Did I stumble across something rare? (KOF2003 related)

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Check out this link.

I got a KOF2003 JAMMA pcb recently and I didn't think anything other than 'it must be a boot' but apparently it was a real release, so that's fine and good. I looked up the cart form, and it looks like it sells for around 150 or so, give or take a few bucks. Is the JAMMA version of this game really that rare? The link above says only 33 pieces were released in the US.

Is it possible that I tripped over a really rare pcb, (if it is indeed real and not a boot)?

I'm not home but I have a camera now and I'll take some better shots of the pcb tonite and post them up.

If anyone has any info on this, please let me know.
 
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Its really rare but, no one really wants it so its value isnt much. No one liked the pcb's they where doing and I cant blame them. Why would anyone want the pcb over a cart.
 
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Yeah that was my thought about it too. Honestly I'd rather have a cart with the NeoGeo boot-up music and everything.

I'll probably keep it just to hang on to it, but I didn't know it was actually rare. Thats pretty cool. The cool thing is that it works 100% with my MVS cab, 'cept the credit counters dont work, of course.
 
madman

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MS5 was also available in PCB form.
 
Dash no Chris

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Dunno about the US arcade releases of KOF'03, SVCC, or MS5 (since my arcade mobo collecting habits tend to stick nearly exclusively to the Japanese versions), but it's usually rare to see the MVS cart versions of these games at Mak Japan (the mobo shop in Akihabara that I like to purchase from) -- typically, they stock the PCB versions. Mak Japan posts an updated stock-list .pdf file every Tuesday. Here are their prices for these 3 PCBs over the last 2.5 months:

SVCC.....4200 yen (8/26/08 - 11/4/08)
MS5.....18900 yen (8/26/08 - 10/14/08), 12600 yen (10/21/08 - 11/4/08)
KOF'03...3150 yen (9/23/08 - 11/4/08)

--Chris
 
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You know what, I don't think mine is all that rare, now that I think about it. I just remembered mine is the JPN version, not the US version.
 
Neo Alec

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The carts were not released in Japanese versions.

EvilEvoIX said:
There were some PCB's made by SNK. I think it is because in 2003 there were probably less MVS system hardware available at that time while a PCB will simply plug in.
Click to expand...
That's definitely not the reason. There was without a doubt no lack of MVS hardware.
 
Eggy

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I've heard that snk wanted to stop bootlegs of the mvs cartridges, but I have no idea how pcbs would solve that problem.
 
arfink

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Eggy said:
I've heard that snk wanted to stop bootlegs of the mvs cartridges, but I have no idea how pcbs would solve that problem.
Click to expand...

Easy, the hackers would have to reverse engineer the PCB's just like they did with the cartridges. That would give SNK a little more lead time to make some money. And I'd be willing to bet that the romsets are not the same from the PCB and cartridges simply because the hardware running them has some differences, mostly in the security chips, or so I am told.
 
Murray

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Eggy said:
I've heard that snk wanted to stop bootlegs of the mvs cartridges, but I have no idea how pcbs would solve that problem.
Click to expand...
That's what I heard. Maybe making it a PCB would allow some slightly tougher encryption / protection since it didn't have to work with standard MVS?

It's cool seeing the pic with the board next to the rest of the kit. I never realized these were so small. It looks basically like a MV-1C w/ the cart stuck on the end.
 
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Yeah the boards really are tiny. When I went to pick it up, I thought it was a bootleg POS. I'll take some pics when I get home to compare it with a CPS2 A board.
 
Neo Alec

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Murray said:
That's what I heard. Maybe making it a PCB would allow some slightly tougher encryption / protection since it didn't have to work with standard MVS?
Click to expand...
That's probably a good theory. Someone probably broke the encryption though, since there seems to have been bootleg SVC carts around before the official cartridge made an appearance. Who knows.
 
leepantalone

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It was so late in the game for SNK, protecting their carts against bootleggers was pointless...

How many MS5, SVC and KOF2k3 boards/carts do you think they sold to arcade operators..... at least in the US?

My guess would be that they sold more to us, than to arcade operators.
 
FairlanePhantom

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Damn, I never realized how tiny those boards were now that I see them in scale with MVS artwork.

I almost bought the KOF03 JAMMA board once on eBay for $40, but I forgot about it and someone else won.
 
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