Versions: US or Japan? Does it matter?

nesjess

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I did a search and couldn't find anything on this and I'm not sure what to think. And this is assuming there's not much difference between the two versions other than legal wording and branding.

I'm about to pick up a dedicated Double Dragon that I'm assuming will be a US version boardset. I recently picked up a Double Dragon boardset that is a Japanese version (Technos Japan on the board, "For use in Japan only" in the intro, etc.).

Two questions:

1. Why would anyone want to get original boards imported if they aren't legally allowed to use them on route? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to find an original US board? Unless imported boards we see nowadays are just old stock that were acquired in some type of overseas bulk buy.

2. Does an imported board necessarily mean more rare/valuable? I know ebay is not a good place to compare prices, but most of the time when I see an imported board for sale, it goes for 2-3 times the price of a US board.

EDIT: Pics added in post #11.
 
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Or you'll wind up with a bootleg, there are TONS of bootlegs of this game.

I have had 2 different bootlegs myself, and MAME has at least 5 different variations known, running all sorts of slightly different hardware right down to CPU(s) used.

How sure are you that JP board isn't a boot? Stamps don't mean much...
 
Or you'll wind up with a bootleg, there are TONS of bootlegs of this game.

I have had 2 different bootlegs myself, and MAME has at least 5 different variations known, running all sorts of slightly different hardware right down to CPU(s) used.

How sure are you that JP board isn't a boot? Stamps don't mean much...

I don't have a lot of experience (obviously) in this area. But the fact that the board reads Technos Japan, the soldering work looks professional, the game boots up with the Japanese legal disclaimer and plays perfectly fine, I'm thinking original. I found pictures of other Double Dragon boards that look just like my boardset. So other than those things, I have no idea whether or not this is a bootleg. Also, the cab I'm getting is dedicated so unless the original board crapped out, I don't know why else they would replace it with a bootleg board.

Thanks for the heads up though.
 
I'm not saying it isn't, but both Bootlegs I had ran exactly the same as legit boards. Same disclaimer etc

I think there were so many boots because of how popular this game was.
Quite likely it is, but you should take a look at what MAME catalog's for the chips used on the board as well, and you'll have a better idea.

I've been sold boards before where they were claimed to be legit, only to realize later upon comparisons with other boards/MAME that they were infact not.

Legit or not, because of the presence of MANY bootlegs, these boards don't command much money either way.
 
Double Dragon is a very interesting one. When Double Dragon came out, it was fucking HUGE made a ton of money.

Ops in the U.S. were pissed that you could buy the kit overseas, but you had to buy the entire game in America. They wanted kits to convert their old cabinets to Double Dragons, since they had tons of old games sitting around that didn't earn anymore, but were in good condition.

So they started buying Double Dragon pcb's from reimporters who would ship them to them for a profit. They called them Parallel boards.

Lawsuits were launched and everything else. They wanted to prosecute anybody who had a Japanese board in America, just the same as if it were a bootleg (there were tons of bootlegs too you could buy of Double Dragon).

Another interesting that about Double Dragon is it was criticised (I THINK in Congress!) for being Violent even though in the game you're good guys fighting bad guys who kidnapped a girl.

Double Dragon was a very revolutionary ground breaking game for a ton of reasons.
 
Hmm...well, if it is a bootleg, I'm glad I didn't pay big money for it. Well, that answers my question then. Whether it's a Japanese, US or Bootleg version, Double Dragon holds the same value pretty much.

Thanks for the insight guys. I guess it just depends on the game and the circumstances surrounding it during its release.

And I agree, Double Dragon was revolutionary and is a memorable classic for my generation. So happy it's coming to the game room. :)
 
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If it says Technos Japan it's probably not a bootleg, it's a "parallel" board.


BTW, a lot of folks won't tell you this :) but the bootlegs of Double Dragon are as good or maybe even more reliable as the official boardset.

Second, nobody fixes Double Dragon boards. So if it breaks (an official one) you won't have anybody that can fix it anyways, same as a bootleg.

