Well, it's nice that it's been found, but this also poses a problem. This is Nintendo. This basically means: no ROM. Ever. Unless there's another proto.
They COULD make it downloadable to the Rev, but that's unlikely. Even if they did, they'd probably jack up the price a lot, but that's no problem for SoulBlazer:
Originally Posted by SoulBlazer
The name's Link
And I'm braver than brave
I got a wooden sword from and old man in a cave
Sequel to Ocean's 11
Portnoyd's Posse
Gee, I wonder if since the Revolution will be able to play every game in Nintendo's library if Nintendo will make this game available to play.
Nintendo cannot release the ROM without re-licensing the rights to do so. Ergo, the game/ROM will never be officially released. However, it could be anonymously "leaked" at any time. Doubtful, but you never know.
"And remember ladies: if it ain't tight, it ain't right!"
Okay, guys, I haven't read everyone's post because I'm short on time, but would you believe I tested that game? I've had this conversation in a another thread but...
Here's the skinny. I was picked by Nintendo to come play unreleased games at something they called the Evaluation Center. They sent an invitation to Nintendo Power subscribers located in the Seattle area, hence I got invited.
We would play the games and rate them. SimCity for the NES was the only game I played that never got released.
At that time, the SNES had been out for a little less than a year, and I had had plenty of time to play the SNES version of SimCity and compare. This NES version stayed unreleased for a reason. It was inherently flawed. The "block sizes" of the commercial, industrial, and residential zones were only 2X2, instead of 3X3 like they were in every other version of the game. Meanwhile every other zone was the same size as the SNES version, including gifts. This meant that you couldn't make donut blocks, and the city planning was all screwed up as such.
On top of that it was really slow. Too slow. The NES probably had some trouble doing all the math necessary to keep that game running at a decent pace, and it couldn't keep up with the changes as you made them.
It looked good. It had good music. Dr. Wright was there, but I didn't see any monsters. It's entirely possible that the NES version didn't even have monsters because a few other things were also missing.
All in all, it looked like a neat package, but since the SNES version was already on the market (and was a far superior game in every respect) everybody playing it that day slammed it when it came time to rate it. That might be the reason it never got released, because we made it look like nobody in their right mind would buy it if they'd compared it to the SNES version.
You guys think Frank and I are kidding. A Campus Challenge 92 cart for everyone who helps pull the job off, and that's the bare minimum you'll get. I think that cart is safely an R11 - no one has it, and you'll get sued if you acknowledge that you have it because you stole it.
It has to be easier than robbing 3 casinos at once, but probably harder than robbing a 7-11. Not that I know anything about that sort of thing.
dave
So will the Lost Levels become militant, in order to obtain more rare unreleased prototypes? The biggest NES proto dumped so far has got to be Earthbound, which I might add, Lost Levels did a wonderful writeup on:
http://www.lostlevels.org/200407/200...rthbound.shtml
BTW, WTFBBQ happened to the Lost Levels? It was a NES site that was worth reading and actually had content that you couldn't find anywhere else. I need more Lost Levels! Update with a new article for godsakes!
Anyway, why didn't the NP article mention Earthbound and StarFox 2? Those are extremely important prototypes. Sim City, on the other hand, would be on par with Earthbound and Star Fox 2, i.e. uber-protos. It is kind of sick that Nintendo would wave these in our faces, in this day and age when collectors would pay hundreds or thousands for such a proto. We either need some industrial espionage to get that Sim City for the NES dumped, or we need somebody on the inside, with a very kind heart, to put that frickin cart up on Ebay!
BTW, was there ever a Shadowrun 2 prototype for the SNES? In the end of the game, the credits say to be on the look out for the soon to be release "Shadowrun 2". I was under the impression that the developer was already working on it by the time the first installment hit the shelves.
I dont have a scanner but a digital camera works just as well.....sorta, I had to kinda cut and paste part of it, but you get the idea
Is it me or is that article teasing us, with the "if only...", and the "ROM is nestled comfortably" comments? BTW, can anybody identify the type of mapper the game looks like it is using? It would be interesting if it used an official Nintendo mapper that never saw the light of day, a one-of-a-kind mapper made just for Sim City. It would at least be worth a try to contact the guy who wrote the article and ask him to leak a dump of the ROM onto the net. Even instruct him how to do it in a completly anonymous way, such as an anonymous binary post to USENET, that cannot be tracked back to him in any way whatsoever.
Another idea. Messiah Ent. seems to be interested in re-releasing the NES. Why not go a step further and license games that were finished but never released, such as Sim City? People would buy because even at a run of a few thousand copies, it would still be extremely rare. With today's fabrication technology, they could probably just print little circuit boards with glop-top ROM/mappers. Licensing costs couldn't be much because Maxis and Nintendo could hardly believe that they could make any money out of the original Sim City, let alone an old unreleased NES port.
