Pokémon protos?

[Atavan-Halen]

Hey!

Anyone know if any Pokémon protos have been seen? Anyone know anything about them? I'd love to own one, but I'd highly doubt Nintendo would let anything like that go missing.

Thanks!

[Yukima]

I've been wondering as well. While no physical prototype carts have surfaced (yet), there's a lot of information on the "beta" versions of Pokemon games, especially the betas of Pokemon Gold and Silver - stuff like different town layouts, an extra gym, the Safari Zone, unused music, etc. If you search "Pokemon Gold and Silver beta" on Wikipedia and Bulbapedia (Pokemon wiki), there's even more stuff. But no actual beta carts.

I've pretty sure they DID exist at some point, because some old gaming magazines covered Japanese events like Spaceworld '97, which supposedly had booths set up where people could play parts of the Gold/Silver "beta" at the time - the game code was for Super Game Boy, and was later scrapped and completely reprogrammed for GBC.

Here's the link to a site that collects Pokemon Gold/Silver beta info from different sources - http://web.me.com/celebi23/Spaceworld_97_Pokemon/Main.html

Hope that helps!

[Aedan]

Your looking for the Pokemon Silver Prototype cart?
I have one.

[drx]

I have something, but as you mentioned, Nintendo is pretty tight on protos so I can't really reveal what it is even.

Not trying to brag, just mentioning that they're out there.

[Aedan]

It would seem that prototypes of Nintendo's assort are by far harder to come by and hold high renown. Cheetahmen, Project Dream, Dinosaur Island, Earthbound 64...oddly enough the most amazing titles to perhaps ever birth were changed and defiled or simply not even released at all. It takes dedicated people to eventually obtain these prototypes, such is why most never know the true origins of how some carts were taken hold of. Every stand for console domination has taken us far, from emulation to homebrew and beyond.

[Enigmus]

Your looking for the Pokemon Gold Prototype cart?
I have one.

I can't tell if this is a joke or he's dead serious.

[Aedan]

I can't tell if this is a joke or he's dead serious.

Oh I'm quite serious about it, ask drx himself be it you don't believe me, no offense. It wouldn't matter either way as I am about to sell this prototype to him and see it off atlast to a good collector.

[Enigmus]

Oh I'm quite serious about it, ask drx himself be it you don't believe me, no offense. It wouldn't matter either way as I am about to sell this prototype to him and see it off atlast to a good collector.

Any minor details you might add, like what the cart shell looks like?

[Aedan]

Any minor details you might add, like what the cart shell looks like?

Yes, I have seen various prototypes but this one has always been unique atleast to me. I will be able to host a picture as soon as I'm able to return from vacation shortly, though in the wait I can describe it well. The cart is a yellow gbc type baring instead of the usual nintendo logo on the top, it simply says Game. The sticker has been worn on the edges but it still clearly shows a picture of Lugia and some japanese font, most like Pocket Monsters Silver as is the japanese name.

The gameplay of this is very fun and interesting as I have played it many times in the past. It seems full of glitches, I have for example owned a Togepi or sometimes any other pokemon and sometimes when the character throws the pokeball at the start of battle...the trainer appears! The only action made by the trainer is tackle, though other moves could be available if the pokemon supposed to have been released had these. I did not get too far in the game because of the difficulty and inability to read the japanese but it was an interesting play.

[Enigmus]

Yes, I have seen various prototypes but this one has always been unique atleast to me. I will be able to host a picture as soon as I'm able to return from vacation shortly, though in the wait I can describe it well. The cart is a yellow gbc type baring instead of the usual nintendo logo on the top, it simply says Game. The sticker has been worn on the edges but it still clearly shows a picture of Lugia and some japanese font, most like Pocket Monsters Silver as is the japanese name.

