Puzzle Bobble - is this a boot?

[Nostromo]

I am sure it is but I'd rather have the final words from the experts here

 

[Heinz]

Doesn't look like my Puzzle Bobble and mine is legit, different PCB's entirely.

According to this site, these are the only games that have PROG-G2 PCB's

http://www.arcade-collector.com/search-neogeo-board-prog-g2

 

[Undefined]

That is one of the most boot looking PB that I've seen in a long time. I'd be surprised if it will turn on and work correctly.

 

[xsq]

boot. Funnily enough legit boards though...

Also check out this section, where these kinds of questions usually go.

 

[Nostromo]

Thanks guys and yes it defenitely it looks as boot as it can be =D

 

[Vectorman0]

Puzzle Bobble never came out on AES.

 

[Nostromo]

I think the two PCBs are from different games. If you notice, they have different colours on the edges, one is green the other is light brown. Must be a very rare boot, worth thousands, possibly :P

 

[madman]

Looks like a boot made from Fatal Fury 2, if I'm reading the NGH number correctly.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

I'm gonna go against popular opinion and call this legit, I've come across a cart like this before made from a whole AOF3. The P1, V1, C1 and C2 ROMs look to be mask ROMs, the print on them is similarly inconsistent with the common Power Spikes II version of Puzzle Bobble, which has an NGH number of D96, it's supposed to be 083.

Considering the Puzzle Bobbles we think are legit are made out of Power Spikes II, I don't think it's crazy that SNK would have sacrificed other games to cheaply fill the Puzzle Bobble demand.

That SNK-9201 chip isn't being used by Puzzle Bobble, you could salvage that chip, it's really just a PRO-CT0.

 

[madman]

The chips all look scratched to hell, I've never seen that style of print on the chips and usually when SNK used EPROMs they'd put a label on them with the NGH number.

 

[Hellfromabove]

I'm calling it a boot.

I really want to narrow down which games use this type of board as it looks kind of interesting. I would have said that this game was original if the roms said Toshiba on them or were unbranded but marked like the rest of the games out there with non-Toshiba roms.

 

[Hellfromabove]

So looks like the boards could have been harvested from the following:

- 3 Count Bout (DISREGARD)
- Super Side Kicks
- Viewpoint (highly unlikely) (DISREGARD)

Out of the bunch, I'm thinking it came from a 3 Count Bout.

EDIT: After looking at mvs-scans again, it looks like the boards on 3CB and VP do not have the rom on the top right corner of the board. The only one that does is SSK.

 

[Nostromo]

I have taken a closer look at the game's shell and there are some 'strange' things to it:

1. There is no hazard yellow sticker
2. There is now "insert this way" triangle arrow thingy
3. The label, although it looks ok, does not have a Taito logo.... see picture below

 

[Hellfromabove]

I have taken a closer look at the game's shell and there are some 'strange' things to it:

1. There is no hazard yellow sticker
2. There is now "insert this way" triangle arrow thingy
3. The label, although it looks ok, does not have a Taito logo.... see picture below

It could just be a repro shell and repro label. I have an MS2 boot that has a yellow warning label and insert arrow on it.

 

[mjmjr25]

I've had multiple PB's and have yet to have a matching board set yet - they have always been different. Your boards are legit and while it's not a OG factory first run, it's entirely possible all the work there was done by SNK. As long as it works well that's all that matters. Official 100% PB's and PB boots aren't terribly different in price.

 

[HeavyMachineGoob]

It's pretty silly being picky with Puzzle Bobble when nobody has found a copy that is all Mask ROMs and wasn't converted from a different game.

 

[madman]

Official 100% PB's and PB boots aren't terribly different in price.

It's pretty silly being picky with Puzzle Bobble when nobody has found a copy that is all Mask ROMs and wasn't converted from a different game.

This and this. I had a boot PB for years, no problems so I never worried about it as it's the most bootlegged game on the system.

 

[GutsDozer]

I just assumed all copies of Puzzle Bobble were boots. I bet there are 3 times as many boots for PB than legit carts out there.

 

[Hellfromabove]

It's pretty silly being picky with Puzzle Bobble when nobody has found a copy that is all Mask ROMs and wasn't converted from a different game.

Yeah, even the really early copies don't even have all mask roms. I have one with a serial number of 00064 and that still has one windowed rom in it.

 

[Neo Alec]

Don't just give up. There's a definite distinction between legit ones and non-legit ones.