Can anyone tell me exactly what the serial number stickers on Game Boy prototypes mean? I am interested in a cart that has Serial No. 5022908 and I already own a proto cart of the same game with Serial No. 50229029. Would this be an indicator of an earlier build?
I think you're probably going to need to post a photo or give a bit more info as to the developer or publisher of the game.
Here's the link to the cart I'm talking about. My one has an identical sticker with a different serial. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Catrap-als...799755?hash=item3628af208b:g:HYoAAOSwiBJaQ9sh
Alright. Unless there's someone who has owned many Asmik prototypes with serial numbers affixed and picked up on any sort of meaningful trend (or someone who worked there who knows if the serial numbers had any real meaning beyond a simple physical cartridge identifier for the sake of tracking), I wouldn't put faith in it as an indicator of contents.
Yeah I'm with Xzx, could be anything, you'd need a large quantity and even that may not give you the answer. Best best is to find someone who worked on those. Reminds me of the PS2 sample stickers which have a serial number; and older games may have largest numbers that newer games, so you can't use them as a linear timeline indicator. Also, that serial is long, so it might incorporate different information in it, it seems unlikely that it's related to the build/ROM, more like a physical ID like Xzw said. Like a console serial number which includes factory ID etc.
Thanks for the replies so far, I thought it would be something along those lines. I sent a message to the seller, but maybe I can find another Asmik cart which may shed some light on this. Also fyi, Catrap is the US version of Pitman, the Japanese original.
But... looking again at that serial... "5022908"... here's a wild and naked guess. Pitman (Japan) released 1990/06/01, Catrap (US) released 1990/09/??, so the "908" in the serial could mean August 1990, and it would match the timeline, as the cart is Catrap, so it must be between 1990/06 and 1990/09. Also, "Catrap" is a great name, congrats to the guy who came up with that Sounds like cat-crap or cataract to me
Interesting.. It definitely has some significance. Both carts have the 502290 part, the only difference being the last digit(s). My cart ends in 29 while this one ends in 8.
