Proto NWC Cart?

[ProgrammingAce]

Nicola uncovered an interesting auction in his thread, then kicked me out and told me to start a new thread to discuss it. :P So here i am.

Nintendo proto's aren't really my thing, but take a look at the sticker over the UV window... looks like it says NWC. Then that thing soldered on the upper right corner? Looks like a set of dipswitches. It really doesn't look like a "standard" NES proto, hopefully rbudrick and DreamTR might have something to say.

The story seems to match up, the seller bought the items from someone who used to help run the competitions. And he has 5 starfox competition carts to boot, which kind of boosts his credability.

Here are the pics...
http://gamerhistory.com/TEST/c4_3.JPG

http://gamerhistory.com/TEST/53_3.JPG

http://gamerhistory.com/TEST/24_3.JPG


Auction info is in nicola's ebay thread.

[Darren870]

in the auction it says that thing on the upper right is a phonejack.

[ProgrammingAce]

i didn't even see there was an auction for this thing, all i saw was the starfox one... i guess i should go take another look

[Darren870]

there isn't an auction but in the description for the starfox one he explains what he found and mentions this cart with the phoneline adapter attached.

[ProgrammingAce]

I'm an idiot... the thing on the right may be a phone jack... but the dipswitches are in the top middle... didn't even notice 'em but there seem to be more than 4 of 'em... who knows...

[Darren870]

haha i didn't even see those either, don't worry we both are dumbasses.

[whoisKeel]

Looks like it says "NNC" to me. Could be a proto for another game. The phone jack thing is quite interesting. Hoping for some light to shed on this thread.

[almostgotthemall]

It looks like it is too long to go into a toaster NES. And the real NWC's don't work in a toploader.

[kralleman]

A week or so ago, I posted about my SNES-Campus Challenge cartridge over here in another thread. This competition cart also has a phonejack. I thought that maybe this could've been used to hook up the cart to a computer to keep track of the high scores of the contestants.

pics:
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/6087/snseventcloseup68ts.jpg
http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/3699/snseventboard14zq.jpg

Then again, the NWC's that were actually used in the competition, did not have this feature, if this even was what the phonejack was intended for in the first place, and if that even is a NWC-proto.

[rbudrick]

Those don't look like switches on the side of the phone jack...they just look like plastic where the two halves of the port snap together.

-Rob

[rbudrick]

I sent him a note explaining that those barcodes mean those games are directly from Nintendo's employee game library, just like the items Ben Smith sent me. That shit's the real deal.

-Rob

[Darren870]

Those don't look like switches on the side of the phone jack...they just look like plastic where the two halves of the port snap together.

-Rob

The switches are right on the top center chip. Right before the phone jack.

[rbudrick]

The switches are right on the top center chip. Right before the phone jack.

Der, I see em. :-)

Kralleman, I must know more about that CC board you have...where is the thread for this?


-Rob

[Darren870]

The switches are right on the top center chip. Right before the phone jack.

Der, I see em. :-)

Kralleman, I must know more about that CC board you have...where is the thread for this?


-Rob

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=994290&highlight=#994290

[kralleman]

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=696&start=50

The posts about the CC-cart is in the end of the thread...

EDIT: Oh.. Darren posted at the same time..

[Nicola]

...and what if that probable NWC proto cart is the sought-after Campus Challenge?

This would explain the phonejack.

[rbudrick]

Well, as I posted in this thread:
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=999604#999604


Afaik, Nintendo only had 3 big events:

NWC 1990
Campus Challenge (in 1992?)
Powerfest '94

Amazing that someone has finally found a CC cart. So, if that cart was for the Campus Challenge, take it this quote is wrong?:
Quote:

That was for the NES, I believe. Here's a qoute from an article found at the NES Warp Zone:

"...the Campus Challenge included the following games: Dr. Mario, Pinbot, and Super Mario Bros. 3..."


The Powerfest 1994 was the only event I thought was for SNES, and my understanding was that it had Super Mario World, Super Mario Kart and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.

So, what competition is that cartridge there for?!

EDIT: Ok, there's screen shots there with CAMPUS CHALLENGE on the screen. So, the CC was never an NES competition? Am I the only one who always thought the CC was NES?

