I've noticed from time to time on ebay there are a few auctions for games for reproduction games. Usually they are games translated into English because the game did not launch in the West. The better auctions come with a fancy looking box with flashy artwork, instructions and leaflets. Its just like the 90's again. So what goes into these cartridges? Is it an Eprom, is the goods on the inside as good as the outside?
I'd like to think these repro carts with boxes and whatever are exclusive to games that were not released so that gives you a fighting chance of spotting a fake game. But whats to stop these people making a fake copy of an expensive title and selling full price?
Thats some pretty good artwork for a repro.
They even have a "reproduction cart" official section on the store now (!) which is dodgy since many of those repros aren't even labeled as repros.
I don't mind clearly identifiable repros, advertised as such. Even if I did, though, I'd still regard their makers more charitably than outright counterfeiters. One's offering a dubious but openly-identified service, the other is cancer and should be burnt out likewise. It's about intent to deceive.
For the PCB, it may be that the quality can be matched and improved as fabrication processes have improved over the interim of the 80s to today. It only matters to people obsessed with minutae I would suppose. I am interested to know chip numbers and such like but I have a mind for that sort of thing. But it doesn't detract from the 'product' so to speak. You are not speaking as an Engineer or technical person relying on such statements without some understanding of the technology and manufacture. There are very few processes that cannot be replicated and indeed actioned and if anything we can do a lot more these days than we could 20+ years ago.
