# Legend of Zelda prototype + factory sealed copy on eBay



## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

A prototype of what appears to be a Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System, dated February 23, 1987, six months prior to the release of the game in North America, has surfaced on eBay for an astounding $150,000.00 US with a factory-sealed copy of the retail release of the game.



> Factory-sealed copy rated 85 by VGGrader
> Prototype cart simply labeled "HP NOA COPY 2-23-87 Legend of Zelda"
> Prototype dated half a year prior to retail release
> Appears to have no differences to final version






Source


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## DeMoN (Jul 27, 2012)

How did the seller obtain this? Might it be possible that it's illegal and belongs to Nintendo?


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## triassic911 (Jul 27, 2012)

THIS ISN'T NEWS HURR DURR.

Wow, there's going to be a shitstorm indeed. In my opinion though, people should wait even longer before trying to sell things like this.


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

DeMoN said:


> How did the seller obtain this? Might it be possible that it's illegal and belongs to Nintendo?



I'm sure there is a statute of limitations on things like this.


What I'm wondering is...how can it be confirmed that this is legit? If it really has no differences to the retail version, that sends up a red flag to me.


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## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

DeMoN said:


> How did the seller obtain this? Might it be possible that it's illegal and belongs to Nintendo?


I do know that there was a Famicom version of the same game that was released as a prototype. But the legitimacy of this, I'm not totally sure, but it's looking fairly legit. The seller does have 100% feedback.


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

Team Fail said:


> DeMoN said:
> 
> 
> > How did the seller obtain this? Might it be possible that it's illegal and belongs to Nintendo?
> ...



I don't know about you, but I would risk my eBay account of 182 feedback (which really isn't much) for $150K. Hell, I would give up a lot of things for that amount of dosh. The point is, when it comes to that kind of cash, positive feedback means as much as a duck fart in a hurricane.


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## bowser (Jul 27, 2012)

This belongs in the General Game Discussion section.


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## chavosaur (Jul 27, 2012)

You have to be a serious collector or Zelda addict to drop that much on a game. I get that it's a prototype but jeez. That's to rich for my blood.


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

bowser said:


> This belongs in the General Game Discussion section.



Hold on there, skipper. How about you leave the moderation to the professionals?


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## Sheimi (Jul 27, 2012)

Wasn't there a Zelda Prototype for the FDS? I wonder if it's a converted fds rom. $150K, fuck that. That has to be the most expensive prototype I ever seen. No differences gives me a "hey, spend $150k and it's the final version" vibe.

Edit: If it was URA Zelda, I'd pay $150k but it's not.


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## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

Sheimi said:


> Wasn't there a Zelda Prototype for the FDS? I wonder if it's a converted fds rom. $150K, fuck that. That has to be the most expensive prototype I ever seen. No differences gives me a &quot;hey, spend $150k and it's the final version&quot; vibe.


Yeah, there was. But I'm not sure if this is a converted FDS image. I saw a (blurry) image of the PCB on the eBay page, so that's what I'm questioning.


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## Sheimi (Jul 27, 2012)

It's between the FDS and the NES release. Most likely it won't have any beta content in it at all. I'm guessing there are minor text font differences.


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## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

Sheimi said:


> It's between the FDS and the NES release. Most likely it won't have any beta content in it at all. I'm guessing there are minor text font differences.


Could be regional differences and differences in text between this version and the final. Could also have bugs in the translation process. Perhaps even altered graphics.


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## Sheimi (Jul 27, 2012)

All that I can read from the PCB board was NES-xxx-Test-02. If the seller would provide screen caps, it would help to see if there is anything different.


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## Rydian (Jul 27, 2012)

So did they actually dump the ROM and do a comparison, or is the "no difference" just from an initial testing?


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## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

Rydian said:


> So did they actually dump the ROM and do a comparison, or is the "no difference" just from an initial testing?


From what I read, it's just initial testing. I don't think a ROM was dumped of this one.


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## pokefloote (Jul 27, 2012)

At least you save money with the free shipping..


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## YayMii (Jul 27, 2012)

Just looked it up, and it is a legit cart, made for use by Nintendo Repair Centers. Still not sure if these count as actual prototypes or just test copies of the game.

EDIT: Nevermind, I'm looking at a different cart. This one is confirmed legit though.


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

YayMii said:


> Just looked it up, and it is a legit cart, made for use by Nintendo Repair Centers. Still not sure if these count as actual prototypes or just test copies of the game.
> 
> EDIT: Nevermind, I'm looking at a different cart. This one is confirmed legit though.



Confirmed how? By whom?