-Rob

So, if the Campus Challenge, contrary to popular belief, was not an NES competition (and based on that SNES cart, it wasn't), that NES cart must be something else. Perhaps it really is an NWC 1990 proto. Now, since the NWC cart doesn't work in a top loader, and an NES must have the cart pushed down, I can see how it would be tricky to get it to work w/o removing the guts of the nes from the casing. However, my NES has a non-zif socket in it that I custom made by turning a 72-pin connector backwards and hacking part of it off. It would work in my NES with the case still on. So, since only I can play it, I must have it! LOL ;) Kidding, folks...

However, I must talk to the guy that sold these carts...he would probably have some great info about them.

I can only imagine as to what the rj-11/12 port is for....

-Rob

[Nicola]

Talk about double post...I repeat what I wrote here:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=999629#999629


This is what I know and what I think:

Nintendo Tournaments in USA:

1990 Nintendo World Championship
NES: NWC

1992 Nintendo Campus Challenge:
NES: Dr. Mario, Pinbot, Super Mario Bros 3
SNES: S.Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings.

1993 Starfox Super Weekend from 30 april to 2 march
(in cohoperation with Blockbuster

1994 Blockbuster Worl Video Game Championship
SNES: Clay Fighter
Genesis: Sonic 3, NBA Jam.

1994 Powerfest (I forgot it!)
SNES: Super Mario All-Stars, Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball and Super Mario Kart

1995 Blockbuster World Video Game Championship II
SNES: Donkey Kong Country
Genesis: NBA Jam TE, Judge Dredd.


I told him that he would need a modded NES. I would send him both NES and gamebit if only I didn't have to buy them in USA and send back these to him.

We may obtain some informations by the chips used eg the year.

The only chip I can read is the Sony CXK5864PN15LL. We need better pics. We need to know the year.
Is there a way to unify threads?

[Jumpman Jr.]

Hadn't Nintendo planned to make a phone peripheral for their AVS (Which eventually turned out to be the NES), but then scrapped it (along with a keyboard and some other stuff) for the reasons of looking too much of an 'educational system.' Is there any chance that the cart with the phone jack is the reminisce of that?

[rbudrick]

Hadn't Nintendo planned to make a phone peripheral for their AVS (Which eventually turned out to be the NES), but then scrapped it (along with a keyboard and some other stuff) for the reasons of looking too much of an 'educational system.' Is there any chance that the cart with the phone jack is the reminisce of that?

I highly doubt it...the NES was released in 1985 in the US...7 years before the Campus Challenge. Interestingly, though, the controllers on the AVS were wired via phone jacks.

Oh, and sorry I posted the same thing in both threads...I wanted to minimize confusion. Crossing from thread to thread is a pain. :)

-Rob

[ProgrammingAce]

Nintendo prototype systems have ALWAYS had RJ-11 jacks for controllers, same with the "Project Reality" (N64) and the dolphin (gamecube). I've seen snes with the rj11 too, but i don't know the codename.

[rbudrick]

Nintendo prototype systems have ALWAYS had RJ-11 jacks for controllers, same with the "Project Reality" (N64) and the dolphin (gamecube). I've seen snes with the rj11 too, but i don't know the codename.

True, but this not being a system, and rather, a cartridge, it makes it all the more ???? Good point, though.

-Rob

[dedtech]

Just a guess here but couldnt you use the rj11/rj12 jack connected to a nul modem so that the code could be steped through line by line in real time? I know allot of developers prefer to see thier code in action to look for bugs. Perhaps this is the function? Just a guess though.

[DreamTR]

There's also a Powerfest 94 SNES Contest Cart for Ken Griffey Junior.

[Bronty-2]

dreamtr, what's your opinion on this item?

[DreamTR]

Well, the NWC Semifinals all had 30 carts linked up inside special modded NESes. Why? Every single one of these carts had the SAME pattern of blocks fall down on Tetris during this specific 6:15 battle. This happened daily, I am almost sure that is what this is. One of the carts in the units.

[rbudrick]

Well, the NWC Semifinals all had 30 carts linked up inside special modded NESes. Why? Every single one of these carts had the SAME pattern of blocks fall down on Tetris during this specific 6:15 battle. This happened daily, I am almost sure that is what this is. One of the carts in the units.

Well, that's interesting (modded?). Any idea how the NESs were modded (in what way)? The NWC carts have 4 distinct block patterns built in to the Tetris game, I hear.

