Sapphire Bootleg - PC Engine - What's It Worth?

[mobiusclimber]

Well I recently traded for a bootleg copy of the Sapphire game for the PC Engine. No, not some crappy CD-R, it's the actual pressed bootleg that is pretty rare itself. I'm just wondering what it's worth since I haven't seen one for sale in awhile. It's complete including spine card.

[c0ldb33r]

I'm interested to know this myself, therefore [free bump]

[pseudonym]

$50-100 I guess. Probably more towards the high-end now. I bought one for $65 a couple of years ago- can't be arsed to pay $300 for an original.

[mobiusclimber]

Thanks for the info. I'll probably just put it up for auction and see what happens...

[pseudonym]

I would be interested in buying one for my friend if you want; or let me know when you put it up for auction and I'll pass it along it him. He's been trying to get me to sell mine.

[darkslime]

Can anyone explain what this is, or why a bootleg is worth money?

[BetaWolf47]

Isn't it the same reason that some Tengen/Color Dreams NES games are worth money?

[savageone]

I'd also like to know why this particular bootleg would be worth much of anything. If the original is only ~$300 (which really isn't that much honestly) then why would anyone pay $50-100 for a bootleg of it? That scale is all wrong.


Isn't it the same reason that some Tengen/Color Dreams NES games are worth money?

N

[Vectorman0]

It's a pressed disc, so it *should* last much longer than most CD-R's would.

[mobiusclimber]

It's a professionally pressed disk, and it's very difficult to tell that it's a bootleg at all. The fact is, Sapphire is not an easy game to get your hands on. You can say "well it's only a $300 game" but that's when it actually shows up. The other thing is that this bootleg is also limited in number. Only so many were made. It's like buying a pirate cart of Summer Carnival Recca or something, but one where there's a professional box and the cart isn't made out of cheap plastic.

[savageone]

Can you post pictures of it and show how to tell the original from the bootleg? That is a game I'd thought to maybe pick up someday if I could ever find a fair deal, knowing there are carbon copy bootlegs floating around kind of complicates that. :P

And I'm also wondering now what other PCE CD games are known to have these sorts of boots? Or any US TG CD ones?

[mobiusclimber]

I'm going to post a link to the auction when I put it up, but the quickest way to tell is to just look at the pictures on the back cover. If they look slightly blurry (particularly the Arcade Card logo), then you know it's the bootleg. Also the colors are a bit off, but unless you have a side-by-side it's tough to tell that way. One thing I'll say is that the orange isn't as orange as it should be. It doesn't jump off the page.

I've never heard of another bootleg like this, and again, I think the main reason this particular title had a "professional" bootleg made for it is that it really is a rare game, even in Japan.

[savageone]

These sorts of nearly exact bootlegs are not uncommon at all with CD based games though you don't hear about them often, it's not like bootleggers just stopped when systems went to CD media or anything. If anything that probably just made it easier. I've had several for the NGCD variety myself, like you say they are nearly indistinguishable without having the original side by side. Even then it can be very hard to tell depending on the quality of the boot, sometimes you have to look as close as the print matrix.

Here is one example of a NGCD bootleg I saved off the web awhile back, and yes one of these really is a bootleg:
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae62/s1pbuck/ngcd_bootleg2.jpghttp://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae62/s1pbuck/ngcd_bootleg3.jpg
http://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae62/s1pbuck/ngcd_bootleg4.jpghttp://i958.photobucket.com/albums/ae62/s1pbuck/ngcd_bootleg5.jpg

I can understand that some people might fancy these sorts of things as novelties, but high quality bootlegs are still bootlegs. Imagine how many people have bought, sold, and currently own these sorts of things and believe they are the original. It's really not a good thing.

[mobiusclimber]

Oh don't get me wrong, there's plenty of CD-based bootlegs out there, but 9 times out of 10 they are very easily distinguished from the real thing. I've seen tons of Playstation bootlegs, but not a single "professionally pressed" one. Also seen lots and lots of Dreamcast bootlegs, but again, none that I couldn't tell right away was a bootleg. That Neo Geo CD looks really hard to tell, but I almost never see that sort of professionalism. Now, OSTs, on the other hand...

[darkslime]

Even if its pressed its still just a bootleg.

[Bojay1997]

Even if its pressed its still just a bootleg.

Doesn't change the fact that it has value to certain buyers.

[RoyVegas]

Doesn't change the fact that it has value to certain buyers.

Very true here. Noone is denying the fact that "it's just a bootleg", but this particular bootleg tends to draw a pretty nice chunk of change.

[mobiusclimber]

Can anyone explain what this is, or why a bootleg is worth money?


Even if its pressed its still just a bootleg.

I didn't realize your first question was rhetorical.

[mobiusclimber]

Here's a link to my auction: http://www.gamegavel.com/item.cgi?show_item=0000357856

Sorry the pix are a bit blurry, my camera kinda sucks. I'm going to leave this up on GG for a few weeks, then it's off to Evilbay.

[RoyVegas]

Not to be a stick in the mud or anything but didn't Gamegavel change the rules to where you can't sell bootlegs there anymore?

[mobiusclimber]

According to the owner, as long as you don't make it a BIN, you're fine. All the BIN auctions end up going to the google search thing, which doesn't allow bootlegs or mods.

[Ed Oscuro]

This is worth 0K monies.

All bootlegs do is stink up the collecting scene and make it harder to find accurate copies of the originals. I don't care if the audio tracks are 100% accurate (but given the time period I wouldn't be especially surprised if they were not), but the whole thing stinks to high heaven.

As historical footnotes and curiosities there's a place for them, somewhere between baby's first teething marks in a controller cord and vintage Cheeto fingerprints.

[mobiusclimber]

This is worth 10K monies.

fexd.

[loop006]

I payed $65 for my copy, 4 years ago.. when there were several copies on ebay.

[mobiusclimber]

I payed $65 for my copy, 4 years ago.. when there were several copies on ebay.

Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. Even the guy I traded from for this said he paid $65 for it several years ago. I'm just kinda interested to see what will happen today now that there aren't any available. It's like the AvP demo for the Lynx that were printed up in limited quantities. They used to be plentiful on Ebay and you could get em CIB for like $50 or something? I sold cart only awhile ago for $100. Granted that was on Amazon, but yeah.

[loop006]

Even the guy I traded from for this said he paid $65 for it several years ago.

That would be me :cheers:

Are you coming to the Cowlitz Gamers for Kids Kelso on WA May 15 ?
I'm dragging down an SUV worth of stuff!

[mobiusclimber]

Haha I had a feeling it was. =p

Not sure. That's too far in the future for me to be able to know. LOL. I wouldn't have any way to get there anyway.