I've purchased this 'proto' of Space Fantasy Zone a couple of weeks ago and I was wondering if someone here had something similar to it. It's definitively a CD-R (not pressed) and it is old (the CD is yellowish and the label feels old). Also, the print on the cover comes from (I believe) one of the flyer available at the time. I made a TOC and it is different than the ISO and bootlegs currently available... I've heard that CD-Rs were floating around in the 1990s. Were they legit NEC copies or done by someone who owned the real deal ? Thanks for your help
You got ripped off. That game was released ages ago. Someone sold you a burn. Real pce protos don't look like that.
Yeah, maybe this is the case. But I find odd that the TOC doesn't correspond to anything that has been released so far, ISO or the European bootleg. I've heard that some burns were available in the 1990s, before the ISO was made available on the net. Would someone know anything about this ? Was it done by a collector back then or NEC ?
Can't comment on the history for certain, but what you have is definitely a burn as Assembler says. Seen it for sale dozens of times. Or at least seen copies that look exactly the same for sale dozens of times..so the code could be different I suppose. I 'believe' the original code was discovered, slightly modified / tidied up way back when and the cd you have resulted from this. Since then that German guy (?) has 'fixed' other issues and released the higher quality packaged game etc. Hope you didn't pay much (unless it does turn out to be new code).
Hi I would also take the code that is printed around the centre of the CD with pinch of salt. This is as I have seen many new blank CDRs where this style of code exists which relates to the CDR manufacturer, rather than the person / company who ultimately burns the CDR. ASSEMbler, On a side note do you have any examples of a proper prototype CD title that you could share?
@wheelaa Thanks for the info - and don't worry, I didn't pay a fortune for it. But it was worth the gamble as this copy was made before 1999/2000 (before the ISO was widely available) and could have contained a different, 'work in progress' version of the game. I haven't tested the game thoroughly yet to see if there's any difference. But no major difference yet. @SuperPlay A friend of mine has Silky Lip and Sapphire (SYO) that both came on CDRs. But they usually have a company label or some writing on them. Same for the Gradius 2 proto, I don't think it was pressed. I have MegaCDs and other proto CDs that are CDRs, and some also have minimal writing on them...
i would demand it back no matter what i paid. essentially you paid for someone to download the iso from the net and stick it in packaging that he printed off and cut to size.
That's pretty shady of someone to sell that to you. With people selling translated work (at least in cartridge form) you're sort paying for the game to be flashed to a cart and usually comes with a printed label and sometimes includes a box and manual which I have to admit is nice to have for those who don't have the equipment to do it themselves. Of course that's also pretty unethical but I can somewhat understand the reasoning for creating it. Just selling someone a cd on the other hand of an already dumped proto is very lame. At least it's a very good unreleased game I suppose, probably one of those best prototypes too, especially since PC-Engine doesn't see many. Hope you have better luck or get your money returned.
This one is different, this wasn't made recently but before 1999/2000. And I haven't been able to find clear information, if it was done by NEC themselves or someone else. And again, this CDR's TOC is different than the version that was recently available (in Germany I think) and different again than the ISO widely available. So it is not a simple burn that someone did recently out of the ISO or bootleg version, it was before all of that...
Dude I have the same disc / cdr and everything, it's from the initial western release that was done on this very message board ages ago. You got ripped off.
So you have the exact same copy? excellent !!! This is exactely what I was looking for. I've tried to do a seach on the message board to find out about it, but without any success - do you know if the old thread is still around ? Would you know how and who did this series of burns ?... it'd be greatly appreciated.
I believe yakumo set up the fundraising over ten years ago, and then one of the purchasers began making those copies against the terms of the group fundraising.
Presumably these are boot-leg pressings? http://sapphire.anime4ever.de/ http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Space-Fantasy...Item&pt=Video_Games_Games&hash=item483b6b4f8a
Yes indeed. That's the same guy who was/is selling 'reproductions' of Sapphire. SFZ was never released, so yeah that's another one of these boots. I've also heared of boot-legs of Dracula X too, so I'd be careful when buying that or Sapphire.
As _SD_ said, yeah, those are bootlegs pressed by the same person who made the Sapphire bootleg. I also own them both and the quality is flawless, really well done. $149 for the one on ebay is a bit steep and overpriced though...