However, I have always wondered how they reset every unit at the same time, though it could have been a simple flick of a powerstrip switch.

-Rob

[Nicola]

I'll post the pic here too.

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4468/world13ak.jpg

[Nespit]

wholy crap. this is gettin interesting...

[Captain Qb]

Omgosh, Proto NWC cart.. yumm..
Nicola, How much have you been paying for that?

And, by the way, resize the picture, I think it is
too big.. -.-

Love, Captain Qb.

[jajaja]

More info in this thread:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=86348

[ProgrammingAce]

While i'm bumping ancient threads, anybody know where this thing went?

[Baloo]

Reading the thread, did Nicola ever get it?

[aaron7]

I can't even imagine what this would have sold for...

[DreamTR]

Damn, where's everyone been? LOL!

That was the Campus Challenge NWC cart. The ONLY copy for NES in existence. I had bunnyboy dump the game, and he sells repros of it in his store. I bought the game from jollerancher awhile back.

[Baloo]

Damn, where's everyone been? LOL!

That was the Campus Challenge NWC cart. The ONLY copy for NES in existence. I had bunnyboy dump the game, and he sells repros of it in his store. I bought the game from jollerancher awhile back.

Oh, so you ended up getting it, cool. I didn't know it was the only one in existence though.

[DreamTR]

Well, I am sure there are others buried in Nintendo's archives somewhere...but this is the only one "out there" right now.

[ProgrammingAce]

Ok, so that did turn out to be the campus challange that you ended up with. After all this time, i couldn't remember if this was one of jollerancher's carts or if it belonged to someone else.

Cool. I was just digging through old threads and ran into this one. I was kind of suprised the pics were still live.

[eskobar]

I read the entire thread and didn't notice the date ... i was surprised too about the pics, that's why i believed it was a new thread, hehehe.

DreamTR, impressive the number of protos that you have :D

[DreamTR]

eskobar, it's a good and bad thing, though. Some people get all excited about protos, but If I ever have any for sale, it turns into a ghost town....

[BetaWolf47]

Wow, ancient ****ing thread. I'm surprised that a few things were omitted from this discussion.

1. Why would there be a proto of a compilation cart? There's only 3 games and no real reason to test them, as they were all made well before NWC came out. A timer and dipswitch don't exactly require a lot of beta testing.

2. What would an NEC logo be doing there?

Oh well, no reason to complain about what's gone.

[eskobar]

eskobar, it's a good and bad thing, though. Some people get all excited about protos, but If I ever have any for sale, it turns into a ghost town....

I am pretty sure about it, everyone wants a piece of an unreleased/proto game but very few can put the cash for it ...

I started looking for protos when the first Earthbound was released ... that was an incredible piece of software... deep inside, i wish it was never dumped but when i got a repro in my hands ... hehe, things were different.

Thanks for the tough work on this, hope i can donate in the community collects for dumping on NA

[rbudrick]

Well, the NWC Semifinals all had 30 carts linked up inside special modded NESes. Why? Every single one of these carts had the SAME pattern of blocks fall down on Tetris during this specific 6:15 battle. This happened daily, I am almost sure that is what this is. One of the carts in the units.

I know I'm quoting an old post here, but the reason that all 30 semifinalists had the same pattern might have been because everyone did the same exact thing (got the same score) to trigger he same Tetris pattern. This is explained in the NWC repro cart's instruction manual that I wrote for BunnyBoy.

-Rob

[Baloo]

Oh well, no reason to complain about what's gone.

LOL, it isn't even gone. It's the NCC cart.

Has the Powerfest '94 Cart been dumped yet, or is that one guy still trying to sell it for $50,000 or whatever it was?

[plasticMan]

This is explained in the NWC repro cart's instruction manual that I wrote for BunnyBoy.

-Rob

very fine instructions, i still have my copy.. :p

[rbudrick]

very fine instructions, i still have my copy.. :p

Thanks, P-Man! I was upset that a couple pages got cropped wrong when they were sent to print. Also, the last page was cut out entirely. All in all though, I was very happy to be the first to bring to the world those strategies that were never published before, along with the interview info from the champs, who until recently, were very elusive folks (well, at least Thor is more out in the open now. Awesome dude). Also, I was psyched to print the list of the 90 finalists, since no one had ever done that either.

-Rob