Dragon Quest Pal?(lots of pics) [Archive]

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jcalder8

01-02-2009, 12:25 AM

I recently won an auction for the unreleased Pal version of Dragon Quest. After getting it and opening it up I was surprised by what I found.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/jcalder8/DSCN4222.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/jcalder8/DSCN4224.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/jcalder8/DSCN4225.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/jcalder8/DSCN4226.jpg
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb141/jcalder8/DSCN4227.jpg

Am I wrong in thinking that this is not actually a prototype? I'm new to this scene but I thought eproms all had batteries. I'm willing to take more pictures if that helps any but there isn't a whole lot more to see.

I don't have my NES hooked up so I can't test it out but I'd love to hear any opinions on it.

Thanks for any help.

onc1981

01-02-2009, 12:44 AM

jcalder8

01-02-2009, 12:50 AM

im pretty sure that this is a famicom board with a converter on it, when you get your nes hooked up you will have to tell us what the language is but again im sure that thats what this is and its not a prototype
This is true, but there are official NES games that use this technique too. Also if you look at the case of the game it is a Pal case so that would mean that someone took the Famicom version and took an adapter and got a case and printed off really crappy looking labels.

van_halen

01-02-2009, 05:15 AM

This is true, but there are official NES games that use this technique too. Also if you look at the case of the game it is a Pal case so that would mean that someone took the Famicom version and took an adapter and got a case and printed off really crappy looking labels.

Those are indeed standard Famicom production ROMs, however, I believe it's an authentic preview cartridge for the PAL market that came from Nintendo Netherlands. EPROMs were very expensive at the time and supply was limited, so it would make sense to think that they opted to use a simple Famicom production board with a converter for this game if using a dev board and a lot of stuff was deemed unnecessary. Hard to say whether or not it was actually put together in Japan though; considering the PAL casing and the labels, it might as well have been done by the Dutch Nintendo crew. You got it from Niels, right? I really don't think he would try to rip anyone off.

jcalder8

01-03-2009, 01:05 AM

Those are indeed standard Famicom production ROMs, however, I believe it's an authentic preview cartridge for the PAL market that came from Nintendo Netherlands. EPROMs were very expensive at the time and supply was limited, so it would make sense to think that they opted to use a simple Famicom production board with a converter for this game if using a dev board and a lot of stuff was deemed unnecessary. Hard to say whether or not it was actually put together in Japan though; considering the PAL casing and the labels, it might as well have been done by the Dutch Nintendo crew. You got it from Niels, right? I really don't think he would try to rip anyone off.
I did get it from Niels. I don't think he was/is trying to rip anyone off I was just surprised so I thought maybe he was given the wrong info about it, possibly from someone who was given the wrong info from 2 or 3 other people. Which is why I came here looking for opinions.

DreamTR

01-03-2009, 03:09 PM

jcalder8

01-04-2009, 10:38 AM

It is authentic in the sense a magazine place had it, but that just turns out to not be worth as much based on what it is inside. It's real to that extent, but it's not anything special because of the guts. I have a couple of Dragon Warrior protos for NES (Pat 1) that are both very bizarre looking.
Ok, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.

A magazine place had it?

Does that mean it was sent out by Nintendo as a preview?

Is it not worth as much because there are no eproms?

I'm not concerned about the value of it I'm just trying to figure out what exactly it is.

DreamTR

01-05-2009, 12:43 AM

Ok, I'm just trying to wrap my head around this.

A magazine place had it?

Does that mean it was sent out by Nintendo as a preview?

Is it not worth as much because there are no eproms?

I'm not concerned about the value of it I'm just trying to figure out what exactly it is.

Nintendo of Europe was a lot more lax about 1st party games going to magazines. More 1st party protos have been found in Europe than the US. It's not worth as much because it's essentially the Japanese version with a converter. Take that for what it is. If it had a nice label, it would be worth a lot more, or EPROMS...

jcalder8

01-06-2009, 12:57 AM

Nintendo of Europe was a lot more lax about 1st party games going to magazines. More 1st party protos have been found in Europe than the US. It's not worth as much because it's essentially the Japanese version with a converter. Take that for what it is. If it had a nice label, it would be worth a lot more, or EPROMS...
Just so I can be clear on this.

I bought a copy of Dragon Quest, with a converter and a printed label. Not a Pal version of it. Is this right?

DreamTR

01-06-2009, 12:38 PM

Just so I can be clear on this.

I bought a copy of Dragon Quest, with a converter and a printed label. Not a Pal version of it. Is this right?

Yes, but I don't know if 60 pin NTSC to 72 pin PAL converters exist in that sense. You could make 100% certain by seeing if it plugs in a US NTSC NES without issues, but it looks like you bought an NTSC Japanese version with a converter. Production version.

jb143

01-07-2009, 11:15 AM

Am I wrong in thinking that this is not actually a prototype? I'm new to this scene but I thought eproms all had batteries. I'm willing to take more pictures if that helps any but there isn't a whole lot more to see.

I don't have my NES hooked up so I can't test it out but I'd love to hear any opinions on it.

Thanks for any help.

I can't speak for cartridge prototypes but an eprom doesn't need a battery. It's basicaly the same as regular ROM except that you can erase it by shining UV light on it...hence the windows.

Is that epoxy over the chips? If so, you'll probally never know what they are.

It does seem a bit odd to me that the chip on the connector board is hand soldered (and not cleaned up) for a production board...but I really don't know much about the manufacturing process of video games.

mark_k

06-08-2009, 01:20 PM

It does seem a bit odd to me that the chip on the connector board is hand soldered (and not cleaned up) for a production board...but I really don't know much about the manufacturing process of video games.

The chip on the connector board is a NES CIC (lockout chip). Looking at the pictures, it appears to be a European type chip (3195A). That board itself is likely to be pretty rare. I don't think any PAL NES games were released using the NES-JOINT converter board. (Whereas some early US NES games like Gyromite used that board, but of course they have the US-type CIC chip fitted.)

As for the Famicom board itself, I guess the only way to be sure what data it contains is to dump it. But given it uses chip-on-board (epoxy blob) ICs, chances are it's just a normal production Famicom Dragon Quest board.

-- M

PACHUKA

06-08-2009, 01:36 PM

the first run of authentic nes games have a few of these. I've come across a gyromite that had it, as well as an excite bike.

mark_k

06-09-2009, 03:48 PM

But the carts with the converter board in were all US ones, right? I've never come across any European NES carts with those boards in.

One more point... it isn't 100% certain that the ROM data on the Famicom board part of this cart is identical to the Japanese production/release version. There were other low-volume carts which used epoxy blob ROMs, for example Super Starfox Weekend / Starwing Competition version on the SNES.

But my guess is the cart was made up for e.g. sending to magazines to preview, or testing on PAL machines, or for translation purposes.