Third, they're all worth about 40 bucks, bootleg or original or parallel.
 
as for value, if there are two versions available (US & Japan, usually) and they play identically except for copyright or TM designations, there isn't much difference for most collectors. if there is a difference in text (Japanese characters, like on my Namco Classic vol. 1,) the value in the US goes down compared to the English version. if there is an actual difference in gameplay then the more rare (usually import) board would often be more valuable to collectors.
 
I have been desperately looking for the truth about the Double Dragon cabinet. All I ever see is the grey sides, black marquee cabinet where the heros are Spike and Hammer. I assume was the only one to appear in the USA legitimately. Up in Canada, I almost NEVER saw that version. We had cabinetts that had the orange marquee with the same art that later adorned the console versions of the game. Where the heros are Billy and Jimmy. I remember seeing both Technos, and Taito boards in Canada. Why can't I find any images of the Orange marquee or any for sale???
 
You probably were playing kitted cabinets, using reproduction art or bootleg art somebody bought to finish the cabinets off with.

Remember Double Dragon was released for the Nintendo really soon after it came out in the Arcade.

So my opinion of your situation is

A. Game was released as a dedicated in America, kit everywhere else.
B. Game was released on the NES.
C. Bootleggers or reimporters of the kits from overseas designed their own artwork using the NES stuff
D. Your arcade and everywhere near you bought the stuff from the same people and kitted a bunch of stuff.
 
Actually, I don't think my Japanese board is a bootleg. It looks way too legit. Here are some pics. The board as well as all of the roms are labeled "Technos Japan"

dsc0601m.jpg


dsc0602i.jpg


dsc0603mp.jpg


One thing I should mention is that there's a difference in the color of the cabinet as well. I'm noticing there were some cabinets with screened art with a pink arrow in the middle as well as a red strip. Then, there are the common cabs that tend to have the applied side art with the black arrow in the middle with a gray strip. Anyone know what this difference indicates?

Common:

1181242103244.jpg


Uncommon (The one I'm picking up. Prairied1ll0 actually picked up one of these cabs as well):

3k73m63o65t65z25w5abgb0.jpg
 
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I think your board is a legit japanese kit board (considered a 'parallel' if it was mailed back to the u.s.)

I've never seen the one with the orange and pink.
 
Yeah, when it came out (as I understand, I could be wrong) it launched as a kit in Japan. It did well, so they made a dedicated version for America really soon after. Operators were trying to get companies to ship them just the kits, which were much cheaper.

In the operators opinion, the only reason Taito put them in a Cabinet in America was to juice them for more money, since they were selling them for generic cabinets everywhere else. So the ops started importing the kits, got sued, countersued, blah blah blah all kinds of shit went down.

The cabinet IS dedicated, but it's kind of a kit cabinet too, that's why it has the generic Taito logo, and you can rotate the monitor, etc. It was probably just a money grab on the part of Taito.

There were actually tons more kits available in Japan than America in general back in the day, the Japanese were able to convince the companies quicker to just sell them the board. If you think about it, pre- Double dragon there weren't that many kits out. Every big game with the exception of maybe Mr. Do was available strictly as a dedicated game. That's why the Vs. system was so successful after the crash... really though that wasn't really released as a kit for anything other than Nintendo cabinets, or Pac Man cabinets!
 
The big difference betwen our cabs and the Common cabs were that that our variant is stenciled. I assume that these came earlier and were built on the line after the classic taito stencil cabs were built. They must have switched to vinyl printed sides for faster production afterwards. This totally makes perfect sense if you consider the fact that DD went huge and they had to increase production. I think they were call Universal cabs. Superman also came in this cab as a ded. It's pictured as a side by side in the Cadash flyer but they never issued cadash a dedicated.

THIS IS ALL A THEORY. Mine and the one that Eseyo is getting are the only stenciled JAMMA Taito's that I've ever seen. I'd post better pics but I have mine in storage till I can get to restoring it as a DD. It got converted. This is also one of my favs also. It probably was the first arcade game I could finish w/ a quarter. It's an easy game although. It's also the first one where I found a glitch.

Anyone else have any info on this?
 
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If I am not wrong,I saw somewhere that there is a bootleg pcb that has a little different cpus which eliminate the slowdown problem of double dragon,I am not sure if it really exists.
Dont ask me where I saw that,I cant remember :(
 
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