Legend of Zelda prototype + factory sealed copy on eBay

[DJPlace]

is there only 1 of these just made?

 

[MelodieOctavia]

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?

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

(top-left of both images)

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...

 

[loco365]

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.

 

[Rydian]

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.

 

[Fudge]

This is awesome, I love seeing unreleased stuff surfaced.

---

 

[RupeeClock]

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.

 

[Bladexdsl]

this will be nintendo when they find out about this

 

[Clydefrosch]

...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..

 

[The Milkman]

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.

 

[MinusWorlds]

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

 

[MinusWorlds]

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

 

[The Catboy]

Shut up and take my Rupees!

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

 

[Lanlan]

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 Milkman]

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

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

 

[Pleng]

Shut up and take my Rupees!

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

You can.

It's on ebay!

 

[The Catboy]

Shut up and take my Rupees!

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

You can.

It's on ebay!

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

 

[MelodieOctavia]

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

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

Anyone not collecting these carts will steer well clear of the auction in the first place.

 

[Sheimi]

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

I want this proto so bad.

 

[TheDreamLord]

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.

 

[MinusWorlds]

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

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

Anyone not collecting these carts will steer well clear of the auction in the first place.

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 ;-)