http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=110544576868= So what do you guys think? I find it very interesting that Dr. Mario is a mmc1 mapper game where this is nrom (no nes mapper). Some are saying it's a fake since it's a commercial nrom circuit board, but I don't think there was a nrom proto board since nrom was eprom compatible. But where did it come from? Did Dr. Mario go through a complete makeover before release? What's this doing on a US board? The game was released first in Japan and I didn't think Nintendo did much development here in the US. Some have said it looks like a pirate--I assume because of the poorly drawn logo. And I guess many multi-pirates are collections of mapperless games. But I've not seen this game on a pirate. And as far as fake--nobody would go through the trouble here for a fake. It's not like there are just a couple of graphic swaps!
Yeah, Dr Mario has been hacked to NROM (or was it CNROM?) for multicarts, but I think this is legit. It should be pretty evident with better pics. Since the same ROM ended up being used in both regions, it would be reasonable for a NES sample to contain early CHR.
Are you 100% SURE that you have this game on a famiclone? The one that showed up a few years ago on an MMC1 board sure looked legit to me, I was under the impression that this one was on the straight and narrow. The licensed by Nintendo info makes me lean that way especially. You wouldn't be able to snap a pic of the famiclone one, would you?
This is the other one I'm talking about: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=10573&keyword1=virus Uploaded with ImageShack.us Uploaded with ImageShack.us 1990 instead of 1989, but still the licensed by Nintendo info appears. I would assume the one on Ebay is an early build which may explain the different (simpler) board used. It could be that the proto info was leaked and picked up by a pirate company, it wouldn't be the first time that this happened. For years, the most complete build of time Diver Eon Man was from a pirate, and the only ROM of the proto for the terrible Ninja Gaiden Genesis port is courtesy of a pirate. Crazier things have happened...
I've been to the flea market he says he found it at, it's just a big outdoor market on the southside (read: where all the mexicans live). I actually went again last weekend, noone who sells there is really a collector so it was definitely a lucky find, one dude who had his n64 carts separated by the 'more expensive' carts and the regular ones just stuck any game with Mario in the title in a baggy and decided it must be rare and popular. Including Mario 64.
It could be a prototype, I wouldn't be surprised though if that copyright text was put in there to make it seem authentic. Seems fishy to me. Though the name virus would make sense for a beta if the game was originally designed to be it's own thing with mario being slapped on later in development to give it a better chance marketing wise.