Back to the topic of contacting NP. Why not at least have them list all prototypes that they own copies of? Or better yet, somebody should intern at NP. The amount of protos that you would have access to would make it worth it.
The pictures and article make this all very different. That is clearly a one-of-a-kind copy there in that hacked up Link casing. Also, sounds like it was just getting knocked around in some dude's desk. However, if there were consumer trials as was mentioned previously, there must be more out there than this single cart.
The-Bavis
d
Great, so it's your goddamn fault we'll never see this game! Damn you!!Okay, guys, I haven't read everyone's post because I'm short on time, but would you believe I tested that game? I've had this conversation in a another thread but...
Here's the skinny. I was picked by Nintendo to come play unreleased games at something they called the Evaluation Center. They sent an invitation to Nintendo Power subscribers located in the Seattle area, hence I got invited.
We would play the games and rate them. SimCity for the NES was the only game I played that never got released.
At that time, the SNES had been out for a little less than a year, and I had had plenty of time to play the SNES version of SimCity and compare. This NES version stayed unreleased for a reason. It was inherently flawed. The "block sizes" of the commercial, industrial, and residential zones were only 2X2, instead of 3X3 like they were in every other version of the game. Meanwhile every other zone was the same size as the SNES version, including gifts. This meant that you couldn't make donut blocks, and the city planning was all screwed up as such.
On top of that it was really slow. Too slow. The NES probably had some trouble doing all the math necessary to keep that game running at a decent pace, and it couldn't keep up with the changes as you made them.
It looked good. It had good music. Dr. Wright was there, but I didn't see any monsters. It's entirely possible that the NES version didn't even have monsters because a few other things were also missing.
All in all, it looked like a neat package, but since the SNES version was already on the market (and was a far superior game in every respect) everybody playing it that day slammed it when it came time to rate it. That might be the reason it never got released, because we made it look like nobody in their right mind would buy it if they'd compared it to the SNES version.
Portnoyd, I'm in. I've tackled far more difficult missions before. BWA HA HA HA HA.
-Rob
The moral is, don't **** with Uncle Tim when he's been drinking!
Finally This was one of the games I really hoped existed.
Now someone dump the thing so we all can play.
Because licensing Sim City from Maxis would cost approximately all the money in the world? I don't think you could make that much back by selling 300 copies, which is probably the extent of any kind of market the game would have. And that's being generous.
aggreed well since Maxis is owned by Electronic Arts and they demand all the money in the world for licencing.Because licensing Sim City from Maxis would cost approximately all the money in the world?
Nintendo isn't interested in releasing carts anyway, they're going to be focusing on the Rev's mysterious donwload service.aggreed well since Maxis is owned by Electronic Arts and they demand all the money in the world for licencing.Because licensing Sim City from Maxis would cost approximately all the money in the world?
[quote="Jagasian"]They've got to save something for the next installment.
By the way, if anyone has this issue and an actual scanner, I need a high res scan of that screenshot. Here are the two I already have:
Boy, reading the article of the person who played the game and seeing the screenshots, I take back what I said eariler.
Bad timing (coming late in the life of the NES) and being compared to the SNES version are certinaly reasons for not being released.
But only having the city blocks 2 by 2 size instead of 3 by 3 with all other versions? What the HELL were they THINKING?
And if the game played slow on the NES.....another reason.
If the game had been released before the SNES version (by the summer of 1991) and had proper 3 by 3 blocks, it would have had good success.
Thanks for all the information and pics, guys!
"Four o'clock and all is well.....wish I was in bed, Sir."
-- Guard in the Imperial City, Oblivion
Of all those flaws, the 2X2 blocks was the worst. Look, you can even see proof of it in those screenshots!
Everybody's just itching to play this thing, but trust me guys. If you did, you'd be severely less than impressed.
They have a Java applet port of the original Sim City available for free on their web site. Why would they charge lots of money for releasing the NES port? If they didn't license it for a real low amount, nobody would license it. Some money is better than no money, right?Because licensing Sim City from Maxis would cost approximately all the money in the world? I don't think you could make that much back by selling 300 copies, which is probably the extent of any kind of market the game would have. And that's being generous.
They most likely made the regular zones 2-by-2, so that more zones could fit on the screen without scrolling, due to the NES's low resolution. I don't think it is that bad of an idea. Only newbies use the donut pattern. The best method is to stack zones. Of course, this also might not be possible in the NES version. Who knows. The only thing we know now is that the Sim City prototype is in fact a finished game, ala Earthbound Zero, and is now definitely the most sought after NES game.
Heh. I hope you are kidding - since you would have to be a pretty lousy thief to discuss your master plan in a public forum.
The first rule of the fight club: don't talk about the fight club
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