Street Fighter II (Pirate)

This is a reasonably well made pirate of Street Fighter II Thanks to Andrew Perti for sending these pictures By: Evan G Last updated: December 2, 2017

Nowadays, pirated or bootleged Super NES games are so well done that it is hard to distinguish them from the real thing without physically taking them apart. Back in the 1990s, though, to have a pirate where there was attention to detail, at least with the label on this Street Fighter II, is unusual. The cart shell itself is different enough from the real deal that it should set off red flags, notably the lack of screws. In addition, the locking groove is different. Andrew, who sent these pictures to me, noted that the PCB has "ESS 500" etched into it, which is a low batch solder machine.

Front of the cart. Note the lack of screws

The cart has slots on it so that it could be played on a North American system

The top also shows that the cart shape on the pirate is different, not a smooth curve

PCB

The real cart on the left, versus the pirate on the right. The label looks good, but the cart itself is definitely fake!