Mutant League Speed Demons for Sega Genesis

[sn0zc0r3]

Hey everyone,

I came across a prototype of an unreleased genesis game: Mutant League Speed Demons. The only issue is that the person I got it from informed me that it may not work because the batteries in it were dead/caked in battery acid crystals. I replaced the batteries and hoped that would fix it but to no avail.

Is there anyone in Chicago that has an eeprom reader that can see if there's anyway that some of the code may still be on the prototype cartridge?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3401/3593402507_9d3172e5f8.jpg?v=0/http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/3593403161_6b79518887.jpg?v=12440801781

[swlovinist]

Holy Cow thank you for sharing the pics. I wish you luck, and hopefully we can preserve this awsome find!

[ProgrammingAce]

I don't think i've ever seen a beta cart labeled as "Second to last build" before, that's kind of funny. The logistics of that are astounding.

[NayusDante]

It's the second-to-last build because they didn't put the butter in this one. The final build has butter.

[Buyatari]

Go see Sean Kelly. He has store in Chicago. Videogames Etc.

[Buyatari]

I don't think i've ever seen a beta cart labeled as "Second to last build" before, that's kind of funny. The logistics of that are astounding.

Yeah it is funny but stranger things have happened.

Ehh it could have been after the project was canned they still have these carts laying about and they properly label them all at once in case it is picked up by another company. Or that the cart was labeled after the fact.

[PACHUKA]

I hope this manages to get dumped, the mutant league series was fucking rad.

[BeaglePuss]

This is the coolest prototype I've seen in some time. Like I said in a PM, if you can't find anyone locally to dump it, I'm more than happy to.

Here's some of my thoughts on whether or not we'll get any info off the chips:

Worse case scenario:
- Some EPROM based boards like those found on Capcom's CPS2 boards, and the Game Action Replay for the NES, have suicide batteries. This means that once the on-board batteries die, so does the information on the boards. Capcom did this top avoid piracy, and I could see a developer doing the same so prototypes don't leak. Information would need to be flashed back onto the chips if this were the case, and thus the information on this prototype would be lost.

Best case scenario:
- I'm not familiar with this type of board. It is possible that the batteries were only there to power the hardware, and ultimately have no effect on the EPROMS. It is possible that the game wont fire up while in the current board, but could possibly still house all the information once they've been dumped by an EPROM reader.

I guess only time will tell. I would stress that the sooner those EPROMs are off that board, the better the chance you'll have to get some info. Good luck!!!

[NayusDante]

From those pictures, I can't tell which end is up. Which end goes into the Genesis?

Also, can you remove the gold cover, or is it impossible? It would be neat to see the actual board.

[GrandAmChandler]

DreamTR: PM Sent.

[Rajel]

Holy moly! I absolutely LOVED the Mutant League series, actually one of the series' I wish they would revive. Definitely hope that this gets released, I'd love to try it out!

[sn0zc0r3]

It's really simple to get the top cover off. When I get home, I'll take some shots.

Unfortunately, due to work and all, I won't be able to make it to Sean Kelly's store until the weekend. Hopefully I won't lose any info waiting so long. :-/

[Bratwurst]

Check the pin count of the eproms themselves, I suspect it's going to be a 42 pin chip, and not all eprom programmers support that many.

[sn0zc0r3]

Sorry it's so late uploading these. I had quite the night filled with shenanigans.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3406/3597402110_52c4eeecc4.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3590/3597402310_9f9ef07535.jpg?v=0
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2431/3597402606_4651f7c3f1.jpg?v=0

[BeaglePuss]

Ummm. . . Those don't look like EPROMs to me. I was expecting to see some windows.

I don't know if that's a good sign, or a bad sign as far as retrieving data is concerned though.

[Bratwurst]

Looks like a package of 32-pin flash chips, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a programmer that can read those. Serendipity that they are positioned so high on the board and away from the batteries.

I can't see any corrosion on the board itself, you may want to try cleaning the spring terminal connections of the battery holder or better yet removing it from the board and replacing it with a new piece.

[BeaglePuss]

Looks like a package of 32-pin flash chips, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a programmer that can read those. Serendipity that they are positioned so high on the board and away from the batteries.

I can't see any corrosion on the board itself, you may want to try cleaning the spring terminal connections of the battery holder or better yet removing it from the board and replacing it with a new piece.
I 100% agree. This dog might have some fight left in him just yet!

