NES Strange modded cart - Zelda / Sculptured Software. !???

[eskobar]

Morning, fellows

One friend found this on his weekly game hunting ....

I have no idea what this could be, the sticker looks legit and it seems that the board was modified in some way.

I have not play tested the game but my friend says that its the regular Zelda II.

Please help me to identify the legitimacy of this cart and its origin




cheers

[Ryaan1234]

I have not play tested the game but my friend says that its the regular Zelda II.

Do you mean that your friend has played it and he says that it's just regular Zelda II or are you saying that the actual cartridge is just Zelda II? It looks to me like a proto from Sculptured Software that has just been cased in a Zelda II cart.

I noticed that one of the cart's EEPROMS are dated 5/22/91. Wikipedia says these games were made by Sculptured Software in 1991:

Eliminator Boat Duel (NES) – (November 17)
Metal Mech (NES)
Monopoly (NES) – (Second quarter)
Roger Clemens MVP Baseball (NES), for LJN Ltd.
Star Wars (NES), for JVC Musical Industries
Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back (NES), for JVC Musical Industries
T&C Surf Designs: Thrilla's Surfari (NES) – (July 13)

I would figure that either a proto of any of the above games would be on your cart or an (OMG) unreleased Sculptured Software production is on the cart.

[eskobar]

When he sent me the photo he said it was a regular Zelda II and i assume he played it on his NES .., but i am not sure about it.

Regarding rom chips, those chips on the cart are any different than the regular Zelda II chips ?

Is there a chance to hide information or a proto in those chips and at a same time have the Zelda II game in it ?

[badinsults]

Why don't you put it in your NES and play it to find out?

[Ryaan1234]

Regarding rom chips, those chips on the cart are any different than the regular Zelda II chips ?

Yes, yes, and yes. Those are EEPROMS, which are typically used for prototype and sometimes sample/review games. No regular release of Zelda II would be on EEPROMS. Somebody had to put something onto those chips to use them.

Is there a chance to hide information or a proto in those chips and at a same time have the Zelda II game in it ?

Well, considering the game in which the chips are cased is a Zelda II cart, it would be really redundant to house expensive EEPROMs with Zelda II on them when you can just buy a regular cartridge copy of Zelda II. It looks like the guys at Sculpted Software needed a game to house a proto and they just stuck it into the Zelda II case. You should play it to see if it's actually Zelda II cause I think it's something else (See my first post).

[eskobar]

I am on MSN with my friend and he sent me more pictures ... i finally can read the sticker : Eliminator ...

Referring to : Eliminator Boat Duel, as Ryan1234 listed before ...

He played the game on his NES and the game is indeed Zelda II, he will play it until the end to check any detail :S

[DreamTR]

It looks like an Eliminator Boat Duel Proto that when they were done with it someone reburned Zelda II on it. It's impossible that they game would be different because it was released in 1988, and those EPROMS and proto were created in 1991.

Developers used ANYTHING lying around for cases for games.

[BeaglePuss]

That would be a damn shame if someone actually turned that cart back into a Adventures of Link. Why would anyone do that?

I'm hoping it was just a miscommunication between you and your friend.

[Ryaan1234]

It looks like an Eliminator Boat Duel Proto that when they were done with it someone reburned Zelda II on it.

Have you ever heard of something like this happening, DreamTR? I've never heard of a programmer erasing a proto and then reburning the original cartridge's game on it.

Here's an hypothesis of what happened:

Perhaps this game belonged to either a Sculpted Software programmer or his child. They needed a cartridge in a cinch and this was provided for them to use. Since they had to cut into the cartridge and ruin it to create the proto they may have reburned Zelda II onto the cartridge to make up for it. It was then returned to the original owner as the originally provided game with a few.... modifications.

[DreamTR]

I'm pretty sure "they" were the original owners of said cart. They may not have wanted that proto to be found or something and decided to do that, who knows....I don't know why it's like that, but it's impossible the game would be any different because it's already in the retail released cart 3 years later!

[TheRedEye]

I think you guys are overthinking this. Sculptured needed a board to test the game, so they used Zelda II. Once the game was completed, they put Zelda II back on the cart so they could play it.

[BeaglePuss]

I think you guys are overthinking this. Sculptured needed a board to test the game, so they used Zelda II. Once the game was completed, they put Zelda II back on the cart so they could play it.

It's hard to argue with that I suppose. It's too bad, but it would still make a nice piece for what it's worth.

[eskobar]

That theory appears to be correct, i haven't found any difference in Zelda II, played until the end.

It was nice to found it but i expected something else inside, hehehe

[Ryaan1234]

I think you guys are overthinking this. Sculptured needed a board to test the game, so they used Zelda II. Once the game was completed, they put Zelda II back on the cart so they could play it.

Just as a side note: In a nutshell, that was what I was trying to say. I was overcomplicating my explanation for some reason.