanese law. But, $39.90??!?!? I would actually buy one as a christmas present for my brother-in-law, as he loves the original Super Mario Bros. and it would be among the less expensive methods of buying him any sort of "real" console that could be played on a TV. But $39.90 is right out.

So, in the aftermath of my encounter with this FINE system, I hatched a bold scheme: I want to go back, and if they're still there, see if I can haggle the dude into parting with one for less (preferably $25 or less). I can clue him in that I know exactly how illegal these are and insinuate that I could tell the proper authorities to have him removed, but I'm not sure if I feel bold enough to be that forward. I could hint subtlely and suggest I take his hot items off his hands for $25 and offer not to tell anybody.

So what I'm really asking here is, how might I barter/haggle the guy into a lower price? I think it's prudent to point out that his "$39.90" was just something he said, and I saw no price tags or signs anywhere. I was previously considering buying a Super Nintendo and a copy of Super Mario All-Stars for my brother-in-law for Christmas, but that itself could easily come to $40. A copy of the original in relative working order might not be bad, if he could get used to the screwy controllers (actually, I'm not sure if the Genisis one was real; the N64 controller was the only one hooked up on the two displays). Any suggestions, anyone?

[Gerudo]

i saw that when i waited with my cousin for 1½ hours for GTA:SA (i was being nice by waiting, the game was for my cousins husband).

it looked pretty neat, although i knew it was a bootleg because SMB didnt have the SMB logo... cheap looking, but eh... pretty interesting, i think.

[Saffith]

Threats may or may not do any good. Nintendo knows about these already, and I hear they're doing a pretty good job of shutting them down without any help.
You could, however, make the case that $25 is better than nothing, which is likely the best they'll get if they do happen to get closed down.

[Dart Zaidyer]

Are you referring to one of those hackjob NOAC things from China? Be careful with those. Even for the theoretical price of 25 dollars you could easily get ripped. (especially when you consider that there were a few As Seen on TV commercials selling these things for the "amazing" price of $19.99.)
Generally, the emulation can be sketchy, and the built-in games are just various repeats or crappy romhacks of the same 5 or 6 games that changes some text or graphics or number of lives. Plus there's the fact that they try to imitate N64 controllers and actually manage to make them worse than the real deal.
You're better off with a genuine NES. Nothing beats that square hunk of gray plastic unless you plan on some serious NOAC modification like Ben Heckendorn.

[vegeta1215]

Nintendo won a court case against the company who makes those game units resembling N64 controllers that have SMB on them (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/02/1928240&tid=159), but I'm sure they're still trying to sell as many as they can before all of the kiosks are forced to stop selling them.

Go read some opinions on the units if you can, I heard that many of the games included are just repeats of other games on the unit, so you don't really get that many games.

[Raichu86]

I wouldn't get it, even if it was a flawless product that didn't have deceptive claims about the number of games contained within. If you're going to play an illegal copy of a game, don't pay for it... at least then it doesn't benefit the party that made the illegal copy.

[AlexMax]

Report them to Nintendo. I beleive Nintendo has contact information for piracy and other stuff like this.

[Orion]

I have seen these in malls all over the twin cities, and my friend has one. I got a chance to play it. IF you manage to get it to even work at all (requires turning it on and off a few times), you may be lucky enough to navigate the clunky selection system and find a game that actually will start correctly. And even if you get that far, the emulation is pretty crappy. Its not worth your $$.

[Mitsukara]

Oops... I think I was a little unclear on a few points with my vast sarcastic humor.


You're better off with a genuine NES. Nothing beats that square hunk of gray plastic unless you plan on some serious NOAC modification like Ben Heckendorn.
I have an NES, and couldn't agree more- but I'm thinking gift-wise. A NES is impractical for several reasons for my brother-in-law. For one, if I found one in a store someplace, it would cost at least $25 used in the semi-working condition most NESes are in these days. Then I would buy a copy of Super Mario Bros, possibly with Duck Hunt, possibly without, or I might even find a copy with World Track Meet included. That wouldn't cost much more, a few dollars at most.

