Quote:
Originally Posted by Iwatasan
There are tons of counterfeits out there, so I'm only looking for one complete in original box as evidence of authenticity.
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As you already stated, there's tons of counterfeits out there. These are actually regular DS Lites which have had a cheap external case swapped - The cases themselves are not official Nintendo cases
Obviously the only way to be 100% sure is to buy the complete set with box, and to be honest these things are so rare and sought after I would guess that almost all of the people who bought one will most likely keep the set complete
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iwatasan
I don't know the entire story, and I wasn't in the UK when it was released, but I was watching the news online at the time. It was 2007, coming up on Black Friday, shortly after the release of Phantom Hourglass. On short notice, NoA and NoE announced simultaneous releases of special edition Zelda DS Lite systems bundled with Phantom Hourglass. The US version was the gold Triforce edition and the UK one was silver with that black outline art. Except I don't remember hearing ahead of time that either one would be limited. The US one sold for a while. I've heard they made 10,000 units but that could easily be an underestimate. The UK one though I found out later (after it became much harder to find on eBay) was limited to only 1,000 units. Then you started seeing Chinese and Hong Kong companies selling replica silver DS Lite cases with the same art, and not long after that people selling their DS Lites "refurbished" with the replacement cases. Hard to find the genuine article these days, needless to say.
This is a pretty speculative account, but from what I understand, the UK silver PH DS Lite was only available from "small independent (franchise?) game shops." Of course with only 1,000 units produced, each game shop probably got like 10. So of course if you didn't pre-order, then tough luck for you, but to be honest, because of NoE's last minute announcement, I'm not even sure if you could have pre-ordered. First-come first-served survival of the fittest gets it may be closer to the reality. And yes, that particular box art was exclusive to the UK edition. The US DS Lite was gold and had very different box art. Kinda tired right now so if I missed anything just post another reply and I'll try to tell you everything I know. I have some pics layin' around too.
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You are quite right. These were actually commissioned as a thank you to all the small official Nintendo traders, and only sold by the small businesses in Europe and the UK. I bought mine from a small independant trader who was selling on eBay.
They are indeed limited to only 1,000 units, and this has been clearly stated since launch, and well documented by Nintendo themselves who put out a press release prior to launch. I am sure there's adequate citation to be found somewhere online
It's also not just limited to the UK as far as I am aware - It was for selected indie retailers across all of Europe
Original RRP was around £130 I believe (a little higher than the standard cost of a DS Lite with a game at the time), although current eBay demand pushed prices to around the £170-£180 mark. I personally paid around £160 for a sealed one (which is still sealed I might add)
Soon afterwards, prices shot up, with unboxed complete ones usually fetching upwards of £450 and sealed examples often fetching between £600-£800. These prices seem to have held steady over the years (as you can see from the link a few posts above)
This is not to ever be confused with the far more abundant GOLD Phantom Hourglass DS Lite which was sold exclusively in North America