Repros

[Gaijin Punch]

So, perusing around ye old Yahoo Japan Auctions (and Ebay) I've seen a lot of reproductions listed... most auctions list them as repros, so that's not totally shameful I guess. However, it's pretty obvious this is not even gray market. PC-Engine Works has you email them to get a list of their stock and order games from them. I guess I could see why. While I'm sure a lot of these games may have had their licenses lapse and the companies go tits up, I'm sure someone somewhere has rights.

What are everyone's thoughts on these? From what I recall, the Sapphire reprints were had nothing blatant that denoted they not original. Not sure about the PC-Engine Works versions.

Thoughts?

[layzee]

Many years ago I came across Yahoo auctions of Rockman on PC-Engine CD and I was like "when did that happen!?". I figured it was a case of companies porting their early games to other consoles just to experiment/test the market (e.g. Dragon Quest/Final Fantasy to MSX, Ninja Gaiden/Ryuukenden to PC-Engine). Turns out Rockman was just a repro and I believe comes from the same source of Sapphire.

I'm still on the hunt for the Rockman Mega World and Vampire Killer Sega Mega drive games and as mentioned in my thread here, I still can't tell the difference between the genuine Japanese copies and the repros. Complete in box repros of these games end at prices lower than cart-only auctions that don't mention authenticity/genuineness. But who really knows what is real or not.

For those who wishing to avoid repros of any games, y'all want to avoid auctions with keywords like these: 海外製品, 外国産, 外国版, リプロ etc or variations of 国内版じゃない.

[Gaijin Punch]

Yeah, but that only covers you w/ the people that are on the up and up. Surely some of the repros have been infected the legitimate market as well, and some users are assume they have a legit one when all it is is a copy.

It's quite unfortunate that you have to keep an eye out for this shit. I guess the effort that goes in means some of the 2nd tear games aren't copied... and of course, some systems have the copy protection. PITA though. Has Magical Pop'n been repro'd?

[CIT Seven Force]

The PCE Works stuff now has a logo that marks the games as repros, but in the past (it's the same guy who produced the Sapphire and Rockman fakes) there was no logo.

[Gaijin Punch]

The PCE Works stuff now has a logo that marks the games as repros, but in the past (it's the same guy who produced the Sapphire and Rockman fakes) there was no logo.

Well I guess that's a step in the right direction. Totally basing all of this off of forum posts and whatnot, deception didn't seem like a big part of his MO so was initially kind of shocked. I am curious what the rights holders think... or if any of them are around for some of the pricey but hard to find games. Fausette Amour comes to mind. Then again, isn't it easy enough to get ISOs of these games?

[CIT Seven Force]

Then again, isn't it easy enough to get ISOs of these games?

Definitely! But I guess people want the "games on a shelf experience".

Probably the rights holders aren't even aware what he's doing, and probably doesn't matter much anyway. What annoys me more is that he takes a fan-developed and freeware distributed port like Rockman and cashes in without the team presumably being asked, much less seeing any part of the proceeds.

[Gaijin Punch]

What was Rockman on the PC-Engine anyway? Someone took assets from the FC version and made a homebrew version on the FC? I know I can look it up... but you have such a way with words.

[CIT Seven Force]

Well, you basically already summed it up yourself.

[layzee]

Had a close call recently. I was going to bid on a cart only Vampire Killer for Sega Mega Drive but I forgot to and it ended up going for 4000 yen. So either it went cheap or it's a repro - "fortunately" it was a repro.

According to the item description, it was "confirmed working on a Mega Drive" and the item would be shipped from Okinawa. However the bidder message on the Musha Alesta (SMD) neutral feedback says that it was a repro shipped from China. The negative feedback for Sparkster 2 (SMD) also claims bootleg. The seller's reply to that seems like a non-reply though? "Foreigners shouldn't use Yahoo Auctions"

Y'all be sure to pay attention for anything fishy before bidding on any of the pricier MD games.

[EOJ]

The negative feedback for Sparkster 2 (SMD) also claims bootleg. The seller's reply to that seems like a non-reply though? "Foreigners shouldn't use Yahoo Auctions"

It's a shame that buyer misspelled nisemono as misemono -- totally different meaning. This typo pegs him/her as a 'gaijin' open to (undeserved) ridicule by the xenophobic Japanese out there.

[Gaijin Punch]

Jesus, the drama. I'll be honest, I'm far less likely to bid on items that have known, indiscernible reproductions out there.

[layzee]

So I was doing my usual Sega Mega Drive rounds, and I came across this in the "Ask seller a question" section:
https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/show/qa ... odQstnList

質問1 投稿者：4*h*I*** / 評価：2534
1月 6日 23時 54分
ご質問させて頂きます。こちらのお品物はカプコン販売の純正品でよろしかったでしょうか？ご返信いただければ幸いです。

回答 出品者：ryo1103_nishikido / 評価：73
1月 7日 21時 55分
純正品以外の物があることを初めて知りました。申し訳ありませんが当方の出品物が純正品かどうかはわかりません。

I assume the questioner is a Japanese native (the language used sounds pretty natural/non-Gaijin to me). Neither buyer nor seller can differentiate between a genuine and repro copy. At this rate, there's no way I'm going to drop several hundred dollars on Akumajou Dracula: Vampire Killer in the foreseeable future if I can't even be sure I'm getting what I want.

[Gaijin Punch]

Yeah, unfortunately this is a fucking drag for collectors. Saturn and PSX collecting for the win.