Question about orange stickers on a Fire Shark PCB

[gbaplayer]

hi there,

can anybody tell me what these orange stickers are on that Fire Shark PCB?



i plan to buy this PCB and i want to be sure theres nothing wrong with it.

thanks for helping,

gbaplayer

[trap15]

They're EPROM window labels? What do you think they are?

[Zets13]

Impossible for somebody to say for certain, but unlabelled, non-standard window covers can indicate:

-The EPROMs have been reprogrammed (I assume that they are covering EPROM windows), perhaps to change the region of the board or change it from one game to another, meaning it is a conversion board
-The chips became corrupt and have been reprogrammed or replaced as part of a repair, and the repair person used new stickers instead of reusing the old ones
-The old ones simply came off and were replaced with generic ones

Looking on MAMEDB, there appear to be 3 different revisions of Fire Shark, two of which are Korean releases. Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, "Korea Set 2" has different names for ROMs 9-12 when compared to the original ROM set (though, this could possibly just be how they were entered into the database and not indicative of what appeared on the actual labels), which appear to be the ones on this board that have the orange labels.

http://mamedb.com/list.php?fuzzy_name=fire+shark

I would definitely ask the seller.

EDIT: From looking at other boardsets, it appears that those 4 might be the only EPROMs.

[gbaplayer]

is there any chance to tell if its an original board or not?

[Monstermug]

TP-017 is fireshark/same x3! It's an original board with original chips but with the exception of those 4 chips which looks like it has been replaced to do a region change.

Here's mine.

[gbaplayer]

whats the purpose of those 4 chips with orange stickers?

[Monstermug]

region change.

[gbaplayer]

and how is it possible to determine which region it is?

[Monstermug]

Dump the roms or simply plug it in. I suspect it's a fire shark that's been converted to a same! same! same!. I don't think anybody would be crazy enough to do it the other way around.

[gbaplayer]

hm? thats the picture i got from the seller.

[Monstermug]

how much are they asking for it? I wouldn't pay more than £200 for a converted fireshark.

[gbaplayer]

yeah but is it a conversion? i thought it was an original?

340€ shipped.

[Crafty+Mech]

The board looks original, but the rom set is likely a region conversion. For that $ I'd expect original roms.

[Ed Oscuro]

Dump the roms or simply plug it in. I suspect it's a fire shark that's been converted to a same! same! same!. I don't think anybody would be crazy enough to do it the other way around.

I think this conversion probably happened back in the day.

gbaplayer, are you sure you're in the right hobby? Serious question, I'm surprised you are taking so long to pick up what is basic collector knowledge here. You need to know these things to protect yourself.

[gbaplayer]

so i should better not accept that deal?

[Zets13]

Well, it depends on if it bothers you that it may have had the board converted from one region to another. You can ask the seller if he knows. If he doesn't then you probably shouldn't pay the full price of an original, non-converted board assuming it was converted to a more desirable version. Some people care about converted boards, others don't and just want to play the game or are willing to convert it back to the original themselves.

[gbaplayer]

it is the euro/usa version according to the seller. are there any more regions available, besides the japanese same same same?

[Opethian]

I believe
same!x3 is harder and is 1player only

fire shark is 2 player but easier

both have awesome music though

[gbaplayer]

i guess i have to cancel the deal because iam not sure if it is an original or converted one...

[system11]

It's just a regionswap. 'conversion' in arcade terms means a board playing an *entirely different game*.

Region swap still makes it worth a little less due to the missing labels.

[system11]

To be honest since it's saying Fire Shark, it probably did start life as Same Same Same! You do see that from time to time, because back in the day it was cheaper to import games and change the region than to buy them regionally from a licensed distributor. This is why you see so many boards in the US with serial numbers scratched out.

[gbaplayer]

@system11: is in your opinion 340€ to much for the above pictured PCB shipped within europe?

[system11]

I think it's too much for that game period, isn't it a $400 board generally?

[gbaplayer]

400$ equals 300€

+ 40€ shipping

[Crafty+Mech]

The question of value ultimately comes down to what the board is worth to you. Are you interested in Fire Shark for the game play, or as a collector? If you are a collector then I would think for the same price you can hold out for a board with original roms. $400 is a lot of clams to me, and I'm guessing from your questions might also be a good amount of money to you as well. If you are a player there are a lot of other great boards you can pick up for the same $ or less (including a number of Cave titles). Fire Shark is a fun game but it isn't exactly Ketsui.

[trap15]

Same! Same! Same! > Ketsui.

[Crafty+Mech]

Same! Same! Same! > Ketsui.

Not for my money. I love the Shmups of that era, but in '90 Raiden was the series that really caught my eye, just as I headed off to college and my time spent in arcades took a big nose dive. The flashy eye candy of the Raiden series became my standard bearer through the 90s, and it has been hard to get back into the older shmups with simpler graphics. Not that there were not great titles before '89, of course there were. But I usually just end up playing the titles I have a lot of nostalgia for, like 1943 & Galaga. Everyone's mileage will differ of course, but that is my experience with Shmups having dropped my first quarter in 1979 on Space Invaders.

[trap15]

That's an opinion. And my opinion is Same!Same!Same! is better than Ketsui.

[Crafty+Mech]

That's an opinion. And my opinion is Same!Same!Same! is better than Ketsui.

Of course these our are individual opinions. I didn't mean to just throw that out there without qualifying my statement, so I amended my comment to add my perspective.

To reiterate my point for the OP, beyond the basic pricing advice that has already been given, it is really up to you if this board is worth $400 of your money. The orange stickers could also be a concern for resell value, so if you are looking to later get back the $ you put in, that is something to think about.

[system11]

That's an opinion. And my opinion is Same!Same!Same! is better than Ketsui.

Yeah but your opinion is wrong, and furthermore your avatar looks like a monkey.

So, there we are.