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Neo Geo Aes real vs fake - how to spot the differences and NOT get ripped off

VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Lately I've noticed an influx of AES games for sale all around the internet. Sadly I'd imagine a lot of these games are from collectors who need the money due to the pandemic. Which is super sad but I get it. Unfortunately that means the scammers peddling bootleg / conversion carts as the real thing know this too! On a good day making sure you aren't buying a high value fake game is hard! But with an influx you really have to be sure to do your due dilligence. While I was re-organizing part of my collection I made this

youtu.be

How to Spot a Fake Neo Geo AES Game - "On a Technicality"

Hello and welcome back to our side series "On a Technicality" Today we are going to be discussing how to spot a fake Neo Geo AES game. Considering some of th...
youtu.be youtu.be

Some things to look out for : 1 - print quality / differences. Are the colors off? Does the insertion warning sticker not reflect properly? Are the corners not properly rounded off? All telltale signs! 2 - is it from France? Sadly it's the origin of a ton of bootlegs 3 - always ask for board photos! compare them against available photos online. Google "MVS AES PCB Photos / Scans" and you will be able to find them easily 4 - is it expensive? Nobody will go to the trouble to fake a $200 Sam Sho III or IV, but something in the "thousands" range has to be assumed to be fake till you get board photos. 5 - when it arrives...the smell! Like a mix of stale cigarette smoke and offgassing vinyl plastic...seriously! that's what authenticity smells like! and 6 - weight. Repro boards almost ALWAYS weigh less than their real counterparts. 7 - case plastic quality / differences.

I just don't want people getting burned, especially now. A casual browse of eBay has way more high priced AES games available in the last 30 days than I've seen in years. If anyone else has any questions let me know. Scammers / bootleggers trying to pass off cheap conversions as real AES games are ruining the hobby, so if they aren't getting sales due to people knowing how to spot a fake, it's good for everyone except the scammers!

And I hope nobody reading this has to sell their collections to support themselves! Hope you are all safe, healthy, and secure :)
 
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Wereroku

Wereroku

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,254
Can you not open an AES cart like you can with MVS? I always just ask for board pics and check when it comes in. If they refuse it's probably a repo.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Yes but the amount of sellers that say "I don't know how to" is huge. Opening an AES cart takes skill so you don't damage it. MVS is just a few screws. So you will get resistance to opening carts up by inexperienced people. So a lot of what is in the video is spotting potential issues before board photos too :) But I do say in the video / description board photos are a must for high priced games
 
Wereroku

Wereroku

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,254
AES collecting is always fascinating to me and I would love a documentary on it. I remember the story about the guys meeting at an airport to trade a copy of a very rare release I for a briefcase of money. The costs and hoarding of rare releases is endlessly fascinating.
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Wereroku said:
AES collecting is always fascinating to me and I would love a documentary on it. I remember the story about the guys meeting at an airport to trade a copy of a very rare release I for a briefcase of money. The costs and hoarding of rare releases is endlessly fascinating.
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I think it was two games, and the sale was around 65K. Which is insane, but high value AES items can go for tens of thousands of dollars. Wall Street Journal wrote and article about it a few years back. But put it this way...my AES games have done better than my wife or my 401k's lolol
 
Billy Awesomo

Billy Awesomo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,769
New York, New York
I stopped collecting Neo Geo AES cause it got to expensive, mainly most of the carts I wanted are waaaaaay too costly. I have though about picking up some conversions or even possibly a NEO SD. Also there are so many fakes floating around now, that was a very informative and helpful video. I've been thinking about picking up stuff like Last Blade 2 which I don't think has quite hit the "1000" dollar range yet (at least the Japanese version), same with Real bout Special (once again Japanese version). However the games I do want, Mark of the Wolves, Twinkle Star Sprites (among a couple of other ones as well) Are like Waaaaaaaaay too expensive (especially Twinkle Star Sprites), I would settle for a MVS to AES conversion based cart (same with the Metal Slug X). (Also thanks to the conversion scene certain cheap games that use to be cheap (Cough, cough Magician Lord, cough) are now increasingly become rare and hard to find and driving up the price of a once very affordable game you could get for under 80 dollars. This has caused a flood of "Magician lord" carts to appear that are MVS conversions to AES as well.)

Bonus! Here's my small meager AES collection. (some neo geo pocket in there as well)

OgyFPmG.png
 
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VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
Dec 10, 2019
658
Billy Awesomo said:
I stopped collecting Neo Geo AES cause it got to expensive, mainly most of the carts I wanted are waaaaaay too costly. I have though about picking up some conversions or even possibly a NEO SD. Also there are so many fakes floating around now, that was a very informative and helpful video. I've been thinking about picking up stuff like Last Blade 2 which I don't think has quite hit the "1000" dollar range yet (at least the Japanese version), same with Real bout Special (once again Japanese version). However the games I do want, Mark of the Wolves, Twinkle Star Sprites (among a couple of other ones as well) Are like Waaaaaaaaay too expensive (especially Twinkle Star Sprites), I would settle for a MVS to AES conversion based cart (same with the Metal Slug X). (Also thanks to the conversion scene certain cheap games that use to be cheap (Cough, cough Magician Lord, cough) are now increasingly become rare and hard to find and driving up the price of a once very affordable game you could get for under 80 dollars. This has caused a flood of "Magician lord" carts to appear that are MVS conversions to AES as well.)

Bonus! Here's my small meager AES collection. (some neo geo pocket in there as well)

OgyFPmG.png
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

respectable collection :) Last Blade 2 is on my shopping list as well at some point in the future.

Magician Lord has gone up in value for sure. Sucks cheap games get sacrificed for conversions. Especially when repro aftermarket pcb boards exist
 
killuglypop

killuglypop

Member
Jan 9, 2020
980
I've owned an AES and carts twice but it just got too much. I just couldn't live with the feeling that the system would one day shit the bed and leave me with a ton of expensive games not getting played. It's a terrible time to be getting into home carts but respect to those who persevere. Even MVS is ridiculous.

That is an incredible selection of games however @Billy Awesomo and proof that you don't need a ton of newer releases to be content. I could play Garou Densetsu Special, Samurai Spirits and KOF 95 until the end of time
 
Wereroku

Wereroku

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,254
Here is my small mvs collection. I'm a bit amazed at how high mvs is going for now as well. Also what is up with mutation nation being so expensive I swear I got it for 30 dollars just a few years ago.

 
Billy Awesomo

Billy Awesomo

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,769
New York, New York
killuglypop said:
I've owned an AES and carts twice but it just got too much. I just couldn't live with the feeling that the system would one day shit the bed and leave me with a ton of expensive games not getting played. It's a terrible time to be getting into home carts but respect to those who persevere. Even MVS is ridiculous.

That is an incredible selection of games however @Billy Awesomo and proof that you don't need a ton of newer releases to be content. I could play Garou Densetsu Special, Samurai Spirits and KOF 95 until the end of time
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Thanks! I originally only bought the Neo-Geo AES for Real bout Fatal Fury 2, but as time went on I started buying whatever I could for the system mainly cause I really enjoyed the arcady feel I got.
 
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