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(Those prototypes are part of a collection of loose EPROMs recovered by the Video Game History Foundation on behalf of an anonymous collector. This lot contained prototypes from various systems. The prototypes for other systems will be released on other sites, such as Hidden Palace and SNES Central)

We have a first batch today with three new prototypes:

Heroes of the Lance prototype for the Master System

Heroes of the Lance is a pretty unique title for the Master System (aside from Ultima IV, it is the only Western role playing game on the system). It borrows the AD&D universe and personal computer games, coming up with an unusually elaborate sets of rules and features for what you'd usually find on a 8-bit console at the time. Not a game you can breeze through very easily.

We don't exactly know what is different in this prototype but it appears to contains less data than the final version so may have missing environments or artwork, and possibly multiple gameplay differences.

Dynamite Headdy Prototype for the Game Gear

Treasure were always known for their inventive and polished action games, and this port of Dynamite Headdy (originating on the Megadrive and ported to the Game Gear by Minato Giken) is one of three Treasure title that graced the Game Gear, just before Gunstar Heroes landed (that later game also marks the birth of M2, for which porting Gunstar Heroes to the Game Gear the founding job, before they came back to the Game Gear in 2020 with the surprising release of GG Aleste 3).

This prototype version is based on the Japanese version of the game (which appears to lack some story cut-scene compared the western release) and include a level selector in the title screen, as well as an option (むてき) to make the player invincible, making it easy to explore the contents available in this prototype.

Our third prototype today is a Prototype of Mortal Kombat for the Game Gear.

A cursory check didn't reveal obviously visible differences so this may be a late prototype but the code is sufficiently different there are definitively things to investigate there.

Enjoy!
And thank you Video game History Foundation for helping recover those.

This message will auto destruct itself someday.

heroes_of_the_lance-proto-sms.zip (226.35 KB)

dynamite_headdy-proto-gg.zip (175.26 KB)

mortal_kombat-proto-gg.zip (370.99 KB)

As always, awesome work and thanks so much!

Author	Message
Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	3 prototypes: Heroes of the Lance, Dynamite Headdy, Mortal Kombat Posted: Sun May 23, 2021 9:18 pm Last edited by Bock on Sun May 23, 2021 9:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
	(Those prototypes are part of a collection of loose EPROMs recovered by the Video Game History Foundation on behalf of an anonymous collector. This lot contained prototypes from various systems. The prototypes for other systems will be released on other sites, such as Hidden Palace and SNES Central) We have a first batch today with three new prototypes: Heroes of the Lance prototype for the Master System Heroes of the Lance is a pretty unique title for the Master System (aside from Ultima IV, it is the only Western role playing game on the system). It borrows the AD&D universe and personal computer games, coming up with an unusually elaborate sets of rules and features for what you'd usually find on a 8-bit console at the time. Not a game you can breeze through very easily. We don't exactly know what is different in this prototype but it appears to contains less data than the final version so may have missing environments or artwork, and possibly multiple gameplay differences. Dynamite Headdy Prototype for the Game Gear Treasure were always known for their inventive and polished action games, and this port of Dynamite Headdy (originating on the Megadrive and ported to the Game Gear by Minato Giken) is one of three Treasure title that graced the Game Gear, just before Gunstar Heroes landed (that later game also marks the birth of M2, for which porting Gunstar Heroes to the Game Gear the founding job, before they came back to the Game Gear in 2020 with the surprising release of GG Aleste 3). This prototype version is based on the Japanese version of the game (which appears to lack some story cut-scene compared the western release) and include a level selector in the title screen, as well as an option (むてき) to make the player invincible, making it easy to explore the contents available in this prototype. Our third prototype today is a Prototype of Mortal Kombat for the Game Gear. A cursory check didn't reveal obviously visible differences so this may be a late prototype but the code is sufficiently different there are definitively things to investigate there. Enjoy! And thank you Video game History Foundation for helping recover those.

Bock Site Admin Joined: 08 Jul 2001 Posts: 8710 Location: Paris, France	Attachments Posted: Sun May 23, 2021 9:19 pm
	This message will auto destruct itself someday. heroes_of_the_lance-proto-sms.zip (226.35 KB) dynamite_headdy-proto-gg.zip (175.26 KB) mortal_kombat-proto-gg.zip (370.99 KB)

Maraakate Joined: 05 Jun 2010 Posts: 762 Location: Pennsylvania, USA	Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 2:02 am
	As always, awesome work and thanks so much!

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View topic - 3 prototypes: Heroes of the Lance, Dynamite Headdy, Mortal Kombat