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Hong Kong came up to me.

 
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:28 pm    Post subject: Hong Kong came up to me. Reply with quote

Like everywhere else, my town has a mall. It's a respectable mall. Faux-worn clothes in every window. The chalky odor of Cinnabons. You get the feeling. It also has a bootleg NES game kiosk.

It showed up kind of abruptly and nobody seems to know that they're bootleg. But right as you walk out of JC Penney's, you're shot between the eyes by boxes wearing slivers of every color on the spectrum as well as art lifted from The Phantom Menace movie posters. They're the type of console made up of an N64 controller that retains a litany of NES games wired to a Genesesque controller wired to a plastic Walther PPK. None of the games have a title screen and are referred to things like "CONTRA QQE" and "SUPER MARIO XXY." Nothing too new. We've all seen these hawked on eBay and in flea markets and aren't shocked by their hollow boasts of "1,000-games-in-one," but seeing them in a mainstream shopping mall between the Bananna Republic and Victoria's Secret is, frankly, kind of eerie. It's almost like a sign that the mall is dying not dissimilar to seeing a melanoma on someone's mouth while they're talking.

Some guy works at the booth and is "demonstrating" the wares by playing Contra. He's at the platform part of level three and is losing terribly. From the way he's dying, it's quite apparent that he didn't get there on his own. Furthermore, he has no clue that he's selling bootleg products. In addition to this console, they also display an 8-bit Dance Dance Revolution knockoff that uses all sorts of music that is obviously not licensed, and a ping-pong game that as far as I can tell is pretty legit. But it's still riotously knockoff looking.
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TheRedEye
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi
The Internet's Frank Cifaldi


Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 4192
Location: Oakland, CA

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, our mall has those too. I really don't think Nintendo gives a shit anymore.
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They must not becuase they sure are loud when they do care. The individual game companies sure don't seem to, either. Konami told the guy who runs the Castlevania Dungeon to take down the Akumajou Dracula X rom but said nothing about the other 29 roms listed on the site. Although those aren't being sold for profit, but still.
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merp
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Our mall had those too. It also had a really neat Ping-Pong simulator.
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BMF54123
Staff
Staff


Joined: 28 Aug 2003
Posts: 743
Location: Henderson, NV

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We got the Ping-Pong simulator, but no Famiclones. How boring. :(
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DavidDurica



Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Posts: 166
Location: Boynton Beach, FL

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am amazed at how widespread that Super Joy III famiclone is. You'll see famiclones at dirt malls all the time, but that damn thing got into every mall around here, even the upscale ones. Too bad its such a lousy famiclone. I'm much keener on the Polystation, myself. Or anything that itsn't built into a controller, as those are tough to keep carts in.

How much do they want for it there? Going rate here is $60, which is a total rip-off. Local dirt mall had a PolyStation with a multicart, two controllers, and two DDR pads for $40. If I didn't already have almost as many Famicom-compatible systems as non-FC-compatible, I would've bought it.
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Kitsune
FURRY


Joined: 20 Nov 2003
Posts: 318
Location: Mexico

PostPosted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uh, yeah, Calexico, the town the next country over [haw] is run by Chinese and Korean merchants, and they sell pirate carts and systems by the boatload.

Expensive, though. Bastards.
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Sat Jun 05, 2004 5:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="DavidDurica"] How much do they want for it there? Going rate here is $60, which is a total rip-off. [quote]

I think they're about $40 - $45 here. Still a leap, if you ask me.
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nateJC



Joined: 08 Nov 2003
Posts: 65
Location: Kansas City

PostPosted: Sun Jun 06, 2004 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Beeshu, you have inspired me. We have a couple of old dried-up malls here. I'm gonna have to search them out for bootleg NES game shops.
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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

nateJC wrote:
Beeshu, you have inspired me. We have a couple of old dried-up malls here. I'm gonna have to search them out for bootleg NES game shops.


Comments like this make me wish I had a capture of one of those "WINNERS SAY NO TO DRUGS" arcade attract screens.
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treeman



Joined: 19 Sep 2003
Posts: 98

PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 4:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Beeshu



Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 58

PostPosted: Tue Jun 22, 2004 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My savior, treeman
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