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## YayMii (Jul 27, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> YayMii said:
> 
> 
> > Just looked it up, and it is a legit cart, made for use by Nintendo Repair Centers. Still not sure if these count as actual prototypes or just test copies of the game.
> ...


This exact copy has been recognized and displayed by the Classic Gaming Expo.








(top-left of both images)


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## DJPlace (Jul 27, 2012)

is there only 1 of these just made?


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

YayMii said:


> TwinRetro said:
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> > YayMii said:
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In that case, this is a killer find. I'm still wondering how "legal" this cart is, even if the statute of limitations have run out. Where the cart comes from, who owned it, how did it leave the clutches of NOA without being processed by a hammer first, etc...


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## loco365 (Jul 27, 2012)

It's gonna be about as legal as any other prototype leak, I'd think. There was that recent release of a Pokemon Ruby debug, and that would have as much repercussions as something as old as LoZ.


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## Rydian (Jul 27, 2012)

http://tcrf.net/Categoryrototypes
Prototypes making it out to the general public aren't that uncommon.  I mean I don't think Sega cares nearly as much about a couple Genesis prototypes now as it did back when they were in progress.


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## Fudge (Jul 27, 2012)

This is awesome, I love seeing unreleased stuff surfaced.


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## RupeeClock (Jul 27, 2012)

No prototype has ever sold for such a ludicrous sum to my knowledge.

Obviously the main interest is for the ROM to be dumped and archived, then meticulously examined and deconstructed to see what changed in the final version. That's not gonna happen.


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## Bladexdsl (Jul 27, 2012)

this will be nintendo when they find out about this


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## Clydefrosch (Jul 27, 2012)

...couldnt you pretty much fake something like that anyway? i mean, come on, you only need to reconstruct the crappy label, and while it may take quite some time for aging, getting it dirty and folding it at the right part, it doesnt seem that impossible. considering you go ahead and want to sell it for that price, paying some money to get a yellow cart and a bunch of stickers..


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## The Milkman (Jul 27, 2012)

Since nobody else is, I'm calling bullshit. There's no reason why anyone couldn't have just gotten a black case from the factory and just stuck a edited rom of Zelda and put it on an NES chip and into the case. I'm pretty sure its more then possible at this point.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 27, 2012)

Sheimi said:


> It's between the FDS and the NES release. Most likely it won't have any beta content in it at all. I'm guessing there are minor text font differences.


This seems like a cool site you have.  This is my auction so I wanted to clear the air.  First and foremost I do not expect 150K for this item.  Sheimi is correct in their being no known material changes because Zelda was a direct port from the FDS version.  It was not meant to be different.  This is an absolute legit proto 100% authentic.  I do apologize for the blurry board pic but I really don't want to keep taking this apart to get better pics.  I understand the people who question the legitimacy.  However I am a regular at nintendoage.com and yes maybe 182 feedback is not crazy but I am ID verified and my account is more than a decade old.  I am a collector and seller of vintage videogames.  Awesome site and if you want to track the history of this please google "Zelda Yello Proto Cart" Thank you guys

-MinusWorlds


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 27, 2012)

Zantigo said:


> Since nobody else is, I'm calling bullshit. There's no reason why anyone couldn't have just gotten a black case from the factory and just stuck a edited rom of Zelda and put it on an NES chip and into the case. I'm pretty sure its more then possible at this point.


You can't fake the test board dude.  It is legit


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## The Catboy (Jul 27, 2012)

Shut up and take my Rupees!

If this is real, I would pay anything to have it.


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## Lanlan (Jul 27, 2012)

Stuff like this is so interesting. A bit off topic, but whatever happened to that NDS debug cart that had the Donkey Kong images on it?


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## The Milkman (Jul 27, 2012)

MinusWorlds said:


> Zantigo said:
> 
> 
> > Since nobody else is, I'm calling bullshit. There's no reason why anyone couldn't have just gotten a black case from the factory and just stuck a edited rom of Zelda and put it on an NES chip and into the case. I'm pretty sure its more then possible at this point.
> ...


Ahh ok, then its just a rip-off to who ever doesn't collect these.


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## Pleng (Jul 27, 2012)

The Catboy said:


> Shut up and take my Rupees!
> 
> If this is real, I would pay anything to have it.



You can.

It's on ebay!


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## The Catboy (Jul 27, 2012)

Pleng said:


> The Catboy said:
> 
> 
> > Shut up and take my Rupees!
> ...


I don't have enough things to sell that cost that much money


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

Zantigo said:


> MinusWorlds said:
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> 
> > Zantigo said:
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Anyone not collecting these carts will steer well clear of the auction in the first place.


