My curiosity has finally gotten the best of me.  I've had this question burning in the back of my head for some time now, and I think it's time to ask the experts.

Here's my question: Have prototypes of a released game ever been found with EPROMs dated after the games release?

I came across a lot of prototypes, and one of the games in the mix is titled "Robin Hood 11-5-91."

The DP rarity guide has the release date for Robin Hood as 11-1991.  The proto is definitely legitimate, but the date really threw me off.  I know it's not the "Adventures of Robin Hood" as that game would have pre-dated Prince of Thieves. 

So what I'm trying to get at is: How common is it to find a prototype that pretty much overlaps with the actual release?  Is is common for magazines to get protos so close to a release?

Now this is where Frank will likely come in handy:
The DP rarity guide also list a possible game titled "The Adventures in Sherwood Forest."  The description leads me to believe that this game became "Adventures of Robin Hood" which became "Prince of Thieves."  Is there anyway that this later date cart could be Sherwood, or am I just grasping at straws here?

If I recall correctly there was something to do with using the actors likeness they couldnt do or something so they had to push it back to change the graphics?
I vaguely recall a story like that. They couldnt use kevin costners face so they had to change it up. I might be talking out of my ass on that

I'm just throwing this out there, but it may have something to do with releasing the game in different regions where it was released later (i.e. PAL). Or, from a European perspective, the date could mean 11 May, 1991...

I think a game (Adventures of Robin Hood) was being created just as the film was coming out.  That game was then changed to "Prince of Thieves" to bank in on the films success.

The third game (Adventures of Sherwood Forest) was mentioned in Nintendo Power #12 and a publication that I'm not personally familiar with called Video Game Quest.

My question turned into a two parter:
-  How often are review/proto carts found in such close proximity to the actual release date.
-  Is there any chance that this could be the Sherwood Forest title that has been brushed off (for good reason) in the past?

I actually thought this myself.  Virgin had some involvement in the project(s), so it's entirely likely that it could have been dated "Across the pond" before making it's way over here. 

what about Revisions? prototypes of the revised versions?

My gut instinct was also that it was written in the Day Month Year format.

And to think, if this was 2 or 8 days later we'd know for sure.

I honestly hate the whole dd/mm/yyyy and mm/dd/yyyy unless it's past the 13th!

There is only an eight-month gap in-between the first media mention of "Robin Hood: Adventures in Sherwood Forest" and "Robin Hood," and they're both described as RPGs, so I would assume they're the same game we dumped years ago that was canned and retooled into Prince of Thieves.

As for the date discrepancy, all I can say is do not trust release dates from way back then. I've been doing some actual research into release dates these past few months, and it's not pretty. All of the NES release dates we have come from a PDF file Nintendo itself released, but in looking through just three months of data (January through March, 1990) I've found several mistakes in that list.

So, the easiest explanation is that Robin Hood didn't actually come out until December. Other possibilities: it did come out in (late) November, and 11-5 was the final build; the final USA build was earlier than 11-5, and they were still tweaking the game for release in other countries; May 11, like someone said earlier, which would possibly make it the non-Prince of Thieves version.

Thanks for the info Frank. That's the exact type of information I was hoping to hear.

I'll bump this thread if/when I get the lot in. Thanks for all the replies.

Is it a Quattro-Adventure prototype? (Hint: Super Robin Hood, by Camerica/Codemasters) if so, then youre a lucky owner of a uncommon Camerica/Codemasters proto from our prespective

Otherwise, It could be the other game.

It's definitely not a Codemaster title (Thanks God lol).  My guess is it's the Prince of Thieves.

I thought Super Robin Hood was pretty good


If it's Prince of Thieves, my guess is that it's in Day-Month-Year format.  Especially if it's a European company that made the game.

I liked it too. It had rockin' intro music!