Hatsune Mike
Champion
I think you would do well to expand on what "bootleg" means. A bootleg can be:2.. Is a board original or bootleg? Both will function. Some people care if a board is original or not. I personally like the idea of having an original board, there is usually more documentation on how to fix original stuff. If it doensn't matter a bootleg may save you a bunch of money.
- A conversion: ROMs containing a game burned onto an original PCB or cartridge of another title (a la Neo-Geo bootlegs). The game may have had its software hacked to accomodate the different hardware.
- A brand new PCB that reproduces another's circuitry directly (early '80s bootlegs, e.g. Slap Fight)
- A brand new PCB that uses original ASICS harvested from anotehr board (an odd TMNT bootleg that was spotted using original Konami parts on a new PCB)
- A brand new PCB that uses discrete logic, programmable logic, or new ASICS to approximate original hardware (the majority of '90s Korean and Chinese bootleg PCBs). The game may have had its software hacked to accomodate the different hardware.