Bought a copy o Bare Knuckle III - looks fake and need verification

[JPEC83]

I just received this in the mail today and until opening it was very happy. The game has gone up a fair bit in price recently but I noticed but I found this for about 5000 yen on Amazon Japan. I trusted it because sometimes sellers put up items cheaper than the lowest without really looking whether the games have cases/instructions etc. I've been lucky a few times this way. Anyway, this still seemed to good to be true and I'm thinking it is.


http://imgur.com/na2gcEd
http://imgur.com/Cltp2Zx

I looked on ebay before coming here and none of the copies for sale there have the NTSC mark in the top right corner and it isn't a sticker but part of the label on this. Also the underside of the cover feels papery but the front is glossy. The manual looks complete but the colours look washed out as they do on the cartridge. That's something I notice a lot on reprints. The box itself and the actual cartridge feel normal. I looked at quite a few of my other games to make sure and they all have higher quality covers, manuals and just look better. So I'm concluding it is a fake but if possible, I'd like advice from anyone who owns or has seen a normal copy. If it is I can still return it and my search will continue.


The cover itself is the same as this one which has me suspecting it has been printed.
http://www.thecoverproject.net/view.php?cover_id=7118

EDIT:

Forgot to mention that the game does work and is Bare Knuckle 3. Something else I noticed is the cartridge feels lighter.


Thanks in advance!

[streetsofrage]

Open the cart and show us the board.

[xelement5x]

Open the cart and show us the board.

It's a lot more difficult to do this with Japanese games since the screws to open the cart are located behind stickers.

I honestly can't provide a ton of help here since I don't own a copy, but fakes are coming out of Japan now too. Personally, I'm inclined to think that if the manual feels right you are probably fine, since that would be the most cost/time intensive thing to produce and get right, it would probably have the most tells if incorrect. Also, does the seller have more copies up for sale now? That would be a big red flag.

[OverDrone]

The insert and manual are fake. The front of the real JP manual is not a copy of the cover insert like the manual you have, ie it doesn't have the '1-2 player' logo, the 'action' logo or the 6-button controller compatibility thing present.

The cart itself is harder to tell from the photos provided.

[LinkueiBR]

looks like not a japanese version but a asiatic version

[Barone]

It's all fake.

[xelement5x]

looks like not a japanese version but a asiatic version

I think you are right, I should have been tipped off by that NTSC in the upper right.

For comparison, here is a full JP copy up on auction now: http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d179070523

[BKK]

It's a modern day bootleg from China.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sega-...402123848.html

[Silanda]

Good spot by BKK. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt that it's a boot. I believe the copy I own is an Asian copy, albeit one where someone has badly transplanted the board and cart label to a Western cart. On my copy though, the NTSC label is a sticker on top of the cover label, and the manual doesn't look like that. Most importantly, there's Chinese on that manual cover that wouldn't ever be there on a genuine release.

[JPEC83]

Thanks everyone.

I thought so and I'm in the process of returning it. Lucky it was through Amazon otherwise I'd be really angry. It had me going through all my Japanese games to make sure but they all seem legit. I hate people who do this.

[xelement5x]

That sucks man, I've discovered that there is a market in Japan now for selling bootlegs as the real thing. Most people assume if it's coming from Japan it's legit (which is normally true) but there are plenty of shady JP sellers out there as well.

Oh, and would you mind snapping a photo of the bottom of the cart/pins? I've heard that the bootlegs look differently from legit releases from the day sometimes.

[Team Andromeda]

Its a fake sadly

[Gentlegamer]

This is how the collecting hobby ends. In bootlegs.

[Raja]

Yes this is exactly how it ends. Here they are making games like MUSHA and Crusader of Centy that look legit - I've also seen a lot of Alien Soldiers that are fake. It's a real pain to collect because you have to be suspicious of everything now. I understand that making reproductions is possible but eventually they'll start to be confused by genuine buyers and sellers who don't know the difference. That's what really scares me.

[Thunderblaze16]

It's a modern day bootleg from China.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Sega-...402123848.html

WOW, they have a lot of fake Alien Soldiers.