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Is this NES Test cartridge legit?

Jul 23 at 1:06:24 AM
Armageddon Potato (267)
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(Daniel Tatro) < Kraid Killer >
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A friend on Facebook asked me if this is legit. Any experts here know?











Jul 23 at 1:45:29 AM
Yelir (28)
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(Riley Gallant) < El Ripper >
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Looks like modern repros to me. Have never seen the PCB so can't comment on this one. Here is a legit cart from NintendoAge for some comparison.

Jul 23 at 4:57:59 AM
hybrid (45)
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(jeff .) < Lolo Lord >
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Glossy label rounded corners definitely a repro

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Jul 23 at 6:10:52 AM
ne$_pimp (56)
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(OM ) < Master Higgins >
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Repro.

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Jul 23 at 1:42:10 PM
Sign Collector Guy (8)
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< Ridley Wrangler >
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http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

Penguin makes a comment here in this thread, similiar cart. I am not totally convinced it's a repro.......The PCB is authentic I do know that. Authentic to a test cart I do not know. 


I PM'd Penguin to see if he would come weigh in on it.


Edited: 07/23/2019 at 02:16 PM by Sign Collector Guy

Jul 23 at 2:29:44 PM
JaxsBox (102)
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(( NFR )) < Bowser >
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My guess is reproduction cart. There are a few things off that are leading me to believe it's no authentic.

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Jul 23 at 3:13:16 PM
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acidjaguar (668)
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(Lloyd Christmas) < Bowser >
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Originally posted by: JaxsBox

... leading me to believe it's no authentic.


I would also say this.... NO AUTHENTIC

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Jul 23 at 4:56:00 PM
Penguin (239)
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(Justin AKA Penguin) < Wiz's Mom >
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The board is correct but I'd have to see a better picture of the date codes on the chips. The fact that this is a five screw too is strange because Nintendo was not using 5 screw carts anymore by the time they were out of the anti static yellow shells that they used for the test carts.

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Jul 23 at 5:15:55 PM
a3quit4s (24)
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< Meka Chicken >
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Possibly re-shelled and a repro label, but a good board? That labels condition is damn near perfect which raises my spidey sense.

Jul 23 at 8:11:35 PM
Armageddon Potato (267)
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(Daniel Tatro) < Kraid Killer >
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Originally posted by: Penguin

The board is correct but I'd have to see a better picture of the date codes on the chips. The fact that this is a five screw too is strange because Nintendo was not using 5 screw carts anymore by the time they were out of the anti static yellow shells that they used for the test carts.

Ok I will ask him for better pictures of those.

I for sure thought the outer cart looked like a repro, but I wasn't sure about the inner board.


Jul 23 at 9:04:24 PM
ne$_pimp (56)
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(OM ) < Master Higgins >
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Is there supposed to be digits stamped on the back label. I don't believe legit test carts have these.

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Jul 24 at 8:43:19 AM
dewisp02 (78)
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(Mr. Jason) < Ridley Wrangler >
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This looks like someone flashed those roms and made a repro test cart. I have seen legit test carts will rounded corners on the labels, but the hack cut job and what appears to be high gloss label seem like a poor attempt at a repro label.

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Jul 26 at 2:02:08 PM
BouncekDeLemos (81)
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(Bouncy Blooper) < Wiz's Mom >
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It seems that the Mario must've been upscaled with either bilinear or bicubic resampling, possibly a smoothing filter on top of that. (You can see where the jaggies where smoothed out a bit on the cart Mario's holding)

Don't know if interpolation or resampling of an image was that common place then as it was now, so take that what you will.

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Jul 26 at 2:18:20 PM
bunnyboy (81)
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(Funktastic B) < Master Higgins >
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Can't see the date codes, but pretty sure ST wasn't making eproms then. Label is also bad in many ways.

Jul 26 at 2:55:39 PM
bootload (8)

< El Ripper >
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Looks like they made at least one in a grey cartridge here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/7128...