Virtual Console WAD files for the original Wii contain the untouched ROM and an emulator, basically. There’s good odds any 3DS VC titles are done up like this as well. All you’d have to do is recover the WAD file via a hacked system and extract the ROM file from it.
Thing is though, Nintendo hasn’t even released a Virtual Boy VC title yet. If they were to, such titles might be released as 3D Classics (or WiiWare / DSiWare going by old terminology), where the odds of the original ROM being retained are low.
I think extra cables and LED boards is a bit excessive. A second working Virtual Boy is enough. Besides, a spare set of LEDs means a Virtual Boy somewhere has lost its eyes.
If I have two working VBs, yes you could say I should get a link cable. But to me at least, there isn’t anything truly compelling for the link cable yet. Mario Tennis and Panic Bomber should have had that functionality. Or heck, how about Wario Land (or something similar to it) with 2 player co-op? That’d be fun searching around for treasure and meeting back up at the exit. Or maybe two player dungeon crawling in Jack Bros. Hyper Fighting is neat and all, but I have a Neo Geo and it’s the last word in fighting, I like my Virtual Boy for all the other games its capable of.
Right now at least, one working VB is a great thing. I always have fun playing a game on it, the VB is just so weird and unique. I like going through each game and looking at all the 3D effects.
HP Lovethrash wrote:
Sadly I’ve wondered if the secrets would only be revealed once general interest dies down. If nobody is going crazy with anguish over these lost games, there’s no point in hiding the game to gloat. My hope is that the supposed owners would feel the urge to be the first to “donate” the ROMs. Would you rather sit on it forever or be canonized as the one who finally made the games playable to all? You can nurture a power-hungry mentality by being nice as much as you can by not giving people what they want 🙂
The problem with your idea is nobody is ever remembered for releasing their unreleased game to the public. Very seldom do written articles even include the names of people involved with the dumping of a lost game. There’s no actual glory in it, thus zero incentive for those who own these prototypes. The only real motivation is MONEY. Gathering funds to pay for the destroyed value of their prototype is what people in the know want. Yes, nearly every unreleased game prototype cart drops dramatically in value once it’s dumped.
What often happens with unreleased games is the original owner sells their cart to somebody who DOES want to preserve it online. Lots of prototypes fall into the hands of archivists simply by purchasing the cart off an auction site like eBay or sometimes Yahoo Japan Auctions, or more private means like on a forum or newsgroup.
DogP wrote:
I think 3rd party protos are more likely to be released… probably just sitting in a box somewhere, or maybe backed up by one of the programmers… not even realizing that anyone would want that stuff, or not releasing the stuff since it’s technically “owned” by the company. Oh programmers realize; apparently “N” has a hard-nosed “sue-you” attitude towards former employees. Again, what possible harm could come of letting a couple protos out? None; and plenty of good will come of it.
The actual reason Nintendo prototypes almost ever surface is because Nintendo keeps a stricter rule on their prototypes being returned and not suddenly lost. Any protos that have unfinished code on them stay within the developers’ hands, rarely do they escape. Nintendo does give out review copies to magazines but Nintendo cares a lot more to have those returned than the average 3rd party company.
For example, pre-release versions of Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Perfect Dark (N64) with some differences were recently dumped, sometime last year. Those two prototype cartridges were stolen from a trade show of some type.
I think it has more to do with Nintendo needing to protect their goods than it does a goodwill gesture for a few dozen or hundred enthusiasts.
Part of US law regarding either trademarks or copyrights (I can never remember) is that the company has to show actual effort in protecting their IP, otherwise they could lose the trademark/copyright. So, if Nintendo became blasé about releasing unreleased stuff, it could potentially do them actual harm.
Most companies hold onto unreleased prototypes simply because they are assets they own. It’s no different from old dev hardware or other obsolete items that might be lingering around. Even if the company really has no plans for using said items, having them is better than not having them. Besides, what right thinking company would just give away ROMs? Only old MS-DOS era companies that aren’t making new games, that’s who.
I’m sure they’re thrilled to have enthusiasts out there who are interested in their old system… but there’s really no good mechanism for them to “just give us” the goods.
I can assure you Nintendo is not that concerned about what people do with their old hardware. They do not sell licensed clones for one thing and they have the Virtual Console. There is zero money in any obsolete products, to them at least.
