Akai Katana “conversion” (=bootleg/illegal copy) sold on ebay

[EOJ]

I just saw this today :

https://www.ebay.com/itm/116130956267?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=8961fb79201b4212903b92681a7e2e9c&bu=44149015889&ut=RU&osub=-1%7E1&crd=20240404074446&segname=11021

This is listed as an Akai Katana conversion, and it sold for a buy now of $1600. However, it is certainly a manufactured bootleg, not a conversion of an authentic PCB. First, it lacks a serial number sticker on the front and date stamps on the back. Second, the cheapest CV1000D PCB is DFK 1.5, and that goes for over $2500 these days so why would anyone convert it and sell it for $1000 less? Third, the JAMMA connector pins are gold plated, but all genuine CV1000D games have silver plated pins.

Anyway, buyers need to be careful with these out in the wild. Since this is clearly a bootleg it is a huge ripoff, these should be around $100-$200 as you are just paying for the parts.

[_rm_]

Still a lot to be uncovered on this matter, but i'm sure some more info will show up in the upcoming days/weeks since these continue to sell on ebay...

[SuperPang]

Wow. That's crazy money for a bootleg, but to be fair, it must've taken some investment. Where the heck did they get the parts?

[EOJ]

I just noticed there is a six-page thread on this here:

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/cave-cv1000-d-bootlegs-a-hoy.29488/

SDOJ and DFK BL bootlegs have also been sold by the same vendor on ebay, for as low as $1000 (Still a rip-off).

[EOJ]

These keep selling on ebay, week after week.  Must be at least 30 sold thus far. Games include AK, DFK BL, DFK 1.0, SDOJ, and DSMBL.

I've heard through the grapevine they have the parts to make hundreds of these (and a multi with all CAVE SH3 games on it, though I doubt that will ever be offered for sale as long as people keep paying $1000+ for individual game bootlegs -- they can't beat that profit margin!). Seems like they'll start doing CV1000B board games soon too.

I think this whole thing is terrible. This Chinese syndicate who copied the PCB is making good profits off of CAVE's copyrighted games (they list certain games for more than others, so obviously they are selling both the SOFTWARE and the hardware!), and people buying them are paying way too much. Yes, you can "save thousands of dollars" by buying these instead of the real PCBs, but stop and think where your money is going and who is profiting here - the production cost to make one of these is only $100-$200 USD. If I were still playing these games on PCB I'd never buy one of these bootlegs, just out of principle.