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                    historia.vg

Identifying Charumera Zelda no Densetsu Bootlegs

Fifteen hundred promotional copies of the original Zelda were distributed as a contest prize through the ramen brand Myojo Charumera. These are sometimes called “Charumera Zelda”. The disk contents and packaging are identical to a regular early print of Zelda, but it has a unique sticker, and a specific date code range. It, of course, also came with with a Charumera Famicom console, also with a special sticker. Read more about it here

I see one or two real ones a year, which sold for $300 in 2020, up to an astonishing $5760 in 2023, and $1200 in 2024. More frequently bootlegs come up.

These two are fake:

This scan from Gaming Alexandria is of a real one.

Some differences to note:

1. The A side of the disk has a date code to the top right of the label (e.g. K145J11). All the real Charumera Zelda’s I’ve seen have maybe 1 digit off from this date code (e.g. K135J11). These two codes translate to October 13th and 14th, 1985. It is certainly possible to find a real FDS disk with the same date code, however many bootlegs don’t have a date code at all.
2. The bootlegs rarely get the orange color correct. Many seem too red.
3. The two bootlegs above are missing the leafy flourish above “Hyrule”
4. The fonts are all wrong, too bold in this case