Prototypes/unreleased that got on pirate carts

[Guy Bramsworth]

I'm just wondering exactly how many unreleased or betas of games got leaked by pirates? So far this is what I know of:

Sonic 2 beta - Genesis
Shinobi 2? - Genesis
Fido Dido - Genesis
Time Driver Eon Man - Famicom

I think I recall a topic here with some guy selling the Shinobi one for a ridiculous price or something, but can't find it anywhere.

I've been trying to find specifically the Sonic 2 beta one, boxed, as pictured on this page:
http://sost.emulationzone.org/oldsosth/oldsosth/sonic_2/s2p3.html

You'd seriously think a pirate like this would have turned up more than one time on some guys site like a decade ago by now.

[pfp]

I know of a few others:

California Raisins (NES) have been floating around eBay for some time
Starfox 2 SNES - there's a couple copies if you do a completed search on eBay, each of which has a different label - I don't think this was ever even processed into cartridge form.


One of the people who used to post here made "realistic labels for games that never were", but pulled them off his site when he started seeing them on carts on eBay - can't remember who it was.

[BeaglePuss]

I know of a few others:

California Raisins (NES) have been floating around eBay for some time
Starfox 2 SNES - there's a couple copies if you do a completed search on eBay, each of which has a different label - I don't think this was ever even processed into cartridge form.


One of the people who used to post here made "realistic labels for games that never were", but pulled them off his site when he started seeing them on carts on eBay - can't remember who it was.
These two were reproduced from prototypes that were found, not released on pirate carts. I know Time Diver Eon Man was repro'd from a prototype as well, but I don't know of it being found on a pirate cart.

[Baloo]

Tetris on Genesis was definitely on pirated carts, as was Ninja Gaiden for Genesis.

[BeaglePuss]

Tetris on Genesis was definitely on pirated carts, as was Shinobi for Genesis.

Um, ok. But Tetris was a legitimate non-US release. This thread is about prototypes/betas that made their way onto a pirate cartridge, not just games that happen to be on a pirate cart.

I don't know of any game that made their way from a beta/prototype onto a pirate or multi-cart. The responses so far have been either games that were reproduced from a discovered prototype, or obscure games that happen to be on a pirate cart.

Guy, do you happen to have a picture of the Time Driver Eon Man cart you referenced in your initial post? Are you sure it isn't just a typical repro that you'd find on http://www.nesreproductions.com/ or a similar website? I would be interested to see if an actual pirate exist.

I guess it comes down to what you consider a pirate versus what you consider a repro. If you're talking repros, then their are TONS of NES games that have been reproduced from discovered prototypes. I always considered a pirate to have been somewhat mass produced by a game company, similar to SuperVision and Hong Kong Game Cartridge Co., etc.

*EDIT: Tetris for the Genesis could be considered (to an extent) because of how low the original release was. A production game with less than 10 carts released is bordering on prototype territory I suppose.

[megasdkirby]

Was Ninja Gaiden for Genesis one of them?

[Baloo]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Ninja Gaiden, not Shinobi. Ninja Gaiden was leaked onto pirate carts.

And Tetris for Genesis was NOT a legitamate release, as they didn't have the true licensing to release the game from ELORG, therefore all copies were destroyed except for the ten or less that were leaked out.

[portnoyd]

I know Time Diver Eon Man was repro'd from a prototype as well, but I don't know of it being found on a pirate cart.

Time Diver was originally found on a pirate cart by a company called Nitra. The logo said Time Diver: Avenger or something like that. However, and my memory sucks, it did pop up in true proto form in the armyx proto lot though.

[DreamTR]

Wow, there's a lot of confusion here....

Ninja Gaiden (found on a pirate cart, I have an original prototype, probably the one the pirates made since the place I got it from was under lockdown from the US Marshals for the Resident Evil 2 fiasco back in the day)

Time Diver Eon Man (originally found on a pirate cart, I have a true proto of it from the armyx proto finds)

Starfox 2 (only Japanese ROM was found, no cart, ROMS were uploaded onto the web, not found on a pirate cart)

California Raisins (at LEAST one proto is out there, and the ROM came from that one) RedEye would know about any others.

Tetris is easily one of the most pirated Mega Drive games out there, but it was basically gobbled up and is similar to the Video Life Atari 2600 thing with only X number made, but it is a special case. Even bootlegs go for $75-100 these days...

Fido Dido (2 true prototypes exist, I have one and the extra one I sold to a collector, both are different versions that the one on the web)

[BeaglePuss]

And Tetris for Genesis was NOT a legitamate release, as they didn't have the true licensing to release the game from ELORG, therefore all copies were destroyed except for the ten or less that were leaked out.
Some carts made it to a retail-ready state, and well beyond prototypes. Legitimate, maybe not, but at the same time it wasn't a prototype that lead to pirates.

