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.
I should've said that I meant that in the context of the discussion HERE. People were arguing that they were real even after it was known where they were made and Tobias had posted his illogical stories about them being reprints done by Hudson in '99 (more than three years after Hudson had made anything for PCE or even PC-FX), reprints that were supposedly 'not good enough' yet they sold them anyway. Just the fact that he was selling them for pennies on the dollar should've made it pretty clear that they were boots, really.
I wouldn't really say pennies on the dollar. I think what I paid for mine was around $77 or so.
But yeah when Tobias came here posting his proof I did kinda just want to give him the benefit of doubt, as least concerning his evidence. For me back then it wasn't cool coming out with guns blazing flat out accusing someone of being a bootlegger. Accusing someone of illegal bootlegging back then would have carried a worse stigma then it does now in gaming forums. That and back then companies were more sue happy then they are now. Since some of the copies had popped up in Japanese game shops that gave him something to prop his story up on too.
I did my best to try to get Care4Data and Hudson to confirm if the disc were legit or fake. I just couldn't get any solid proof one way or the next. Neither wanted to confirm, or deny the such via email, and I'm the type that really does want the most solid proof possible, which for me would have been a confirmation from Hudson one way or the other. Until then, my stance was more neutral, with some devil's advocate tossed in for good measure, not accusing them of being 100 percent legit, or flat out fake. Personally, in my gut, I leaned on them being fake/repro, and when I got rid of mine I listed it as being such.
That whole Tobias ordeal though kind of busted my sense of trust when it came to sellers on here, and partly why I started jumping down sellers throats so much when shenanigans were being pulled by them. Sadly sometimes you just simply cant afford to give anyone the benefit of doubt. In the past when its been done it ended up with not just Tobias and his Sapphire boots, but also TZD not honoring orders before selling out to Red Frog, Dean not finishing mod work after a years worth of time has gone by, the Risingstuff cunts etc. The shit just seems to exacerbate when left to sort itself out on this forum because people are afraid to ruffle someone's feathers.