Denjin Makai PCB - Original or Conversion?

[CptRE]

Hi everyone,

I’ve compared this Banpresto Denjin Makai PCB with a known conversion board I found online, and so far I haven’t found anything that clearly suggests it has been converted.

Based on the information I currently have, I tend to believe it may be an original PCB, but I’d really appreciate opinions from members who are more familiar with this hardware.

Could you please take a look at the attached photos and let me know what you think?

Thank you!

 

[Astro X]

The PCBs and mask ROMs are original; the EPROMs and stickers are not..............

 

[Crunch]

Original Korean PCB. The EPROM labels came like that. The Japanese version has numbers on them like Raiden 2 PCBs. I don't believe any conversion would be (easily) possible for this. Would be nice if it was though...

 

[CptRE]

The PCBs and mask ROMs are original; the EPROMs and stickers are not..............

Thank you for your comment.

I checked the board again. As far as I can tell, the current stickers were added later simply to cover the EPROM windows and improve the appearance of the board. I believe the original labels were lost at some point.

However, I do not believe the ROMs themselves were modified or converted. The stickers appear to be non-original, but the ROMs themselves seem to be authentic.

 

[CptRE]

Original Korean PCB. The EPROM labels came like that. The Japanese version has numbers on them like Raiden 2 PCBs. I don't believe any conversion would be (easily) possible for this. Would be nice if it was though...

Thank you for the information.

I checked the board again. As far as I can tell, the stickers currently on the EPROMs were added later simply to cover the EPROM windows and improve the appearance, and I believe the original labels were lost at some point.

I don’t believe the ROMs themselves were modified or converted.

 

[Crunch]

The JP PCB looks like this. The resistor packs near the JAMMA edge were black on it. I've also seen original JP PCBs with just black electric tape on the EPROMs. Not sure what happened with the EPROMs on the production of this PCB really.

 

[CptRE]

The JP PCB looks like this. The resistor packs near the JAMMA edge were black on it. I've also seen original JP PCBs with just black electric tape on the EPROMs. Not sure what happened with the EPROMs on the production of this PCB really.

Although the stickers appear to have been applied later, I still believe the PCB itself is original and unmodified. I can’t see any signs that components have been replaced, and the markings on the ROMs are complete with no signs of sanding.

However, after taking a closer look, I noticed that quite a few components differ from the PCB I own.

By the way, this game didn’t have a Korean version, did it?

 

[Asure]

A lot of games were produced in Korea, with Korean parts, so the PCB (filled with GOLDSTAR -> LG, "Lucky Goldstar") was built in Korea. but many games had roms on them from other regions.

I don't see a Korean software version so i don't think there's a special Korean version of this game. But i can't be 100% sure. Maybe there was, and it's not dumped.

Still a great game. I don't see Korean parts being 'bad' from this era, i'd take Goldstar of Fujitsu roms any day.

 

[Crunch]

A lot of games were produced in Korea, with Korean parts, so the PCB (filled with GOLDSTAR -> LG, "Lucky Goldstar") was built in Korea. but many games had roms on them from other regions.

I don't see a Korean software version so i don't think there's a special Korean version of this game. But i can't be 100% sure. Maybe there was, and it's not dumped.

Still a great game. I don't see Korean parts being 'bad' from this era, i'd take Goldstar of Fujitsu roms any day.

The easiest way to tell the difference is the default high score name in the ROMs. It's ZAK on the Korean ROM and it's MAK on the JP one. The Korean version is also slightly more difficult (health differences etc.)

It's not officially marked by the ROM names in MAME but can be seen by the PCB differences of the two in this thread. With this game being rarer than hen's teeth this is all a bit difficult to fully verify. Maybe it was a 'Asia' board and not Korea. Who knows.