OP...just go to http://www.lostlevels.org/...
 

I don't have a list there, just articles on some of the unreleased games we helped get out there, all of which are in the original post.

True... but not everyone has visited your site. Seemed like the proper conversation to plug it.

Super James Pond

Interestingly, two different reviews (not previews, REviews!) of this game in two different British magazines had two different title screen name photographed: Super James Pond and James Pond II: Robocod.

The latter is the better known title that the Amiga version used. I think it was only called Super James Pond on the Nintendo systems.

John Smith: Special Agent hasn't been listed by anyone yet.
Complete, known prototype, Undumped

Also, Elite NTSC North American Version
Complete/Near Complete (Working out some kinks), known EPROM, Undumped

There are multiple copies of various builds of a Licensed Version of Tengen Tetris, several being complete, none dumped publicly.
 

Well this got overwhelming real quick, haha. Thanks for the contribution TheRedEye.

Before I keep going, who's in favor of splitting the list into Dumped and Undumped? I ask because I wasn't expecting this many undumped but confirmed games to be listed. Originally this was just a checklist for what unreleased games could be played.

I don't think the list is "dumped and undumped," I think it's "found and unfound" personally. On "found" you can mark if something is dumped or not.

btw if you included games that were officially announced but never shown, that list would probably double. Someday I'll publish a definitive list, maybe even as a little book that like 12 people would buy, just to get it off my bucket list.

Well, my definition of dumped includes games that are only available as repro carts. To me, a game doesn't have to be completely publicly available to qualify as dumped. Private dumpings don't really count though. I remember seeing Kung Fu II being released like that. Maybe NES Dump used an English translation? I thought it was the unreleased prototype.

That was a hack of Spartan X 2 http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

Is that what you were thinking of when you put it on the list? If so, you should remove it, no prototype has come up yet (that I know of).

I'd buy it Frank. I used to read your blog regularly back in college, and thoroughly enjoyed your articles.

Does anyone have the NES prototype ROM of "Jack the Giant Slayer"?

did QB scrambler got dumped already ?

So the "unknown" ones are ones where no one has a physical copy to dump?

Half of it...

For an update on Ace Harding: Lost In Las Vegas, I asked Hiroyuki Masuno a few years back if he did the music to it. He said the project was suspended, so I don't believe the game was ever finished. I assume this was because the NES's lifespan was over and they decided to port the games to the GBC.

Thread necromancy, but as a person who is growing tired of incomplete prototypes, it seems all the completed games that are worth the investment and can be wholly enjoyed are already available to us, with the remaining ones being merely localizations of games that were indeed released elsewhere. I like being able to see how the game development evolved, being able to salvage assets only from the protos for hacks and such, etc., but for the most part, the best ones are already with us. Companies do more to protect a completed product from disappearing as opposed to incomplete samples, which is why they have all survived and ended up with us now. I used to want to see Twelve Tales and Sonic the Hedgehog 1's prototypes, but they will of course be more for observation and not really playable. Thus, I would say my most wanted game right now is Dragon Hopper, because from what we know, it was complete and ready to go. That is all. I know for a fact that Dragon Hopper's programmer was the same guy involved on both Super Metroid and the entire Paper Mario series, as I have seen it mentioned on his profile at his website (which may no longer be up). SimCity NES will be interesting for studying how well the NES handles it, but it likely will not be complete or that good due to the limitations.

Dino Hockey is actually complete.

I disagree. For the NES alone, here is a partial list of currently lost, completely original games that appear to have been pretty far along, if not completed, that (to my eyes) look interesting:

Black Tiger (technically an arcade port but looks to be a different game, or at least an interesting new experience)
Dream Team 3-on-3 Challenge
Legend of Hero Tonma (see Black Tiger)
Lord of the Rings
Pyross (see Black Tiger)
Shogun Maeda
Space Ace
Ultimate Journey
Wild Boys

Plus there's ports of computer games that looked pretty far along that I think would have been given new life on the NES: Switch Blade and Magic Candle come to mind immediately.



 

Erik the Viking is the one I'd like to see surface. If I recall, from the musician's take, it was complete.

Was anything ever found on that game Frank?

Oh yes, good call! No, just the sound files afaik.

Well, there are obviously some exceptions. Socks the Cat was finished but almost entirely lost, so it's not like complete games can be on the verge of disappearing entirely, though 'quite far along' doesn't mean complete. There's also a lot of Famicom games as you mentioned that need to be saved. Super Dog Booby, while most certainly not complete, is another one I'd like to see from among those, just because the name is absolute LULZ.

Saw there was an Ebay listing for an NTSC Proto of Trolls in Crazyland from someone in Germany. seems that it is completed, and undumped, even if its just a PAL-> NTSC conversion.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Troll...

Without any kind of evidence that it's NTSC other than the seller's word, I wouldn't touch this. A "Nintendo of America" title screen shot would convince me though.