It took hackers no time at all to extract the Star Fox 2 ROM from the Super NES Classic Edition, which hit stores last Friday. Not long after that, the game hit eBay — on bootleg SNES cartridges.
Sellers on eBay are listing cartridges with Star Fox 2 on them for as much as $70. These cartridges are advertised as including the official SNES Classic version of the game, with the main difference being that they’re supposedly compatible with an actual Super NES.
The bootleg cartridges even have nice labels based on the game’s new art. And it looks like collectors are snapping them up, especially with the SNES Classic already hard to find post-launch day. Several of the modded cartridges have been sold, even with steep prices that come close to that of the SNES Classic system itself.
Considering how much Nintendo fans have coveted Star Fox 2 over the years — it’s a unique case in which Nintendo axed the near-complete SNES build just before release — it’s not a total surprise that bootleggers are looking to profit on its rarity. But keep in mind that these more than skirt the line of legality, and that retailers are promising more SNES Classic stock in the coming months.