Super Mario World Localisation Prototype

[Anonymous No.5078072]

Hello!

Recently an old friend who worked as an American localiser for Nintendo of America from between 1988-1994 reached out to me and sent me some content that a few people would be interested in. What I received was what appears to be an early US localisation prototype version of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. I've played through it so far and have managed to find a few minor differences in sprite work, dialogue and level design. I have intentions to share the ROM since I am a firm believer in video game preservation, but I am currently unsure of a safe place for myself to do so. Friends of mine have advised me to proceed with caution when uploading as it seems Nintendo has been heavily attacking multiple ROM sites, suing them for ridiculous amounts of money. Does anyone here know where I can find a safe place to upload it, whilst also making it available to everyone easily?

Below are some screenshots of the development ROM which I have been sent. I also did some research on the prototypes and have gathered some photos to show the similarities between the builds. There also seems to be a "debug mode" within this version. It can be activated when looking up and pressing select on the controller. It simply cycles through each power up state for Mario. As well as the photos attached, I've posted a YouTube video to show it in action. Thank you for reading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH2TztGb52E

[Anonymous No.5078076]

Post it or nobody gives a shit gayboy

[Anonymous No.5078081]

seems legit

[Anonymous No.5078092]

Cool story bro, but nobody's going to believe that shit or download your mank rom hack, you wasted all that time for nothing.

[Anonymous No.5078096]

So, the cynical me wants to point out that the proof you have is very easily faked with very little effort. But if you are telling rhe truth, fhe most trustworthy people you can share it with are on these sites:
tcrf.net & jul.rustedlogic.net
Send one of the admins on the second sits a PM (they maintain the wiki).

[Anonymous No.5078097]

>>5078072
Have a photo of the cartridge?

[Anonymous No.5078118]

And I have an unfinished version of Rockman X2...

[Anonymous No.5078131]

>>5078072
I also have a unfinished version of legend of Zelda Ocarina of time.
Among more notable differences, the final boss fight has been replaced with a breakdance contest

[Anonymous No.5078139]

>an old friend who worked at nintendo
Is this the new uncle works at ninty?

[Anonymous No.5078154]

>>5078072
mediafire on your neighbor's wireless

[Anonymous No.5078184]

Just upload it to https://anonfiles.cc/ and fuck off you faggot LARPer.

[Anonymous No.5078278]

>>5078072
Just upload it, quietly, and don't fucking advertise it or go around telling everybody. You'll be fine.
And for gods sake don't give it to Frank Cifaldi.

[Anonymous No.5078294]

>>5078072
I have a prototype NES in my collection. As you can see, there are a few subtle differences. The changes themselves from the mass production version are proof of its authenticity.

What? Are you calling me a liar? I posted a blurry jpeg didn’t I?

Fine, you know what. I’ll just keep it here in my basement. It’s worth a $89,000 anyway. You guys are just jealous!

Fuck you! Shut up! You guys are faggots. Never got laid in your life! Whatever. I’ve got tons of cool friends!

[Anonymous No.5078401]

Go to Yoshi's House and take a screenshot there.

[Anonymous No.5078409]

>>5078072
go to a starbucks far away frm your home and upload it using a PC with a fresh install of Gento, then after upload is done do a 3 way pass on the hardrive, then put it in the microwave for 10 minutes, and finally throw it in a lake.

[Anonymous No.5078417]

>>5078409
Can’t be too careful.

[Anonymous No.5078419]

>>5078072
Mega is safe enough. Though this site>>5078184 looks good for this sort of thing. Upload it from a public library computer if you're paranoid, thoughh you don't need to be. Nintendo is going after rom sites because they want a monopoly onn roms. They're not going to be interested in induviduals. You're not worth any money to them.

About the rom, sounds interesting, look forward to giving it a spin.

[Anonymous No.5078428]

>>5078072
I also have a undumped, prototype version of contra hard corps which is one of my favorite games.
Among other differences, the games final boss battle has been replaced with a breakdance competition

[Anonymous No.5078440]

>>5078097
Pic related

[Anonymous No.5078441]

>>5078428

[Anonymous No.5078442]

>>5078072
What shitty shader are you using for the photos with the rom hack?

[Anonymous No.5078451]

>>5078442
The "its totally a real prototype I swear" one

[Anonymous No.5078453]

>>5078442
I'm pretty sure those are real photos from a magazine at the bottom.

