Boots

Since I am fairy new to the world of Neo Geo. There were a couple of things a wanted to make clear for myself.

The first thing that caught my eye on this forum were the issues of scammers and bootlegs. Apart from the problem of being fake and not the original, what problems do boots
present to the machines they run on. Do they damage them in anyway, are the copies missing frames of animation etc.... Just wanted to know because I am looking to get some Streetfighting jamma boards, in particular hacked editions eg Blackbet etc....

Cheers

If you are new, one of the first things you need to learn is how to use the search and edit functions...

Basically a bootleg will usually have some graphic/sound problems, and they are more likely to function worse as the time goes on for them.

Although is very unlikely that a bootleg would damage your set-up or motherboard, as I said they are more prone to malfunction, so if they pop out during use they may damage something else.

<small>[ July 15, 2003, 06:34 AM: Message edited by: Amano Jacu ]</small>

Simple way to determine if it's a bootleg:
1. boards must have snk logo on them
2. chips usually have the release number on them, see the master list on this site for release numbers
3. not all chips are eeprom, some can be eeproms but not all usually (eeproms are the chips with magic windows)
4. components have been machine-soldered. if all the roms on the board seems to have been soldered by hand, then it's not a good sign

This list really helped me a lot, it was originally posted by another member. After awhile you start to become more confident about your identification skills.

I would also like to add that because a board has the SNK logo on it doesn't mean that it is going to be a legit game: most boots use SNK boards. Also, some legit boards have eproms, you just have to know what to look for. If you are really having trouble identifying particular boards, you can usually find someone to host the pics for you if you scan them or take pictures and you can make a post in the Tech forum with the pics

Basically, if you don't feel comfortable with trading/selling with someone, don't do it unless you can take the loss. Ebay is a bad place to buy from people that you don't know, as expensive carts can often be bootlegs. It's really a gamble. For that matter, even cheap carts (as in $10) can be boots. One to be really careful of is Bust-A-Move, which I hear is the most commonly bootlegged game.

Check to see who other people have bought from. You can ask in the proper area in the forums about sellers/ebayers and often get a reply quickly.

<small>[ July 15, 2003, 07:27 AM: Message edited by: I'dBuyThatForADollar ]</small>

Sop calling EEPROM an EPROM blow_top