Neo Geo AES Viewpoint Bootleg Question

Hello everyone,
I won a loose AES Viewpoint cart on ebay. When I received it I noticed the cart sticker has a crease on the top and there is something rattling inside. The cart was opened at one time and probably one of the plastic tabs broke off and was left inside. My worry is that, could this be a bootleg? The sticker seems completely genuine, why would someone pop it open? I read that these more common games are not bootlegged like Metal Slug. I definitely do not want to open it up. Any advice would be great.
Thank you,

just open it up and check

It could have been opened to be cleaned.

Do people bootleg carts that are cheaper like Viewpoint on AES? Has anyone encountered bootlegged uncommon titles. And is it sort of ridiculous for a counterfeiter to use eeproms to make a bootleg like Viewpoint. They probably would make little money?
Thank you,

No, most people don't bootleg "uncommon" games like Viewpoint, Last Resort, Mutation Nation, Robo Army, Eightman and various others.

I mean, it is possible they took the legit VP roms and put them in an MVS cart and then used eeproms/eproms for the AES cart.

But HIGHLY unlikely.

werejag said:

just open it up and check

Click to expand...

quoted for truth