As soon as it was known that it was made by care4data in europe, it was OBVIOUS that it wasn't made by Hudson.
To be honest half the people I knew who purchased a Fudoh copy had no idea it was pressed by Care4Data. That knowledge wasn't made available until people actually got their copies in hand, opened them, and started posting about it. And there were plenty of buyers out there who did not frequent this forum, who had no idea to look at the company stamp on the disc.
And as for Hudson themselves, getting them to confirm or deny production of the things was a mess. Their email responses were mostly about feigning ignorance of the situation. In retrospect I suspect they had probably already been annoyed by used game shops in Japan about the very same thing, since these were popping up over there too. My personal stance on the issue back then was to give Fudoh benefit of doubt, concerning how he was saying he originally obtained them, and to remain neutral on the disc legitimacy until Hudson would confirm otherwise.
Fudoh went out of his way to make these look legit, even faking boxes from Hudson to hold the games in to make it look like he obtained a lot of new old stock. Then you had him posting that supposed letter from Hudson. Basically all his proof they may be legit was not just to boost sales, which it did do, but to also take attention off of him as the potential bootlegger. I think at some point he just decided he didn't care anymore if people knew it was him or not when he saw the chance to make more money though. Basically around the time he started bootlegging Rockman and Space Fantasy Zone.
Its kinda funny, my view of things way back then. Back then I used to not mind buying boots, if I knew what they were and they looked interesting. I used to grab those Famicom multi carts when I'd see them cheap, and I'd nab any funny looking pressed 3DO boots I'd come across that were cheap too. I'd go out of my way to buy the stuff, not really to save money, but just because the stuff was kind of a novelty to me. Seeing the harm Fudoh did though with the Sapphire mess, not just to this community, but normal pce collectors and fans elsewhere in the world, used game shops etc., it just really changed how I felt about this stuff.
The fact is Fudoh had no love for the PCE/TG ever at any given point. He didn't care about its fans, its forum driven communities, or the dealers and import shops still taking the time and giving the shelf space to make sure this stuff could still be bought and sold 10 years later. He had no concern about how his actions would impact any of it. His only concern was if something was affecting his cash flow. When it was he would take action to keep the cash coming in, like he did with faking the Sapphire evidence.
If he really was just doing it for the community, he would never had lied about the Sapphire mess to begin with. He would have come clean and went out of his way to make sure people knew they were repros, and sold them cheaper. As it stands now, if he cared about the community and just wanted to spread the PCE love, he would be selling ALL his current warez at cost, at the same low price, not at the inflated 1990s new retail prices he is asking for now.
Lets be clear on this. Fudoh doesn't care about you playing and owning a pressed disc, and preserving said games legacy in any sort of way. If he thought he could get away with selling cd-rs of the stuff at the same stupid inflated price, he would do that instead to save a few pennies. But he knows people want pressed disc. He is using that as an angle to get his current warez sold at said very unreasonably high prices.
The only reason he is willing to take a loss on the Xak and Startling Odyssey II disc is because he got busted by the translators and he wants to calm the situation. He is making a lot of money off of everything else, so this is chump change for him, plus he will still have suckers buying the packaged copies for the inflated mark ups. In the end he has no real intention to make legitimate amends for what he has done to the PCE community prior, or to do it any real favors or selfless acts of generosity. Everything he does has a motive or angle and it all revolves around $$$.
While I'm not the greatest supporter of the idea, what has been mentioned prior of just pressing the stuff here and giving them out at cost behind the scenes to forum members here specifically would be a worlds better alternative then to continue to give this a$$hole money. At least then it would be you guys doing it for yourself, for your own community.
No money will be made, and at that point the attention that would be generated would be minimal so you wouldn't have to sweat some company sending cease and desist notices. No one take credit for it. Attach no names to the shipping address. In fact, when you mail them out, just mail them out with a fake mailing address or something for the sender.
Consider it a community action. The motive would be out of love of said games and this community, not for lining said pockets with cash. You keep it low key, not for profit, and not on ebay or in the sales threads, and don't do it with crap like Dracula X, which too common a title. Handle it all behind the scenes, via pm and email. And don't let members with below 500 post jump in trying to buy it all up.
Outside of that, just buy the f*cking PCE versions of said games or save up and buy legit copies, or play burns. As is, anyone who wanted something like Godzilla or Dungeon Explorer II could have gotten Japanese copies for decent prices easily.
