Beware of golden temptations

We’ve all heard the story of the fabled Rockman 4 golden cartridge. In fact we even did a story on one of the eight rare treasures last week. We know one of them was sold to a retro games store in Japan, and now waits for its next buyer at a price tag of ¥590,000 (more than $6,600 US). But with only eight carts existing, what are the odds another would go on sale?
Well, lightning can strike twice they say, and here’s an auction for one at a staggering ¥600,000. But not so fast. According to CAP Kobun, this gold cart is a bona fide phony. As CAP’s warning was curiously in English, I inquired about if the seller, capoeiragogo, made a habit of focusing on foreign buyers who didn’t know better, and if he had a history. CAP informed me that five people already have been deceived with fakes of super rare cartridges. Feeling incensed, CAP wanted to make sure no Mega Man fans unwittingly took the bait.

Of course I doubt a lot of you reading this really have the money to fork over. But even if it were only a tenth of the price, I’d still be very cautious. Yahoo Auctions in Japan is a good way to get neat import stuff; I’ve done it myself. But I’d think twice about something rare like this, because you have little means to verify the authenticity before receiving it. Furthermore a lot of Japanese sellers won’t ship internationally, making people outside of Japan use auction deputy services, which makes it even harder to report fraud (as you’re not really the one bidding on the auction).

Thank you, CAP Kobun!

LanceHeart