More likely beyond that is that Nintendo tends to not release a product until it meets a certain quality requirement. And if they feel that what they have on hand does not meet that requirement, the cost to build up the engineering team to finish it would probably be too great for them to consider it.
According to quite a few Nintendo sources (particularly Phil Sandhop and anyone involved with Starfox 2), the number 1 killer of unreleased Nintendo games is simply marketing. Is the market for a console drastically shrinking thus the game (Earth Bound NES) will sell poorly? Cancel the game. Will the game (Starfox 2) distract sales from an upcoming console? Cancel the game. Will the game (Earth Bound NES) cost too much to print and be too niche to sell decently? Cancel the game. Look up some older interviews, marketing is the common reason.
Speaking of stupidity, there was recently an interview with one of the team members for Superman (N64). You know, that really awful N64 game? It was originally much better, but political issues with the license holder forced the developer (Titus) to do increasingly stupid and time wasting things (like invent a virtual world so Superman doesn’t hurt real people), thus the game ended up being garbage.
Until then, Dragon Hopper & Zero Racers, etc., will just have to sit in the Nintendo Vault alongside the English release of Earthbound Zero and other games… I completely agree that it’s a shame, but it’s also more complicated than “it’d be cool if they just let one slip out here and there”.
…that’s not to say it doesn’t happen, just that it’s unlikely. 🙂
Except EarthBound “Zero” was dumped publicly in 1998 and is one of the oldest NES prototypes around. It was also just called Earth Bound (with a space), Zero was tacked on by hackers. Going by Nintendo’s official word, we have Earth Bound and EarthBound.
Not sure where I heard this from, but apparently Hiroshi Yamauchi thought limiting which 3rd parties got VB devkits to increase software quality was a good idea. Clearly it wasn’t.
It looks even better on a 3DS, so pixel perfect! In fact, just like on a focus-adjusted Virtual Boy. There are quite a few great VB games, Nintendo really should add them to the 3DS.
He probably sent it back to NOA like every other review copy that goes to Nintendo Power.
Finding a prototype like this is always difficult. Most unreleased protos end up surfacing on auction sites or through forums on their own. If they don’t, making one surface significantly harder.
If we had a staff list for Dragon Hopper, one could try contacting the NOA specific employees that worked on the game, like translators.
Unfortunately I can’t keep the Virtual Boy out assembled and everything, it has to be put away most of the time. I use a generic carry bag with a lot of internal space. Before I just left bags of GB cartridges in there, now I put my two VB headsets there, along with my stand, games, AC adapter and AC tap/battery packs. It’s a good fit, though the headsets sit on top of each other in a stack.
First time I ever heard of Virtual Boy was in Wario Ware Inc. for GBA, the microgame that’s based on Mario Clash. Then years later I saw AVGN’s review of the Virtual Boy. It was entertaining, but didn’t take the criticisms seriously.
During 2013, a friend of mine wanted to do some trading, I had some low end Sega Saturn stuff I didn’t want anymore, he was big into Saturn. He had a broken Virtual Boy with intact stand, controller, AC tap and Mario’s Tennis along with some other stuff. I accepted the VB stuff. In the end, I never got that Virtual Boy system working, but the system definitely had me wanting more out of it. I got a refurbished VB off someone on NintendoAge, but it wasn’t a permanent fix. After much trial and error I have that unit working 99%, sometimes the left display gets errors on overly bright screens. Right one seems ever so slightly dim. I also bought a 3rd VB system that is definitely in need of repair, but haven’t had time to do anything with it yet.
Thanks to Planet VB I have been able to try more Virtual Boy games, it really is a fun system. It could use more games, but at least there’s a homebrew scene going on. I can’t say I’ve ever played a system as strange and unique as the Virtual Boy. The name is awesome too.
With Nintendo being so perfect, what with saving the industry and inventing the video game, there needs to be one Nintendo console for everyone to gather around to hate. Unfortunately, that console is the VB. Misinformation has to be spread in order to complete the hate circle.
This is all true, I read about it on the internet.
In reality, video games are not a good investment. Take NES for example, only about 25 – 30 games are actually worth a lot of money (over $100). That leaves over 600 worthless games, not counting unlicensed titles. Most systems are like this, the majority of games are worth less than $30 each.
SNES is one of the only exceptions to this rule, a lot of titles cost over $100 now, more than NES. That’s simply due to hype though.
