supercat Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 This is true, but they look like authentic 20th Century Fox lab loaners. There are several distinct features that help me determine if they look genuine. I can't be 100% sure without actually knowing the trail of ownership, but I feel confident that they are real just from experience. If you're confident. I would just worry about the provenance. Since lab cartridges would generally have been produced hastily and reused a lot, it would seem trivial for someone to take an otherwise-unexceptional lab cartridge and "improve" it by sticking in an EPROM of something else. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'd think it much easier to fake a prototype cartridge than a production one. I guess it's like wanting to own a real cart rather than a rom. It's all about collecting and owning a piece of history. I can certainly see that for pieces of known provenance (e.g. if Warren Robinett had been allowed to keep a lab cart of Adventure back in 1978 and were to put it on eBay, that would be an identifiable piece of history. And I guess if you happen upon a prototype of game for which there are no known other copies in existence, that prototype might have the historical significance of having been for awhile the sole 'life-line' by which the game was rescued from oblivion (and you might want to keep the cart as a souvenir of your having rescued the game). I guess I view the collecting prototypes thing somewhat like autographs. If I get someone's autograph personally, I may have an attachment to the item as a result of the autograph that I would not have in its absense. But an item that was autographed for someone else would have no particular significance for me. Likewise, if I had a prototype cart that had let me rescue a game from oblivion, I would want to keep it, but a prototype cart that let someone else rescue a game from oblivion would have no particular value to me. I do buy carts, btw, because I'd rather play 'the real thing' than a downloaded copy. I also buy modern carts to help support the authors and encourage more development. But there's no way I'd be inclined to spend $hundreds or $thousands on a cart. There are other things I'd rather do with my money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buyatari Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Ebay most likely won't pull them if you avoid the words proto and prototype. I also doubt you would be suspended for a first time attempt. Use words like media version or development cart in the title as those seem to work fine. I just posted 2 NES protos and 2 N64 protos which are much newer than atari 2600 protos and they ended with no problems from ebay. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video game addict Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 These were probably the personal collection of someone who worked for Fox. Maybe a programmer, maybe not, just someone who could get them cheaply though. Cheaper than paying for them obiviously. I don't see what the big deal is though. It will be interesting seeing what version of Bobby Goes Home this is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) Hi Neoscott! Congratulations on your find. It's nice to see another Sacramentan around here. I wonder if the cartridges came from Sirius Software? Anyway, Let me know if you'd like to use my Atari to take screenshots. I live near Sac State. Zach Edited July 1, 2005 by Zach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 hey thanks, I will take you up on that if I cant get one saturday at denios Neoscott Hi Neoscott! Congratulations on your find. It's nice to see another Sacramentan around here. I wonder if the cartridges came from Sirius Software? Anyway, Let me know if you'd like to use my Atari to take screenshots. I live near Sac State. Zach 884021[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 how rare are these ? I am still trying to understand it all . I am a toy guy and know my toys very well video games come in a close 3rd. Black case big square sticker Planet of the apes Prototype never released but what does that mean 1 of 5 or 50 ? Alligator people Prototype bobby goes home 20th fox cart ? what does it make it x7 we have a lead on this needed screen shots earth need screen shots black case long label on top of case typed tomatoes crypts of chaos reads as Crypts of Chaos 20th Century Fox Standard 5 but with this lable how much does it make it special Bonnie & clyde ? mabey relases as bank heist ? standard 5 black case thin sticker on top spine with blue stripe these games are normal but the sticker makes these prototypes ? or lab loaners what is the differance ? crash dive deadly duck porkys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 They're very rare. 3rd party prototypes are hard to come by, and TCF protos are even more uncommon. Finding so many at once is really amazing. You've got quite a treasure there. That being said, prototypes do show up all the time, so it's not like something like this has never been seen before. Still, they are quite rare. The differences in the labels and cases are very common, prototypes usually didnt have a very strict standard so many of them were just shoved in various cases and labeled with whatever was handy. Remember, these were usually just tools they made for work and not meant to be seen by the public. They didn't make them look all nice and uniform. Planet of the apes Prototype never released but what does that mean 1 of 5 or 50 ? I believe there are at least 3 others out there. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Screen shots are comming up Neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) alligator people Edited July 1, 2005 by neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) Planet of the apes Edited July 1, 2005 by neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) bonnie & clyde Edited July 1, 2005 by neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Earth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 bonnie & clyde 884414[/snapback] Bank Heist! Called it! Earth 884418[/snapback] And this is The Earth Dies Screaming Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 x-7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 crypts of chaos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Tomatos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Deadly duck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Porkys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Crash dive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 (edited) Sadly bobby isnt comming home "Tempest Quote That doesn't look good. Either the EPROM is bit rotted or the contacts are dirty. Try cleaning the part of the cart that goes into the 2600. Sometimes prototypes stop working after awhile, this is because they were never meant to be permenent storage devices, just temporary. " Edited July 1, 2005 by neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 Screen shots are up . I had to comb town all day with no results . Then my brother comes by and oh yeah julie has one in the garage . I get it home but still nothing works weird my ps1 rf adaptor works so well with my gemini 6 plug coaxial splitter it doesn't even need to be plugged into the splitter and overrides all of the inputs . I change out the power supply and we got action . Neoscott Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l3ushwig Posted July 1, 2005 Share Posted July 1, 2005 Did crash dive change colors? http://www.atariage.com/screenshot_page.ht...wareLabelID=112 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 1, 2005 Author Share Posted July 1, 2005 the bottom of the screen on mine is green not orange in the start up level Neoscott Did crash dive change colors? http://www.atariage.com/screenshot_page.ht...wareLabelID=112 884447[/snapback] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoscott Posted July 2, 2005 Author Share Posted July 2, 2005 Ok guys tell what I got here ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LocalH Posted July 2, 2005 Share Posted July 2, 2005 (edited) It sucks that the Bobby proto seems to have bitrotted. If it is indeed bitrot, and not a problem somewhere else on the EPROM or board (like the problems Tempest is having with his Meltdown), then the contents of that particular cart are more than likely lost forever (although depending on the damage, it may or may not be possible to reconstruct what's there, but if it's not a final release binary, then it'll be much harder to do). Given Tempest's role as prototype historian, if he's willing I'd recommend you send that Bobby cart to him, in the hopes that he might be able to pin down what the problem exactly is, so that you (and the whole community) know exactly what is being dealt with. Edited July 2, 2005 by LocalH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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