Why is Kizuna Encounter (European version) so rare?

Tempest

Ninja Combat Warrior
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This one has always bothered me and maybe it's been answered before but if so I couldn't find anything. We all know that there are only a handful of English Kizuna Encounter AES carts out there, but why is that? I can see SNK doing a small limited run due to low estimated demand, but surely more should have surfaced by now if that were the case. It certainly doesn't make sense for them to do a run of 10-15 carts and call it a day. The cost of translating the manual and setting up all the printing alone would have exceeded any profit from that.

I think I read something years ago where someone stated that they stopped production of the Euro version due to low sales and put all the boards in JPN copies because sales were better there. I know Kizuna Encounter isn't the most popular game out there, but surely it sold more than a handful of copies before something like this would happen.

So what actually happened? Did they start production and then suddenly stop due to some unforeseen circumstance? Did they make a bunch then destroy them for some undisclosed reason?

Same question about Double Dragon, and Ultimate 11, what's the real story behind the low numbers?
 

roker

DOOM
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it's a high quality fake

see Aero Fighters AES
 

Kid Panda

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An old member here once said he saw it in a shop, that is all. They don't exist except as conversions/boots.
 

Tempest

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it's a high quality fake

see Aero Fighters AES

Wait... Really? I knew about Aero Fighters 3, but Kizuna has been proven to be a fake now? What about Double Dragon and Ultimate 11?

That would explain things though.
 

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
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Man, I miss Wolf. It’s been a long ass time since I spoke to him.
 

XxHennersXx

Why So Many X's?,
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Wait... Really? I knew about Aero Fighters 3, but Kizuna has been proven to be a fake now? What about Double Dragon and Ultimate 11?

That would explain things though.

Yeah this is news to me too. Interesting
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
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Wait... Really? I knew about Aero Fighters 3, but Kizuna has been proven to be a fake now? What about Double Dragon and Ultimate 11?

That would explain things though.

Roke could be trolling you
The jury is out
 

roker

DOOM
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Roke could be trolling you
The jury is out

Personally I don't feel it's real. If they were able to make such a high quality AF3 fake, what's to stop the rest? I'm not trolling, I just don't think it's a genuine release.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
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I think it's probably legit because back when the first kizuna turned up, high level fakes whwhere unheard of. I think.
But wouldn't be surprised if it where fake, just feel it probably isn't
 

ysselcneogeo

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No one makes 11 copies of a game. It was original hustling and it was some of the earliest boots. Nothing more nothing less.
 

oliverclaude

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I think I read something years ago where someone stated that they stopped production of the Euro version due to low sales and put all the boards in JPN copies because sales were better there.

SNK didn't work like that. If they had too much copies of a game dressed in a low-sale region, they just put another label on it, see Puzzled. You won't find a Puzzled copy without a jpn. sticker underneath the english one.

There's that urban legend revealed by an employee in an interview, about a whole factory burning down. Yet, some crates, there were always six copies stored in one IIRC, apparently did make it to Germany, Stuttgart.
 

Hawwa

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This is the first time I read about Kizuna EURO ones being a conversion...

I'm a noob just getting started but this story of EURO Kizuna has always caught my eye.
 

Tempest

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Any ideas about Double Dragon and Ultimate 11? Not as rare as Kizuna, but still in low double digits. What about the US version of Metal Slug?
 

LoneSage

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He's a bastard

With a single post, he has singlehandedly registered the idea that Kizuna Euro is a fake, which will grow and fester and become to known as fact as internet rumors go

Incredible

Before his post everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, basically accepted that a company produces like 7 copies of a game and that was that

But now roker, with his revolutionary idea that it's a boot and not legit, whoo lad

This thread is legendary. ROKER is legendary. No one knows it now. Maybe in 10 years when everyone thinks Euro Kizuna is a boot they'll come back to this.
 

Tempest

Ninja Combat Warrior
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With a single post, he has singlehandedly registered the idea that Kizuna Euro is a fake, which will grow and fester and become to known as fact as internet rumors go

Incredible

Before his post everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, basically accepted that a company produces like 7 copies of a game and that was that

But now roker, with his revolutionary idea that it's a boot and not legit, whoo lad

This thread is legendary. ROKER is legendary. No one knows it now. Maybe in 10 years when everyone thinks Euro Kizuna is a boot they'll come back to this.

Well his theory (and it is only a theory) is as good as anyone's so far. On one hand if it were a boot it would explain the small handful that have appeared but on the other hand, as was pointed out, no one was doing high quality boots like that back then and it would have been much more difficult then. But if it's not a boot, the low numbers make no sense.

Truly a mystery. And not one that will be solved anytime soon I think.
 

-SD-

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Are there any members with a Euro Kizuna that would allow it to be authenticated by another well known, knowledgeable member?
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
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Are there any members with a Euro Kizuna that would allow it to be authenticated by another well known, knowledgeable member?

It would be of no benefit for someone that currently has a Euro Kizuna (and paid 4 or 5 figures for it) to possibly hand it off to someone to prove that it might be some kind of fake.
 

Tempest

Ninja Combat Warrior
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It would be of no benefit for someone that currently has a Euro Kizuna (and paid 4 or 5 figures for it) to possibly hand it off to someone to prove that it might be some kind of fake.

If I had something that I thought might be fake I'd want to know, but then again it depends on why they bought it. If they bought it as an investment and plan on selling it in the future then maybe they don't want to know. But I think anyone who buys a legendary item these days is going to want it verified in some way.
 

SuperGun

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Tempest, you opened the floodgates here and brought us a tempest!

It was only a matter of time though. Because today’s society, especially the youth, doubts & questions absolutely anything & everything in the world; wether or not it has been previously established by past generations. Today’s teachers & parents tell them to do so. There is zero acknowledgement and/or respect for others. The Kennedy assassination, the moon landing, September 11th, etc. Oh and the internet is infallible!

But personally, I wouldn’t want to subject my Kizuna Encounter or Ultimate Eleven to any kind of authentication by anyone here. And I certainly wouldn’t send them to anyone either. And not because of the risk of lost, damaged, or stolen packages, but morseso the risk of the possibility of a swap happening.

So most likely, this mystery in neogeo’s history is destined to remain as such.
 
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