PROTOTYPES

[Anonymous No.1481541]

To separate it from the other thread, what prototypes do you own? Are they different from retail? Have you dumped them? Have they already been dumped before you got them? Do you plan to horde them, community dump them, or give the data away for free?

(Not mine in the photo, just a random photo from the internet)

[Anonymous No.1481570]

>>1481541
I have a bunch of white label CD-i games I were told were prototype (or early release of some sort) but I don't know if they really are or if they're just well made fakes. I also have a Bust a Move Again MVS cart that has a different menu (and limited menu functionality) that I think could be a proto (I do know it's legitimate either way) but haven't had that proven either. The folks with amazing prototypes make me so jelly.

[Anonymous No.1481584]

>>1481570
On B-A-M, you could get some level of confirmation by examining the PCB. I know there are some photos online of MVS prototypes.

[Anonymous No.1481623]

>>1481584
That's really not a bad idea. I'll dig it out and see what I can gather. The odd thing about it is that you can never choose Vs. mode from the menu, even with full credits, but a second player can join in by hitting start during a 1p game.

[Anonymous No.1481703]

My friend works at a computer recycling plant. They get all kinds of neat retro vidya stuff, like palettes full of NESs and most stuff they sell on ebay rather than destroying it. Recently, a shipment came in with a N64 cart without a label, some japanese characters written on and either a serial port or parallel port sticking out. He's been meaning to bring it over to me so I can see what the fuck it is. Do any of you have any idea?

[Anonymous No.1481707]

>>1481703
If it's Earthbound 64 I'll give you 5 bucks for it

[Anonymous No.1481708]

>>1481703
sounds like a rom dumper

[Anonymous No.1481715]

>>1481541
>have prototype
>not dumped
>hahahahahaha.jpeg

[Anonymous No.1481783]

>>1481703
If it is longer than a usual N64 cart, it might very well be a development game. From what I know, some games were actually held on a development cart, while others might have the data flashed to them to test the game on actual hardware, but would be immediately erased when shut down or disconnected or whatever.

[Anonymous No.1481859]

>>1481623
Yeah I would be curious to find out if you do. On the neogeo forum some guy had a whole bunch, so you can find that and compare. If you can't find it I will link it here later.

Anyway, I have about 20 prototypes, none of which are extremely interesting given then games (if you are willing to go for obscure games you can get some for decent prices). A lot of them are different from retail but most are still relatively close. I need to dump them soon since I think most are probably undumped, save for two of them which I am fairly certain have been dumped.

[Anonymous No.1481940]

The NES rental case takes me back.

[Anonymous No.1482001]

>>1481997
You are the worst kind of person.

[Anonymous No.1482461]

>>1481997
Kill yourself.

[Anonymous No.1482524]

>>1481703
Sounds like it could be a rom dumper.

[Anonymous No.1482551]

Development, and kiosk hardware welcome here or not?

[Anonymous No.1482593]

>>1481997
I hope you die the most brutal way possible.

[Anonymous No.1482610]

>>1481997

[Anonymous No.1482614]

>>1482551
Sure, go for it.

[Anonymous No.1482631]

>>1481541
I have a prototype EarthBound cart, probably an American one. I'm gonna dump it soon, but I really doubt there's gonna be any beta content on it. Probably some translation things, like the red crosses still being there or unpolished lines.

>>1481997
Go suck a few dicks bud

[Anonymous No.1482670]

>>1482631
Pics?

[Anonymous No.1482692]

>>1482551
photoshopped TEST on a non-retro console.

so no, your addition to this thread is not welcome.

[Anonymous No.1482703]

>>1482692
It isn't photoshopped, it's a debugger, and most people are fine with PS2 stuff being posted on /vr/.

Do some research before you act like a cunt. Pic related is three other variants of the console that was shown above.

[Anonymous No.1482905]

>>1482703
Confirming this is a debug unit. I don't know how these ps2s got out into the world, because the studio is meant to send them back to Sony to be destroyed when that platform stops being developed for.

