The Winning Vectorman Carts.

[djbeatmongrel]

I remember when Vectorman was released for the Genesis and there was a contest to win $25,000, $10,000, or a one of 90 Sega Saturns with Virtua Fighter. The way to win was to play through to the end to see if there was a "You Win!" message on the screen along with a special phone number and address and you do some bs to win. I was curios to see if any of you own one of those winning cartridges or won one of the prizes. Also, are their any pictures of the winning screen?

[rbudrick]

Hmmm I never thought of this! Surely a rarity...Joe, how would this be classified in the guide?

-Rob

[Garry Silljo]

It sounds like a rarity that deserves a higher price in collectors value, BUT, the real probelm occurs when the ebayers try to capitalize on it. From a picture of the product, you couldnt tell if they were lying or not. I'd hate for some jack ass to try and sell me a winning vectorman only for me to play to the end and found out I payed TOO much for the ordinary cart. Can the carts be told apart by anything? Product number or ????? I'm also curious to see the screen if anybody has a shot.

[tholly]

yea, i would also like to see a screen shot of this if someone has one

[Ed Oscuro]

This topic almost makes me wish I overpaid for that loose Vectorman cart. Almost. I'll be sure to remember this though :)

[Classicgamesdepot]

Very interesting post, Iv gone through tons of vectorman carts, no way in hell I'd play through to the end though, odds are insane of being a winner, hell, possibly all 3 of the winner carts are still sealed in packaging

[Cmosfm]

Very interesting post, Iv gone through tons of vectorman carts, no way in hell I'd play through to the end though, odds are insane of being a winner, hell, possibly all 3 of the winner carts are still sealed in packaging

He's got a point, actually HAVING one of these would be insane!

It's got to be more valuable than the NWC NES cart. :eek 2:

[Ed Oscuro]

The best way would be to set up a Genny dumper, dump every Vectorman cart you came across, and had a field day checking CRCs. You'd certainly find out what the major ROM revisions (if there were any...) are, that's a given. If you come across a new version, you play through to the end (emu'ed, of course).

Sounds like "fun!" But high time somebody done it! xD

[nesman85]

It's got to be more valuable than the NWC NES cart. :eek 2:
no way. definitely more rare if there's only 3, but nobody would pay anywhere near even gray nwc prices for it.

[rbudrick]

Well did anyone win? Let's call the company and find out who the winners were.

-Rob

[Bratwurst]

Logic would dictate there are more than 3 of these carts that have the winning end screen, in fact I remember reading about one guy who had won the contest within the deadline.

It was set up so that the first three individuals to show up with the winning game screen would be assigned prizes.

[anagrama]

there was a contest to win $25,000, $10,000, or a one of 90 Sega Saturns with Virtua Fighter.

Surely that suggests at least 92 winning carts, rather than 3, no?

[Flack]

there was a contest to win $25,000, $10,000, or a one of 90 Sega Saturns with Virtua Fighter.

Surely that suggests at least 92 winning carts, rather than 3, no?

That suggests 3 different winning variations.

[djbeatmongrel]

something tells me some heavy vectorman hunting is going to start happening very soon :D

[SegaAges]

isn't there a way you can just hop to the end with game genie or something?

i mean, it will be impossible to have one of these sealed, just because the only way to know that you have one is to play through it.

[djbeatmongrel]

i believe theres a debug code. if not you could always zoom through the levels using C,A,L,L,A,C,A,B if i'm not mistaken

[rbudrick]

Yes, but in many games, cheats don't give you the correct ending...even with Game genie sometimes.

-Rob

[Jasoco]

This is quite a pickle.
There's got to be another way to tell, though. Maybe a serial number or something Inside the cart or even a special undocumented, undiscovered code (That only works on the winners) so when the winner submits their cart to the company, they don't have to themselves play through to find out if you won.

I would say the $25,000 and $10,000 ones would be the real rarities.

[djbeatmongrel]

bump, i'm sure someone has to know something. Possibly even mr. santulli with his complete genny collection could answer this

[djbeatmongrel]

BUMP one last time

[tholly]

BUMP one last time

Yea...someone out there has to have more info on this....i kinda want to see a screen shot or something of this.

[Ed Oscuro]

Come on guys, reading comprehension is good.

It was set up so that the first three individuals to show up with the winning game screen would be assigned prizes.
All the carts were the same -- those that won FIRST got the best prizes.

[Goodwill Hunter]

According to the game box, there were 101 cartridges with the "You Win!" ending produced. They were all the same and prizes were awarded according to whomever called the secret phone number (displayed along with the special ending) first. Odds of winning were listed as follows:

$25,000 Grand Prize (1) 1 in 515,000

$10,000 First Prize (10) 1 in 51,500

Sega Saturns-$399 value (90) 1 in 5,722

So of the initial 515,000 carts produced, 101 winning carts means roughly 1 winner for every 5,100 non-winners. Don't know if there's any way to tell the first run of carts from subsequent runs...but if there isn't, those odds will be much higher if you're thinking of buying up all of the loose Vecorman carts you can find.