[hellfire]

Hey everyone,

I came across a prototype of an unreleased genesis game: Mutant League Speed Demons. The only issue is that the person I got it from informed me that it may not work because the batteries in it were dead/caked in battery acid crystals. I replaced the batteries and hoped that would fix it but to no avail.

Is there anyone in Chicago that has an eeprom reader that can see if there's anyway that some of the code may still be on the prototype cartridge?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3401/3593402507_9d3172e5f8.jpg?v=0/http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/3593403161_6b79518887.jpg?v=12440801781

I wish you the best of luck getting it to work

[jb143]

Does the print on the case say 2 MEGABYTE RAM? It's hard to read. If that's the case, then the game may have been wiped out as soon as the batteries failed like with regular save ram. I hope I'm wrong though. It does say Save Ram on it too so hopefully the batteries were just for that.

If the chips aren't proprietary parts we should be able to find what they are by the part numbers. It almost looks like thay say Sony on them.

I am currious about that "NOT" sticker though. I'm guesing it says "With:" under it.

[sn0zc0r3]

Looks like a package of 32-pin flash chips, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a programmer that can read those. Serendipity that they are positioned so high on the board and away from the batteries.

I can't see any corrosion on the board itself, you may want to try cleaning the spring terminal connections of the battery holder or better yet removing it from the board and replacing it with a new piece.
There's definitely corrosion on the springs and other connectors where the batteries go. I tried to clean it off the best I could but alas it wasn't good enough.

I tried calling Sean Kelly yesterday but he wasn't in unfortunately. I'll try calling again today after I get off work.

[sn0zc0r3]

Does the print on the case say 2 MEGABYTE RAM? It's hard to read. If that's the case, then the game may have been wiped out as soon as the batteries failed like with regular save ram. I hope I'm wrong though. It does say Save Ram on it too so hopefully the batteries were just for that.

If the chips aren't proprietary parts we should be able to find what they are by the part numbers. It almost looks like thay say Sony on them.

I am currious about that "NOT" sticker though. I'm guesing it says "With:" under it.

The chips do indeed say Sony. And it does say 2 Megabyte Sega Ram. Hopefully the game hasn't been wiped along with the batteries. The same person also gave me a prototype cart of an old released genesis hockey game so I've got my fingers crossed that he may pull up some more proto's. 8-)

[Bratwurst]

Does the print on the case say 2 MEGABYTE RAM? It's hard to read. If that's the case, then the game may have been wiped out as soon as the batteries failed like with regular save ram.

Ouch, that's a good point. I'm starting to think this is junked. We'd be able to tell better if you'd type out the info printed on those Sony chips.

[hellfire]

The chips do indeed say Sony. And it does say 2 Megabyte Sega Ram. Hopefully the game hasn't been wiped along with the batteries. The same person also gave me a prototype cart of an old released genesis hockey game so I've got my fingers crossed that he may pull up some more proto's. 8-)

At least he might have more protos to give you

[sn0zc0r3]

Ouch, that's a good point. I'm starting to think this is junked. We'd be able to tell better if you'd type out the info printed on those Sony chips.
The Sony chips read:

CXK581000P-12L
246C82E S

There's another sony chip to the right of the write protect switch that reads:

CXK5864BSP-10L
252B89E

There's also a bunch of TI chips in here as well if you'd like the number for those, as well as a few misc. chips with no company marking or a company that I don't know on them. The TI chips are located around the batteries.

[Bratwurst]

Yeah, static ram, looks like the data's gone.

[NayusDante]

Even if the data were still intact, is it at all possible to dump that kind of ram? Removing it from the board would cut power, would it not?

[Bratwurst]

Even if the data were still intact, is it at all possible to dump that kind of ram? Removing it from the board would cut power, would it not?

There are ways of isolating a chip while it's still in circuit and getting power to read the contents, but it would be tedious in this example and a Genesis game copier like the Magic Drive would have sufficed by simply reading it directly from plugging the cartridge in.

[Aorta]

Sorry to bump an old thread but was this prototype just dropped? I am a huge fan of the Mutant series and found this thread only to be disappointed. Would something like this work for this?

http://mobile.segadatabase.net/?p=256

[BeaglePuss]

Sorry to bump an old thread but was this prototype just dropped? I am a huge fan of the Mutant series and found this thread only to be disappointed. Would something like this work for this?

http://mobile.segadatabase.net/?p=256
The link you posted just seems to lead back here.

The game is damaged and the data is lost. The only way this sees any sort of release/dump is if another copy is unearthed.