OFFICIAL KOF2001 MVS PICS

The top pic is the one Julius Robbins emailed to a few neo-geo.com members here and was the one he was selling on Ebay.

The middle pic is Brezza's prep, before putting on the final details, such as barcode.

Finally, we have the finished product. KOF 2001 with barcode on top of MVS cart and matching barcode on box. I apologize for the fuzzy pictures, since my friend does not have a high quality digital camera and didn't turn on the flash for the other one. Anyhow, we should all get the point.

Let me explain what information I have before people start busting. From what I have gathered, there was ONLY one run of KOF2001 MVS and the ONLY case color they released is the one you see in the picture. According to NEOGEO USA, they say that this type of color texture (it's like very thick off white paint) has never been used on an MVS cart. Whether or not this is true, well, I don't know, but I personally I have never seen it. Anyway, any input for this info. will be released by our fellow members here.

Mr. Robbin's KOF2001 sticker looks very real to the other "older" MVS stickers, but Brezza pulled a boot protection special by adding the Eolith <> symbol to the right of the cart as you can see from the pic. There seems to be some tiny writing below the KOF 2001 too, which I cannot read from the picture, but will let you know what it says when I see it in person.

Like I said, according to my sources, ONLY one run of this was done and it was of this color, NOT black. If anyone knows otherwise from solid sources, well, I'm sure you will respond.

I would like to say that I apologize if I have dented Mr. Robbin's reputation, but I did this for the pure fact that, first of all, don't want any member here to bid on a game of that price and get nothing but a boot. Secondly, if NEOGEO is to ever make a profit, sellers of these boots have to be shown that someone is watching and will only buy authentic carts from them. Conversions or boots of older titles are really no harm, but c'mon, newer titles like this is just ludicrous.

In closing, let's just be hypothetical that SNK did make two runs, one white case, one black (remember, just hypothetical). The fact that Mr. Robbins called a "well-known" vendor most of us here are familiar with and offered them these boots was basically my solid evidence that the cart on Ebay he had wasn't legitimate.

I don't want to draw any names in and like an attorney, I listed my evidence here, while, you, the jury will make your decision whether Mr. Robbins is innocent or guilty of the "crime." No offense to Mr. Robbins, just a legal statement. This situation will not prevent me from buying from him if he offers a quality product, but it will help me to be meticulous in what I choose.

You're the jury, you decide.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: TRIEUMINATOR ]

GOODFOR ME AND I WNAT TO BUY IT!! <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

pastey white?
h... pretty.
nice try on the black one i guess
but apparently not the official one
with eolith's name on it.
anyways,
when is SNKUSA going to set up shop?
i want to play kof 2001 at my arcade
asap.

It will be up to all of us to creat the new company SNK2 <IMG SRC="smilies/veryangry.gif" border="0">

Thanks Trieuminator for pointing it out and showing the real picture of the cart. Now when I'll be buying KOF 2k1 I know what I'll be looking for... the white case and the code bar.

Once again, thanks for your effort Trieuminator.

Thanks for the pics because now we know what it looks like. This color is fun, and I prefer it to the red one.

hello vinh - outstanding job on the post of pics. i hope when neolord get a hold of this maybe you would give him permission to archive these pics of KoF2001 in his newbie guide on how to spot possible mvs boots. this really helps a whole lot. i sure feel for the sucker that won that auction only to find the item being a bootleg. damn i hate bootleggers and the peeps who support them. what i hate even more is bootlegger who sell the bootlegs at even a much higher margin.

hey vinh - does this mean that this particular procedure of producing this mvs cart only applys to king of fighters 2001 product or will this set a standard for SNK NEO GEO, Eolith, BrezzaSoft, and other SNK subsidiaries/distributors to adhere to in how they will produce their next line of MVS cart releases??? please relay more info as they come... again thanks! <IMG SRC="smilies/tickled.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/tickled.gif" border="0">

I have a couple older carts that have the white MVS casing... I don't think that the shell color would be a good determination of what is a bootleg and what isn't. You would need to take a look at the actual game boards.

Jeff

I agree with Jeff, I have inspected most of my MVS carts, happily only one may be a possible boot. Not to be mean but I would not call someone's auction off as selling a boot, till I see the exact cart that was sold, OPENED UP
If I recall that auction, it had no picture.

Color could be a shiney gold with a cast purple sticker for all I care, the boards always tell the full story.
A nice heads up, lets just hope it does not harm the sellers reputation, as this comes with no absolute proof as to being a fake that was sold.

Must have all the facts first hand, before I make a final decision.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: Lord Wolfgang Krauser ]

Am I alone in drooling over either cart?

