Very nice thread, and hope it is in developement! There are quite a few more games that are missing information.

Awesome thread man and great E-Zine article idea. Maybe you could also include the Zelda Test Cartridge, Punch-Out!! Special Edition, Racermate and others. Good luck man!

Cool. I look forward to playing Little Samson eventually. I love all the later Taito games I have had the chance to play (BB2, Power Blade 2). I think it's great that there was a company still devoted to NES so late in the console's lifespan.

Anyone know why F2 was a rental-only release? If the sales market for NES games had declined by '94, why would a company even bother with a rental-only release? 

An ezine article I'd love to read: an interview with someone who worked at Taito in 93 and 94, who could explain the rationale behind sticking with NES even as the SNES took over.

Thanks for all the positive comments. I'd love for this thread to be stickied. I think this is a good resource for collectors. I'll keep doing more as I find games with interesting/cool stories behind them.

Source?

The best part of the article is the fact that you put "unconfirmed" on many things that have been rumored in the community for years, but have no actual source to point to that substantiates the claims.

Nicely done.

There was the USA Today newspaper article which was posted about here. I also found a book that covers kid friendly games for ultra-conservative parents that talks about it. They even use the AGCI cart label in a sea of carts on the front of the book. I'm not sure if there was ordering information in there or not but I would guess so as books like that often do so I'll take a look and see if I can find the darn thing.

I also didn't wanna spoil the researching for the guy, I just gave him my basic knowledge, he can do the rest and confirm it.

Hmmm... I have pics of a modded NES toaster for Racermate Challenge. I had picked that up a few weeks ago. It can be found http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

There's also a few Racermates that have been found housed in Tengen cases

So I'm still on the fence about doing Wally Bear. Mainly because I've read a lot of heated debates about AGCI vs AVE Wally Bear. NA has only two protos listed for AGCI, so if I do add this, I'll probably post NA's opinion on the matter. More to come!

PS - I found the racermates in the Tengen cases. I added the info to the list.

PPS - Two more added today.

There was some debate over Wally Bear but no one denys that it exists. They just don't know what to do with it. If you are going to include the lottery game then you have to include Wally Bear. No one has even seen a lottery cartridge and if it did exist it would surely be a prototype.

What about the Kellogs Volleyball ? 

^ I've never heard of or seen that. Very interesting, thanks.

I thought the kellogs volleyball was just some sticker somebody put on a Super Spike Vball cartridge - it was found in Canada if i recall and I have my doubts about it...

As for Stadium Events - as to where it has been found, it was not limited to Woolworths Department stores. One was found with a sticker on it from Children's Playland that was located in Brooklyn, NY and is now defunct - a sealed one was found in the midwest, many loose carts have been found throughout the US and complete versions of it have been found as far West as Seattle, WA. It is not and never was exclusive to Woolworths. There are too many incosistancies with that theory.

As for Myriad - from what I've researched and discovered (going through old public records from and around Houston, Kingwood and Humble TX) was that the company "Caltron" was actually the same company as "Myriad", reformed. NTDEC - a well known Pirate Company set up shop somewhere in the US (California if memory serves) and used the name Caltron - this made NTDEC look more legit, thus giving it a level playing field with other Unlicensed companies from the era. Nintendo pressured them to stop, they went "defunct", but popped up again as Myriad Games in Humble/Kingwood Texas. There was a registered business name from the era, in or around the Houston, TX area with the name Mega Soft. NTDEC MegaSoft was the pirate outfit that made this game and it is just too much of a coincidence that Caltron would "sell" anything to another company to produce. They were in the market of making illegal shit, not following the rules - they circumvented the rules and sold this stuff, from what it seems, almost exclusively to the rental market. Really, Caltron/Myriad are just two over glorified pirate cartridges with nice boxes/manuals.

I've seen the newspaper article and I'm pretty sure I remember the picture you're talking about.  I just really want to know the exact back story as to where it came from and how it was distributed, that and the Sharedata Chiller are two of the most interesting titles on the NES in my opinion.  I don't remember if there was ordering information in the article, but it's been a while since I've seen it.

Sorry to double post, but this sums it up quite nicely.  Certainly exists, certainly rare, we just don't know exactly what the hell it is just yet.  Putting it on the list may actually help obtain more info on it.

The Kellog's Volleyball is interesting too, I've heard at least one person mention that they thought it was a Canadian(?, can't remember the country) sticker from a Kellog's box that someone slapped onto a retail cart, that one is a real oddity too!

The Woolworths story was always suspect to me. Why would Woolworths get exclusive rights to any NES game?

Wow never seen that before. I guess he has a label now. Do they show it functioning?

I believe Martin had some information regarding this on NESworld at some point.

Well this is such an interesting thread I thought that I may as well make my first post here. I'd be very interested to hear anything about the rarer PAL games (Mr. Gimmick, Rodland, PAM, Snowboard Challenge, Vindicators etc.). Of course, much of the PAL scarcity can be explained away by the difference in NES popularity between the US and Europe, but some of the titles are so rare that the reasons may go beyond a low production run.

Click the link he gave and it shows screen shots

Well are the screen shots from this cartridge?

Thanks for the Lotto pic, I updated some more today.

This is an example of how when one person puts something in print just once it becomes the law. Now I'm glad to see Chiller included with the others but how does the AGCI Wally Bear differ from Chiller?

To be fair the 2 AGCI Wally Bears that were found are nothing alike. One Wally Bear without a label, with a code that was not final was found. Another Wally Bear with a retail label and final code was found. To me one is clearly more prototype than the other.

If Wally Bear is a prototype than the definition of a prototype needs to be stated. To me a prototype is an item that is a stepping stone towards a final product. You have seen them. Handwritten labels and chips sticking out of the plastic etc, The AGCI Wally Bear has a final label and final code. If you put this cart with 2 other AGCI carts it fits right in.

If however, your definition of prototype is more concerned with a confirmed release and having solid release data then several games on this list are now prototypes. NWC was never released. CMII was never released. What about Chiller, we aren't sure yet. Campus Challenge is also for sure a prototype. However when you see these items *(even Campus Challenge) as final products for what they were intended for then none of them are prototypes Wally Bear included.

The Volleyball should be in the same category as the lottery cart. Until collectors have confirmed carts in their hands these are both Unconfirmed or rumormill.

I'm glad you put Kelloggs Beach Volleyball up there. That game never gets mentioned. It's just odd, good luck finding more info.