Then my brother-in-law would hook it up and have to work feverishly to get the game to start. Insert game, turn on power, blinking blue screen. Take it out, blow in it, put it back in, turn on power, blinking blue screen. Repeat 20 times. Then you get some garble that resembles SMB and is playable for a few minutes, if you can see what you're doing. Then the game freezes up. Take it out, blow in it, put it back in, turn on power, blinking blue screen. Repeat three times. Then you get garble and a high-pitched noise. Take it out, blow in it, put it back in, turn on power, blinking blue screen. The game has overheated and will not do anything else unless you take it out for several minutes and do nothing with it. My brother-in-law has virtually no patience and would destroy the game cartridge long before that point.

So an NES is out of the question. A SNES with a copy of Super Mario All-Stars, however, presents a far better option, as it would most likely work on a regular basis and only freeze up if you kick it or the system vibrates too much due to the dropping of heavy objects nearby. The problem? SNESes run $25-$40, and copies of SMAS are usually $10 or more.

This being the case, would not a cheapo ripoff illegal bootleg system in mild working order that plays SMB1 faithfully for only $25 be a good option? Plus a few other games no one wants to play at that.

Now I know for certain, there are no 44 games on it. There's probably 5 versions of SMB1 at least, 5 versions of Mario Bros, 5 versions of, say, Tennis, and soforth. All exactly the same except for the letters/numbers following the name.

The controller sucks, indeed. But if the Sega Genisis controller works, it might not be so bad.


If you're going to play an illegal copy of a game, don't pay for it... at least then it doesn't benefit the party that made the illegal copy.
Good argument, but how could I give him a copy for free? I don't think I could give him a ROM, as I'm not 100% sure they even have a computer. They don't have any other consoles, either.

In all honesty, what I'd like best is to give them one of those nonexistant perfectly-working NESes, like a vertical-slot system that costs $100, or a SNES. But that's a little more expensive. Currently, the SNES is what I'm really aiming for, but it's a question of finance. If I could get a bootleg system cheaply enough, and if it worked well enough, it might be a good alternative.

My main question is how do I talk the dude into selling one for a real price instead of that $39.90 shlock? I might point out that I'm not even sure he'd say the same price if I saw him again, as I only heard him say the price and did not see any signs or price tags anywhere in the kiosk. *shrugs*

It's only if I can't get a SNES cheap enough. I could blow the whole thing off and just buy him some John Deere stuff like he collects...

[Dechipher]

Go back and tell him right away that you'll pay 25$ for it. However, he may know which ones work the best and give you a crappier one since you pay less.

[Dart Zaidyer]

A used SNES version 1 with everything you need (but only one controller) would run you 30 dollars at the used game store formerly known as FuncoLand. SMAS+World (the one that plugs Mario World into the SMAS line-up) is about 15 dollars.
I would really discourage getting a pirate system. The lack of fun doesn't justify the cost.

[Orion]

On that note, it's kinda sad how stores like GameStop don't carry NES or SNES games anymore. I rather enjoyed going in and picking up a few ghetto games (especially after I got my SNES version 2 and my NES version 2, they are sexy).

[Dart Zaidyer]

Yeah, when FuncoLand was "acquired" they immediately pulled their old games out of catalogue and just put them up in little plastic bags on shelves for you to search through. Stuff nobody wants like Secret of Evermore and NBA Jam were about the only things there at that point.

You have a version 2 SNES and NES? Man, you're lucky. Recently those things have become insanely pricey because everyone thinks they're so rare and cool.

Anyway, that in mind, if you can't find anything at your local stores you might want to try Pawn Shops or online retailers. You'll often find what you want a lot cheaper.

[vegeta1215]

On that note, it's kinda sad how stores like GameStop don't carry NES or SNES games anymore. I rather enjoyed going in and picking up a few ghetto games (especially after I got my SNES version 2 and my NES version 2, they are sexy).

Some Gamestops carry old games. (some EBs too) There's one of each by me that carry NES and SNES games. I'm hoping to pick up Punch Out! from one of them eventually, but I doubt I'll be able to find it, it's a popular game.