Some possible prototypes?

[NaturalChemical]

It seems that my other thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=145814) was slightly derailed, so I'm going to post any future protos I find here. I have a couple right now I'd like to learn a bit about.

First are two Game Boy games that appear to be protos. The first, Chase HQ II, I would presume is the same as Super Chase HQ, save for the title. If there's other differences, I can't spot them.

Front: http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/6241/chasehqiifront.jpg
Back: http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/8936/chasehqiiback.jpg

And the second is Sports Illustrated for Kids. I really don't know anything about this one, beyond how bad the game is.

Front: http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/11/sportsillustratedforkid.jpg
Back: http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/11/sportsillustratedforkid.jpg

I've also got a copy of Rainbow Islands Extra (Genesis) that I'm wondering about. It's got generic labels, rather than the cart's normal sticker. More interestingly, it has a copyright of 1994 on the title screen. Anyone know why that might be?

Front: http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/851/rainbowislandsextrafron.jpg
Back: http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/665/rainbowislandsextraback.jpg
Title Screen: http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/7323/rainbowislandsextratitl.jpg

[ShovelThumb]

On first glance I'd say the gameboy carts were proto/beta... Not sure about the bottom one could be a review copy given to press... But could also be a proto.. You'd have to ask one of the protoboffins :D

[lkermel]

Yeah, the game boy carts are protos. About the other one it's hard to tell - could be a shop demo or something, I wonder how easy it'd be to open it and see if it comes with EPROMS... nice finds ! :)

[BeaglePuss]

All three (including the last cart) are indeed prototypes. RI Extra was only released in Japan thus making your copy "unreleased." I know that Dream has a Copy of RI Extra, but I don't know how many others are out there. If you look at this video, you can see that your title screen is slightly different than it's MD counterpart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84b_lDy812E

It's a shame that the game was already released in English, and it's a generally English-friendly release. Had it been in Japanese and your copy was a translated version, you'd likely be looking as some big bucks.

I would value them as follows:
- Chase HQ will bring some cash due to the name change alone. I would guess $60 or so.
- SI Kids will be lucky to bring in $35. GB prototypes tend to sell on the cheap, and terrible titles like SI kids are often hard to give away.
- RI Extra could bring in $300 or so to the right buyer. The allure of owning an "unreleased game" is enough to drive the price up. Genesis prototypes fluctuate a bit though, so it's hard to put a solid number on it.

Of course this is all speculation, but from what I've experienced over the past few years I would think these would sell in and around what I've estimated.

[NaturalChemical]

Yeah, I don't expect to get much for the GB games. Especially ones as bad as these. And here's a pic of the RI board, for anyone who cares.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2509/rainbowislandsextraepro.jpg

[hellfire]

Is their a story behind all the prototypes you have? how did you obtain them?

[NaturalChemical]

My father wrote software reviews for the paper, from the late 80's through the 90's, so we ended up with a ton of software from that. And it seems that some companies would send out proto copies to be reviewed. Some of them have return addresses stuck to the cart, but I guess they didn't care that much about retrieving them.

I still have some Genesis and SNES games to take pics of that I'm wondering about. I'll try to have pics of them tomorrow.

[NaturalChemical]

Got out a few others and took some pics. Hopefully I can learn more about them.

Let's see here... I've got several terrible sports games for the Genesis, like this one. I couldn't tell you anything about them, but here's a pic. The label is starting to peel off, and the cart apparently used to hold a beta for another game.

Front: http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/62/teamusafront.jpg
Back: http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1237/teamusaback.jpg

This one is called International Tennis Tour, for the SNES. I checked SNES Central and this PCB was apparently used on a couple of protos. Is this a proto as well?

Front: http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/3273/internationaltennistour.jpg
PCB: http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/3273/internationaltennistour.jpg

Here's two that I, unfortunately, was unable to open up. The first pic is of The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock, while the second is The Jetsons: Invasion of the Planet Pirates. There's a black thing where the screws should be, presumably to keep people from opening it up.

Flintstones: http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/4624/theflintstonesfront.jpg
Jetsons: http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6315/thejetsonsfront.jpg

Next, Super Nova. I checked SNES Central, and there was no listing for this PCB. Strange.

Front: http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8753/supernovafront.jpg
PCB: http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/1508/supernovaeprom.jpg

I also found one more thing, apparently a beta of Road Avenger for the Sega CD. I don't have a way to test it at the moment (unless there's an emulator that could boot from it?).

Front: http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/2675/roadavengerfront.jpg
Disc: http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/5953/roadavengerdisc.jpg

*EDIT*: I tried out the SNES games for a couple minutes each, looking for obvious differences. Only thing that jumped out at me was in The Jetsons, where the opening screen looks a bit unfinished. Note the underscores in place of blank space. There's other small things in the intro similar to this.: http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2144/thejetsonsopeningscreen.jpg

[hellfire]

Those are all protos or review copys

[bitrate]

Have you come across any 3DO related proto's / samples?

[hellfire]

If you have the time, I would reccomend taking pictures of all your games

[NaturalChemical]

Haven't got any 3DO betas, though I do have a decent collection of games. I have a couple of other Genesis and SNES games around here still that could be protos or review copies. I'll try to find them soon.