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## Sheimi (Jul 27, 2012)

@[member='MinusWorlds'], pm'd you

I want this proto so bad.


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## TheDreamLord (Jul 27, 2012)

Lanlan said:


> Stuff like this is so interesting. A bit off topic, but whatever happened to that NDS debug cart that had the Donkey Kong images on it?


The thing that was posted on here for a while? Just google it, I don't have the exact name for it at the moment, but I think you could search "NTR Debugger NDS" and find it pretty fast. I have it, and it's not really that great.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 27, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Zantigo said:
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> 
> > MinusWorlds said:
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Exactly, this is def not an item for everyone.  I understand that.  I know what it's worth to me, maybe that's more than it is to most collectors and less to others.  Some people would value Air Raid or Turf Masters highers others will think it's the rarest item in video games.  I'm in the latter group.  Coming from someone that collects Protos getting a First Party Proto is EXTREMELY difficult.  A flagship title brings thing to a whole new level.  There is only one Zelda NES Proto in the world and part of me just wants to share it with the colleccting world...eBay is a nice way to do that and listing it insanely high ensures I dictate what it could sell for.  Unless of course someone clicks BIN ;-)


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## jalaneme (Jul 27, 2012)

you could buy a decent car for 150k why would you buy a nes cartridge for that much? also the only person who would be interesting in something like this would be AVGN they collect nes games.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 27, 2012)

jalaneme said:


> you could buy a decent car for 150k why would you buy a nes cartridge for that much? also the only person who would be interesting in something like this would be AVGN they collect nes games.


I do have a car for that price, actually a little less.  Click on my other auctions


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 27, 2012)

jalaneme said:


> you could buy a decent car for 150k why would you buy a nes cartridge for that much? also the only person who would be interesting in something like this would be AVGN they collect nes games.



There is a lot of interest from the collector's community. As far as the price, He's already said he doesn't expect 150K, which is why people are free to make offers. This isn't for everybody. This is for collectors, which a surprising number of people are failing to understand.


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## jalaneme (Jul 27, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> jalaneme said:
> 
> 
> > you could buy a decent car for 150k why would you buy a nes cartridge for that much? also the only person who would be interesting in something like this would be AVGN they collect nes games.
> ...



good luck to them then, they obviously have a lot of disposable income, anyways seller should contact AVGN to see if he's interested.


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## chavosaur (Jul 27, 2012)

Reminds me of storage wars and the things they find inside to sell to collectors. Its amazing the kinds of things people are willing to spend money on just to own somthing that has history. Look at old marvel and dc comics. Some spiderman comics sell for more then this cartridge is trying to sell for. In fact, look at pokemon card collectors. I dare you to search for a charizard card on ebay and see how much it is.


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## Skelletonike (Jul 27, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> Reminds me of storage wars and the things they find inside to sell to collectors. Its amazing the kinds of things people are willing to spend money on just to own somthing that has history. Look at old marvel and dc comics. Some spiderman comics sell for more then this cartridge is trying to sell for. In fact, look at pokemon card collectors. I dare you to search for a charizard card on ebay and see how much it is.


Personally I enjoy collecting some stuff, mainly ancient coins and stamps, since it's a hobby that my family has been doing for around 200 years now. =3
When you have something that's old and unique, you might either keep it to yourself and feel good about you having it, or try and sell it in order to earn profit, then there's the third route which is donating/selling to a museum where those things will be appreciated by lots of people.


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## C-Kronos (Jul 27, 2012)

Team Fail said:


> Rydian said:
> 
> 
> > So did they actually dump the ROM and do a comparison, or is the "no difference" just from an initial testing?
> ...



I wouldn't expect the ROM to be dumped from a "prototype," because it'll lose it's value immediately if it were ever to be leaked. I've pretty much been under a rock for a bit now, so I haven't heard about this listing until now; however, there's probably a thread over at aG, and if it's a fluke, the members there will more than likely point it out.


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## Rydian (Jul 27, 2012)

As far as I've seen, prototypes are wanted for two reasons.

1 - The data.  ROM hacking communities will sometimes pool money to buy prototype carts in order to dump them for the community.  They don't care as much about the physical object, it's the data they want to learn history from.

2 - The physical cart, to have and hold a piece of development history in it's original incarnation.  A ROM dump doesn't duplicate that.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 27, 2012)

C-Kronos said:


> Team Fail said:
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> 
> > Rydian said:
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You are correct had this been different from the released version and dumped the value plummets.  All you have to do is search for Zelda No Densentsu and you will see the point. Now that was technically the original Zelda and much easier than the released version, the released version had more enemies etc.  Someone found it and dumped the ROM, for free IIRC.  Cool, hell yeah but the value is gone for the most part.  This Proto has no differences because it's a port of the released Famicom version, there was nothing to change except text etc.  I do own some unreleased Protos and I have many friends in the Proto community that have done dumps for free.  There would really be no point behind dumping this...


