These sapphire pirates get me

[ClassicGameTrader]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8206090242&category=4315&rd=1

Shame on this seller!

[The Kron]

Its seems to be post your counterfeit Sapphires on ebay week...

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3525&item=5220310408&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

[SoulBlazer]

Okay, stupid question of the week.....

How do you know it's a pirate? :hmm:

I've never even heard of the game.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Okay, stupid question of the week.....

How do you know it's a pirate? :hmm:

I've never even heard of the game.

Because nobody in their right mind would sell a 300 - 400 dollar game for 60 bucks.

[dj898]

FYI

warning from VideogameImports:

"BEWARE OF COUNTERFEIT COPIES OF SAPPHIRE ON PC ENGINE ARCADE CD!!!!!!
Yes, unfortunately it's true; there are counterfeit copies of the very rare and expensive shooter GINGA F. DENSETSU SAPPHIRE. We received 2pcs of the game today as a part-exchange from a regular customer (who I am sure does not know that they are not original). Upon opening the box, something just didn't look quite right. However, they were fully factory sealed with the little tear off strip, they had the spine card, which even had the little slant on the back as with all PC Engine spines. We haven't opened them but they appear to even have a registration card inside. Luckily, we had a used copy of the game in stock and could make a comparison, and it was only then that we could see that it was obviously a counterfeit game, albeit done extremely professionally! Points to look for include:

The orange colour (see the Arcade CD logos at the front, side and back) is a brighter shade in the counterfeit version. The original is slightly darker and is extremely lightly 'dotted' with with very tiny white dots. They are barely visible to the eye, but they are there. Looks like the counterfeiters were unable to replicate this.

The artwork on the front, of the girl, appears very slightly out of focus.

The most noticeable part is on the back cover, where there are pictures of the 2 Arcade cards. The counterfeit version is much more fuzzy looking, and the picture of the planet is unclear. With the picture of the the Arcade Card Duo, on the original version, you can see a very thin white outline around the part of the card with the artwork on it. On the counterfeit version, there is no white outline.

I would recomment everybody considering buying a new or even used copy of this game, to be extremely careful. Even if you are buying from people or business held in high esteem, they may be unwittingly selling you a counterfeit copy".

you are welcome...

[SoulBlazer]

Well, that explains it. I did'nt know it was a 300-400 dollar game. LOL

If you're a GAMER, sure, I'd pay the $60 for a counterfit copy. At least I could PLAY the game. Had a similar experience when I just wanted to play Snatcher for my Sega CD.

If you're a collector, of course it's a problem.

And the seller either does not know or is not stating that it's a pirate in those auctions. Could be the former, probaly the later. An e-mail would clear that up.

However, if the game is as rare and in high demand as the value seems to indicate, I would HOPE that any serious collectors in their right mind would be VERY suspecious of this game at that price. :)

[dj898]

there's old saying... if something's too good to be true it usually is...

I don't get why people fall for that kind of trap anyway...
and same goes for pyramid scheme and bunch of get rich quick schemes... :p

[ClassicGameTrader]

Man, I bet Dracula X is going to be next, I'm so glad I have an authentic copy of that.

I just hope that this trend doesn't continue to Sega Saturn, at least SS has better copy protection. Imagine if all of a sudden 50 or so copies of Radiant Silvergun mysteriously appeared on ebay.

[dj898]

another one that I haven't seen the fake but the real possibility... dekipaki(?) working love is one of very rare titles and factory sealed one can demand $400-500 - even in Japan this thing goes for 15000-18000 yen unsealed...

[fishsandwich]

Man, I bet Dracula X is going to be next, I'm so glad I have an authentic copy of that.

I just hope that this trend doesn't continue to Sega Saturn, at least SS has better copy protection. Imagine if all of a sudden 50 or so copies of Radiant Silvergun mysteriously appeared on ebay.

The Saturn has very negative feelings about playing pirtated copies, and even with a chip it gets irritated. I seriously doubt we'll see pirated Saturn games on Ebay. Copied PC-Engine, 3do, and Sega CD games will play on unmodified CD's, so we'd more likely see those.

[smork]

Heh, I don't even think I've seen Sapphire as low as 300-400... But there's som known Sapphire/Darius Alpha pirates running around, though I have never seen a pirate Dracula X...

Hella cool as it is, Radiant Silvergun isn't that rare of a game, it's just expensive. Most decent game shops in Osaka have at least one copy, though even there it's $150-160. (Even Mandarake Namba had 2 copies, and they aren't even a game store).

[dj898]

is that near Namba station?

[smork]

is that near Namba station?
I must have been drunk when I wrote that, I meant Umeda. It's the big 3 story monster in the arcade there.

For not having so much in the way of games, they had some interesting stuff, like a Playdia system, some older shooters, a few game and watches, etc. The Mandarake in Den-Den Town has a few nice games as well. I think both stores' collections go for quality over quantity.