Buying used PS Vita games advice?

[baileykun]

Are bootlegs common for the Vita? I only ever got one used game before and suffered a sticker swap debacle(some jerk managed to perfectly transfer a P4Golden sticker onto a cart for Lego HP). Luckily I easily got the item replaced since I bought it from Gamestop, but something I want isn't available locally anywhere and may need to take to ebay. I tried googling, but couldn't find a good guide to buying used Vita games. I saw some allusion to bootlegs, but nothing terribly solid. I really want to expand my collection. Thanks for any replies.

TLDR: Are bootlegs an issue and is there a way to identify them? Also are sticker swaps a common problem?

[kashell]

Your story is the first time I've ever heard of anyone trying to pull a fast one with a Vita game. So, I guess it's uncommon? I play the Vita frequently and have yet to encounter an issue.

[hoshichiri]

I've not run into any vita issues either- I don't think it's prominent enough for bootleggers to try and copy.

Out of curiosity, what is it you're after? Perhaps it's available locally to one of us- not much help for preventing fakes since there's no precedent for it, but we could at least check for sticker swaps.

[seberhusky]

I doubt there is any bootlegs for the Vita, it's not easy to produce those cartridges. The sticker swap was likely a case of someone out to fraud Gamestop for trade-in credit and not actually done as a bootleg. Gamestop likely never noticed it since their employees are not trained to detect bootlegs.  I've been in Gamestop before and often seen games that have home-printed cover art off Google Images.

[bikingjahuty]

Ebay and Amazon. Don't buy anything from countries like Chine and Malaysia since a lot of the bootleg/counterfeit games out there originate from those countries. Check seller feedback and be mindful of what others are saying in the feedback.

[fauxshot]

Your story is the first time I've ever heard of anyone trying to pull a fast one with a Vita game. So, I guess it's uncommon? I play the Vita frequently and have yet to encounter an issue.

Same! As others mentioned, this was probably an isolated incident. I haven't bought too many used vita games, but those I have were from Gamestop without an issue.

Have fun collecting!  Some great titles for it, though many of the best ones are now available on PC/consoles. I noticed you had 999 in your collection, don't miss Danganronpa if you haven't played it! If you like roguelikes and don't mind cutesy, lighthearted anime appeal, Sorcery Saga is a unique game to add to your Vita collection as well. And of course, many people recommend Freedom Wars (for a Monster Hunter-esque game).

[baileykun]

Thanks everyone this puts my ind at ease a bit. I just remember DS bootlegs being pretty bad back in the day when I was getting a lot of them so I got pretty nervous after my first encounter with tampering.

Have fun collecting!  Some great titles for it, though many of the best ones are now available on PC/consoles. I noticed you had 999 in your collection, don't miss Danganronpa if you haven't played it! If you like roguelikes and don't mind cutesy, lighthearted anime appeal, Sorcery Saga is a unique game to add to your Vita collection as well. And of course, many people recommend Freedom Wars (for a Monster Hunter-esque game).

I picked up Danganronpa for PC actually, I should play it soon. I'm hoping for vita to get Code: Realize, Virtue's Last Reward, and now I'm looking at that sorcery saga game looks cool. I might also pick up the a few other things, but lets not drone on. Thanks for the recommendations.