When I first started at a then-major dev, I had a chance to play around with a finished gameboy title that was never released, actually on the unit on an old flashcart.

It was based on an old movie and was actually really fucking good, but it missed the original release window and was just dropped, written off.

It's been so many years and I'm still scared to say anything more about it. NDA keeps me up at night.

[Anonymous No.1482910]

>>1482905
They got out into the wild when people were told to destroy them, and instead of doing so just put them into the back of their cars and took them home.

[Anonymous No.1482967]

>>1482703
don't you cunt me you cunt.

LOOK at the pic, i'm saying that one picture is shopped. look at it.

faggot

[Anonymous No.1483006]

>>1482967
I'm genuinely curious, what makes you think it's shopped?

[Anonymous No.1483043]

>>1482703
>and most people are fine with PS2 stuff being posted on /vr/.
If by that you mean if you post PS2 stuff everyone's going to call you a faggot, start a flame war, and you successfully derail a thread, then yeah dude, that's awesome. Post some Xbox while you're at it, that shit is t3h r3tr0 too.

[Anonymous No.1483048]

>>1483006

#REKT

[Anonymous No.1483061]

>>1483043
To be fair to him, a lot of /vr/ seems pretty cool with PS2 stuff, because you can't discuss it on /v/ without 15 year olds ruining everything.

[Anonymous No.1483072]

>>1483006

[Anonymous No.1483102]

>>1483006
>2 black memory cards with a black console
Do you even colors?

[Anonymous No.1483106]

>>1483061
I dunno, a lot of /vr/ gets really pissed about people skirting the rules.

polite sage for not contributing to the topic
carry on /prototype/

[Anonymous No.1483141]

>>1483061

Personally I think /vr/ should open discussion for all sixth generation consoles since the Dreamcast is allowed to be discussed. It was released right before 2000 but for some reason it's retro while the PS2 was released 3 months into 2000 but for some reason that makes it not retro. There are so many amazing vidya games in the sixth generation that aren't discussed because they "aren't retro enough" or because /v/ is a pile of shit. Come on, /vr/. also sage because severely off topic

[Anonymous No.1483157]

>>1483141
100% agree with this.

Getting back on topic anyway, here's some early mock-up Sega hand-helds that never saw the light of day. Someone fished them out of the trash in one of the Sega offices. They currently belong to someone from Assemblergames.

[Anonymous No.1483179]

>>1483141
Honestly, I think it has more to do with Dreamcast being considered a forgotten underdog, had a relatively short active life, and for whatever reason it is popular with hip retrogamers. More kids today probably grew up with/still have a PS2 than a Dreamcast. Personally, I don't consider the Dreamcast to be particularly retro, but honestly I don't care.

RAM Adapter housed Famicom proto phototype to stay on-topic, though not mine.

[Anonymous No.1483347]

>>1483141
The entirety of 'fifth wave' and up shouldn't have been allowed. None are retro, 1996 and up was the generation of deviation, and the Dreamcast only was allowed because it fit within the specifications of the board rules (by age only even though it was actually in the rules that all systems EXCLUDING Dreamcast could be discussed, but ten year olds with nostalgia for the console can't read so they continued their shitposting). Also, the Dreamcast was released in 1998, so it was hardly "right before 2000", and post 2000 systems were never allowed. You can have a perfectly sensible thread on /v/, I do pretty often, so long as you don't start off your thread with retarded console war shit or precious memes. It is only shit because you make it shit, so just start your thread off in a respectful manner, and stop trying to ruin this board by polluting it with your anarchist views against rules on an image board.

>>1483179
And no, that is wrong. It was only allowed because kids thought they found a loophole in le4chins, and started shitposting everywhere about it being pre-2000. It has nothing to do with the consoles obscurity.

[Anonymous No.1483379]

>>1483006
So, beyond ordinary PS2 things, what does it do?

