What the heck do I have?! Is this a prototype??

What the heck do I have?! Is this a prototype??
by SatoshiMatrix on 2011-04-24 (#77199)

I know this is Nesdev, but I've already posted this on AtariAge and thought I might get more insight by asking here as well.

About a month ago, on a residential side street in Toronto, I came across...an unusual find. Standing on the ground near the sidewalk was an old plastic case holding 14 Atari 800 games, and also an Atari 2600 Joystick.

I don't own an Atari 800 to test any of these but here's what I got:

Pole Position RX8034
Star Raider CXL4ON
Pac-Man CXL4022
Donkey Kong RX8031
K-razy Kritters ATR1001
Soccer THB 12003
Joust RX8044
Space Invaders CXL4008
Centipede CXL4020
Qix CXL4027
BASIC Computing Language CXL4002
Pitfall II CZ-011
and finally
H.E.R.O CZ-007

Are these worth anything? Probably not but I know next to nothing about the Atari 800.

Even still, I know enough to know there's something odd about the copy of H.E.R.O I have. It doesn't look anything like the others. In fact, I wonder if it might even be a prototype? Here's a picture.

Can anyone provide some insight for just what I might have? There's a single screw holding it together, but even after removing the screw, I can't figure out how to get the shell apart to take a look at the pcb. If the label is correct, I suspect to see an EPROM chip without a window. If so, should I cover it with black electrical tape before taking a pic? I'm a total noob when it comes to Atari 800. As much info as you guys can provide would be appreciated.

by Drag on 2011-04-25 (#77201)

I'm no expert, but the "Rom sample" label means it's very likely to be a prerelease.

Though, watch it be byte-for-byte identical to the release version. :\

and yeah, if you're going to snap a picture with it, you should cover the eprom windows with something, just to be safe.

by 3gengames on 2011-04-25 (#77207)

Looks like something that was early as said above. Do you know what the label fully said? And you better get to dumping it, don't wanna lose it!

by qbradq on 2011-04-25 (#77210)

Wow, that's quite something to dump on the street

by SatoshiMatrix on 2011-04-25 (#77215)

Sorry for the wait. Here's some photos of the entire lot.

All 14 games

H.E.R.O proto(?) compared to Kaboom for the 2600, also by Activision

Comparison of the edge connectors. H.E.R.O on top.

The back of the H.E.R.O proto. Pitfall II also looks exactly like this.

Here's Pitfall II. It lacks the extra info H.E.R.O has, but considering it's age, the top sticker could well have simply fell off and I didn't notice it.

H.E.R.O and Pitfall II carts

The tops of both H.E.R.O and Pitfall II completely lack end labels. Most of the others say <- Left Cartridge. Not these.

So this presents the question: Do I have two prototypes here? They look so very different from the others.

by Drag on 2011-04-25 (#77220)

We can speculate all we want, but the only way to know is if you actually play them and see if there are any differences from their normal versions.

That or the roms can get dumped, that will tell us what it is.

by Gilbert on 2011-04-26 (#77221)

Maybe we will discover where der butter monster originated from!

Seriously, though, as people have mentioned, we never know what are in them until the carts are tested or the ROMs are dumped. Even though the contents may be identical to the released version I think this is a very interesting discovery.

I know you've mentioned that you've already posted in AtariAge, but to get more advice on what to do with them, maybe you can ask in the Lost Levels forums as well.

by socram8888 on 2011-04-26 (#77223)

Open them and dump its contents, is the only way you can know if there's any difference if you don't have any Atari console/computer