Booty Legs

[ninjawyatt]

I have now purchased my first JAMMA cab However, I own no games as of yet I guess boards such as CPS2 are pretty obvious with regard to their authenticy, but how do I spot a boot leg when looking at JAMMA PCB's on ebay?

I appologise for the newbness, but I just wanted to make sure I buy original boards and avoid boot legs.

Cheers

[ninjawyatt]

I believe there's a page on the wiki

Thank-you Sir

[o1s1n]

Google pictures of what the PCB should look like. When you become familiar with the boards you'll know.

CPS1 boards should look like this for example (main bottom board, two smaller boards on top. Game name tends to be on the small 'C' board on the top right - it's in Japanese on this one)

If you see a CPS1 game which doesn't look like this (just one PCB for example) then it's a boot.

[markedkiller78]

You also get conversions, original hardware with different Roms.

[IDCHAPPY]

Boots are fine, as long as they work 100% and are advertised as such. Most folk know they have boots and say it in the listing.
Boots tend to have about 2000 chips on them as well

[Paulie]

Google pictures of what the PCB should look like.

this

Ask the seller if it's original/conversion/booty, most people know exactly what they are selling, if they are vague etc then best to be wary.

Ask for nice clear photos if they are blurry or they make excuses that they can't take a picture for you etc again beware.

Ask here too, no one wants to see anyone getting ripped off http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3172"

Not really what you were asking but worth me mentioning that when something is advertised as untested just beware, Ok it may well be cheap and seem like a good deal but a lot of times untested actually means fully tested and knackered. Just use your common sense, check feedback, and look at what else the person is selling. If a seller has working tested JAMMA boards for sale in one auction and in another one of their auctions say things like untested or no way for me to test this, or slight fault but I'm sure it's an easy fix etc. Just ask yourself why they didn't take 5 mins to test it or if it's such a quick and easy fix why didn't they do it, they clearly had the time to list, pack and post the item? Obviously there are a lot of good genuine sellers and you may bag a real deal this way but there are also far too many people who want to part you from your hard earned £,$,€ or¥

[geotrig]

simple answer ,alot of jamma boots are not keyed

[o1s1n]

Boots are fine, as long as they work 100% and are advertised as such. Most folk know they have boots and say it in the listing.
Boots tend to have about 2000 chips on them as well

Depends what you're into really! Boots may be fine for some, but not others. I don't like them myself and try to steer clear as most of the ones I've owned had at least one or two issues. Only one I knowingly bought was The Punisher (for obvious enough reasons!) - game plays fine, but the music is ruined.

The really big minefield for boots is MVS carts. Sellers can be really reluctant to open up and show you the innards. Only way to be 100% sure really. Have lost count of the amount of times I've inadvertently bought MVS boots.

[geotrig]

i've always found older boots .i.e on 80's games were alot better than the 90's ones if that makes sense as some rand on very simialr setups but cheaper components etc

i still dont like boots

[ninjawyatt]

Thanks for the advice guys, really helpful feedback.

[IDCHAPPY]

Boots are fine, as long as they work 100% and are advertised as such. Most folk know they have boots and say it in the listing.
Boots tend to have about 2000 chips on them as well

Depends what you're into really! Boots may be fine for some, but not others. I don't like them myself and try to steer clear as most of the ones I've owned had at least one or two issues. Only one I knowingly bought was The Punisher (for obvious enough reasons!) - game plays fine, but the music is ruined.

The really big minefield for boots is MVS carts. Sellers can be really reluctant to open up and show you the innards. Only way to be 100% sure really. Have lost count of the amount of times I've inadvertently bought MVS boots.

Each to there own as you say mate, I genuinely don't mind boots, they are all part of the rich tapestry of arcade history.

[o1s1n]

Each to there own as you say mate, I genuinely don't mind boots, they are all part of the rich tapestry of arcade history.

I did have a bit of an epiphany when writing that post. I was going to say that the reason I use original arcade boards is for authenticity - using boots takes away from that.

But then, half the boards we played in arcades growing up were probably boots. So there goes the 'authentic arcade experience' argument

[ninn]

... just wanted to say the same ...

.. and dont forget about boots, that got some nice features, like Double Dragon not as laggy, or FinalFight with new Characters ...

[muddymusic]

A lot of bootlegs had English translations for games that were never released outside of Japan. Up until recently Wonderboy in Monsterland was only available in English as a bootleg.

[pubjoe]

Up until recently Wonderboy in Monsterland was only available in English as a bootleg.

Is this a mod?

[muddymusic]

The official English translation was finally done for a release of the game on virtual console not long ago and some clever sausage extracted the updated roms and stuck them on an original pcb - so proper English translation on an original Japanese pcb

[pubjoe]

Awesome. I recently read an interview with Nishizawa where he talked about translating the arcade game back in the day, and that finally the VC version used the official English roms. I also remember cools contemplating the possibility of hacking them in. Great that it's finally possible to have a good English PCB.

Even though the MS version is full screen, the arcade graphics just pip it imo. I'm interested in doing this PCB mod sometime.

I assume you use one of the Wii piracy tools to download Monsterland, extract the roms and (ask someone nicely to) burn them.

[cools]

Its in mame

[muddymusic]

I didn't know it was in mame. I was about to say I have the roms ready and pics of where to fit them on the pcb, I can email it all over if you like

[pubjoe]

Still interested, though it won't be something I'll do for a while. If it's no trouble at all my email is my username (at) gmail.com otherwise I can ask you again in the future sometime.