@Temjin, this took place in 1996 and '97.
Ah well, good ol' Kizuna Euro price discussions... we had many of them in the past and it always boils down to the same result - there is something exceptionally rare and some people will pay big bucks to own it, that is all.
Yeah, it's only a video game we're talking about, yet this doesn't mean a thing to those few hardcore collectors and potential buyers of such a high-priced item because the crazy $12k price tag reflects the scarcity of the game, not the fact that it's a Neo title or a not too shabby tag fighter.
Some people still can't believe there are only a handful of Euro copies of this game around but it's not too hard to stomach once you realize that the European Neo market was very, very low at that time in the mid-90s when everyone and their uncle was playing PSX games. When Kizuna came out in 1996, it was just one of many excellent titles that got released in this magical year, among them such gems as Metal Slug, KoF96, Neo Turf Masters, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Samurai Shodown IV, Waku Waku 7, Art of Fighting 3, etc. Nobody, and I really mean nobody I know was interested in "lesser" releases of this year like Kizuna Encounter, Ninja Master's, Breakers, Quiz Chibi or Ultimate 11... ...doesn't that ring a bell? All these games are high-priced rarities now thanks to all the buyers who shunned them in favor of the big-hit-titles mentioned before. KoF96 was the big seller in Europe back then, that and Samsho IV, followed by RBFF.
So, the initial release numbers of these Euro versions (multi-language manuals, small insert differences) were quite low already and when retailers and distributers realized that the lesser '96 releases were dead weight on their shelves, they quickly sent them back to Osaka as raw material for new carts/releases... so who knows, perhaps some of the KoF98 or Last Blade carts you guys have in your games library once were legendary Euro Kizunas...
Of course the $12k price has no meaning outside of collector circles but again, that's nothing special. For example, some art collectors spend Millions on a rough concept drawing of Picasso which basically consists of a small piece of wrinkled paper with pencil strokes on it... and I guess I can safely say that only a fraction of those willing to spend that much are true art freaks, many of them simply love to own rare and valuable things. Outside of art collector circles, this super-high-priced Picasso drawing would be just a dirty piece of paper not worth a dime, it's the legend and its background which give it meaning and value beyond the mere raw materials.
I have no problems with this, people can do what they want with their money, if it makes them feel good to own a valuable collector item, more power to them. Just do what I do, sit back and enjoy the hush-hush collector drama surrounding Neo rarities such as Quiz Chibi, U11 or Kizuna Euro, it's a part of the Neo scene which I wouldn't want to miss.
