PULSTAR

TK86079

Mr. Big's Thug
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HI, this is one of my Pulstar MVS games.
Now Im not sure if it is a Bootleg, so called Coversion or what ever that means on MVS Games, or maybe Original? the Boards are SNK Originals.
I Cant find it on MVS scans.

Thank you and Greetings
Alex

IMG-6722.jpg
 

c0nn0r

If I could have, My time back, I'd keep it in ma'
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Guys, don't be so quick to call bootleg. Maybe it's a 'repro'.
 

egg_sanwich

Windjammers Wonder
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Can we all agree that the pcbs (sans bootleg roms) are original SNK parts though? Even if the case is a Yaton special?
 

TK86079

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Eventually no Bootleg sounds good :) But when it’s a repro did SNK made reprogramation of games?
 

Niko

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Eventually no Bootleg sounds good :) But when it’s a repro did SNK made reprogramation of games?

No, repro is short for reproduction. Which is usually done illegally by an unauthorized 3rd party.

Conversions are usually AES games that where converted to another AES game by transplanting the official MVS roms onto the AES PCBs.

In the context of NeoGeo games, SNK never authorized any 3rd party to reproduce, or convert their games. Which makes them all bootlegs.
 
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TK86079

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@Niko

Thank you, this is a explaination that is fully understandable.
One more thing is the case, egg_sanwich talked about Yaton special case.
I found something about Yaton, that he was a seller of games. Did he made his own cases?
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
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Eventually no Bootleg sounds good :) But when it’s a repro did SNK made reprogramation of games?

SNK occasionally did reuse PCBs but they'd still be using mask roms, not modern (and mismatched) eproms and flash chips. The only time they had eproms was during a repair or a last minute change, and it would only be one, maybe two chips.

In the case of this Pulstar, what we have here is someone took some cheap official game, programmed Pulstar onto the cheapest used flash/eprom chips China could provide, and swapped the rom chips. So not only do we have a bootleg Pulstar, but some real game got murdered in the process of making it. If you paid more than $30 for this you got got.
 

Niko

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@Niko

Thank you, this is a explaination that is fully understandable.
One more thing is the case, egg_sanwich talked about Yaton special case.
I found something about Yaton, that he was a seller of games. Did he made his own cases?

Yaton is a reseller who has a history of selling some of the dirtiest, heavily used, parts with cheap repairs. In essence, the definition of "gamer condition".

Those light blue cases are Chinese reproduction cases, the original game case was probably heavily scratched and or broken and was replaced.
 

TK86079

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I bought it about 15jears ago, and I always thought it’s a Bootleg, and it cost me about 40 or 50€. But I already have a original kit of the game. For me it was interesting because of the original PCBs and the chips on the first board. I think it’s unsellable if it’s a boot.
 

TK86079

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Yaton is a reseller who has a history of selling some of the dirtiest, heavily used, parts with cheap repairs. In essence, the definition of "gamer condition".

Those light blue cases are Chinese reproduction cases, the original game case was probably heavily scratched and or broken and was replaced.

Ok, thank you.
 

TK86079

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I will try, but I think people that don’t care, use the Pulstar on 161/1 :)
 

Neo Alec

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I think I got lucky. I bought my Pulstar MVS on ebay around the same time you did. It had a fake label, so a few years later when I got into verifying all my carts it was a prime candidate. Luckily I opened it and it is real.
 

Niko

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Honestly, for games like Pulstar, it doesnt really matter unless you paid a premium or care about authenticity from a collector standpoint.
 

TK86079

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Im not realy a collector, but I perfare to own originals. I don’t care Labels, but the Hardware should be original.
 

defalt

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Bootlegs can be quite useful; if someone wants a very expensive / unreleased game, then it's imho way better to make it using an already sacced cart than an original. Same for AES: it's better to make conversions with existing loose converts with beat-up labels than with an original SS1 or FFS for example.
@TK86079: The term "bootleg" is mostly used for MVS carts. AES bootlegs exist, but as they need brand new pcbs etc they are more expensive to manufacture. Therefore, people who make them (NCI, DGE, Atomikwave, !Arcade!, ...) also print very high quality artwork. Take a look at a DGE V-Liner, or an Atomikwave Prehistoric Isle II. The paperwork is pretty much the same quality as an original game, maybe even better as printing techniques evolved quite a bit since the 1990s / early 2000s. Furthermore, some even come sealed with reproduction seals. They are called "repros" because most of the games sold as conversions have no manual, a shitty label and a bad quality insert, even though most of these so-called repros aren't even so, but are MVS-only games.

Conversions are games using ORIGINAL PCBs AND chips. As long as there's a PCB or ROM not made by/for SNK inside the cart, it is a boot.


PS: For post-2004 games: NONE of them should be considered a convert NOR a repro. For example, the KBs sold by NGDT or the Xeno Crisis sold by Bitmap Bureau are originals. Not SNK originals obviously as they aren't made by SNK, but originals as they are made by the developers. Even an eprom full cart with a post-it label of Last Hope is original as long as it's made by NGDT. Same applies to SNK protos, btw.

Hope this post helps ;)
 

TK86079

Mr. Big's Thug
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Bootlegs can be quite useful; if someone wants a very expensive / unreleased game, then it's imho way better to make it using an already sacced cart than an original. Same for AES: it's better to make conversions with existing loose converts with beat-up labels than with an original SS1 or FFS for example.
@TK86079: The term "bootleg" is mostly used for MVS carts. AES bootlegs exist, but as they need brand new pcbs etc they are more expensive to manufacture. Therefore, people who make them (NCI, DGE, Atomikwave, !Arcade!, ...) also print very high quality artwork. Take a look at a DGE V-Liner, or an Atomikwave Prehistoric Isle II. The paperwork is pretty much the same quality as an original game, maybe even better as printing techniques evolved quite a bit since the 1990s / early 2000s. Furthermore, some even come sealed with reproduction seals. They are called "repros" because most of the games sold as conversions have no manual, a shitty label and a bad quality insert, even though most of these so-called repros aren't even so, but are MVS-only games.

Conversions are games using ORIGINAL PCBs AND chips. As long as there's a PCB or ROM not made by/for SNK inside the cart, it is a boot.


PS: For post-2004 games: NONE of them should be considered a convert NOR a repro. For example, the KBs sold by NGDT or the Xeno Crisis sold by Bitmap Bureau are originals. Not SNK originals obviously as they aren't made by SNK, but originals as they are made by the developers. Even an eprom full cart with a post-it label of Last Hope is original as long as it's made by NGDT. Same applies to SNK protos, btw.

Hope this post helps ;)


Oh Yes, it helps! Thanks.
 
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