[Anonymous No.5078464]

>>5078072
Who gives a shit? I have Mother 64. I actually dumped it to put on my EverDrive so I wouldn't wear out the contacts. I also have a Polybius cabinet with a blown board, but I have a few boards laying around from some cabinets I converted for use with MAME. The CRTs didn't work anyways so I just replaced them woth LCDs and sold them.

[Anonymous No.5078468]

>>5078464
Polybius has vector graphics. It wouldn't be compatible with an LCD

[Anonymous No.5078471]

>>5078468
No shit, I pulled the blown crts out of the cabinets I converted for MAME. I have like 4 or 5 donor boards because of it.

[Anonymous No.5078474]

>>5078417
This. Nintendo have links to Kyoto yakuza that go way back. They WILL find you.

[Anonymous No.5078476]

>>5078474
My dad is yakuza

[Anonymous No.5078483]

>>5078474
I’ll pu you back Nintendo! Just give me another week to get the cash together!

[Anonymous No.5078484]

>>5078118
(only true post)

[Anonymous No.5078490]

>>5078072
Seems pretty rad. I’ve actually got a unreleased early version of alladin for the snes. It has a debug mode, some of the levels have slight differences; for instance level 1 has a different layout.
The most notable difference is that the final stage ends with a break dance challenge

[Anonymous No.5078491]

>>5078490
Is Capcom's version actually better than the one that insidious alpha course pushing christfiend worked on?

[Anonymous No.5078495]

I have this, it was never sold anywhere so I'm very proud to have it in my collection.

[Anonymous No.5078496]

>>5078495
What you have is stickers and nothing more.

[Anonymous No.5078505]

>>5078496
There's a case with a pcb in their too. Mine looks just like the one in the pic but mine's special because I own it.

[Anonymous No.5078507]

I have an unreleased, unannounced early English translation prototype of Starfy for GBA NOT RETRO, complete with swear words. Not even joking.

[Anonymous No.5078510]

>>5078505
Is the ROM actually different from the retail version?

[Anonymous No.5078512]

>>5078072
I actually have my hands on a beta
Of star control 2 for 3do
The differences are subtle, mostly in the menus and some of the factions having different attributes.
Most notable is that the game is ends with pic related

[Anonymous No.5078517]

>>5078510
Yeah, this one was literally never sold so it's not the retail version. Can't you read?

[Anonymous No.5078521]

>>5078495
not rare at all lol

https://www.pricecharting.com/en/game/sega-genesis/sonic-the-hedgehog-[not-for-resale]

[Anonymous No.5078527]

>>5078521
>rarity dictates price
Earthbound is not rare by any means, check the price on that some time.

[Anonymous No.5078531]

>>5078527
My poop is rare.

[Anonymous No.5078534]

>>5078510
Looks exactly the same as the Model 1 pack-in cart aside from the standard rental store stickers, so highly unlikely.

[Anonymous No.5078535]

>>5078531
Just like your brain cells

[Anonymous No.5078549]

So what are the odds that this is just another stupid ROM hack based on low-res prototype screenshots? Are we really going by anonymous OPs on 4chan now for credibility? Why not one of the many long-standing fan forums for these sorts of things?

[Anonymous No.5078556]

>>5078549
As I said before, a photo of the cart and/or PCB would be meaningful. But no, it is probably just a ROM hack, but I'm willing to entertain the idea that it is legit, because prototypes are found and dumped all the time. That Pokemon G/S Spaceworld build was legit, that Rockman X3 with an early and better Sigma graphic was legit, and both of those were legit and posted online just this year. Oh, and NES Tetris.

[Anonymous No.5078559]

>>5078556
Though I dont remember when someone showed up with the NES Tetris.

[Anonymous No.5078560]

>>5078549
See >>5078474
Nintendon't fuck around

[Anonymous No.5078565]

>>5078507
Swear words? What a mature game for us mature gamers

[Anonymous No.5078570]

>>5078560
There is a long history of named individuals who have either publicly sold prototype cartridges online or dumped the ROMs themselves, and have never been touched by Nintendo.

Nintendo only cares about ROMs when they threaten its immediate profits, like when UltraHLE was able to play Ocarina of Time mere months after its retail release, or more recently as it was getting ready to launch a NES-flix subscription service.

The localized Mother ROM was widely circulated for the better part of two decades without issue before it got an official English release.

