So i won this thing earlier and wondered what the differences are. Took the demo/final version next to the released one. There are some slight differences but i have no clue. Who can explain what i see and where was this copy used for? Demo for NOA employees, store demo`s, marketing demo`s ..??

The fact it says 'Final NTSC' implies it is a retail rom, along with the fact that the pcb is a retail board w/ mask roms rather than eproms. Did you see any actual gameplay differences, if not you probably just have another copy of the retail game.

Well have to go trough the two games to see if there`s any difference. What purpose did these carts have ?

It could've been a magazine sample, or a test cart to make sure that the production cart was all good to go. You should try i tout, I have seen one video where a MMX cart said SAMPLE on the title screen, but like I said, i have a feeling this is a 1:1 of retail

That is a common label made at NCL for a pre-release cartridge. They've been used for a variety of things, from internal copies (Howard Phillips has one) to review builds for foreign magazines. Often they'll have EPROMs inside but sometimes, as with this one, the boards will have been manufactured but not the packaging yet.

There's really no point in playing the games side-by-side: the label says final, and those are not EPROMs. It's the final game, the only difference between a first-run copy of the game and this sample is the outer casing.

Thanks, that`s helpfull. So what does that make this, a test, demo cart or both ?

I have the same sort of thing with a intellivision proto, but the thing is with mine it's a late testing prototype. I'm not sure with nintendo protos but if its like that it is a proto. Also, I have a super mario land 2 NFR demo, on that the pcb's are slightly larger on the nfr & the cart is heavier than the resale version. I would say it's a test cart from my exspirance (but don't take my word on that, I don't want to be responsible).

Not only is it the final version, but the date stamps on the chips on the demo cart postdate the ones on your commercial cart.

what do you mean, it`s the same date as far is i can see. 1992 ?

The date codes printed on the chips are 9349... printed on the top chip retail (49th week of 1993) and 9352 on the prototype

But these chips where not exclusive for this game right. If they would use stock chips within that same year of release on the retail version and a new one on the demo one. It`s when the date the chip is manufactured and not so much when the demo or retail was released right? As the game was released not earlier than 1994 ??

You got a retail copy of the game man

Yeah, i was never under the impression that it was a proto, man.. I asked what it was used not if i had gold

Retail PCB, not a retail copy.  There are several proto collectrs that would just as happily put this on their shelf as they would an early beta.

Retail ROM, also a cool piece of history.

Thanks Mark. So what does that make this, demo, test or something else ?

I can't answer that fully for two reasons:

1.  It's tough to say what it was used for exactly (magazine review, etc.) without a better idea of where it came from.
2.  A lot of it relies on semantics.  I call most things protos even when, in reality, they aren't all true protos.  Some people will go as far as calling them alphas, betas, etc.  I can't be bothered, so I just toss a blanket statement over them all.

Personally, I'd group this with any other pre-release, regardless of when the chips were printed.  This was sent somewhere before the final run was released, and for that it's certainly cooler than its retail counterpart.

Cool thanks. I`ll keep it at pre-released version or something like that then.

Yes, MASKROM chips are make for a particular game. You are confusing them with EPROMs, which are erasable and reusable. The chip on the demo was manufactured after your retail copy, meaning they had already produced a run of the game before making your demo. I'm guessing this demo was sent to Europe, where the release would most certainly have been after the US release.

That sounds sort of logical. Too bad i don`t have the background info on this particular cart.

Up to three weeks apart, that isn't a big gap. This cartridge could have been sent to somewhere in the US (or Canada) as a Sample either to a magazine or maybe some retailer. So it has some unknown history behind it that sets it apart from your average retail cart. I disagree that this cartridge was after release or sent to Europe. The US version was released in January of 1994. These chips were made in late 93. That's consistent with this being a Sample sent out to a party interested in reviewing, promoting, or otherwise selling the game.

Just throwing this out there, I have some protos with ROM chips on a proto board and they are different than released (Crystalis)

Highly unlikely this is different but it's definitely a "demo" cart.

Mask ROM's, EPROM's or EEPROM's? They're all ROM's, but I doubt a company will manufacture a mask rom for  different release due to costs to make them. Would seem like a significant waste of $$ for a few copies that are going to be changed shortly after review/testing.

if you're selling, i'm buying

it was mask rom. No idea why but it happened

Definitely a strange one, Dream. Any more info on that, or is it one of those misc. oddities?