I know there were many variations of games once the NES came out, even more on SNES that featured "uncensored" versions of games. Such as the first Mortal Kombat, I have talked with people that said there was a version for SNES that was much closer to the arcade created and, obviously denied by Nintendo, but that version was archived as they said - on some hard drive somewhere. I wonder if one day we will hear about an auction where someone bought old computers in a liquidation or something and bam, there is the uncensored Mortal Kombat on SNES?
Others I talked with said that Nintendo actually did not request the SNES port of MK be as censored as it was - apparently that was retaliatory by Acclaim over having to change anything. Someone took it personal basically.
Then there are the people I talked with that mentioned there were at least 3 versions of MK1 on SNES submitted to Nintendo, all denied, and archived.
Same for Robocop vs Terminator on SNES. So many games fell into this category having versions out there somewhere, probably on an unlabeled harddrive in a storage unit somewhere.
I have bought many bulk lots over the years, some gaming, and gotten some gems. One time I bought a 200 game collection off an eBay seller. It ran the gamut from Atari to Xbox 360. I was amazed to find a sealed Donkey Kong Country on SNES in it. I knew enough at that time to not mess with it. I set it aside and years later remembered I had it. Listed it on eBay and sold for more than I paid for the whole lot of 200 games.
Another time, at a charity store I found several Nintendo SNES games like Kirby's Avalanche, Super Mario All-Stars plus Super Mario World, and many others. 25 cents each. I bought them all. Listed them separately but ended up doing a bulk listing for one guy almost immediately for over $300 for 11 SNES games. I was not worried about "making bank", I was just happy to move them with little hassle. I had already received many questions from interested buyers wanting more pictures, pictures of specific spots on the cartridge, etc - obviously trying to see if they were fakes. When I took them down and did the bulk listing I got so many hate messages from people because they "were going to buy it tomorrow".
If you can make money without hurting someone or hurting yourself, I am all for it.
What you're saying about Nintendo and different game versions is very plausible. After all, arcade machines are mainly for older people, and the SNES is universal. They say it's not true because no one except some overly interested hobbyists or lunatics will test it.
Well, it's always $200, $300 of easy money. Spend a little extra and you can buy something better :D. I see you have the same problems in the US as we do (the part about them buying for "everlasting tomorrow"). And I agree with that last maxim everywhere.
Arcades were also unregulated. You could literally, almost, do anything you wanted as long as it was not illegal in the area you were selling that unit. Nudity and other mature themes were obviously out but look at games like Narc, the original Mortal Kombat, etc. Arcades were the area that was pushing what was socially acceptable (and showed the lack of parents being involved with what their kids did with their time).
Only when MK came home did parents realize how graphic it was. The same parents that didn't konw their kid was playing it for months, if not a year or more, in arcades, with MUCH better graphics and much more gore (or one of the many knock-offs that came out later).
I am all for anyone hustling to make their life better. That is a big part of my life, making money anywhere I can within reason (I will not do things that hurt others for instance). I see people on TikTok ridiculing people in other countries doing things to make ends meet and I am like, for them in their situation, that may the only way they can make money (glass recycling, metal work, etc) and honestly, the skills they exhibit doing it are amazing. I don't know anyone in my circle of life that could even begin to think about half the stuff they do.
There is just so much mean in the world, I do my best to make the little area I interact with a little brighter than it was when I got there.