[Anonymous No.5078606]

>>5078556
It's fake as fuck. Look at the I in Mario on the title, the slope is completely different. And the iris on the bullet is way smaller. Lazy ROM hack by retarded LARPer.

[Anonymous No.5078616]

>>5078565
It was likely translated by a Japanese person who didn't know that "shit" was inappropriate for a children's game.

[Anonymous No.5078640]

>>5078531
>>5078527
There are probably less copies of Phantasy Star Online I & II for Xbox than GameCube, but Nintendiddlers love paying more for the same thing.

Koumajou Densetsu and all other doujin things objectively have less copies than the majority of corporate shit, but no one wants it.

[Anonymous No.5078650]

>>5078531

[Anonymous No.5078668]

>>5078409
>he thinks Gentoo is actually more secure
I'd say use TAILS, but using TOR is even more fucking retarded as it's basically fucking screaming "I'M USING TOR! HERE I AM! PUNISH ME NOW!"

[Anonymous No.5078683]

>>5078507
>unannounced
It was announced, but back when it was still a Gameboy Color game. Everyone kind of assumed they gave up when it was moved to the Gameboy Advance, though.

[Anonymous No.5078689]

>>5078640
Xbox PSO is literally unplayable, even offline, without modding in a Gamertag with an existing PSO ID. literally a coaster lmao

[Anonymous No.5078709]

>>5078683
Ah, OK, though I guess the GBA one was never announced for US release? This one still has an active debug menu, but I assume it was based on the final Japanese version. Some of the graphics have already been English-ized, like the title logo. Amusingly, they apparently retained this foul mouthed ESL rough draft translation style up to the DS game which did get released in the USA. You can find it mentioned in an interview with some Treehouse employee.

[Anonymous No.5078818]

>>5078495
Quality bait

[Anonymous No.5078829]

>>5078616
Or a mature Japanese gamer

[Anonymous No.5079046]

>>5078507
Please, please for the love of everything dear upload this on https://anonfiles.cc/ or something, through the Tor navigator. I am really interested in this.

This was rumored for so long to be coming in 2005 or so. They mentioned it in interviews as the reason why it's "too japanese", and talked specifically how TOSE's translation shocked them with how sweary it was (but it seemed like they mentioned 5, not 1).
Is it "Legend of Stafy" by any chance?

Do you also have any leads about whatever happened to Kururin Paradise and Ao no Tengai? Both were listed for localizations in 2003 and then... Nintendo just started cancelling english versions en masse that year (Zelda Navi's Trackers, Nintendo Puzzle Collection...), some was released but Europe-exclusive (Hamtaro 4, Doshin the Giant) what was the deal with that? Some power politics at NoA?

I know it's a long shot, but are you aware of any localization attempts for Mother 3, Mother 64, or Fire Emblem Sealed Sword? They were rumored to have had rough localization prototypes sent to NoA to test the waters.
Or the original GBC Stafy, For whom the Frog Bell Tolls GBC version, the nearly-done N64 Famicom Wars by Hudson, or the initial announced launch titles for the GBA that never released (Battland, Luna Blaze, Warlocked 2)?

>>5078072
Amazed you somehow skipped in the video the text boxes since that's the whole point in a localisation prototype. Please upload. Even if it's a romhack, should be interesting (it already has a lot of attention for detail, the japanese style apostrophes for example)

[Anonymous No.5079561]

>>5079046
Yeah, this is definitely the first game. Sadly I don't have much info about it - I got it from a Buy It Now listing on ebay, probably not long after it was posted. I asked the seller and he didn't give me much info. For what it is worth, he had other GBA prototypes, mostly Disney franchises if I remember correctly. Meet the Robinsons, Disney Princesses (I bought one of that game), and maybe Enchanted, stuff like that. I don't remember what exactly the title screen shows, but I'm pretty sure it says Starfy and not Stafy

[Anonymous No.5079670]

>>5079561
If this isn't fake, take a photo of the cart from another angle and get a trip.
Can't really trust anonymous posts.

[Anonymous No.5080657]

>>5079670

[Anonymous No.5080658]

>>5079670
If that werent fake they would have done that by now.

[Anonymous No.5080659]

>>5079670
Cart

[Anonymous No.5081369]

>>5078072
does it have turtle yoshi and racoon mario?

