IGS – New Astro City

Espgaluda, Ketsui and DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou Black Label as cartridges? Why not, as long as they’re 100% true to their originals.

Yes, you can always claim that “They’re not original!” but if they behave as well as their bare PCB counterparts I for one do like the concept of a cartridge version of my favorite CAVE shmups; better protection and easier storage being two of the pros.

On the flip side unfortunately another game has to be sacrificed as always when making a conversion. In many cases this was the the way for instance when older CPS-II games were to be retired and replaced by newer titles. The older games were returned and the hardware reused in order to lower production costs. Conversions remain a grey area among gaming enthusiasts. Some consider them legit and some write them off as bootlegs. For me it all depends on the game in question and the source of the game. Certain CPS-II games, like Progear, I consider ok since Capcom did them themselves, but the PGM conversions, IMO, are bootlegs. Even if the hardware used is similar to the original these games were never officially released on the PGM platform nor has CAVE ever licenced them for the PGM.

That aside, these conversions are top of the line. They perform (in some cases even outperform) as their original counterparts. Nonetheless it’s a grey zone – they are bootlegs.