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3rd Gen I want to buy these games but....

Venonat in Space

Venonat in Space

Rawr
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    I really want to rebuy Leaf Green and Fire Red because they're so much better than R/B/Y in my personal opinion. I have $98 credit to Gamestop so I might snag them off the Gamestop website since I have nothing better to do with the credit, but...will they come glitched or altered in any way shape or form? There's also the flea market in my town, but there's no guarantee they'll be normal too. Then there's specialty stores like Play N Trade, but who knows how much they'll cost since retro Pokemon games are a hot commodity right now. If I could afford only one out of the two it'd be Leaf Green cause of version exclusives (Sandshrew and Vulpix specifically).

    Do you have any experiences with Gamestop concerning any old Pokemon games? Any buying advice for me?
     
    Although I currently don't have much experience buying that many used games from GameStop (and the few that I did were DS games), I can say that the ones that I did buy were legit games. The cartridges were in good shape and were actual cartridges and not counterfeit in any way.

    Personally, I'd go with a local specialty store, but only because the ones that I've been to have given me really good experiences. They were also priced decently, compared to what I've seen online (or even at GameStop). And I know that at one of them, the owner of the store personally tests every game that he gets in from people to make sure that they're okay. Your experience might vary, though, depending on the stores in your area.

    If you're out at stores or flea markets and want to make sure that the cartridges are legit, you can check with a guide or a video going over the differences between real games and fake ones.
     
    I'd probably just go with a trusted Amazon or Ebay seller if I'm being honest.

    While I've been lucky enough to have bought legitimate cartridges of each game, I have seen a laughably bad bootleg of Emerald at GameStop before, and my friend actually bought a (slightly less obvious but I saw it instantly) fake copy of Emerald at GameStop before.
     
    As a former GameStop employee, I can go ahead and tell you that we were never trained on spotting fakes. There are some stores where I'm managers did take the time to inform employees about it on their own time or with their own knowledge (I knew some things and so did my assistant manager, so we passed that on to everyone else), but for all I know, they could be far and few in between. The issue with the retro selection is that you don't get to see it since you have to buy online.

    I highly suggest a trusted Amazon or eBay seller, if you don't have a local gaming store where they're hella likely to actually know what they're doing. GameStop is probably still a somewhat safe bet, but there have been cases with issues on SNES and N64 cartridges coming in and being fake or having the label to one game and the circuit board for another. But I mean, you're taking a risk buying online at any rate, so best of luck. If you find a seller online that's posted pictures, you should definitely come back to this thread to show those photos and some of us here could help advise you on the authenticity of it.
     
    Honestly, I can't recommend your LGS (local game store) enough. Obviously everywhere is different, but I've had consistently good experiences with them. The games might be a little pricier, but they also might not be; a lot of places, especially in smaller cities without a massive gaming crowd, sell a little below market value. Plus, you can do your research in advance and examine the cart IRL before you buy it, just to be sure.
     
    miragespot said:
    If you're going to buy from GameStop, buy from an actual IRL store location, not their website.
    Click to expand...

    Personally for games as rare as FRLG these days it'd be much better to go to a mom and pop game shop than GameStop. Sure, depending on your location and the absurd amount of luck you have, your local GameStop may carry a few retro games here and there. But generally speaking, don't bet on IRL GameStop stores to carry GBA games as a rule of thumb.
     
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