[Anonymous No.5081440]

>>5080659

[Anonymous No.5081948]

>>5080659
If you could dump it or show some of its screens, no matter when, that would be really neat.

[Dillweed No.5081960]

>>5080659
>Gameboy Advance Prototype

NNNOT RETRO!

[Anonymous No.5082016]

>>5079046
>>5081948

[Anonymous No.5082204]

>>5082016
At the very least, he should make a digital backup of it, even if he doesn't want to distribute it. You have no idea how many rare prototypes have been destroyed with no backup because the physical cart was damaged.

[Anonymous No.5082213]

>>5082204
it's not a prototype

[Anonymous No.5082223]

>>5082016
Nice strawman.

This anon could release the ROM (IF that's their wish), even after recouping their investment and selling it if they think that's important, because that would be far more desirable than what happened to PC Cocoron, Marble Madness 2 or whatever.
Not expecting to be entitled to a freebie either (like some jerkass rare proto curators who think yelling and stalking is a convincing argument to get protos released) and if the anon wants help complete the translation (since i was once involved in a stafy fan translation that fell apart, and can insert the text and graphics) i would also love to help pro bono as a show of appreciation.

But I guess screeching "not /vr/" is preferable?

[Anonymous No.5082258]

>I have a localization WIP of a game that is probably the most hacked one in the library of the console with tools that even a brainlet could use to change a lot of stuff with no effort.
>I'm not going to provide a rom outright, instead I'm going to roleplay a collector faggot who is all tease and no release.
Topus kekus. Bonus points if OP comes back to the thread going "REEEEE I'm not releasing anymore since people couldn't stop demanding a ROM" for that extra authenticity.

[Anonymous No.5082317]

>>5082223
Do you have a link to the project?

[Anonymous No.5082426]

>>5082317
Used to be this one:
https://sites.google.com/site/torchickens2/densetsu-no-starfy-translation-project

I used to be working off the tools released and some separately obtained research. By the way, the first three games are similar in structure (fonts) and pretty translatable but need a lot of work (design, the insertion is pretty simple) on the graphics.
Common Nintendo compression library for most graphics, easily modifiable font and text, and the only work remaining is a proportional font if you want to (most interested in this version precisely because of the english proportional font code)
Fourth game is possible too but the font is a pain to fix (not impossible, easy even, just tedious)

[Anonymous No.5082427]

>>5082317
Used to be this one:
https://sites.google.com/site/torchickens2/densetsu-no-starfy-translation-project

I used to be working off the tools released and some separately obtained research. By the way, the first three games are similar in structure (fonts) and pretty translatable but need a lot of work (design, the insertion is pretty simple) on the graphics. Common Nintendo compression library for most graphics, easily modifiable font and text, and the only work remaining is a proportional font if you want to (most interested in this version precisely because of the english proportional font code)
Fourth game is possible too but the font is a pain to fix (not impossible, easy even, just tedious)

[Anonymous No.5082434]

>>5078507
holy fuck UPLOAD IT

[Anonymous No.5082436]

>>5078507

Please deliver anon, Stafy is cute as fuck.

[Anonymous No.5082441]

>>5082427
Are you the person who runs that site?

[Anonymous No.5082450]

>>5082441
(I ask because I'll just message you directly)

[Anonymous No.5082517]

>>5082317
why the deletion ???

[Anonymous No.5082535]

>>5082517
I figure I'd just discuss it directly with someone who might have use for it. People will just say it is fake, anyway. Maybe it is. Maybe not. Besides, NOT RETRO.

[Anonymous No.5082565]

>>5082441
Message pablitox, he's a friend and actually is working on it. I linked that in case you were interested in the partial patch proper.

[Anonymous No.5082576]

>>5082565
OK. I'll message him at some point. I figured a /vr shitpost thread isn't the smartest place to discuss this for various reasons so I'll stop. The translation is shoddy (see the crappy above image that another anon reposted).

[Anonymous No.5082584]

>>5082565
Also thanks a lot for the trust, anon. I hope I will be worthy of it.
I'm not pablitox, but a friend that helped with an unannounced SRPG translation for some names that appear below portraits. He'll know who I am. Once we can all get in touch we can figure out something.

About the translation: it seems to be still 8px fixed width, but it will help regardless.

[Anonymous No.5082694]

>>5078072
Still interested in this, OP
Hope you can upload it, real or not. It seems neat.

