Thats a real one, its not a bootleg.
You could get a couple 27C800s and redo the V ROMs, or at least verify what is in there, if you get a verify error, try verifying V3 against the MAME V4 file and vise versa.
EDIT: before you do the above, verify the M1 ROM, cause it could be that one... Even try burning a new one and droping it in cause it may verify fine.... At least its a UV EPROM so you can wipe it and re-write it.
He said this is happening on two different Puzzle Bobble carts, though. First thing to try would be to clear backup/work RAM on your Neo. See if there is something weird in memory that is causing this. Turn off your Neo and flip all of the dip-switches ON. Turn on your Neo and you'll see a message on the screen that reads WORK RAM TEST. Leave the Neo on for about 15-30 seconds, then turn it off again and toggle all of the dip-switches off (or only number 7 on, if you have it set to free play). Try your PB cart again and see if it helped.
Second thing to try is using DeOxit on the contacts of the game. OK, that's another fix that assumes this is a cart error, but it's worth a try and this stuff is great to have around anyway if you're dealing with old carts that could use a good cleaning. You can get DeOxit at Amazon, and it seems pricey but this stuff goes a long way and I've cleaned dozens of games with my current bottle and it's still half full. I recommend
this applicator, but really any will do... I just found the others make a bit of a mess. Just squirt on the Deoxit right on the contacts and then rub them until they're dry with a cotton-swab. You'll probably have to do this a few times to get off all of the corrosion. Work slowly, working on one side of each edge at a time and move on when you're getting nothing but red on your cotton swab. I've used this stuff on really stubborn games that took forever to seat correctly and it fixes them like new. If it is a connectivity issue at the pins, DeOxit will fix it. The other nice side effect/benefit is DeOxit leaves a little residue on your carts to help protect them and increase connectivity. This also slowly cleans your Neo Geo slots as you change out games.
You can go in there and clean the slots as well, but I find that to be a lot more difficult. If your slot(s) are dirty, you are probably better off cleaning them with a nice high quality contact cleaner.
If neither of the above work, you've got something else going on. I still say it's not the cart if you have two doing the same thing, but it could be the sound caps in your Neo starting to die. Easy enough to fix, but takes a bit of soldering work. Anyway, that should get you heading in the right direction before you start removing chips from a legit PB board. We certainly don't want to go screwing up legit PB carts if we can help it... They're rare enough as is.
