Hey guys, so I don't really have any idea about this topic, which is why I'm posting this here. Does anyone know if any legit A Link to The Past protos exist, and do any of them contain differences from the retail version? I think I heard of one proto, but it didn't contain noticeable differences and is lost now..

Yes pretty sure Dreamtr had one he sold years ago

Yeah a few are floating around.

Were there any differences between builds? Any Zelda prototype would be so cool to have.

I am curious about this as well. Would be cool to see what got cut or added. A Link To The Past is a game I consider as close to flawless as you could get for the time. One of my favorites.

I wonder how much a prototype for this would go for. I would guess A LOT.

Bet that is a good guess on price. Know recently a few Zelda Game Boy protos sold on E-Bay. Believe one of the protos had a debug menu and one with differences then final version. Have always found protos to be interesting. One day would like to pick up some protos, Zelda titles would be really nice.

Hey, do you have the link to the ebay auction with the proto including the debug menu?

Don't have a link to the auction and not sure it was disclosed in the auction about the debug menu. Heard this all through the grape vine.

I owned a LTTP proto. No known differences and also the NES Legend of Zelda. Again, no known differences. Tons of info about that one online.

Not just any Legend of Zelda proto but Howard F'n Phillips' Legend of Zelda proto!
 

 

Haha no doubt that would have raised the value on it but it doesn't change the fact you had it. That's still the only verified one right?

Correct and to Howard's recollection that was the only one ever. The proto was actually re-writable so there was never a need to have more than one. It's crazy that thing made it into the general public. 
 

Hm, what do you all think about this? http://forums.lostlevels.org/view...
And that's not what any of you were referencing, right? There are differences, but I guess it's only on the famicom.

Nah the one we're talking about is this:



 

OH yeah, that sold for like $50K or something right?
 

A true proto for link to the past would be the japanese version as that's the first one made.

I have heard nintendo of japan likes to hoard things,there's no telling what they have.

That's correct both the NES and SNES "Protos" were more "protos" for the NTSC platform as they were just ports.  Here are the 2 together. And one really blurry pic of the board.

This is the only A Link to the Past prototype that I am aware of. It comes from the famous Jollerancher find back in 2006. The checksum on the chips indicates that it is identical to the final US release.

So I guess that leaves us with the question, is there perhaps a Japanese super famicom proto?

Cool

I'd be surprised if the Zelda prototype you had was much different from the Japanese version (which came out in November 1991, same as the date on the chips). The Sim City one is kind of weird because each chip has a different date on it. Both are prior to US release (since the SNES came out in August or September 1991), but after the Japanese release. The checksum on the chips does not match either the Japanese or US release.

Hi,
Interested to buy it.

The jap version of zelda on sfc was released on 11/21/91.
On your cart the date is 11/22/91.

Is your game jap or us?

can you test it and try to give us some difference comparing to us version perhaps ou jap maybe...? please