[Anonymous No.5082723]

This is not real.
>240p video despite obviously being played on an emulator
mmmmmh yeah no

OP won't ever upload a ROM because they know that Lunar Magic leaves residue on the ROM that would immediately call him out.

[Anonymous No.5082732]

yea no

[Anonymous No.5082761]

Just so you know OP, Lunar Magic leaves a mark on the ROM so we know if it's edited.

[Anonymous No.5082773]

>>5078491
Yes. It's got tight platforming and is a pretty solid snes game. Easy compared to mega man or whatever but it's fun.

[Anonymous No.5082895]

>>5078072
Cool but I have copy of the early japanese version

[Anonymous No.5082937]

congrats to anyone who called me out. i realised i made a few mistakes in the photos which a few pointed out about the hills. was only doing this for the lolz, but yeah. it's obv fake. i've uploaded the rom for anyone interested in it. but hey, look at the bright side. we know someone owns a starfy localisation prototype for real.

rom will be accessible for 30 days.

https://ufile.io/bnklq

[Anonymous No.5082953]

>>5082937
>for the lolz
end yourself

[Anonymous No.5082959]

will do

[Anonymous No.5083056]

>>5078072
>localisation prototype
>demonstration doesn't open the dialogue boxes
Bruh.

[Anonymous No.5083082]

>>5082937

[Anonymous No.5083128]

>>5082937
Is this a ZSNES exploit?

[Anonymous No.5083142]

>>5083128
ZSNES exploit? It's just a .smc rom.

[Anonymous No.5083186]

>>5083142
Exactly

[Anonymous No.5083241]

>>5083128
>zsnes
>ever

[Anonymous No.5083245]

consider committing lifen't

[Anonymous No.5083256]

>>5078072
Mega on TOR.

[Anonymous No.5083259]

>>5083186
ROMs are not exploits lol

[Anonymous No.5083287]

>>5078689
>Not having a modded Xbox lmao

[Anonymous No.5083417]

>>5083128
>>5083142
ZSNES is an early SNES emulator that's infamous for its poor accuracy, yet people prefer to play popular games on it (especially SMW romhacks) for the lower hardware requirements and lower latency, but that preference isn't for the lack of alternatives (snes9x)
Its inaccuracy meant it reached a dead end, and while supposedly still under development, no new versions were released since 2007, or are ever likely to be.

Some emulators are poorly sandboxed. Any time a game crash in an emulator causes a Windows BOSD? That's poor sandboxing right there. What's in the game code shouldn't affect anything outside of the emulator normally, but not the case here. Emulators occasionally receive updates to fix that.
ZSNES wasn't updated in ages. So... To illustrate the point why sandboxing checks are important, some developers crafted a malicious SNES rom that, when used with ZSNES (but not other snes emulators that are immune to this) executed arbitrary x86 code on windows (to open a calculator, but the possibilities are endless), and VBA but with a cheat code file (however the newer VBA-M fork was safe, and then its updates fixed further)
ZSNES isn't updated after these findings. Draw your own conclusions.

[Anonymous No.5083443]

>>5078491
>christfiend
Are you thinking of Doug TenNapel? He was the artist for Earthworm Jim, but didn't work on Aladdin. Dave Perry programmed both games though.

[Anonymous No.5083467]

>>5083417
It's not about hardware requirements as far as hacks go. Zsnes utilized workarounds that the original SMW editors incorporated. A lot of hacks, especially the earlier ones, will simply not work on anything but zsnes.

[Anonymous No.5083483]

>>5083443
The one with a youtube channel who abruptly plugged alpha.org

[Anonymous No.5083574]

>>5083259
ROMs can contain malicious code and ZSNES can execute it.

[Anonymous No.5083860]

>>5078072
where is beta yoshi? hand him over

[Anonymous No.5083897]

>>5083483

I don't think he worked on either version of Aladdin, you're probably thinking of Toy Story.

[Anonymous No.5085668]

>>5083142
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/37975/
># Description: ZSNES v1.51 and prior is prone to a stack-based buffer overflow
># vulnerability because the application fails to perform adequate
># boundary-checks on user-supplied input.

[Anonymous No.5086002]

>>5078096
>cynical me
That's just the part of you the recognizes reality.
If you were a little smarter, you'd realize that reality isn't ideal ans sunshine all the time

[Anonymous No.5086303]

>>5082937

[Anonymous No.5086419]

>>5083082