Hey all - very, very new here but a bit of a longtime lurker. I started putting together a bit of a FDS collection after acquiring a Twin Famicom earlier this year. I am "all-in" on the disks and very much love the console!
However, I have a few concerns about collecting and was hoping some more experienced users can set my mind straight.
For some of the more obscure or disk writer exclusive games, is it still possible to write these to a FDS disk and basically "say" it is the original? I.e. if I buy a loose disk of say, "Lutter", with stickers on it, how can I know it's provenance was from the era or something written a few days ago. Does it even really matter? How can I tell - especially with Disk Writer games - what is "original" or not. I don't necessarily want to pay big prices on Disk Writer exclusives if I don't need to.
I imagine this only really applies to disk writer games in general, since games that weren't offered through the service will almost always be original copies.
Well, naturally, there're physical anomalies to spot if someone has also dabbled in recreating the boxart/labels. Look at the corners of the label - are they perfectly rounded? If not, then someone's been trying to do it with a pair of scissors, like this one:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335046569287
Does the label seem the same to the touch as other FDS disks? Reprints usually feel glossier or more matte. The label is also supposed to be a bit smaller than the actual label window on an FDS disk - a popular repro seller makes them fill that window entirely, which gives it away pretty easily. For example, this one is fake:
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/443514410544136232/1076456851161489468/image.png)
However, there's still a chance that someone found, say, a disk containing a cheap game bearing a Lutter label and re-wrote Lutter to it. There is no way to tell if that has been done... if the person rewriting the game knows what they're doing.
You can sometimes find out by looking at the header - FDS games have information about, for instance, the serial number of the Disk Writer Kiosk that wrote the game. If you see that your FDS disk header matches that of an image downloaded from the internet, it's likely (almost certain) it's been rewritten. But, naturally, you can really easily modify that info.
Some FDS disk images on the internet also come with save files which aren't erased - if you find your disk has the same save files, well, it's almost certainly fake, too. Very easy for someone to just delete them all and recreate a different set, of course.
A couple of years ago, there was a Nintendo leak which gave us images of master copies of all FDS disk images. Several people have advocated writing THOSE to disks when rewriting, as it gives you the cleanest
possible copy. If someone has done that, though, the disk writing date in the header will be left blank, which you can check with FDS Lister - and that definitely means the disk is home-rewritten, as all FDS Kiosks filled that info in automatically. But, naturally, you can really easily add this to the header yourself, too.
So, yeah, there's no guarantee.
Does it matter?
Well, games rewritten on home FDSes might not work in other FDSes. Reason being - they ALL had to have their belts swapped by now and had to be recalibrated. Unfortunately, most online tutorials on the topic are utter nonsense and basically make the user trial-and-error until their drive can just barely read their disks.
Unless your own FDS is calibrated similarly, it's probably not gonna be able to read that. In other words, you might get a disk that will not work for you, while it worked perfectly well for the seller.
But, in the end, it's possible they have learned all the relevant info, got a legit disk that once WAS a Disk Writer game and made a copy that's absolutely indistinguishable from an original. Or they could just remove the label entirely. Or the label could be any other legit game, who knows.
I am certain these "fake-legit" copies do exist, circulating around ebay. Unfortunate consequence of the medium :v
But, hey, rewriting disks isn't all bad. There is a factor to consider; magnetic media degrades. If rewriting disks wasn't possible, eventually they would all become unreadable. At least this way, these systems will be kept working for way longer. As long as you're not planning to scam people who don't know any better, my advice would be - "if you can't beat them, join them".
Quote from: weekendroady on September 29, 2023, 02:35:00 pmI imagine this only really applies to disk writer games in general, since games that weren't offered through the service will almost always be original copies.
Unfortunately, it applies to every game. The only part of the FDS package which hasn't been bootlegged is the manual. If you buy a disk/insert in a hard plastic clacky case, there is a non zero chance it is fake. Hell, one of the people making all this fake stuff posts here!
The only way to be sure you are getting an original, and even then it's not completely 100%, is to buy a fully complete copy with manual and outer box. I say not 100% because a seller can mix in a real manual with a fake labeled disk and a fake insert, but the chances of that are low logically.
Diskwriter disks are a lost cause. I have no idea if the manual sheets are bootlegged (probably) but the disks for sure. I would pay as little as possible for the ones you want and avoid getting them all.
Sellers definitely mix and match disks and boxes so I wouldn't bet on those being original either.
Like, say, the very first boxed listing on J4U:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314806839474?hash=item494bf328b2:g:UDcAAOSw~Mdk8xCv
The box is not from Fami Grand Prix, and I bet the disk was just chosen at random to complete the set.