Topic: Regarding bootlegged/pirated CV merchandise

[JR]

Hey guys. I just bought 2 sealed Castlevania soundtracks from a seller on Amazon, only to find out that they're Taiwanese bootlegs (Ever Anime and Alion made them). I didn't realize how easy it was to pick up a bootleg instead of an official copy. I didn't know Konami had their logo on most of the soundtracks.

So what I'm asking is, are there any places that sell quite a bit of genuine merchandise? Or are there any rules of thumb to follow to avoid being duped into buying bootlegs?

Haha, I sort of feel like a dumbass, because the only difference in the packaging is the lack of a Konami logo, and I didn't even think to look for that. Otherwise, the packaging is exactly the same. And besides, anyone can post a picture of a real copy, then ship you a fake after you buy. Really turns me off to the idea of collecting in the first place, which is a shame because these are the first 2 CV soundtracks I've bought (that weren't included with a game).

Any pointers?

[Dark Nemesis]

Try play asia.com or gamechoiceclub.com!

[PFG9000]

In Reply To #1

Play Asia, Yes Asia, and http://www.gamemusic.com/ are some of the better sites.

[The Last Belmont]

Southeast asia (china especially) has a very big black market. Be careful buying from those areas of the world if you are looking for the genuine product. I wouldn't worry about music disks too much though unless the quality is less than what it should be. 

[JR]

Awesome! Thanks for the site suggestions, guys, it helps me out a lot.

Also, one thing I never thought of doing is looking through used CD stores on the off chance that someone sold something there. It's pretty unlikely that I'd find CV soundtracks around here, but stranger things have happened. Like the autographed Dimmu Borgir albums I found.

[Mr Sven]

While we're kinda on the subject, does anybody know of any sites that sell soundtracks for games made by western developers? Play-Asia is good and all , i've bought from there plenty of times but there are no Halo's/Command and Conquers/Abes oddyssey. anyone know of a good site with a wide selection?

[Cypress]

Don't buy off of ebay or Amazon. 99% of the stuff is bootleg. I got a bootleg HoD/AoS doublepack. At least it was cheap and doesn't have any problems.

[LuxKiller65]

This is funny because gamemusic.com actually had some Castlevania pirates (out of stock, of course).

Amazon.com turns me off because there are either no pictures at all or a generic picture of the item. Dumb.

[olroxshade]

Come to Mexico :x

Here you find weird pirated stuff, like homebrews for psx or GBA.

Also, you can found imitation dolls or stuff like that.

of course, I'm talking about unusual and non-existencial Castlevania stuff.

[Profbeanburrito]

My friend got me Harmony of Dissonance for Xmas one year. The Box is a display box and the cartridge slightly sicks out of the GBA/DS. Totally bootleg, but still works fine for me!