Is this a Prototype Cart ????

It's a 2000 PCB so that means it was written by nintendo or whatnot in 2000-2002, I'm going with it being a full retail. Pokemon gold was already out in japan in 1999 so all they needed to do was translate it and fix up any bugs, don't think it'd be likely they'd implement a debug menu to do that but who knows.

 

Ok i just got a Retail version of Pokemon gold in the mail it seems to be the exact same! but do i get a Transferer or Bung to make sure its nothing else ?

 

I got mine from China so I don't know if they are widely avaliable or not, but If you can find one I suggest getting a SmartBoy kit sans the flash card (Since you don't need it). It works over USB and is compatabile with open source transfer software (ie. You can run it on linux).

SmartBoy USB Reader + A game Subbie sold me:

 

< that is cool ! i hope to find a reasonable priced transferer , x changer or one of these in the next 2 months =)

 

ok who else has a retail flash cartridge for gameboy color ? I wanna see if mine is actually one of them

 

These are a couple retail ones, as you can see, not as tall as yours. Yours also has official parts in it, like the MBC3.

 

< Intresting indeed I still have no idea what it is i have yet but the 2 most likely Theory are its a developers flash cart with a full retail or could it could be a 1st party prototype ??? i don't know if it is a review cartridge ?? i hope to answer this question as soon as i get my hands on a Dumping device and check the checksums for any differences.

 

The cart you have is a Nintendo flash cart. If it has the retail version of Pokemon on it that isn't that surprising. As you said, it could have been used for reviewers, testers, someone could have got it used and had the hardware and software to program it and they chose to put Pokemon on it. Until you dump it though, you don't really know if you have something somewhat different from retail or not.

 

I am completely uncertain of what it is for now ... i found a Gameboy flash cart from 1999 through google today here it is >> http://gbdev.gg8.se/2009/06/official-nintendo-game-boy-flash-cartridge-scans/ it does not appear to be the same at all and the people who sell the dumping devices either did not get my email or are too busy to reply i am currently unwilling to spend alot of money on a dumping device atm i will try to reach those people again soon as i want to compare the retail rom size and checksum to this cartridge and hopefully end the mystery on this cartridge as well

 

That's GAMEBOY flash cart not a GAMEBOY COLOR one, so a big difference there. If you were in Melbourne it would of been great to actually see this cart in person.
As for dumping the ROM, the X-Changers are not cheap you can ask gamedoctorhk to look for one for you (he's found me rare stuff before) usually specializes in copiers.

The only reason why I'm going to say it's a final retail version of Pokemon Gold is because it was found at a pawn shop, so most likely it was for a review -- You'll come across a few review code games on stores like that cause not everything that get reviewed gets returned.
You're very lucky to come across it though, there are no pawn shops in Melbourne that I know will have anything game related.

 

Thanks i have yet to see a official gbc flash cart so not sure if it is that or not ^^ it might be a full retail cart idk i have not seen a picture of another cart like this yet it is intresting to me a oddity sort of i will try contact them people again soon as i dont have the money right now and if that fails i will contact you about where to find gamedoctorhk ^^

 

It's not a retail cart, nintendo never sold flash carts that would be a terrible move on their part and third party flash cards don't go to such lengths to look real, it's an official nintendo gbc flash cart for sure, if Assembler says it's a real gbc flash cart you can take that to the bank

 

I guess you are right but why would nintendo make such a cart ?

 

For testing purposes.

You wouldnt make a run of hundreds of thousands of maskroms until you are sure its ready to go.

 

Except that Nintendo did made official consumer flash carts: the Nintendo Power Flash Carts for Game Boy and Super Famicom (in fact, the one brendand linked to - http://gbdev.gg8.se/2009/06/official-nintendo-game-boy-flash-cartridge-scans/ - is one of them).

Admittedly, they theoretically weren't self-flashable, requiring you to use a special public transfer station, but still.

 

so this is a test development cartridge ? i can't find pictures of other ones for comparsion ><

 

If you have an N64, 64drive, and transfer pak you can dump the ROM with agbd. Then it's just a matter of taking a SHA1 checksum to see if it differs from a retail ROM.

 

i have 2 n64s and a transfer pak but no 64 drive lol

 

Ok one more question about this if it is a test development cartridge how many of these things would exist and how did it survive to make it out from nintendo headquarters ? i am sure they have these sort of things LOCKED away or destroyed ?

 

Things leave Nintendo HQ all the time. What is more interesting is what is on the cart, but without it being dumped and researched we can't say if it is something super rare, or just a retail game on a flash cart