Ebay needs to wake up and start moderating these people. This has gone way to far. The flood gates are open and repros are considered acceptable by the standards of new collectors. Many new collectors reading this very post do not believe there is anything wrong with it... Why? Because it has been considered acceptable to make a repro of a hacked licensed game and not for a released licensed game... That thin line has proven to be too thin and is now broken.. People are fools to think otherwise, and I will stick by that no matter how many people (many of which are personally invested in the repro business) say otherwise.. Want to look into the future of Nintendo collecting? Go to neo-geo.com and look at the forums.. New people are banned from selling and converts are not allowed as well.. For good reason, things got so out of control in the neo world (once carts started hitting the $1000 mark) that the community had to go to extreme measures to stop it.

Sorry for bumping up the thread, but I'd rather do that than create a new one.
I was asked to check if the label was legit for the same game. From what I've seen from the analysis in the quoted post: I think it's fake for the same reasons.
But I'd like to hear from the experts please.

http://imgur.com/a/ujzbk...



 

Fake, it has the gap on the left side of his neck

Yeah, man... I think it's fake. I guess there is always a slight chance there could be two different print runs or something but I highly doubt it. More collectors with legit carts can chime in. I think someone just made a good reprint but used the cover art since it was most likely higher resolution and they didn't know about the subtle differences. The labels sell on eBay for less than $5.

I know this is a very old post however I feel like I have something new to contribute. I recently picked up a Hagane and after carefully studying my box and my cart, I didnt really understand your conclusion that the "Hagane" text has less space between the neck.. on the contrary, it lookes like theres actually more space, technically. But it does appear the text is shifted slightly downwards, and is certainly different from the box art. The easiest way for me to tell was the position of the H on the cart, vs the box. Notice how on the box the top part of the H rises slightly above his shoulder. On the cart it's a little bit below. One of the reasons why I found this so confusing is the original picture in the OP isn't working and I wasn't sure which of the images that you edited was his and which was yours. That, and the awkward way that you describe the differences would be. Anyways I'm fairly confident mine isn't a repro label. Heres two pics for comparasion:

Box:
Cart:

So like I said, you can see the H is lowered on the cart. Actually I think all the letters are but it's really difficult to tell... anyways if my deductions are correct, id appreciate a reply.

Your cart is real for the reasons described above. Yes, I agree the 'H' is lowered, which is why there is no space by his neck on an official cart, UNLIKE the picture that OP posted. I may not have described it in the best way, and there are a couple ways of looking at it, but we are ultimately getting to the same conclusion. OPs label is 100% fake and different from yours, which looks legit. 

thank you andy, your response is MUCH appreciated! ^_^