Megadrive Prototype pics for Epicenter

[Mr-Monday]

Hi

Epicenter wanted some pictures of the Sonic 'prototype' I've got. After having a second look at it, I'm not sure if it actually is a proto at all.

The only differences I can see from my standard JPN Sonic 1 is that there's a 'TM' mark afer the logo and the level select cheat works. I didn't know the japanese version didn't have the level select cheat in it until now. The other difference I found in my 5 minutes of testing compared with USA and Euro versions are the parallax scrolling clouds in the Marble Zone.

More interesting is the weird baseball game I've got. I don't know what the title is, but it seems to end in 'Van' and makes use of the Mega Modem. If anyone has any informationon this I'd be grateful.

I do have some more protos lying around somwhere but for now, here's some pics...

http://home.btconnect.com/stevens_mathew/Megadrive/index.htm

[TheRedEye]

Could you run a little test for me? In Sonic, when you hit the spikes, are you able to walk on them when you're flashing after losing your rings, or is it instant death?

[Sanada78]

Hi

The other difference I found in my 5 minutes of testing compared with USA and Euro versions are the parallax scrolling clouds in the Marble Zone.



Do the clouds look like this?

http://www.emulationzone.org/projects/ssg/tsp/sonic1/MZbeta.jpg

Even if they don't, I think you should consider getting it dumped to preserve it. :)

EDIT: Some more pictures would be nice too, if you don't mind. :)

[Mr-Monday]

Sanada, I can't see your pic for some reason. I'll take some more photos to show you what I mean and Redeye I'll try the spike thing too.

[Sanada78]

Sorry, the link did work but doesn't now for some reason.

I've uploaded it here:

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.view.php?id=1025147472

[Mr-Monday]

Here's some more on what I've found.

Redeye - it's instance death on the spikes - same as the retail version.
Sanada - The clouds don't have those weird ufo things in there :(

If it is a proto, it must be a late one...

Another thing I noticed that on the level select screen, the stages are in the correct order.

Here's the proto..

http://home.btconnect.com/stevens_mathew/Megadrive/DSCN0249.JPG

..and the release version

http://home.btconnect.com/stevens_mathew/Megadrive/DSCN0250.JPG

Maybe some of you gues could check your own versions of Sonic to see which order they're in.

[Sanada78]

I noticed the image with the "TM" sign missing is different from the normal title screen. From the two screen shots you just shown, it seems to be there in both. :o

http://home.btconnect.com/stevens_mathew/Megadrive/pages/DSCN0221.htm

That one is different from the original with no "TM" sign.

I've took some shots of the original.

This is the title screen; the proto is different like you said. For example, Labyrinth Zone is futher down in your proto unlike the retail release.

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.view.php?id=1018706018

Does the Marble Zone sky look exactly like this in the proto?

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.view.php?id=1178572583

That's the release version.

If it was a earlier beta, some zones would've been named different.

"Spring Yard Zone" would've been "Sparkling Zone".

"Scrap Brain Zone" would've been "Clock Work Zone" but misspelled as "Clock ork Zone"

I still think you version is different as you said it has the menu cheat already enabled (just like in the Sonic 2 Beta). In the worst case, it could just be a pirate game with some hacked code in it. Only real way to known would be to dump it and compare the file with the original.

[TheRedEye]

It looks like it's just revision 2 of Sonic. Even if it's a "prototype," it's a later build than the first released version.

[Sanada78]

Which version is revision two?

I've found 00 and 01, but not 02. :o

EDIT: I did a bit of searching and it terms out you have the Japanese version, probably a second release. It's known as Sonic the Hedgehog (JUE) [R-Jap] and seems pretty common. What you have there is a game just without it's case.

Here's a pic of the menu:

http://www.n00bstories.com/image.view.php?id=1370375606

As for the level cheat being enabled, I don't know about that. Well, atleast that solves it anyway. :)

[Mr-Monday]

Nevermind, thanks guys.

I just need to find some info about that weird 'Van' baseball game now..

[Sanada78]

I guess I could try and help you out on the rest...

I think the 'Van' game is "Nikkan Sports Pro Yakyuu Van". It's a Japanese game as you probably guessed. It could well be a proto, but I don't know.

The NFL Madden '94 game doesn?t seem to exist. These are the only ones I know of.

Madden NFL 95
Madden NFL 96
Madden NFL 97
Madden NFL 98

If it is '94, then it could be an unreleased game.

As for the game proto card you can't seem to get working, try a new battery. The problem with these games is that once the battery goes, the game is lost forever and can't be retrieved or becomes corrupted. The batteries are sometimes used to hold saved games (SRAM). You could just try it anyway.

[Mr-Monday]

Thanks Sanada

It looks like this is the baseball game. It does seem to be rare

http://www.genesiscollective.com/ShowPage.php?GameLink=1375


This is the NFL proto I have

http://www.genesiscollective.com/ShowPage.php?GameLink=312

[DogP]

Probably, the reason the non-working one isn't working is because it's missing one or more chips. The genesis has a 16 bit data bus, and there's only one 8 bit EPROM. You would at least need 2 EPROMs for it to work, possibly more depending on the size of the game. It wouldn't hurt to dump that ROM anyway, so you could maybe see what game it is part of.

DogP

[Sanada78]

Ya never know... it could even be part of a real Sonic Beta. :P

[anagrama]

The NFL Madden '94 game doesn?t seem to exist.


Um.. yes it does.

[Sanada78]

The NFL Madden '94 game doesn?t seem to exist.


Um.. yes it does.

I already relised that after he showed the link to it.

[Sanada78]

BTW, Mr-Monday, I looked at the Proto board you have again and noticed that there's a DIP switch. You could try and changed them to see if it gets it to do anything when put in the MD. I couldn't read the writing as it's too blurry.

[Epicenter]

If you are OK with mailing it to me I'd gladly dump the Sonic cart for you and send it back. Please contact me on AIM (Epicenter713) or by e-mail (epicenter@adelphia.net). PM's OK too but I check those less often. Gracias. :)