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Post by zelo30 on Oct 5, 2003 20:30:22 GMT -5
how can i tell? do bootlegs lose ql in picture or have bad sound? what are the side effects?
thanx for your help just wanna spend my money right ;D
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Post by Raiken on Oct 5, 2003 21:09:23 GMT -5
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Post by zelo30 on Oct 6, 2003 0:06:15 GMT -5
thanx for the link ;D
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Oct 6, 2003 14:23:01 GMT -5
Basically the only way to tell a boot is to physically open up the cart and look at the boards/chips inside. Looking at either the carts case or label doesn't really tell anything as a lot of the time people replace the labels with homemade ones and I have also seen people swap cases over for whatever reason - sometimes its because a game may have come in a clear case or whatever and the person decided he wanted his collection to be all black cases.
Look at the boards and make sure they have SNK markings on them, as all official carts should say "SNK" on there, and make sure there is no dodgy wiring or soldering... if you spot tonnes of wires then it is likely to be a bootleg. A lot of people also think that eeproms (the chips with a little window in the middle) mean that a cart is a boot, and although this can be true it doesn't necessarily mean the cart is fake as SNK has used them in the past. Sometimes they were put in there to repair a cart or whatever, and I know some of my carts (which I definitely know are legit) have eeproms.
Basically, I'd advise anyone to stay away from bootlegs - apart from the obvious legal issues a lot of them can be bad quality. I have seen boots with glitches in the graphics/sound, and also many that have stopped working correctly after a while, probably due to cheap construction.
Hope that helps,
Kaz
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Post by Candycab on Oct 6, 2003 14:37:50 GMT -5
Let me also add to what Kaz just wrote ,if you do get an MVS cart that looks like its origional as far as the boards and chips go but has wiring soldered in it ,keep in mind it may be a repair ,that goes for Eeproms [windowed chips] aswell in some cases. Another thing to note is that SNK used Toshiba and Sharp chips most of the time ,ive seen some Sony chips aswell that are supposed to be origional ,but Ive only seen them a few times. There are also some MVS conversions floating around out there ,thats where an operator has used one game to make another ,Personally I dont think that is such a bad thing as it is made from 2 actuall games instead of being fake. In fact I own one myself ,my Turfmatsers is a conversion. I couldnt find a real one and ran across this one for $60.00 after asking Mike at M.D. if he had any TurfMasters in stock. Works fawlessly  Today there really is no reason to cannibalize one game to make another since there are loads of almost every cart out there for very low prices. I do think this is a great way to maybe utilize a few dead carts though  Anyway one more thing , when you inspect the boards themselves pay close attention to the sloder points on the back side of the board. See if the chips are all uniformly machine soldered ,if they arent it willl be very noticable almost instantly. This will tell you that the chip was put on after the production run was finished ,so it could be a repair or maybe part of a conversion { conversions usually have wires and jumpers in them though } most bootleg manufacturers cant soldier their way out of a paper bag and this is usually where it shows. Hey Kaz ? Do you remember where the list of all the MVS chip #'s is posted ? Was that just over at Shawns or was it someone elses site ? like Tiptonium ? If one of us could find that ,maybe we could link it up to the forums here I havent seen it in so long I almost forgot about it  thats a great resource for identifying origional chips. |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Oct 6, 2003 15:05:26 GMT -5
I vaguely remember seeing it, but I don't know where it is...  Thanks for the extra info in your post man, that's stuff I missed out and it is very helpful! Kaz |
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Post by Candycab on Oct 6, 2003 15:34:37 GMT -5
I vaguely remember seeing it, but I don't know where it is... Thanks for the extra info in your post man, that's stuff I missed out and it is very helpful! Kaz Your Welcome ;D |
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Post by Raiken on Oct 8, 2003 12:36:24 GMT -5
Hmph just got my Garou cart from bbu9715965(bill burger) and it was a bootleg!  It was exactly like one of the bootlegs in the thread I linked earlier with four weird roms and a wire attached. From now I'm just sticking with MDgamesales cuz his stuff is the real deal and he sent me my blazing star cart in three days. |
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Post by Candycab on Oct 8, 2003 16:54:38 GMT -5
Hmph just got my Garou cart from bbu9715965(bill burger) and it was a bootleg! It was exactly like one of the bootlegs in the thread I linked earlier with four weird roms and a wire attached. From now I'm just sticking with MDgamesales cuz his stuff is the real deal and he sent me my blazing star cart in three days. Just a word on MD vs Bill's games , I have dealt with both Mike {MD} and Bill for several years now and very rarely do either of them sell boots. They are bot excelent guys to deal with ,but they both get the majority of their MVS stock from Cosmic. That said there really is no guarantee any game you get from either wont be a boot ,since alot of Cosmic's stock are boots on a fairly regular basis. Both Mike and Bill usually test their games but I dont think either of them look at the boards so long as the game works, neither of them know how to clean stuff either ,or so it seems |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Oct 10, 2003 3:31:38 GMT -5
Raiken: That sucks pretty bad... if I were you I'd email him and ask if he'll let you return it for a swap or refund, from what I've been told he's a decent guy so I'm sure he'd help you out. If you buy another MotW cart though, get it from Mike at MD Games - I know he occasionally has boots but my MotW came from him and it was totally legit. Good price too (for the time I bought it anyway) Kaz |
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Post by Raiken on Oct 10, 2003 9:28:33 GMT -5
Yeah I emailed Bill and he's discussing it with some of his suppliers. Heres his email he sent back. i forwared your email to some of my friends this one was an snk distributor for over 10 years and sold more than 1million cartridges was also named in many copy lawsuits here is his reply i wil be getting more from others.__________________-- It could be a copy - I amnot an expert on it - there were a lot of copy snk carts made of varying games from snk - i don't know if mark of the wolves was ever copied - but if it was - which is possible - I would not be the one to know - if there is wiring on the pcb - it could have been a repair job -
sorry bill- i have no idea how to tell a real one from a copy except in some cases you can guess that it is by the design of the pcb inside if you have another one that might appear to be "more real" ? I don't knwo for sure - but I would have to say that it sounds like it could be. Yeah Mike is a great seller too. He is a little bit closer to where I live then Bill so I got my Blazing Star cart from him very fast. He also claimed that he checks his carts although I find what you guys say about him more believeable so I dunno if he changed his policy or what?  I just kinda wish I hadn't managed to get a bootleg on accident  |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Oct 10, 2003 10:42:54 GMT -5
I've never dealt with Bill so I can't help you there, but Mike is honest about what he sells... I've known him to have boots in the past but he always tells you if a game is legit or not if you ask (he verified my MotW was legit before he sent it and it was).
If it helps, you could maybe get someone to take pics of their MotW cart to compare it to the bootleg that you have, maybe you could show these to Bill or something? When I get my camera back, I'll take some pics of my Japanese MotW cart if you want?
Kaz
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Post by Raiken on Oct 10, 2003 17:49:19 GMT -5
Dude that would be awesome. If it's not any trouble for you then I would really appreciate that. |
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Post by Kazuya_UK on Oct 12, 2003 12:31:11 GMT -5
No problem... just gotta get this camera sorted or ask one of my mates if they will take a couple of pics for me. Just in case my dumbass forgets about it, send me a prv msg later in the week to remind me or something  Kaz |
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Post by Raiken on Oct 12, 2003 15:18:03 GMT -5
lol Ok got it.
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