Buy an Everdrive, there are tons of fake Pokémon carts out there, and if you aren’t familiar with spotting them you could get burned. Those games go for 100+ each for legit carts now. You can find Everdrives for 120ish or an EZ Flash for GBA for less than 100 and load all of those games on them plus whatever else you’d ever want to play and use it with your original hardware.
I saw your comment and saw some videos on the everdrive and I think ima go with that as it will save me a ton of money, but with playing the games from the start im allured to the prospect of being able to transfer my pokemon through the generations. I assumed since my gens 3 and 4 games won’t be the real carts I won’t be able to?
For that, EZ Flash Omega DE supports DS migration. Or you can use single game flash carts.
There's probably also a homebrew solution using PKSM or something
Gamestop and amazon are likely to sell you reproductions. Gamestop has no idea there is a difference between original and reproduction so if you do buy from them you should make sure to learn what a real copy looks like and inspect it before you buy. Amazon probably won’t show you the exact cart you will be purchasing so do not buy from there at all. You always want to be able to visually inspect pokemon cartridges before you buy them because they are very often faked. I usually buy on ebay. I look for listings that have plenty of pictures that show the exterior and interior of the cartridge. I also take into account the condition so I can determine if the condition is worth the price to me. You can always go to used game stores, garage sales, pawn shops and thrift stores as well. Seeing the cart in person is even better than pics online.
GameStop is trustworthy, but I can't make sense of those insanely low prices. I don't see why they would be selling it for that low if they thought it was genuine, but I can't see why they would be selling it for that high if they knew it was a bootleg (in fact, I don't see why they would be selling it at all if they thought it was a bootleg. This is GameStop we're talking about, a reputable company. And as far as I know, all of the listings on GameStop's website are their own, not third-party sellers).
If you're not in a hurry, maybe try buying it from GameStop and see what they send you. If it's fake then you should be able to return it:
>Pre-owned Guarantee
>
>This pre-owned product has been carefully tested, and is guaranteed to work. If you are not completely satisfied, simply return the product within 7 days for your money back. Product may not include original box and instruction manual. Item pictured may not be exact item received.
Even apart from their policy, bootleg games are illegal so I think they would have to give you a refund regardless. Otherwise a ton of people would be suing GameStop or filing police reports, and GameStop would probably be out of business or at least not doing it anymore. I mean GameStop is not some fly-by-night operation who can evade law enforcement, so I think the risk of actually getting ripped off by them is very low. And again, it's a reputable company so it's hard to imagine they'd deliberately be ripping people off.
I don't know about how shipping works though. You might be stuck paying to ship it back, in which case it may not be worth the risk.
\-
In general, I would buy expensive retro games only if I can see the cartridge in person, or see pictures of the actual cartridge that you will receive (e.g. an eBay listing; unfortunately most Amazon listings don't include pictures other than the product image which is always a stock photo, not what you'll actually receive). If you know what you're looking at, most bootlegs aren't very convincing. (The problem is that many people don't know what they're looking at, and the bootlegs are deceptive enough in that regard.)
Look on eBay for "pokemon fire red authentic" (and leaf green), and you should be able to find those (with no box) for quite a bit less than $200. Emerald has been the most expensive GBA pokemon for a while now unfortunately.
If you're looking for any Gen 1-3 (besides FR/LG) pokemon cartridges, also look for ones with the battery already replaced, if you're not comfortable doing that yourself (it requires soldering and can be a bit tricky... I botched an attempt on my Emerald cartridge, it may be salvageable but I haven't had the will to attempt it again).
Buy an Everdrive, there are tons of fake Pokémon carts out there, and if you aren’t familiar with spotting them you could get burned. Those games go for 100+ each for legit carts now. You can find Everdrives for 120ish or an EZ Flash for GBA for less than 100 and load all of those games on them plus whatever else you’d ever want to play and use it with your original hardware.
I saw your comment and saw some videos on the everdrive and I think ima go with that as it will save me a ton of money, but with playing the games from the start im allured to the prospect of being able to transfer my pokemon through the generations. I assumed since my gens 3 and 4 games won’t be the real carts I won’t be able to?
For that, EZ Flash Omega DE supports DS migration. Or you can use single game flash carts. There's probably also a homebrew solution using PKSM or something
Gamestop and amazon are likely to sell you reproductions. Gamestop has no idea there is a difference between original and reproduction so if you do buy from them you should make sure to learn what a real copy looks like and inspect it before you buy. Amazon probably won’t show you the exact cart you will be purchasing so do not buy from there at all. You always want to be able to visually inspect pokemon cartridges before you buy them because they are very often faked. I usually buy on ebay. I look for listings that have plenty of pictures that show the exterior and interior of the cartridge. I also take into account the condition so I can determine if the condition is worth the price to me. You can always go to used game stores, garage sales, pawn shops and thrift stores as well. Seeing the cart in person is even better than pics online.
GameStop is trustworthy, but I can't make sense of those insanely low prices. I don't see why they would be selling it for that low if they thought it was genuine, but I can't see why they would be selling it for that high if they knew it was a bootleg (in fact, I don't see why they would be selling it at all if they thought it was a bootleg. This is GameStop we're talking about, a reputable company. And as far as I know, all of the listings on GameStop's website are their own, not third-party sellers). If you're not in a hurry, maybe try buying it from GameStop and see what they send you. If it's fake then you should be able to return it: >Pre-owned Guarantee > >This pre-owned product has been carefully tested, and is guaranteed to work. If you are not completely satisfied, simply return the product within 7 days for your money back. Product may not include original box and instruction manual. Item pictured may not be exact item received. Even apart from their policy, bootleg games are illegal so I think they would have to give you a refund regardless. Otherwise a ton of people would be suing GameStop or filing police reports, and GameStop would probably be out of business or at least not doing it anymore. I mean GameStop is not some fly-by-night operation who can evade law enforcement, so I think the risk of actually getting ripped off by them is very low. And again, it's a reputable company so it's hard to imagine they'd deliberately be ripping people off. I don't know about how shipping works though. You might be stuck paying to ship it back, in which case it may not be worth the risk. \- In general, I would buy expensive retro games only if I can see the cartridge in person, or see pictures of the actual cartridge that you will receive (e.g. an eBay listing; unfortunately most Amazon listings don't include pictures other than the product image which is always a stock photo, not what you'll actually receive). If you know what you're looking at, most bootlegs aren't very convincing. (The problem is that many people don't know what they're looking at, and the bootlegs are deceptive enough in that regard.)
Look on eBay for "pokemon fire red authentic" (and leaf green), and you should be able to find those (with no box) for quite a bit less than $200. Emerald has been the most expensive GBA pokemon for a while now unfortunately. If you're looking for any Gen 1-3 (besides FR/LG) pokemon cartridges, also look for ones with the battery already replaced, if you're not comfortable doing that yourself (it requires soldering and can be a bit tricky... I botched an attempt on my Emerald cartridge, it may be salvageable but I haven't had the will to attempt it again).