For instance, I have a Tegen Tetris prototype that was licensed by Nintendo for the NES. This game did not make it to a retail ready state (also due to similar legal situation), and was not leaked. Had something like this made it's way onto a pirate cart, then I could see where you're coming from. Prototype directly to pirate. But to have a full CIB release like the Genesis Tetris be found on a pirate doesn't really fall in the same category. Retail versions of the game exist, albeit not mass distributed. I guess it's just semantics at this point. . .

I wasn't aware that Ninja Gaiden and TDEM were originally found on pirate carts. That's interesting. I could only imagine the events that lead up to that.

[Guy Bramsworth]

I'm surprised at all the mis-information in this thread, as others like DreamTR. It's starting to annoy me how often repro's are not known to a lot of others as repros. Star Fox 2 was never and will never be on a cartridge unless it is a repro, or an authentic prototype. And California Raisin's never was pirated either I take it, just repro'd. This is why ALL repros should state specifically on the carts and boxes what they are. But people have to be anal about making it "look authentic", only so others in the future get screwed over :(

Anyways, I don't have a photo of Time Driver, that's one reason I was hoping to get help here :) But I did see a pic before. I could be remembering wrong, but it was an orange famicom cart with the title Time Driver: Avenger or something, like mentioned ebove.

And I guess I mistook Ninja Gaiden as Shinobi. Anyone got a pic of that one?

And for Fido Dido, I'm starting to wonder if what that was just repro'd too and others reported it as a pirate. Anyways, that game was at least officially released in Europe I think, so it doesn't really count I suppose, unless this pirate version I heard about is a leak of an NTSC cart or something.

[pfp]

Help me understand the difference between something reproduced from a prototype as opposed to something released on a pirate cart.

To me, it all falls into one category - bootleg.

[Guy Bramsworth]

I'm specifically asking about pirates as in not repros made during the internet era but rather what was distributed from Chinese piraters way back then for like Genesis and such. Of course you can group these all together as bootleg, but don't make it hard, it should be clear what I'm talking about here. :)

BTW guys, here's the topic for Ninja Gaiden I was thinking about:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=130345

Feels like it happened a couple of years ago and yet it says April o_O Time really does fly...

[pfp]

Oh okay, I get it now.

The reason I didn't differentiate is b/c I'm pretty sure they're still kicking out NES pirate carts over there....though maybe all the factories have switched to GBA/DS

[TheRedEye]

California Raisins (at LEAST one proto is out there, and the ROM came from that one) RedEye would know about any others.

Let's see. There was Brandon Murphy's cartridge, and POSSIBLY one that is owned by a "friend of a friend" (and friend #1 is a reliable source). The original programmer of the game kept a final build binary, but I don't think he has a physical cartridge.

Time Diver: Eon Man is really interesting, I actually think "Nitra" might have been a semi-legitimate Taito offshoot (as opposed to a bootleg outfit). I've seen exactly one other NItra cart, which I believe I might have sold to DreamTR as part of a larger lot. It too was a Taito game with an altered title!

For the record, the "bootleg" version is more complete than the legitimate prototype, though they're pretty close.

[Guy Bramsworth]

Are there any pics of Time Diver yet? I've searching all over, can't find any. And I swear I've seen a pic of it before, ahrd to believe it's this hard to find it now.

[Rom Hunter]

For the Atari 2600:

Pizza Chef and Immies and Aggies announced by ZiMag were eventually released by CCE (and Suntek).
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?VERSION_ID=11938&MENU=2
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?VERSION_ID=11914&MENU=2

IMO the same goes for Stone Age:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?VERSION_ID=7500&MENU=2

A Mysterious Thief and Spinning Fireball announced by Vidco were eventually released by Suntek (and Quelle):
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?SOFT_ID=13334&MENU=2
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?SOFT_ID=13881&MENU=2

Donald Duck's Speedboat announced by Atari was eventually released by several Brazilian companies:
http://www.atarimania.com/lst_soft.php?SOFT_LIB=donald&MENU=2&TYPE_CODE=G&VERSION_ID=&Page=1&OK=OK&btn_sauver.x=0&btn_sauver.y=0

Glacier Patrol announced by Sunrise Software was eventually released by Telegames:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?MENU=2&VERSION_ID=7334

Targ announced by CBS Electronics was eventually released by Telegames:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?SOFT_ID=7208&MENU=2

Some titles originally made for Home Vision (IQ-180, Words-Attack, Play Farm and Treasure Discovery) were eventually released by other companies like Sancho and Suntek.

Karate released by Ultravision contains a hidden logo of Bit Corporation inside the ROM:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?MENU=2&VERSION_ID=11836

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[BeaglePuss]

Excellent post! That's much more like it.

I wonder how these companies acquired the prototypes in the first place?

[Rom Hunter]

I have no idea.

Would love to know this too.

List updated, btw.

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[Rom Hunter]

I think it was originally a Bit Corp game.

The hidden logo's font is very similar to the font of a Bit Corp logo used in a early sample version of Bobby Is Going Home, also made by Bit Corp.

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[Rom Hunter]

Yep, that's the one.

Unfortunately, Condor Attack from Ultravision doesn't contain any hidden Bit Corp logo.

I believe that one is originally a Funvision game.

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