Repro / Bootleg Quality?

[deepthaw]

Greeting all, first post here. Recently snagged a Famicom and a pile of games as a start to my collection. Mostly shoot 'em ups.

What is the quality of the repro / bootleg carts you can get through say AliExpress? I'm talking single cart that are intended to be a replica of the original, not a multi cart. I'd like to flesh out my collection until I can afford some titles (Gunnac, Crisis Force, etc.). I'm fine with them being marked as reproduction, in fact id almost prefer it so nobody ever tries to resell them as authentic in case I sell them someday.

[fcgamer]

It really depends on the vendor. Some have decent shells but crappy quality inside, some are decent all around. If you go this route though you should make sure the cartridges are designed for your machine (i.e. the voltage)

[deepthaw]

It really depends on the vendor. Some have decent shells but crappy quality inside, some are decent all around. If you go this route though you should make sure the cartridges are designed for your machine (i.e. the voltage)

Ooh, I didn't even know voltage was an issue. How would I verify that? And any recommended vendors, if it's not against the policies here to list them?

[P]

Someone that knows a little about electronics would need to look at the board. I guess you could try asking the salesman and see how he reacts in order to determine if he is lying to you.

Traditionally Famicom/NES cartridges were designed for 5 V, but due to 3.3 V parts being much cheaper and more available nowadays some started to use 3.3 V parts instead, which should not be used with a 5 V system (such as an original Famicom, NES and any older famiclone). Likewise 5 V cartridges should not be used with 3.3 V consoles.
There are even cheap cartridges that are built so incorrectly that they are just dangerous for everything and will break down quite quickly after purchase.

[Jono1874]

I would avoid using any bootleg cartridges from Aliexpress and the like on any Famicom. Not because they could destroy your console, so much as that the bootleg itself  seems to degrade absurdly fast. I bought a couple a few years ago to screw around with and most of them wont even boot anymore.