With only eight in existence, the golden Rockman 4 cartridges are one of the rarest items in the franchise's history. It's only natural for bootlegged gold carts pop up from every now and then, tricking collectors into forking over large sums of cash for a well designed fake. Such is the case with this Ebay auction.At a glance, the $9,321.62 auction certainly looks like a legit cartridge. It's gold, it has to be one of the eight, right? Not so fast. The auction is using the exact same stock photos of the fake spotted on Yahoo Auctions Japan in December 2009 (as reported by The Mega Man Network). Further, legitimate gold carts are individually numbered on the underside of its shell; the seller was unable to identify a number of any sort when asked by a PRC reader.
More than likely a bootleg. I urge collectors to be very cautious with this auction and future gold carts you happen to spot. Always ask about the ID number first before purchasing!
Thanks, LordHuffnPuff, Dan and GameSniped.
What a thief and evil people out there like that. SICKENING!
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget about that ever-expensive gold spray paint trick. How would we know if the ID number is fake, though?
ReplyDeleteThe real carts IDs are said to read something like 1/8 or 2/8. To my knowledge, bootlegged versions don't even have IDs simply because bootleggers have no idea they real ones are tagged in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they do happen to know, just ask for a picture of the ID number, lying on top of today's newspaper. Pretty much foolproof.
ReplyDeleteI have been working on collecting the original 6 nes, as nice minty sealed copies. And from my experience, and a site I frequent (a site regarding retro gaming/collection) France is definitely a pretty big market for fake or bootleg games. For a while they had dozens of sealed NES games coming out each week, that were sealed after opening. They look great, but are missing some of the tell tale signs of an authentic sealed NES game. And if you don't know what to look for when buying the classic games, I suggest avoid buying anything from France - buyer beware! (stick to USA/Canada)
ReplyDeleteThat quintuple buster may be where he got the idea for this?
ReplyDeletehttp://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100219152756/megaman/images/e/e4/XBusters.jpg
The Shadow here.
ReplyDeleteThe numbering is the most important key to knowing if it's a bootleg or not. What I suggest is if you find a cart, send an image of the numbering to Protodude or myself and I will let you know if it is legit or not, please don't post it online otherwise this information could be used for future forgeries.