I started this thread here, but if it is better suited for the Famicom section, please move it.

Anybody into Famicom Protos?  I've just recently been eying Yahoo Auctions Japan, and I've found something that at least looks good for one:

http://page10.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m32635382

'Course I can't read Japanese for crap, so it could be a released game.  But released games usually have color cart plastic and some sort of a picture label (even if just a pattern design).  Pirates usually have those goofy, composite pictures that display games on the same label that don't even belong together.  

This one is just black and white, the equivalent of what I imagine a Japanese typeset label to look like.  The label also doesn't fit the cart, and there's no back warning label at all.

Can anyone read Japanese, even a little?  It's going for 5,000 yen, which is about $44 US dollars.  My question is, what is it?  It does not say what game it is in the description (I used a translation service).

Thanks.


edit:

Well, I have a partial translation.  The game is called Kerunaguru.  Anybody know if there was an English version?    

Still looks like a prototype or a pre-release though, because here is the released version:

http://www.famicom.biz/all/htmls/4907892000636.html

The game costs 4,900 yen, and is dated July 21 (7/21) of an unknown year.

A friend is working on the rest of the translation for me.  I'll post it when I get it.  


Edit 2:

Ok.  Translation complete.  It reads as follows:

--------------------------------------
Kerunaguru
Release Date: July 21
Price: 4900 yen
Store display item (Not for sale)
---------------------------------------

So it is a copy, probably for a store display, distributed directly by the company.  Mystery solved.  Now does anyone know if it was released in the U.S. as something?


Anyway, back to my original question -- is there an interest in Famicom protos here?  It would be sad if I just had to talk to myself.   ;)  

I'll post others if I find them.

Bomberman Sample Cart?

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/103399421

and the Translation:

http://nifty.amikai.com/amiweb/browser.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpage.auctions.yahoo.co.jp%2Fjp%2Fauction%2F103399421&langpair=2%2C1&toolbar=no&lang=JA&c_id=nifty

Sorry for the double post but the first was getting pretty long.  I'll edit this one for awhile.

EDIT

...And a multicart!  48 in 1  - as the seller describes it, a "rare famicom article" - He ships internationally.

http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g57072764


More to come.  This is really like a whole new world of collecting, isn't it?   I'm really loving Yahoo Auctions Japan.


And mods, I think I've decided that this thread would go better in the Famicom section - would someone be so kind as to move it?  Thanks  :)

You see i told ya, Yahoo auctions. Alot Japanese and Chinese ppl still use it every day.

Yeah.  I just got excited about these finds and thought I'd share  :D  There's no way I have money for them right now, so perhaps someone else will find this thread comes in handy.

It is interesting though.  You never know what you'll find.

Some would be watching these indeed. JC is a fami collctor, these are nice items so he might snatch them.

Man I would give my right leg for one of the protos in a famicom ram adaptor. There was a Double Dragon II on the US ebay once and I'm still kicking myself for not buying it. If anyone sees one, please let me know!

Edit: deleted sleepily written misinformation...  :)

Looking at yahoo.com constantly now, pretty interesting stuff up there.

Michael, I have a few of those if you want to make me an offer for one. (RAM Adapter Famicom proto)

pmed

Hey, Michael. Good to see you posting!

The link to the first auction is a game that's been for sale for about a year on YHJ. No one will buy it for some reason. I don't know about the Bomberman one...never seen it before. I stay away from protos and samples unless I think they have resale value; I buy games to play 'em, not to collect 'em -- and there's usually nothing too interesting with these, unless you're lucky enough to find a copy from when the game was still being developed.

BTW: I've got an ASO proto I don't want.

Hey JC, good to be back. Hopefully I'll start hanging out at famicom world again too... :)  

I got the Double Dragon II proto :D

Yeah and it's one of those weird ass looking protos as far as I remember... looking like the RAM cart for a Famicom Disk System, correct? :-)

I have a few FC protos, like the infamous Bugs Bunnys Fun House that became Bugs Bunny's Crazy castle and was a port of a Famicom Disk System Roger Rabit game :-)

Yeah, and I haven't seen this kind of PCB elsewhere yet. Sounds weird to make official Nintendo proto boards to fit FDS RAM adapters.

Nice man, would love to own a couple of fami protos. If anyone here wants to get rid of his dev stuff please contact me.

Tootai wrote on 09. Jan 2008 at 04:47:

Yeah, and I haven't seen this kind of PCB elsewhere yet. Sounds weird to make official Nintendo proto boards to fit FDS RAM adapters.

If I remember correctly I've seen at least two of these before, one being Deja Vu... forgot the title of other one

Tootai wrote on 09. Jan 2008 at 04:47:

Yeah, and I haven't seen this kind of PCB elsewhere yet. Sounds weird to make official Nintendo proto boards to fit FDS RAM adapters.

I would assume that the fact that there's more space in a ram adaptor than a regular sized cart had a lot to do with using it for protos. The regular size famicom games are too small to hold the proto boards of anything but the earliest games. The regular famicom game shells were also not made to be opened (I still often break the pins opening the stupid games...).  Also, it's quite expensive to make a new plastic shell--why not reuse the shell you already make?

Michael the Great wrote on 14. Jan 2008 at 18:25:

Tootai wrote on 09. Jan 2008 at 04:47: Yeah, and I haven't seen this kind of PCB elsewhere yet. Sounds weird to make official Nintendo proto boards to fit FDS RAM adapters. I would assume that the fact that there's more space in a ram adaptor than a regular sized cart had a lot to do with using it for protos. The regular size famicom games are too small to hold the proto boards of anything but the earliest games. The regular famicom game shells were also not made to be opened (I still often break the pins opening the stupid games...).  Also, it's quite expensive to make a new plastic shell--why not reuse the shell you already make?

From stories and things I've read up about that, that's pretty much the one theory that most others have as to why Nintendo would put the prototypes on Famicom Disk RAM Adaptors. It's very plausible, and I agree with it. The boards in prototypes are slightly bigger sometimes, so Nintendo had to make space somehow, and I'm guessing the RAM carts were perfect enough of a fit for the prototypes. However, I've seen a lot of prototypes for Famicom games that were in Famicom carts, and I've seen Disk protos in Disk form. Just matters by how much space a game takes, I guess.