Good Luck,
Rich

[djbeatmongrel]

According to the game box, there were 101 cartridges with the "You Win!" ending produced. They were all the same and prizes were awarded according to whomever called the secret phone number (displayed along with the special ending) first. Odds of winning were listed as follows:

$25,000 Grand Prize (1) 1 in 515,000

$10,000 First Prize (10) 1 in 51,500

Sega Saturns-$399 value (90) 1 in 5,722

So of the initial 515,000 carts produced, 101 winning carts means roughly 1 winner for every 5,100 non-winners. Don't know if there's any way to tell the first run of carts from subsequent runs...but if there isn't, those odds will be much higher if you're thinking of buying up all of the loose Vecorman carts you can find.

Good Luck,
Rich

you know it doesn't seem that out of reach finding one after seeing those odds. thanks for the stats

[rbudrick]

Well that certainly clears things up...contest odds, of course! :)

What about foreign releases...no contest there? US only?

-Rob

[Ed Oscuro]

Odds of winning were listed as follows:

$25,000 Grand Prize (1) 1 in 515,000

$10,000 First Prize (10) 1 in 51,500

Sega Saturns-$399 value (90) 1 in 5,722

Ahh, the human meat has failed me LOL

Thanks for that clarification, GH!

[Shady Smurf]

I wonder if all/any of them were actually found, and if so what some crazed ebayer would pay LOL

[The Unknown Gamer]

But here is the real problem if say I or someone had it for sale. How could they prove it. Meaning not posted a picture someone else had posted. These days its hard enough to prove if a classic car you want to buy is real one (a local tv station did a piece on counterfeit cars) let alone a fake.
I say if your going to buy one...make them show it to you.

[Bratwurst]

Ahh, the human meat has failed me LOL

What? WHAT?! Your lack of faith in the sausage means you have no place in the meat kingdom.

Besides, I never implied all of the games had the winning screen. :D

[anagrama]

What about foreign releases...no contest there? US only?


Not to the best of my knowledge. I've got a bunch of UK Sega mags from '94-'95, and none of them mention such a thing.

[Cauterize]

Bump! Ive been playing my USA copy of Vectorman, but im not good enough to beat the game...

I know the chances are extremely slim, but i wanted to see if i had one of the winning carts...

Surely there is a game genie code to see the final screen?


EDIT: I used a Game Genie Code to go straight to the last level, invicible too...

The Game detects this and says, Now Try the Game Without Cheating!

[Bratwurst]

EDIT: I used a Game Genie Code to go straight to the last level, invicible too...

The Game detects this and says, Now Try the Game Without Cheating!

Sega embraced the Game Genie when it came out, in advertising and in printed editorials (Sega Visions magazine). I suppose the fact that it bore the Sega seal of quality on the box was also a sign, but nontheless it's not a surprise that they instituted a failsafe in the cartridge for just such an occaision.

And Ed Oscuro is still excommunicated from the Church of Meat.

[Ed Oscuro]

ARGH, shuffling off to the glue factory now ;-;

lol @ Sega for detecting the Genie. We might never see a winning cart...and one of us might own it; it's possible.

[rbudrick]

That means we'd have to dump aprroximately 5100 carts to find one of the grand prizes. LOL LOL LOL

-Rob

[Chuplayer]

Well, you can stop looking through 1,309,872 carts and rather now look through 1,309,871 carts because my cart wasn't a winner.

[rbudrick]

Well, you can stop looking through 1,309,872 carts and rather now look through 1,309,871 carts because my cart wasn't a winner. LOL LOL LOL

I thought they only made 515,000, according to the ...oh wait, you were kidding, heh. Got me. :)

-Rob

[Cauterize]

Well, you can stop looking through 1,309,872 carts and rather now look through 1,309,871 carts because my cart wasn't a winner.

heh dammit!

But surely, if you can put incodes to jump straight to a level, there must be one to jump to that screen...


38. B0MT-AACE Start on underground vault level
39. B4MT-AACE Start on worldlink center level
40. B8MT-AACE Start on twist and shout level

Notice the second digit increases by 4 each time...
when i get home tonight, i might try increasing the digit in 4s and see what happens...

WE HAVE TO FIND A WINNING CART GUYS! AND GET A PHOTO OF IT!

Even if Sega protected it due to the possible cash prize, there is ALWAYS a way!

[Sothy]

Eheh Id try calling them up for my prize.

Like dude I know the deadline is over but it took me awhile to beat ok?