[Anonymous No.1483497]

>>1483379
Lacks a region lock meaning it will play games from anywhere in the world (both ps1, and ps2), and it also plays debug games.

[Anonymous No.1483505]

>>1481715
There are a few interesting prototypes never to have been dumped. This is because the owner is scared that the value will go down if the ROM is dumped. While it's true that it does, the prototype is still usually worth several hundred dollars even if its been dumped. But the person isn't willing to take the hit and won't give us access to a cool prototype just because he wants to make some dosh.

In other words: Reseller scum.

[Anonymous No.1483509]

>>1483347
>And no, that is wrong. It was only allowed because kids thought they found a loophole in le4chins, and started shitposting everywhere about it being pre-2000. It has nothing to do with the consoles obscurity.

VERY briefly, the cutoff date was 2001. Cue faggots throwing out ironic Halo praise topics to piss off everyone else. Needless to say, the 2001 cutoff didn't last for very fucking long.

[Anonymous No.1483613]

>>1483497
my DMS4 does that and more

[Anonymous No.1483843]

>>1483505
How to avoid that: buy the prototypes yourself and dump them. You can easily find prototypes for under $100.

[Anonymous No.1483880]

>>1483843
Where from exactly? Everyone on eBay wants 5k+ and AssemblerGames users all want about 300 - 1,000 depending on what it is they have.

[Anonymous No.1483950]

>>1483880
Keep an eye on forums (like, as much as I hate to say it, nintendoage) and ebay. Even on ebay some prototypes sell for a lot less than that (ignore the bullshit HOLY GRAIL VGA CONFIRMED SENDING SUPPLIES listings). Also, be willing to pursue ones for less popular systems, like GameBoy.

However, be wary of what you buy. Not every prototype has amazing hidden secrets, and some will merely be production code on a development board, and a lot of times sellers don't seem to disclose this info.

[Anonymous No.1483975]

>>1483950
(for instance: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=gameboy+prototype&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc))

[Anonymous No.1484776]

>>1483006
i withdraw my stupid comments.
on my phone the TEST looked jagged and 'pasted' on.

i'll remember this day as the day i was a cunt

[Anonymous No.1484789]

>>1483179
I have a Raspberry Pi I housed inside a broken Disk System ram adapter. Pretty neat to see things like this!

[Anonymous No.1484873]

>>1483347
>dreamcast not retro
by the 2000 rule it was retro. it was only because of faggots like you that bitched about "BUT SIXTH GEN!" that it got banned.

Generations were always a bullshit concept for rules and more a laymen's term for "this bunch of consoles" with no specific time period defined for a "console generation".

if you're going to work the angle of "this bunch of consoles shouldn't be allowed", do it by a quantifiable thing. something like date or overall time since release. but since no-one wants to admit that a "Generation" is a bullshit concept for consoles that has no definite and quantifiable meaning, this squabbling will carry on.

Don't want the dreamcast? change the date to 1997 or the time period to exclude it. Don't use nebulous definitions that are so vague that they can be argued over.

[Anonymous No.1484887]

I've two for the Saturn. I want to release them but they aren't payed fully yet.

One of them is motherfucking Quake.

[Anonymous No.1485067]

>>1484789
Yeah. RAM Adapter prototypes are kind of intriguing. I guess Nintendo had too many spares or something so they fashioned development boards that would easily fit inside them and sent them out.

>>1484887
Anything different about Quake so far?

[Anonymous No.1485359]

>>1485067
What I noticed so far are: it starts with a level select, some lightning is missing (you know, the extra ones not in the PC version), the title screen says "Lobotomy kicks ass" and other misc texts, controller config is inaccessible (probably not implemented).

I think some of the levels may not be implemented because one of the last levels crashed the game. May be an emulator fault though. I should try it on the real console, but I need to burn a copy before I do that.

It would help if I knew Quake 1 beyond E1M1, E1M10 (whichever is the boss level with the lava pool), and DM6.