The gameplay of this is very fun and interesting as I have played it many times in the past. It seems full of glitches, I have for example owned a Togepi or sometimes any other pokemon and sometimes when the character throws the pokeball at the start of battle...the trainer appears! The only action made by the trainer is tackle, though other moves could be available if the pokemon supposed to have been released had these. I did not get too far in the game because of the difficulty and inability to read the japanese but it was an interesting play.


Umm... when the cart only says "Game," it means it's a pirate.

And Gold or any Game Boy prototypes mainly don't come in yellow.

Still, cool story bro.

[Aedan]

Umm... when the cart only says "Game," it means it's a pirate.

And Gold or any Game Boy prototypes mainly don't come in yellow.

Still, cool story bro.

Really...well I was told when I got it by the seller that it is the copies that were given to the beta testers of the company. Someone apparently got a hold of these and I was interested enough to buy them back before the games had even come out. That is what I know of it.

[mrmark0673]

Umm... when the cart only says "Game," it means it's a pirate.

This. You got burnt, sorry dude.

[Aedan]

Interesting... not that I doubt any of you but we'll see. When I can get a photo of it soon I will show you for sure. It truly is disappointing if this is really the product of a false.

[darkslime]

I can guarantee Nintendo would not make a cart that just says GAME, and a prototype would not be a weird color, they would just use a generic cart.

[mrmark0673]

Interesting... not that I doubt any of you but we'll see. When I can get a photo of it soon I will show you for sure. It truly is disappointing if this is really the product of a false.

I've had my fair share of protos come through my hands, they wouldn't be in generic "Game" cases, they'd look something like these:

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n223/mrmark0673/Protos/100_1851.jpg

GBC and GBA protos look different, but still clearly on dev hardware. Sorry man, it's unfortunate, but I can tell you with 100% confidence that what you purchased is a pirate. Factor in the addition of some pretty terrible glitching and Japanese text, it seems like a pretty poorly made pirate to boot.

[Enigmus]

I've had my fair share of protos come through my hands, they wouldn't be in generic "Game" cases, they'd look something like these:

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n223/mrmark0673/Protos/100_1851.jpg

GBC and GBA protos look different, but still clearly on dev hardware. Sorry man, it's unfortunate, but I can tell you with 100% confidence that what you purchased is a pirate. Factor in the addition of some pretty terrible glitching and Japanese text, it seems like a pretty poorly made pirate to boot.


Wow, I've never seen the labels on those upper ones before. What games are on these?

[mrmark0673]

Wow, I've never seen the labels on those upper ones before. What games are on these?

In this case, the labels are more interesting than the games that are contained on them The NES proto is the second known copy of Hoppin' Mad (unreleased, I own the other as well), the others are a mesh of Super Scrabble, Mousetrap Hotel, and Jordan vs Bird protos. The labels are very cool, they're from one of the CES shows I've been told.

[Aedan]

You make a very good point Mr. Mark... I've done some bootleg research and have seen the kinds of fakes you've spoken of. I'm afraid you are most likely right. :) Though I will still host a picture of the cart I own, I've kept it for so long and atleast it isn't as much of a joke as some of the pirate cartridges I saw...

http://trsrockin.com/fakegames.html#combo
The one I own is not with this list but these are some examples of what I found.

[drx]

Hey!

Anyone know if any Pokémon protos have been seen? Anyone know anything about them? I'd love to own one, but I'd highly doubt Nintendo would let anything like that go missing.

Thanks!

To answer your original question, I got around to posting about my Ruby proto:

http://forums.hidden-palace.org/viewtopic.php?t=2895

[Orpent]

I can guarantee Nintendo would not make a cart that just says GAME, and a prototype would not be a weird color, they would just use a generic cart.

The GBC Rumble development cartridges were yellow. Weird enough color for you? :) However, I think they only say "BOY" since the part that had the word "GAME" is where the DIP-switches are located.

To get back on topic...

I remember a few years back...maybe it was in 2004 someone posted a picture of a Pokémon N64 dev cartridge that he owned...if you search this section of the forum you should be able to find it...(I think the thread was actually about Echo Delta)

Orpent