How do I know it's a prototype and not just a cartridge with the label ripped off?

[MissingNo_1231]

Hey, I'm kinda new here, and new to the concept of prototypes. Pretty much all of the pictures of prototypes I've seen online were just regular cartridges without any labels, or just a small sticker with the name of the game.

Like, say I walk into a Goodwill and find an SNES cartridge with no label. Is there a way to tell if it's a prototype?

[jcalder8]

Most have labels of some sort saying what game it is either handwritten or typed in, some of them will have dates printed on them, others have "return to" written on the back with the company info but the best way to tell is to open it up and see if it has an eprom, because you can rewrite to them.

Of course that's not practical to do at a store but it's hard to tell apart from that.

[MissingNo_1231]

that makes sense. Thanks for the advice.

[ProgrammingAce]

Off topic, but your avatar is a nice touch.

[Joe West]

hey take a chance, unless its high priced "buy it"

[MissingNo_1231]

Thanks Programming Ace. I wish I could claim the drawing as my own, but I found it online.

And Joe West, I guess you're right. For as much as Goodwill charges you might as well just go for it.

But still, it would be nice to know.

[Tupin]

I would buy anything that has an odd (professional) label, that doesn't mean it's a proto, but it means it's not one that was sold to the general public.

The easiest ones to find are NES games with holes cut in them exposing EPROMS and HUGE N64 carts that are probably two or three times the height of normal N64 games.

[MissingNo_1231]

I would buy anything that has an odd (professional) label, that doesn't mean it's a proto, but it means it's not one that was sold to the general public.

The easiest ones to find are NES games with holes cut in them exposing EPROMS and HUGE N64 carts that are probably two or three times the height of normal N64 games.

hm, those sound like some good things to look out for.