Super Metroid Proto Board Found?

I know that a prototype of Super Metroid has been sort of a myth, however I happened to come by a thread from the MDb with someone linking an Instagram post of someone holding a proto board, claiming it to be a Super Metroid Prototype. Can any of the experts here, judging by the image so far, agree that this is at least a prototype board for something, and if so, possibly reach out to this guy and see if it can be read? Would love to know what is on it, and if there are any hidden Super Metroid secrets to be found. Who knows? Could be the build that CrAzY posted screens of from the Nintendo Power Bonus Issue Vol. 56.

Original MDb thread: [ LINK ]
Instagram Post: [ LINK ]

Also, after looking at some of his other posts, he seems to have quite a few other proto boards of other games (many unknown, but a couple had names).

 

There were a lot of empty boards sold recently. Needs some actual proof.

 

There have been a whole bunch of fake "prototypes" on those long board EPROM cards. I'm willing to bet this is another one of them.

 

The last chip does say "sample super metroid", but that doesn't really mean anything. Like Borman said, we need some actual proof, it's not too difficult to put some chips on a blank board.

 

Super metroid is a game I hold in high regard
I beat the game twice and has to be the most engaging and atmospheric game I have ever played
If this turns out to be real I would love a dump of it to see how this game could have turned out differently.

 

The sticker on the bottom chip is interesting. The top line is printed out and the bottom line is hand written. Like this:

[kanji] Sample
_______________

With Super Metroid hand written in the blank line. Seems like a weird touch for a fake, but with what Borman says I guess we'll have to wait for some actual proof of this running.

 

The kanji says something like "for demonstration" by the way.

 

Thanks, I always sucked at kanji.

 

Me too, but the Google Translate app lets you take photos of things and translate them. Of course it's terrible for full sentences, but for translating a word or two it works well.

 

Betcha these all came from nowhere.japan.

They're fake.

EDIT: To leave a bit more room for "anything's possible," I'll say that they're *likely* fake. The yellow label Wild Guns reminds me of one sold by nowhere.japan, who has a history of selling fakes. It would also be odd for a (presumably regular) SFII proto to be on that type of board given the board's copyright date of 1993.

 

Very easy to assume this is fake, but who knows.... I trust the buyer of this will be sharing more info when they receive it (sounds like it's still on its way?), so we'll be able to judge by that easily. Going by how many SFC fakes have been going around lately I have low hopes for this.

 

I've just realized that there is no SRAM on that board - and I'm pretty sure that Metroid had battery backup

 

I hear the Super Metroid Zero Mission is pretty good too, yet to try it

 

Would be great to see this actually be real. Though yeah, it should have some SRAM as TriMesh pointed out.



src: http://www.nintendomb.com/2012/10/como-es-un-cartucho-cinta-o-juego-de.html

 

Maybe behind door #4 as the traces from the cr-2032 go there? Which is also dated the same as the above retail battery, either March of 1994 or the 3rd week of 1994.
Also the labels on the IC's look like they were printed yesterday along with the battery date stamping.

 

That tape looks brand spanking new.

 

Fucking god dammit. Don't toy with my emotions like this. Reading that title on page one of new posts literally made my heart drop.

 

I guess time will only tell if it real or not..

 

So why do people talk about a Super Metroid prototype? Was there early pics or something that talked about scrapped features or something?

Edit: No SRAM? I see a watch battery? Why wouldn't that be SRAM?

 

When it comes to protos, pics of an early version with differences is irrelevant. So long as it's a game you like and a potentially early version shows up, you just assume it could be pretty neat.

Of course, it's not always the case. There's enough early protos that are just an incomplete version of the final with no real differences besides the fact it's just not, well, complete. Which just shows how rigid some development plans for a lot of games can end up being.