I want KOF2k1, but I need the price to drop (and I wanna play it first). Why can't I have an arcade with one nearby?
I know it's kinda wrong, but I'm waiting for the ROM dump so I can try the game. If it sucks then forget it, but if it's good, then I'll grab that cart man.

Help me...


Peace

JHendrix

Originally posted by JMKurtz:
<STRONG>I have a couple older carts that have the white MVS casing... I don't think that the shell color would be a good determination of what is a bootleg and what isn't. You would need to take a look at the actual game boards.

Jeff</STRONG>

Click to expand...

I have a japanese KOF94 that has the white case myself.

For me its KOF 98, and a SNK {G} RB2

EDIT- Added the G.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: Lord Wolfgang Krauser ]

Well, yes, there were plenty of white carts released in the past, I think I have a white Samurai Spirits or 2. But have any carts ever been PASTY white??? <IMG SRC="smilies/glee.gif" border="0">

It's like the difference between fresh and minty fresh, it's a barely noticable but fundamentally vital difference. <IMG SRC="smilies/eek2.gif" border="0">

Trum,

Once again you have done your homework BEFORE presenting your "evidence". I have KOF '98 and my case "looks" to be the same as the KOF 2K1. I will post the link here...

I just want to say whether your right or wrong on this one trum, thanks for your efforts and your professional way about posting this. I know the forums seems like a place that at the first sign of a rumor someone posts it as "FACT". Glad to see you didn't rush into this, you gathered your information then posted when you felt you had what you needed to make your case. Thanks.......if this pic isn't clear enough I will try and take a better pic and then compare it side by side with the KOF 2K1 case and see if they are the same color....

So NOW you have to ask if the cart and box have MATCHING BARCODE instead of serial #'s huh? That's funny........ <IMG SRC="smilies/loco.gif" border="0">

Good job Tri. I know for sure that no boot is worth $750, and of course its very disappointing to see boots of such a new game as you mention. Personally I have no problem with boots of older, rare games (particularly SDB and PnB), but the newer ones are disgusting to see. Especially a game like KOF2K1, which is the bread and butter of SNK/Brezza's income . . . <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

The white depicted in Tri's pic is different than the white cases we are all used to seeing. The older white cases have a opaque quality to them and the plastic is also stiff and feels as if you could chip it perhaps. The plastic used in the pic above is of a non-opaque, solid color and also seems to be of a slightly softer grade of plastic that would more than likely deform rather than chip if struck with say an ice pick.

Just an observation based on the pics. Could be wrong.

Originally posted by JMKurtz:
<STRONG>I have a couple older carts that have the white MVS casing... I don't think that the shell color would be a good determination of what is a bootleg and what isn't. You would need to take a look at the actual game boards.

Jeff</STRONG>

Click to expand...

Absolutely, the only way to find out is to the check the boards inside. It would be great if he could take pics of the cart inside too, but I highly doubt he would do that, regardless of it's authenticity or not.

Once again, from what I know, Brezza only made ONE run and it was in this "pasty" (appropriate description) white color. If his is real, he took alot of effort upon himself to change the case to black and replace the label with his own "home made" version. I guess he couldn't stand the "clean" white look. No pun intended.
<IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

"I agree with Jeff, I have inspected most of my MVS carts, happily only one may be a possible boot. Not to be mean but I would not call someone's auction off as selling a boot, till I see the exact cart that was sold, OPENED UP
If I recall that auction, it had no picture."

LWK,

The 1st picture was the one that Mr. Robbins emailed to a few members here and was the one he said was up for auction. Like I've said in my previous posts, interesting how he would NOT post a pic of such a high profile item while he would take time out and post pictures of MVS graphics worth $10.00. Just odd.

Sure, in most cases I would be wrong just to call his cart a boot, if we do not check the boards (just in case he did decide to change the color casing), but AGAIN (for the fifth time), the fact that he called vendors and offered them KOF2K1 MVS carts as "boots" really made his auction less and less worthwhile of a genuine product. I wish someone here would've bought the game, then we could find out for sure.

Last note, the winning bidder, Mr. Burger is a pretty big guy in the South Cal. area himself regarding selling PCB's. Just look at his feedback. Anyhow, given his longevity and years of arcade experience, it is somewhat interesting how he would buy this game from Mr. Robbins, when he has so many other choices to choose from (given this game is SO new). If this was a Galaga PCB, it wouldn't be so odd, since it's much older and rarer. Anyhow, just a thought...that's all.

I think the complete truth to this mystery will be found in a matter of months, once the collector's here will go out and buy their own copy of KOF2K1.

