> it's not difficult to find bootlegs, especially in Europe > > half the games you saw operated back in the day were probably bootlegs
One thing I can say for growing up in Ireland... Damn near everything was a bootleg, including Atari games that were being manufactured at the same time in Tipperary.
Blame it on ridiculously high import duties and a lot of things coming into the country under less-than-legitimate circumstances. Also: piracy.