Hellfire, why do you suggest that? I wouldn't mind, but it will be a good time sink.

[hellfire]

Its more of me being interested in what you have :embarrassed:

[hellfire]

If you were to post pictures I could point out the protos for you

[NaturalChemical]

I'll see what I can do. I could probably get a few group pictures of my collection up if you're interested.

It also occurs to me that I haven't touched my copy of Lufia yet, which also has that sort of label. Perhaps it would be worth checking out, if these were.

[hellfire]

Anything that looks unusual is worth a picture

[NaturalChemical]

True enough. I'll take pics of the last few games I know are unusual a little later today.

[hellfire]

Here are pics of my protos


http://s879.photobucket.com/albums/ab356/theepicapple/My%20protos/

[NaturalChemical]

Those are some cool protos. Are you a collector?

[NaturalChemical]

Here's a few more games I just got pics of. I honestly don't know if some of these are unusual or not.

First are a few Genesis games. Nothing interesting, but I may as well post some pics.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4364/daviscuptennistourfront.jpg
http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/2310/mig29front.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7183/93front.jpg

I found the SNES version of The Adventures of Dr. Franken, minus the cart. Not sure if this one is an unusual game or not.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/5507/theadventuresofdrfranke.jpg

Here's pics of my two Game Gear protos, Soccer (?) and Paperboy 2. If I still had a working GG, I'd test them. As it stands, they're just nice to look at.

Paperboy 2: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/366/paperboy2eprom.jpg
Soccer: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5193/soccerj.jpg
Back: http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8282/paperboy2andsoccerbacks.jpg

Finally, I got out my old Lufia cart to check it out. Board looks just like most of the others I've posted.

Cart: http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6184/lufiafront.jpg
PCB: http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/9964/lufiaeprom.jpg

[hellfire]

Those are some cool protos. Are you a collector?

Yep I am a proto collector. I also collect regular games

[hellfire]

Here's a few more games I just got pics of. I honestly don't know if some of these are unusual or not.

First are a few Genesis games. Nothing interesting, but I may as well post some pics.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4364/daviscuptennistourfront.jpg
http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/2310/mig29front.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/7183/93front.jpg

I found the SNES version of The Adventures of Dr. Franken, minus the cart. Not sure if this one is an unusual game or not.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/5507/theadventuresofdrfranke.jpg

Here's pics of my two Game Gear protos, Soccer (?) and Paperboy 2. If I still had a working GG, I'd test them. As it stands, they're just nice to look at.

Paperboy 2: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/366/paperboy2eprom.jpg
Soccer: http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5193/soccerj.jpg
Back: http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8282/paperboy2andsoccerbacks.jpg

Finally, I got out my old Lufia cart to check it out. Board looks just like most of the others I've posted.

Cart: http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6184/lufiafront.jpg
PCB: http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/9964/lufiaeprom.jpg


All of them are protos

[NaturalChemical]

Well, that's good to know. How did you know so quickly that they were all protos?

[hellfire]

Well, that's good to know. How did you know so quickly that they were all protos?

The eprom chips on the game boards. And the return to labels.

[Enigmus]

NaturalChemical, if you want to boot up the Road Avenger beta, Kega Fusion can boot from the disk drive, so you could try that.

[NaturalChemical]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out; I'd love to know if it's really a beta.

Having a little bit of trouble with Kega, though. It seems content to just sit at the BIOS screen and show the dancing logos.

[Enigmus]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out; I'd love to know if it's really a beta.

Having a little bit of trouble with Kega, though. It seems content to just sit at the BIOS screen and show the dancing logos.

To do this, you must have the correct BIOSes, region selector set to "Automatic," set the CD/DVD/BR drive from the Options menu, and load the ISO or CUE from the Load Sega CD menu. Also, set some other options, such as the read-ahead, from the Set Config menu.

Hope this helps, man.

[hellfire]

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it out; I'd love to know if it's really a beta.

Having a little bit of trouble with Kega, though. It seems content to just sit at the BIOS screen and show the dancing logos.


Its a beta as far as I can tell, the cd case states the following


"this is a beta copy of the finished game" "the title screen copyright information is incorrect "(lol) "and the finished game will pause at the end of each level"

Road avenger is not technically a video game, its more of an interactive movie (kind of like dragons lair, only dragons lair was a fun game) Your copy does not pause at the end of each level, which is a minor difference from the final version. I would test the game out before jumping to conclusions, but as far as I can tell its a beta very close to the final version.

[NaturalChemical]

True, hellfire, but that doesn't mean it'll work. I've been able to get a Sega logo to come up, and then a black screen. Still experimenting with options to get it to run.

Edit: Well, it seems to run in the emulator now. I'll have to hook up a controller and try to actually play it.

[Baloo]

Are you selling the Road Avenger beta?

[NaturalChemical]

I'm certainly willing to listen to offers. Send me a PM if you're interested.

[DreamTR]

Super Nova for SNES came out, not sure why there is no listing for it..

[NaturalChemical]

Maybe I just overlooked it when I searched.