I also, just found from my friend that the barcode CAN be removed (but it may tear the box, like removing any other label) and so far it seems like it's on the U.S./Latin American versions ONLY. The releases in Asian and Japanese markets may or may not have the barcodes, but everything else is the same. Just thought this would be helpful for those interested in buying this some time. Don't forget to check for the Eolith symbol. In time, someone will doop the label too. Oh well.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: TRIEUMINATOR ]

Hmm, hard to say. I'm going to have to jump aboard and say we still do not have enough evidence to call his KOF2001 carts bootlegs. I don't know why they do it, but I have several original MVS carts that have had their case appearance modified. Whether it be replacement cases, different logos or weird stickers on them, it doesn't mean the cart is a boot. Perhaps the seller wanted to keep the cool new original case so he slapped the boards into an older case and replaced the sticker. He should have mentioned that in the auction, but maybe this is why he didn't include a photo.

What about the whole mini marquee debate? I heard the newer releases don't include a mini marquee, but instead a single large one? I also heard this seller told someone he sold the mini marquee and other inserts to someone else before selling the cart. That sounds weird, but maybe he just used that as an excuse because he never had the inserts...

Hey Feelgood. "Perhaps the seller wanted to keep the cool new original case so he slapped the boards into an older case and replaced the sticker."

hahaha, It amazes me that you would conjure such remote possibilities.

Sure, no one here can prove it unless they actually bought it. But you have to think realistically here. I have contacted several vendors and got price quotes ranging from 1300 to 1800 dollars. 750 for a kof 2001 cart??

You have the pictures right in front of you of how the OFFICIAL cart looks like. and brezzasoft made only ONE run. There is no chance that such new cases could be modified. Neo/Brezza are fully aware that people bootlegg their shit. So it's OBVIOUS that they would do certain things to make their original carts more easy to identify. I for one am not going to buy ANY cart that does not resemble the original official kof 2001pics that Trieuminator got us.

Plus!! bill burger, who is an awesome ebay seller EVEN bought the game from Julius. Obviously because it was CHEAP. Bill Burger carries ALL the neo geo titles and just about any other arcade title you can think of. There would be NO reason he would buy the game from Julius unless he knew he was getting a good price.

This game is a boot period.

Also take note that on the official "KOF2001" kart, there is no space between the "F" and the "2". Where as Julius's cart has "KOF 2001." with a space in between. just an observation.

actually yea i have a kof 95 that
is white but not that opaque. its almost
a bit see through and isnt that solid in color.
doesnt have an eolith sticker though :P

The biggest arguement second to the color is that Eolith logo on the bottom of the sticker. The official pictures have them, the alleged bootleg doesn't.

I have a KOF2k1 poster and both Eolith and SNK are stamped prominently (and in the fine print as the copyright holders). That is the tell tale sign of the legitamite cart too. No one would produce a cart without the proper fine print, you can get sued. (Incidenly, BrezzaSoft is also stamped on the opposite corner of the poster, but seperate from the developers).

I'm convinced.

There's no question the cases and stickers are different, so why point out little differences in the sticker, etc?

I have already said a cart's appearance does NOT distinguish between a bootleg and original in any case, due to the reasons in my last post. Why do people switch cases on official boards? Why do they run new labels? Why do they add/remove stickers? Who knows, but I'm sure they had their reasons (or else they wouldn't be doing it). I'm just saying you can't call his cart a boot because it looks different. You have to open it up.

And Neogeoholic, why is that so farfetched? That's the first thing that came to my mind, and if I had an official KOF2k1 cart and was going to sell it (which I would never do) I would probably want to keep the original cool-looking case to a new not-so-common Neo Geo title (that is, if the buyer didn't mind). Slap that bad boy into a King of Monsters case, run a new label and ship it out!

Bobak, I also have the large poster with K' and the words "Fight It out!" Is this the same one? Since the poster includes the SUN amusement logo in the bottom right hand corner...shouldnt the MVS as well? Or is there name absent because they just distribute the cart?>>>

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: Ukyo ]

Originally posted by TRIEUMINATOR:
I also, just found from my friend that the barcode CAN be removed (but it may tear the box, like removing any other label) and so far it seems like it's on the U.S./Latin American versions ONLY. The releases in Asian and Japanese markets may or may not have the barcodes, but everything else is the same. Just thought this would be helpful for those interested in buying this some time. Don't forget to check for the Eolith symbol. In time, someone will doop the label too. Oh well.

[ January 10, 2002: Message edited by: TRIEUMINATOR ][/QB]

Click to expand...

I confirm, Japanese version of King of Fighters 2001 does not come with a barcode sticker. Also, the Japanese label is dark grey ( standard non glossy/shiny paper ) with only MVS written on the far left and SNK on the far right.

Under the japanese title, you can see the same amount of writing than on the 'white' English version, it mentions the copyright and other agreements between SNK and Eolith.