MVS boots- possibly useful?

I have a couple questions here, not finding any real answers here though.

First, what kind of value does a bootleg of an MVS game have? If it's 100% working is it still considered to be worthless? I know broken boots are obviously not worth anything really.

Secondly, has anyone here thought of cool things which could be done with boots? Here are my thoughts: boots are a) fairly common, b) disliked in general, c) frequently broken, and d) frequently built with at least some SNK parts. (cart shell, boards)

I have been considering possible uses for boots- homebrew and repair jobs come immediately to mind, as in, taking parts from boots to repair original hardware. Or taking the carts and using them for homebrew instead of breaking a "real" cartridge. I say this because most boots seem to have a real home-made feel to them, and most of the problems with them result from amateur soldering jobs, cold solder joints, etc so that the connections crack. In other words, a skilled electrician can usually repair them and reuse parts from them.

Finally, documenting bootlegs could really be a big help for people in the homebrew community still making (or wanting to make) games. Boots could provide valuable prototyping bases, especially since unlike the mask roms used by SNK, the flash and EPROMs used in most boots are very well documented and could be more easily reverse engineered and used in homebrew.

Just a thought, provide input please.

Check the search forums please. A boot is a boot is a boot.

A 100% working boot has little value. Not worthless, but not far from it.

You are right in saying that the boards could be used for homebrew, but as I'm sure you know the NG doesn't really have a homebrew scene.

Really the only things a bootleg is useful for is to repair an old game (if the boards are SNK) or to replace a cracked case (if the case is an original).

Home made boots might be alright, but anything from china with flash chips and all that shit. Fucking rubbish.

Seriously, how many carts just randomly crap out on you enough to warrant getting replacement parts from bootlegs?

Most games on MVS can be bought again for much less effort than repairing it.

Arcade operators often don't care if a game is real or a boot, as long as it works.

I've bought boots before just to get the DIP flash roms since the boot would be much cheaper than trying to purchase the flash chips outright.

I've then used the flash roms to try out homebrew code. Makes for a nice dev cart. You can test homebrew code with emulators much faster but nothing beats trying your code on real hardware. The emulators are not perfect so this is the only way to fix some bugs.

Most times though, the boots use SMD flash chips so using them for repairing an MVS cart won't work. Or, the boot will differ in some way which also makes it useless for repairs (not a 1:1 copy). Boots of the newer games may be decrypted (or use their own silly protection or banking) which, again, makes them useless for repairing legit carts.

Thanks for the input guys. As for myself, I happen to have some boots and I don't really feel like throwing them away, so I'll see if I can cobble together a dev. cartridge of sorts. First project would most likely be to try and get Ghostlop running, since that game never saw the light of day. I have a small (and seemingly growing) pile of MVS games with flash chips in them and original SNK boards, all of them older models without crypto chips, thus perfect for homebrew.

Also, in regard to the NG not having a homebrew community- guess why? Nothing is documented, and no development hardware exists. If those two things were in place then doing development would become more common. I also figure that since I have made dev carts for various systems in the past I can probably do this one. If anyone else has experimented with this before, please let me know, we can exchange info.

lachlan said:

Home made boots might be alright, but anything from china with flash chips and all that shit. Fucking rubbish.

Seriously, how many carts just randomly crap out on you enough to warrant getting replacement parts from bootlegs?

Most games on MVS can be bought again for much less effort than repairing it.

Click to expand...

Well, I am a college student with little money, this is a hobby for me, not a collection. As for bootlegs with flash (glop-top chips) made in a factory in China- those arguably hold up better than home built ones. SMD chips are the industry standard now because the simply survive alot better than DIP chips that SNK and the rest of the electronics industry used to use. I have some boots with SMD flash and they work very well, and I have never had any problems with them.

joe8 said:

Arcade operators often don't care if a game is real or a boot, as long as it works.

Click to expand...

I agree...

That's because most Arcade operators don't know the difference..or have never heard of a boot..

Atleast all of the Arcade operators I have spoken to who owned MVS never knew of boots.
Shoot the Woody 2 Slot Neo Cab I bought from an Arcade operator had a problematic no sound Bust A Move BOOT in it..As for all the years he owned the machine and was/is an OP he had no clue it was a boot-nor did he care when I told him.

He thought the 2 slot board was SHOT!! ,no sound..but it was the Boot causing the problem..I didn't say anything as I was buying the cab in a broken state..
Him not knowing of boots,he had not known that the booy could knock out the sound on the board.

Me: I still have some boots...Some work,some don't .....SSV boot has no ending but the Case is like Brand New..
Looks like someone took the original boards out and stuck boot boards in it..It actually came with the Large Marquee and other original stuff that would be in the Kit.
I didn't suspect boot at first since it came with all that..but I got STUNG..
What can I do with the game now..Just sit on it...

Is it worth buying boots=with the intent on maybe having to sell them later..NO as I'll never be able to sell them..they are only woth the 100% working to the person who owns them..
I'm stuck with all the boots I got stuck with..

boots used to interest me..I wanted to buy them to make a BOOT info/picture reference page like I'm pretty sure a member still has up..

I've used boots for the Cases..One boot I got stuck with had a better original label case then an original game I had in my collection,so I switched it out..


I got a smashed case Metal Slug once ..I used a case from a boot to replace it.
I've also used the screws


......
I guess the guys that make Conversion carts would be better off using boot boards then killing an original cart yes.?
If the boards are usuable.