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## Deleted-236924 (Jul 27, 2012)

Zantigo said:


> There's no reason why anyone couldn't have just gotten a black case from the factory and just stuck a edited rom of Zelda and put it on an NES chip and into the case.


From what I can tell, the cart is yellow, not black.


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## The Milkman (Jul 28, 2012)

Pingouin7 said:


> Zantigo said:
> 
> 
> > There's no reason why anyone couldn't have just gotten a black case from the factory and just stuck a edited rom of Zelda and put it on an NES chip and into the case.
> ...


Sorry, spelling error on my part. Its supposed to be BLANK not BLACK.


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## Gahars (Jul 28, 2012)

Looks like this guy has a legendary piece of Zelda history.


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## MelodieOctavia (Jul 29, 2012)

Gahars said:


> Looks like this guy has a legendary piece of Zelda history.



If someone was really *hook*ed on the series, you could say that this is their only *shot* to get this awesome piece.


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## gamefan5 (Jul 29, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Gahars said:
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> 
> > Looks like this guy has a legendary piece of Zelda history.
> ...


I wonder if I'm the only one who got the pun. XD HAHAHAHHAHAHA!


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## Issac (Jul 29, 2012)

gamefan5: No. No I don't think you are the only one who got the bolded pun of the item which have been common in Zelda games since around 1992....


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## chavosaur (Jul 29, 2012)

I never really called it a hook shot when i was a kid, i always called it a chain gun. But my favorite zelda item is the bombchu :3
Anyway, 27 days to see if someone really wants this thing. I wonder if its actually going to sell, or if we will see it show up again with a lowered price.


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## EZ-Megaman (Jul 29, 2012)

TwinRetro said:


> Gahars said:
> 
> 
> > Looks like this guy has a legendary piece of Zelda history.
> ...


If the person who bought this *sling*ed the cartridge, they'll definitely be *shot*.


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## InuYasha (Jul 29, 2012)

They could bundle that thing with a free pornstar and I still wouldn't buy it...


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 29, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> I never really called it a hook shot when i was a kid, i always called it a chain gun. But my favorite zelda item is the bombchu :3
> Anyway, 27 days to see if someone really wants this thing. I wonder if its actually going to sell, or if we will see it show up again with a lowered price.



You will not see this relisted if it doesn't sell. There would be no point to lower the price as it has a best offer option. It's unfortunate but this auction has brought out some of the worst in people. Not here of course but on other sites. This place has been very cool from the start yet other sites I've been insulted etc. oh well I guess. Anyway if it does not actually sell it'll get put right up on the shelf. I love this freaking thing. I have recorded a video that'll post later which shows me playing the proto.


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## chavosaur (Jul 29, 2012)

MinusWorlds said:


> chavosaur said:
> 
> 
> > I never really called it a hook shot when i was a kid, i always called it a chain gun. But my favorite zelda item is the bombchu :3
> ...


I'll look forward to seeing the video then, I'd like to see whats so special.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 29, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> MinusWorlds said:
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> > chavosaur said:
> ...



The game is the only known NES Proto. It literally is the launch of the Zelda franchise, that's why it's so special. The game itself as far as I know is not materially any different. Imagine the Dev team working on this item at NOA. That is pretty special IMO.  I'll get the vid up for you.


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## Deleted-236924 (Jul 29, 2012)

So it's not factory sealed anymore?
Unless I missed something...


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## reshx (Jul 29, 2012)

its freakin´ expensive , that guy must be either , a contrabandist or a thief.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 29, 2012)

reshx said:


> its freakin´ expensive , that guy must be either , a contrabandist or a thief.



Me? How so? Now I'm a thief, wow. 

To clarify pingouin I'm selling the proto along with the Factory Sealed version. The actual Proto is still playable.


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## Rydian (Jul 29, 2012)

MinusWorlds said:


> The game is the only known NES Proto.


... Mother?


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## gblock247 (Jul 29, 2012)

according to the seller (on another forum) he got a legit offer of $25,000 and turned it down. 

I don't think he truly expects to get the $150,000 he has on there. Only things that are worth that much is all four NES/SNES competition carts (NWC 1990, NCC 1991, NCC 1992 and Powerfest 1994) but even then three of them you can get in reproduction form


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## YayMii (Jul 29, 2012)

Rydian said:


> MinusWorlds said:
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> > The game is the only known NES Proto.
> ...


