Bootleg machines?

I have heard many times that the only legitimate DDR machine in the U.S. is the DDR USA version. Anything else is a bootleg, illegally imported from Japan.

Is this true? And, if it is true, why is most of the game in English?

Also, I've noticed I'm seeing two different versions of Extreme - one has English lettering around the screen (for the start button, etc.) and one has Japanese. This seems to imply that they are making English machines specifically for illegal import.

Anyone know?

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A day is a drop of water in the ocean of eternity. A week is seven drops.

I'm not certain about the machines themselves, but the software that upgrades a machine (say MAX2 to Extreme) are 99% bootleg copies. The upgrade, short of the cosmetic changes, is a CD. Now to obtain an upgrade CD, you get the legal version, or a pirated/bootleg version. Usually the bootleg disc is cheaper, which could be why most machines in the US, short of DDRUSA, are bootleg.

Heh... pirate... bootleg... peg leg...

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Tommy Penner
"The plural of 'chassis' is 'chassis' ;)" - Den

I don't buy that. I've seen an Extreme upgrade kit out of the box and it's a CD and a hardware key. The game won't boot without the key.

Importing the machines is not illegal in any way. The manufacturer might not want you to do it, but unless there's some kind of goofy tarrif or something, I don't see any reason why you can't bring the machines here.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Luau II Cam 7/19
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

What kind of key are you talking about? Not the one to open the coin door right? A bootleg upgrade kit comes with a CD that was burned and a chip thing that takes the place of the thing that you need if you have a real upgade kid.

If its not illegal to bring an machine into the US then why does it say in the idle screen of the DDR machine..."this machine and the contents of this machine are only to be sold and distributed in Japan." And theres a bunch of other mobo jumbo that goes with that. But I think that its illegal to have them in the US but I know that Konami knows that they wouldn't be making any money if there went all those DDR machines here in the US.

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