A guy in my town posted a picture of his newly acquired Hagane, and a few people, including myself, think its a repro label. He posted picture of the board so we know its a legit board. Just looking at the label the colouring is off ( too vibrant?). Especially below the E, It looks too dark, and the red lettering looks like a different shade than what I have seen online and even my personal copy.

Figured I would post it here and see what you guys think.

Made in Mexico.. those Mexico labels are always off. Not a expert but might explain it or its as you say a repro.

Looks fishy to me. I got a few legit rares (NG Trilogy/Metal warriors) with a Mexico label and I don't think Mexico labels could be so good-looking unless the game has been sealed until now. Those labels were of much lower quality than the Japan ones... Kinda like A<<laim labels on certain NES games

The color does look off to me and the label is shifted to the right a tad.

Keep in mind that the Japanese Hagane cart is super cheap, so the "board" he posted might be a real Hagane Board, but of the SFC board, and this is a US cart / Repro label

The red looks too vibrant on the right. You will have to inspect it close up, unfortunately we are reaching the point where repro labels can be indistinguishable to the naked eye against the real thing, especially considering the Mexico, late genesis, and some LJN

I think the texture of the label would really be a clue here, as well as if it has a bunch of bubbles in it, or if it was applied correctly. It looks much more glossy and durable to me than a MIM Hagane should look.

Also, the Nintendo seal on the label should be a different, slightly more glittery and reflective ink than the rest of the label. If it looks like the seal and the rest of the label are the same nonreflective ink...it's probably fake. This even applies to MIM stuff. If it's handled a lot, the MIM seals wear off, but if you get one in a CIB, it looks different than the rest of the ink on the label.

I'm sorry to say, but that is 100% fake. They (repro label maker/seller)  used the box cover art for the label which is not quite the same. They (Hudsonsoft/Nintendo) altered the size of the lettering/logo just a little bit on the cart label filling in a couple gaps that appear the official box cover art but not the cart cover art. The same gaps that appear on the official box cover art appear on OPs cart, when they shouldn't. I've circled them below. One is above the 'N' in 'Hagane' and the bigger one is just to the left of his neck when looking face on at the cart. THERE SHOULD BE NO GAP BETWEEN HIS NECK AND THE BLACK JAPANESE SHADOW WRITING.

This would also explain why the brightness is too high on the picture art compared to the rest of the cart. It's crazy because otherwise this is a very good fake (from the pictures anyway). Not sure about the board, but it may be the super famicom version as someone suggested above. If it wasn't for the bright colors I would have never guessed it was a fake unless I could compare it to a legit copy. 


here is a slightly higher res shot below since I shrank this down to fit the thread. 
http://i.imgur.com/NW6iQwJ.jpg&nb...;

 

You guys are phenomenal! I tried to look up the difference between the SNES and SFC board for Hagane but could find a good picture to compare, and I dont know what to look for on the board. Is there a tell tale sign? Heres the picture of his board. 
 

Think about what you're doing here... everyone... please. To judge a repro or fake SOLEY on the color of a picture is a poor choice. Think about every single picture you take with your cell phones and all the possible factors that can change the color. If you touch your screen in any location during a picture it changes everything. Hell,... there are about 30 damned color filters you can use at the same time. This isn't just for cell phones either, go grab some random point and shoot camera you have. How many lighting, color, and random features do you have with that? Also, did you forget that viewing the same picture on two different computers will give you slight variations in color almost every time?

Sorry for that rant, but it just seems ridiculous that people are excited to jump to conclusions on color and are completely looking past all the technology used to present the image in the first place....   I could literallly go take two pictures of the exact same game, post them up here and ask which one is fake...

Other people in this thread have mentioned far better ways of spotting a fake. Please take note of their comments and don't put so much weight on color.

I think the Hudson logo being a different size, as stated above, is a dead giveaway. Rules out any color filter confusion due to a cell phone pic. At least in my eyes that confirms its a fake. 
 

I can tell its fake just by the coloring.

I agree here, I've taken many photos over the years that do not look like what it was I took a photo of.  Color is off, or just bad timing.  Heck, there's web sites dedicated to this.  And in this case it's inside a plastic case making it even harder.

That said, damn that pic looks blue.
 

The first thing to me that stood out is the gloss. Look at the light reflecting on the top edge above "Licensed by". The light is reflecting a good 60% across. Combined with what's been said and a funny looking corner cut on the right... fake.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/hagane-sn...

These threads are going to start popping up way more often.

There's already way too many.

They're everywhere!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nes-lot-S...  

That's insane,695 for a bunch of bootlegs.

This dude on eBay is taking requests while selling fake games. This is completely out of control and I believe is well beyond the point of no return.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Hagane-The...

Report this idiot. I thought we had taken him down but he's back apparently.
 

The future is here.

Just wait until 3D printers are capable of printing the right parts for boards. If you think repro labels are bad, wait until the boards are repros.

maybe you should "contack" him lol

 

Great analysis!  Thanks for taking the time to circle the areas in question.  You are awesome!
 

Shit these labels are getting better and better though. The difference has come down to almost pinpoint flaws in the design.