I think he means the only known NES proto of Zelda.


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 29, 2012)

YayMii said:


> Rydian said:
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> > MinusWorlds said:
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So


YayMii said:


> Rydian said:
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> > MinusWorlds said:
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Correct, NES Zelda


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 29, 2012)

Link to vid, should be loaded in 20 minutes

http://youtu.be/yDOoChJZutw


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## Another World (Jul 29, 2012)

MinusWorlds said:


> You are correct had this been different from the released version and dumped the value plummets.



that very comment has been debated among the prototype community for 20+ years. we have seen carts with dumps sell for just as much as carts without dumps. its all in the eye of the beholder. for some the dump of the rom is more valuable than the cart, for collectors the physical cart is more valuable than the media. there is also a set of collectors that want only un-dumped carts, raising their value, so that they can be the one to dump the rom. sometimes those protytype roms sell for more than the physical carts.



MinusWorlds said:


> The game is the only known NES Proto.



that is simply untrue. bio force ape, lethal weapon, action 52, earthbound, flinstones, a boy and his blob, sunman, adventures in the magic kingdom, TMNT II, and others. i do believe that hoppin mad was found to be a legit proto as well. there are many others, mostly PAL for some odd reason, which have surfaced over the years. not to mention a few FDS protos, on the disk.

-another world


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## loco365 (Jul 29, 2012)

Another World said:


> MinusWorlds said:
> 
> 
> > You are correct had this been different from the released version and dumped the value plummets.
> ...


There's an Action 52 Proto? Does it have less generic space shooters?

Plus, there was a Zelda no Densetsu prototype dumped. There's an article on it on TCRF.


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## Another World (Jul 30, 2012)

i do believe that there were more than one and found to be "test copy" prototype builds.

-another world


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## MinusWorlds (Jul 30, 2012)

Another World said:


> i do believe that there were more than one and found to be "test copy" prototype builds.
> 
> -another world


Are you speaking about Zelda?  If so, no that is not true, there is a test cart with the yellow casing which uses the typical Zelda NES label.  That however is not a Proto PCB, it is a retail PCB.  Several posts ago I admitted I misstyped and mistakenly wrote this was "the only NES proto" when it should have read it is "the only NES Zelda Proto."

There are hundreds of NES protos, I've owned many of them...


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## Janthran (Jul 30, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> Reminds me of storage wars and the things they find inside to sell to collectors. Its amazing the kinds of things people are willing to spend money on just to own somthing that has history. Look at old marvel and dc comics. Some spiderman comics sell for more then this cartridge is trying to sell for. In fact, look at pokemon card collectors. I dare you to search for a charizard card on ebay and see how much it is.


omg, a charizard cost so much


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## Another World (Jul 30, 2012)

MinusWorlds said:


> Are you speaking about Zelda?



no. the response was to the post above. i only respond to posts further up by quoting, then responding.

-another world


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## Rydian (Jul 30, 2012)

Janthran said:


> chavosaur said:
> 
> 
> > Reminds me of storage wars and the things they find inside to sell to collectors. Its amazing the kinds of things people are willing to spend money on just to own somthing that has history. Look at old marvel and dc comics. Some spiderman comics sell for more then this cartridge is trying to sell for. In fact, look at pokemon card collectors. I dare you to search for a charizard card on ebay and see how much it is.
> ...


He meant an original charizard.  That's not even the original pokemon card _style_, they've changed it a few times since the original.


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## chavosaur (Jul 30, 2012)

Yup, I meant this charizard
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pokemon-1st-edition-base-set-CHARIZARD-N-M-shadowless-holo-rare-card-4-102-/130738125535?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e70997adf#ht_1396wt_1057
A 300$ bid... FOR A CARD


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## Janthran (Jul 30, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> Yup, I meant this charizard
> http://www.ebay.com/...#ht_1396wt_1057
> A 300$ bid... FOR A CARD


Oh, I know someone who has one of those.


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## reshx (Jul 30, 2012)

my friend tried to give me $ 100 for the first pikachu card...


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## chavosaur (Jul 30, 2012)

Janthran said:


> chavosaur said:
> 
> 
> > Yup, I meant this charizard
> ...


If it doesnt have a pokeball with a 2 below the picture of charizard, and it has no shadow, its worth $$$


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## chartube12 (Aug 1, 2012)

chavosaur said:


> Yup, I meant this charizard
> http://www.ebay.com/...#ht_1396wt_1057
> A 300$ bid... FOR A CARD



That's crazy. I should put my mint condition cards on ebay then. I don't understand why they sell for so much. After 3 years, each card becomes invalid for official play.


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