I know this is going to sound like a farfetched attempt but I sent a message to Next Level games about Dragon Hopper. They made the most recent installment of Luigi’s Mansion for 3DS and are one of the few english-based companies to have a good relationship with Nintendo. They don’t have that many games in their catalogue but they said most of their future stuff is going to be exclusive with Nintendo. That being said, I asked them if they would ever consider remaking Dragon Hopper for 3DS, since the system is technically able to recreate what was envisioned for it in the VB game. I even asked them if I could help them anyway if they are interested such as a Kickstarter or whatever. That’s just icing on the cake, but I told them my story and am awaiting a response of some kind. They seem like talkative people, for the most part. I have an independent multimedia-type group on the horizon but at this time we don’t have any relationship, reputation or backing to attempt to do this, if for instance, we had the opportunity (provided Next Level doesn’t care) to produce this game for Nintendo. Of course, that could change in the future, but we’ll see how things go.

[Dr. Jeckidy]

Dragon Hopper is one of my most wanted prototypes. I found the website of the guy who did both the music and programming on the game. He also worked on all the Paper Mario titles and is still employed with Nintendo. He didn’t have much to say publicly about it. I do believe Nintendo still has the assets to the game archived, as we have seen with US Earthbound for NES being the basis for the japanese GBA port (censorship is present, and such). It’s the only VB prototype that I find remotely interesting. That being said, if we could have Nintendo legally port/remake it for the 3DS (which would be a suitable platform to adapt it) that would be a lot more viable. With games like The Diamond Trade of London for DS being funded and officially licensed through Kickstarter, I don’t see how it’s not possible with Dragon Hopper.

As far as dumping; as someone who owns prototypes, I would rather realize the value of the item in my lifetime than never. In that case I’d prefer a donation in return for dumping the games in question so both parties are happy. I find the idea of possessing a one-of-a-kind item of that magnitude or value, that bears a sense of mortality to be unsettling. And I want to see them shared because I like people’s enthusiasm. The truth however is that most collectors tend to lose interest at some point when the novelty wears off and they start focusing on collecting what they enjoy than just to collect for collecting’s sake. Some lose interest in games entirely and move on. With the unpredictable way technology evolves and changes, some of what we considered standard may change so significantly that many older devices including consoles will end up difficult to replace/repair and thus obsolete. So thinking something like Dragon Hopper could remain forever undumped is a bit unrealistic.

To add to that, I’m apathetic about legality when it comes to these dilemmas. Yuji Naka was more enamored with the idea that Sonic 2’s prototypes have survived, as he has no copy himself of either that or the original Sonic 1 demo that people are after. I think it is in some sense ‘silent consent’. In some countries it would even be considered legal without question.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Dr. Jeckidy.