Is there a site out there that's dedicated to verifying and preserving information on prototypes for games?  I'm think of a place that at least catalogs known protos, posts photos and might even provide bin dumps of the carts? IMHO, a site/organization could greatly affect the quality of proto trading and preserve data just in case some of these EPROMs degrade with time and lose there data.  And, to be clear, I'm not talking about VGA grading.  I mean a place for prototype collectors, for prototype collectors and those who appreciate digging into the deep bit-level details of game history.

Anyway, I'm researching because if a place like this doesn't exist, I'm considering making it.  I'm quite new to prototype collecting and, honestly, I don't think I have the $$$ to seriously do it.  But, I'd love to learn about authentication, dumping, diff-checking and analyzing differences as a way of building a "history" of specific game differences throughout their build process.

Let me know what you guys think.  I need to get to work, so I'm going to check out for a while, but I'll come back and observe/respond when I get a chance.

hiddenpalace.org does most of that. It's basically an online prototype library and is the only site out there that documents many of the more "cataloging" aspects of protos (origin, date, photos of the original cart/cd, etc.). And it has downloads for most things too. You'd be bound to find lots of protos listed there that time forgot, since a lot of things shared throughout the years are only in a forum post that gets lost in time

tcrf.net is another which uncovers the hidden stuff in the data of protos that's not normally accessible, something Hidden Palace only gives a general overview for but not as detailed since TCRF has already been doing this for awhile now. Both sites together are the best when it comes to protos. They're Wikis as well so anyone can contribute rather than being a closed-off personal site.

Welcome to the world of protos. Prepare for constant disappointment in everything being finals and everyone likes to pretend they can't tell you if something is different from the final because they "don't have the time" despite for some reason having bought it  

This is good and accurate.
 

Yeah, Hidden Palace is probably the place to go for anything related to documentation of prototypes. It is a wiki, so you can dive right in and start contributing, and you can join the IRC channel for more detailed discussion. There is definitely a deficiency with regards to NES stuff, if you are interested in that. I try to do as much as I can for SNES on SNES Central, but I am very much time limited and have far too broad of an interest in all things SNES to just focus on just prototypes.  

We definitely would love to have you contribute!

Well, depending on how much work it takes to dump and catalog a cartridge, I could contribute some. If I get a Retron5 setup, I could start cataloging anything that it can take/work with. I'm primarily interested in GB/C/A stuff but, you know, the NES is the grand daddy to most of us, so I'd definitely give it some loving.

Hidden Palace is predominately a place to post pictures of the physical prototype and the ROM image, it doesn't have to be in depth. Of course, if you want to do a full on comparison with the final game, you can post that there too.

Well...if you had 1,200 protos at what time...there are exceptions. =)

1. Your in one. There are a lot of prototypes documented right here. Information can be found in threads, in the database, and a few well written ezine articles.
2. http://assemblergames.com/index.h... is another forum so digging is going to be required. Their tag line is home of the obscure. I have found lots of helpful information there. Sadly they are currently down.
3. http://hiddenpalace.org/... This is a wiki dedicated to cataloging prototype games for all systems.
4. http://www.nintendoplayer.com/&nb... is a person's personal website that documents Nintendo prototypes and some random 80's culture. His features often include interviews with staff or developers. The operator, Mike, has slowed down as his real life responsibilities have grown. It is near and dear to my heart as it is what got me into prototypes to begin with.
5. https://tcrf.net/The_Cutting_Room... is a website dedicated to unused sprites, code, etc. from video games. Most of the information there is from retail games, but they also have prototype info.
6. http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/&n... is probably the single most useful site when checking out NES prototypes. It is a database of what NES games look like inside and out. They have a few prototype profiles too.
7. http://lostlevels.org/... This website is dedicated to unreleased games. It is run by NA member TheRedEye.
8. http://www.nesworld.com/nesprotot... website dedicated to NES. It has a good NES prototype photo database.

 

Shameless self-promotion, but here's the Lost Games Wiki, run by me. However, it's about unreleased games (regardless of whether protos exist), not protos of released games.

You have many pictures of my kitchen counters and coffee tables  

I have owned/released several other protos not on your list.  If you want pictures or info, I'd happily share.

 

That'd be awesome, thank you! Any info's welcome.