[Anonymous No.1486131]

>>1484873
>admit that a "Generation" is a bullshit concept
I'll admit that.

>>1484887
>aren't payed fully yet.
>need to burn a copy
What exactly does that mean? You got an ISO on rent to own or something?

[Anonymous No.1486382]

>>1486131
Perhaps the seller sold it on a payment plan.

[Anonymous No.1486935]

>>1486382
Could be. I'm really curious how buying/selling an iso on a payment plan would work.

[Anonymous No.1486942]

>>1482703
Also, it's highly likely that most PS2 debug Software was created before 2000, since it launched in March 2000 in Japan.

So it's TECHNICALLY legal.

[Anonymous No.1487559]

>>1486935
>>1486382
I bought it on a payment plan, but the seller knew me since a long time and sent it in advance when I was at the half mark.

I do have it already dumped and sitting on my HD. It was in surprisingly good quality, very impressive for 1996-7 CDRs.

>I'm really curious how buying/selling an iso on a payment plan would work.

I cannot release the dumps until I have fully paid them off. If you want them out earlier, you can help me out with that.

[Anonymous No.1488497]

>>1487559
>If you want them out earlier, you can help me out with that.

Not sure if scam

[Anonymous No.1488912]

>>1488497
People do that all the time, buy some expensive prototypes then do community dumps of them to help split the pain and give others access to the data.

Benefit: shuts up the DUMP IT 'N SHARE IT NAOW fags and reveals some of them to be freeloaders who expect everything for free, gives people a chance to play a proto that would otherwise go undumped, softens some of the reduction-in-value blow caused by sharing the data for free

Cons: sometimes the person dumping it is a liar and overhypes the prototype to make more moolah (see the recent community funded dump of a supposedly super unique Contra III prototype that turned out to apparently have almost no differences besides the title screen), causes shitstorms and criticisms from people who demand the ROM but are apparently not willing to spend a dime, you are making money on data created by another party

[Anonymous No.1489167]

>>1488497
>>1488912
not a scam. sale thread is still up on assemblergames. I can post pictures of the disc tomorrow if anyone is interested in donating.

[Anonymous No.1489198]

>>1487559
Interesting. Had no idea people did this. Not really interested in this particular game but interesting none the less. Thanks for the info.

[Anonymous No.1489236]

>>1489167
Cool. However, you might want to post a clear fundraising goal so that people know what you are going for and if it is worth them donating a small amount.

Can you post a link to the thread? I'm curious to see it and see if he has anything else for sale.

Unrelated, but I picked up a review copy (dated after retail release date) and a supposed prototype (dated about 1.5 months prior to release) of a Win95 Magic: The Gathering game on ebay a little while back but I have yet to even test them thoroughly (well, they both fire up the install screen but there's probably compatibility issues).

The review copy seems legit based on the labeling, but the proto disc is a bit less obvious. And I can confirm that the prototype install screen lacks the "Battlemage" subtitle - see the comparison pic. Could just be an already dumped build burnt to a CD I guess, but I figured that $25 for both was worth the gamble.

[Anonymous No.1492038]

Bump. Anyone else have prototype games?

[Anonymous No.1492094]

>>1483141
>Dreamcast
>released "right before 2000"

The Dreamcast was originally released in Japan in November 1998. Not far off from 2000, but not "right before" like you you seem to think.

Also, the year 2000 seem like a reasonable cut-off date. If it was released after the '90s, then shit ain't retro. Please try to keep in mind that the PS2 didn't officially die until about a year ago, with the last major game being released back in September. Do you really want to see the "FIFA 2014 vs. PES 2014 - What's the better PS2 soccer game" threads trolls will inevitably make?

[Anonymous No.1492119]

>>1492094
The PS2 was officially discontinued in January 2013. Game releases are completely irrelevant. Besides, nobody discusses sports games and they're more than welcome on /sp/.

[Anonymous No.1495087]

bump