Have you seen a Puzzle Bobble like this before?

[WilalvesBR]

Program board seems legit but:

Has a MX chip
Has a EPROM
058-V1 original toshiba chip
058-V3 original toshiba chip

The other board:

Has 4 EPROMs (three of them are toshiba)
044-C4 original toshiba chip
044-C3 original toshiba chip



Solder side of both pcbs has much more evidences of home made soldering than you could imagine.


Now what would you call this cart?


Boot, boot², bootºººººº?


Puzzle Boot

 

[Lochlan]

It could be a repair job of some kind...that label looks legit.

I'm not sure though, that MX IC makes me think it's a boot.

 

[Hewitson]

That label does not look original to me, neither does the CHA board.

I doubt SNK would repair PCB if it needed almost all chips replaced with EEPROM's.

 

[kernow]

I heard a rumour ages ago that puzzle bobble was so popular other not so popular games were converted to them. I am sure I remember Fatal Fury 2 being mentioned.

 

[Lochlan]

That label does not look original to me, neither does the CHA board.

I doubt SNK would repair PCB if it needed almost all chips replaced with EEPROM's.

You must be smoking some really good crack, that label looks exactly like an original label. If you think the middle part (that says Puzzle Bobble) isn't dark enough, I've seen real labels that shade.

The rule of thumb is if it uses ROMs marked with a manufacturer other than Toshiba, it's a boot (especially MX ROMs)--and this may be no exception--but that label looks legit as hell to me.

Also, see kernow's reply.

I heard a rumour ages ago that puzzle bobble was so popular other not so popular games were converted to them. I am sure I remember Fatal Fury 2 being mentioned.

This thread mentions it

 

[Xian Xi]

Weird, it has an MX rom plus the CHA is from Art of Fighting AND the PROG is from Fatal Fury Special. They didn't even bother removing those chips.

 

[Fakk2]

Thats a fucking bootleg all the way...

I mean think about it... EVERY ROM that is of the actual game are EPROMS (except for the MX rom which bootleggers use) lol... B O O T L E G

 

[kernow]

Thats a fucking bootleg all the way...

I mean think about it... EVERY ROM that is of the actual game are EPROMS (except for the MX rom which bootleggers use) lol... B O O T L E G

SNK used eproms in certain situations too you know.

 

[Koopa64]

I'm gonna say it's an SNK repair + consumer repair. I don't think one MX chip is enough to make it a boot. And those official chips have to account for something. Bottom line, this cart has probably seen better days... MUCH better days.

 

[Xian Xi]

Sorry that is not an SNK repair. That is a full on boot.

 

[Neo Alec]

It's a boot made out of Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury Special.

 

[Fakk2]

SNK used eproms in certain situations too you know.

There is a difference between using an EPROM to fix one bad rom, but if it is for every single rom that the game Puzzle Bobble is made with = Bootleg. Not one single chip used there is official for Puzzle Bobble. All the other Toshiba masked roms are still there because the bootleggers didn't care to take them out since Puzzle Bobble does not even access those banks so there was no need to remove them.

Simple... bootleg.

 

[the.bet]

I opened mine up

It has 9 eproms yours has 10. One of mine only has 3 ( while his has 4)

Also my MVS cart is Black and yours is clear. Is this a sign of anything fellas or were there different releases?
As for the chip types most are Toshiba others just say Japan or Singapore and have part #'s.

Mine is resetting during game play from time to time ( Playing on a phantom 1)

So I suspect my potentially could be a boot too.

Thank you all for your input

 

[Neo Alec]

All the Puzzle Bobbles I've seen have the same configuration as mine. Each board has one EPROM, always in the same spots:

In my experience, just about everyone who has a legit copy should have these same chips. I've only heard rumors of other variants.

 

[arfink]

This looks like a home repair or conversion of some kind. BTW, I do consider those two possibilities to be in a different class from a boot, but certainly not original.