Earthbound prototype discovered?

[Famidrive-16]

http://starmen.net/merchandise/carts/ebprotosnes.php

[Promophile]

I just wanna mention Pred, if you read this

http://fobby.net/m2eb/

If you can find that any of these changes weren't done, your holding a VERY valuable cart.

[Cryomancer]

Hopefully this will generate enough talk / playing of the game to get Mother 1+2 brought over.

[video_game_addict]

Those look like production chips. Closed window eproms? Looks like a fake.

[maxlords]

Looks like a pre-production cart with final ROMs at a glance. If I had to guess....review copy? Maybe an internal final review copy for Nintendo Power writers?

[Chronodriftersx]

Those look like production chips. Closed window eproms? Looks like a fake.

Interestingly I do not believe that to be the case, what is a good name for it if you want to call this something other than a proto? There is also A Super Mario All-Stars very similar.

[badinsults]

Um, PredatorXS showed this proto on this forum over a year ago. Then I got permission to post them on my website.


Actually, I am quite surprised it took so long for them to post. They contacted me about this about 3 months ago.

[Predatorxs]

Um, PredatorXS showed this proto on this forum over a year ago. Then I got permission to post them on my website.

Actually, I am quite surprised it took so long for them to post. They contacted me about this about 3 months ago.

Hey Evan,

I think the 3 month delay might be (alittle bit) down to me i promised ShadowX, i'd get back to him with more pics (better quality, and more detail) But kind've been really busy, i'll get back to him before monday and sort it out.

Also Chronodriftersx that Mario Allstars Final Ntsc is also mine, thats how i knew there both genuine, the Allstars cart is heavy with nice eproms, where as the Earthbound "Proto" is very close to lookin like a retail version internal but the chips are numbered differently.

Also when i got the 2 proto's in the post, the guy just thru them both into a jiffy bag, no bubble rap or anything they were just bangin around together in a big jiffy i had to laugh when i opened it up. I could just imagine the postman stuffing them through my letter box, doh.

I'm also gunna have to play it (the EB proto) right thru now, and see if i can find any bits that may have been changed..

Here's a pic i just took of the 2 proto's i just mentioned (below)



..XS

[Predatorxs]

After alittle look, i have found the pic i made that has the chip numbers for both the Proto and the retail versions of Earthbound i have also included a few other pics. I thought some of you guys might find interesting.

I have given each chip a color just look at the same color, on the other cart to see the difference in chip numbers..

(this is where it gets exciting )




Back of the Proto Earthbound Board.. manual soldering


In this pic, look at both hoops there is a slight difference to the
proto board it has no solder point were as the retail version does.


More manual soldering, and the missing solder point...


..XS

[Promophile]

get to playing that EB Pred! That site I linked is THE place for all the changes, so see if any of those changes aren't present in yours. There is at least one known copy of it out there without some of the changes, as in the strategy guide that came with EB there are screenshots of Ness naked, and some other stuff that was edited out of the final version.

[AlanD]

The upper right hand chip that you labelled in red is a RAM chip. Whether it is the exact same number or not between boards is fairly insignificant. I didn't research the left-side chips but probably some glue logic or security chip and also basically identical as seen by the number part of the part number. Possibly they just had a different manufacturer.

To me it looks like a quickly hacked together final version sent out for review. Given the fact that the program chip (bottom right) has the exact same number as the release I don't think you'll find any differences. Still a very cool find and with as diehard as Earthbound collectors are probably worth a good amount.

[Predatorxs]

The upper right hand chip that you labelled in red is a RAM chip. Whether it is the exact same number or not between boards is fairly insignificant. I didn't research the left-side chips but probably some glue logic or security chip and also basically identical as seen by the number part of the part number. Possibly they just had a different manufacturer.

To me it looks like a quickly hacked together final version sent out for review. Given the fact that the program chip (bottom right) has the exact same number as the release I don't think you'll find any differences. Still a very cool find and with as diehard as Earthbound collectors are probably worth a good amount.

Thats pretty much all correct, i have snes proto's but to be honest (like many other collectors would say) there really just alittle part of a big collection.

I have started playing it though, i never really got into the whole Earthbound thing when it was originally released, but i'm getting into it now..

I might have the rom dumped and compare the rom size with the retail version.. I'll let ya know if i do.

..XS

[badinsults]

I don't imagine it will be different. If the rom chip is the same, I tend to doubt that the rom image would be different.

[Nespit]

i have some pal snes review cartridges from RARE, got them from a very reliable source. they also don't have ep[roms and look like regular production run games. but rn't. They were used for preview writers.

Nice find predatorxs.

[DreamTR]

Those are review copies of the game, but Earthbound would be final review without EPROMS. OF course, those were only available in Europe, as no magazine in the United States ever received first party NES or SNES games for review. Video Game Addict, you are highly mistaken for thinking those are fakes.