Hello - I'm seeking some input on a Zelda II NES cartridge I recently re-discovered while cleaning out games at my parents house.  (Image attached) I recieved this cartridge sometime in 1986 when a friend of my parents (who worked for NOA in Redmond, WA) gave it to me as she knew I was a big Zelda fan.  I played through the game several times on this cart and since it was recieved, it has stayed in my collection.  A couple of weeks ago, I re-discovered it while cleaning out my old room and wondered if this had any value or rarity in the retro scene and would love some input from the community.  Thanks in advance!

EDIT:  The JP/Famicom release was in 1987 and so my original estimate on the year recieved was incorrect.  Since the US/NES release was in Dec of 1988, I most likley recieved it in the fall of 1988.

EDIT 2:  Adding full image set

pic doesn't show

Weird... I uploaded it via the forum tools. Here's an externally hosted version....

https://s31.postimg.org/mjfaalc4r...

Also, just realized there is a Protoculture forum (sorry, I'm new here). Please let me know if I should delete & re-post there.

We would need to see the board inside to verify. I find it funny that Nintendo misspelled their own name. LOL!

Also, Price Check is fine if that's what you are needing. But, again, would need to see the board to authenticate before value could be given.

lol, never noticed the misspelling! Let me know what pictures would be helpful and I'll take a bunch tonight.

Not sure what screws Protos use but if you open it up and take a pic of the board inside that should be enough. Rad piece btw

Thanks BertBerryCrunch, I'll post some pictures late this evening when I get home.

Are you sure on the year?

 

Not 100%, no.  I am confident that it was recieved pre-NA release and sometime in the fall as it was around my birthday.  So my gut is saying fall of 1986 as the release date was Jan '87.

EDIT:  Just realized that date was for the JP/Famicom release and the US release was in December of 1988.  So, I probably recieved it in the fall of 1988.

That was the Japan release date. We got it almost two years later in Fall 1988.

Yep, that's my bad, just added an EDIT to my prevoius note.

Nice!  

This looks very interesting.

Well, colour me curious as well.

yeah - definitely show some pics of the board.

As promised, I opened up the cart & took pictures of the board & cart and added them to the first post. Looks like the chip & board are stamped as 1987. It is totally possible that I received the cart sometime in '87, I am honestly not sure. The one thing I do know for sure is that it was pre-NA release.

Hopefully these images help the community take a closer look. I'm not sure what kind of down-res the site does, so if you need any high quality images of the above or new shots, let me know and I'm more than happy to accommodate.

Thanks!

Hmm, can't verify since Bootgod/NEScartDB is down, but it looks like a standard retail Zelda II rom board. At least using standard mask roms.

The game chips are around April 1988 and everything looks production. Unless its dumped and different you will have a very hard time convincing someone it is a sample cart.

Yeah even if it is a true real "sample" cart the only difference is the label on the shell (unless the rom is different). It might be worth a *bit* more to a zelda collector, but not much.  

The fact that nintendo is spelled wrong is interesting. 

cool piece though. 

I also just realized the top label where it says "NES CASETTE" is upside down, like someone printed it from home basic style on a single sheet of paper.

Thanks for the quick replies - bummer to hear it doesn't appear to be an actual prototype. I'll wait for more replies but probably throw it up on eBay in the next week or so with the detail everyone has called out above to ensure the buyer is fully aware that the content itself may not be a prototype. Let me know if I can provide any more info to get a more specific/certain answer.

It doesn't have to be a proto to be valuable. Test carts, for example, are final retail versions too. I doubt it helps to authenticate but the date codes on the chips may be able to indicate that it was an early manufacturing run. Usually somewhere on the last line of numbers you'll see a number like "1388" indicating that it was from the 13th week of 1988. It's rarely just 4 numbers though, so you gotta look between other numbers/letters.

I've seen very similar labels on other oddities that I believe were verified. I think I even saw the misspelled "Nintedo" before.

I have definitely seen "Nintedo" before. A certain MrMark we all know and love made waves around the internet back in 2012 when he listed a SMB/DH/WCTM prototype on ebay for $200,000. I'm pretty sure that one said "Nintedo" as well. I don't say that to insinuate any kind of authenticity for this cart, but just FYI.

good memory sadikyo