Metal Slug 3 AES

neo-geo 2

neo-geo 2

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Thanks for the info,

I can hardly believe that the game left the factory missing a pin like that. The game works fine as far as i can tell its a ground pin. Why would an owner unsolder that pin?

The seller stated that it was purchased from the neo store on launch. The cart had no pry marks and appeared to be unopened.
 
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oliverclaude

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neo-geo 2 said:
I can hardly believe that the game left the factory missing a pin like that.
Click to expand...

SNK has a long history of releasing games without gold warning stickers, seals, reg-cards and double-labels etc. etc. Another classic are those extra blue wires that were attached directly to the pcb contacts. KoF '94, Dunk Dream and World Heroes Perfect have them, just check the contacts and you'll see the extra soldered spot, without even opening the cart.

That said, I can hardly believe, they would care for one unsoldered pin... handmade things have their flaws, you know.
 
HeavyMachineGoob

HeavyMachineGoob

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It sort of looks like the solder pad is missing. It's possible the PCB had a slight flaw that got past SNK's quality assurance.
 
klee123

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Figured it might be a good idea to just hijack this thread instead of making a new one.

I would like to ask for any feedback with regards to this copy of Metal Slug 3.

I don't have the confidence to open the cart to see the boards yet, but I figured the papers and labels might be something.


Any feedback would be appreciated. Cheers

http://imgur.com/a/HYlmn
 
HeavyMachineGoob

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The PROG board is dark colored, therefore PROGLBA, therefore near-impossible to fake. Papers look fine too.

Game is legit.
 
AESGuy

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Hi,

I exchanged a game of mine against a Metal Slug 3 US AES. Manual and Insert look legit but I'm not sure about the most important piece, the cart.

I am not able to open any carts until today and I wan't to try it out with such an expensive game.

The sticker looks a little bit suspicious to me because the NEO GEO lettering in the upper left corner is kind of blurry and the two blue vertical stripes are going a little into green at the right side of each stripe. The sticker itself is shiny as it should be and the dimensions seem to fit as I compared to many pictures I found at fleabay and on the net.

Any valuation is highly appreciated.

http://imgur.com/RXmQJ4u
 
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GohanX

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Take a pic of the bottom of the cart so we can see the boards. The label does look suspect, the yellows being off kinda looks like a laser printer not being aligned properly, but this can happen during offset print runs too. The bottom kinda looks like it has little stray paper bits like it was hand cut, but that could be dust. I have heard people say that the US run of Slug 3's printing looked pretty bad compared to the Japanese version.
 
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MCF 76

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^Yeah I had a US copy of Slug 3 a few years ago. The label looked just like this one blurry and not very good.
 
GohanX

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The Slug 3 PCBs have an odd color, and matches other ones in the thread that are stated to be real. Without opening it to check for sure, I'd side with legit here.
 
HeavyMachineGoob

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If both PCBs are dark grey, then it's a 1st print with the protected PROGLBA board, which is virtually impossible to fake.

The 2nd JPN print and probably the NeoStore USA version will have one dark grey PCB (CHAFIO) and one green PCB (PROGBK1) which doesn't have P ROM protection. It's very possible to make a Metal Slug 3 conversion by taking a later produced MVS Slug 3 and putting its ROMs on the same AES boards, PROGBK1 and CHAFIO. Only an early CHAFIO will work though.
 
AESGuy

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HeavyMachineGun said:
If both PCBs are dark grey, then it's a 1st print with the protected PROGLBA board, which is virtually impossible to fake.

The 2nd JPN print and probably the NeoStore USA version will have one dark grey PCB (CHAFIO) and one green PCB (PROGBK1) which doesn't have P ROM protection. It's very possible to make a Metal Slug 3 conversion by taking a later produced MVS Slug 3 and putting its ROMs on the same AES boards, PROGBK1 and CHAFIO. Only an early CHAFIO will work though.
Click to expand...

Both ones are dark grey. Thanks a lot guy for your valuable answers!

The guy who gave me the game told me that conversions slip in and out from the consonle way more easily than "regular" AES games. Is that true? I do not own any conversions so I can't proof that.

So they were 2 prints for the US Version as well? I was curious about how many versions were made. What I found were a guy who wrote 250 (I can't remember where I read it). Could that be true?

Just one last question. In my manual is the epilepsy warning also in German. Is that normal for US versions or may I have a european version? I had a copy of Super Sidekicks 3 which had the same information as well in German. My other US games (Top Hunter and SS1) are from 1994 when they had those large manuals without the orange warning pages. So I can't verify anything.
 
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GohanX

GohanX

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AESGuy said:
The guy who gave me the game told me that conversions slip in and out from the consonle way more easily than "regular" AES games. Is that true? I do not own any conversions so I can't proof that.
Click to expand...

Actual "conversions" would be using real SNK boards, so that's no way to test it. If it's a straight up bootleg (as in the counterfeiter produced their own PCBs) there's no telling, as there is little quality control. Most "conversions" of home carts you see use real SNK boards with eproms on it to make a more expensive game. In MVS carts, where bootlegs are a lot more common, usually boards are too thick, making it difficult to insert and remove.
 
HeavyMachineGoob

HeavyMachineGoob

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AESGuy said:
So they were 2 prints for the US Version as well? I was curious about how many versions were made. What I found were a guy who wrote 250 (I can't remember where I read it). Could that be true?
Click to expand...

There's only one USA print run, the NeoStore version. It was produced after SNK Corp's closure, so it doesn't have a warning sticker and it doesn't use a protected PROG board. (or at least, it shouldn't. SNK stopped using PROGLBA after they closed)
 
HeavyMachineGoob

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Yes.

To be specific, the green board should face the back of the cartridge, where the vents are. The CHAFIO board (which is dark gray) faces the front of the cartridge, where the labels are.
 
Yamazaki

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What about this US Metal Slug 3 which is (or should be) legit? Or are we talking about the actual boards inside the cart?


us1.jpgus2.jpg
 
HeavyMachineGoob

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That's pretty weird. Maybe SNK had some left over 1st print boards for the USA version.
 
Opethian

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is there just a US sticker over a JP label on that one?
 
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