August 19th, 2005 AD
The Search for Unreleased Games
I recently had a discussion with my Advisor
concerning my favorite genre of video games: RPG's.
As the leader of NES Defense and heir to the Dynasty, what
bugs me the most is the knowledge that certain titles were scheduled for release -- only to have their projects scrapped.
Isn't there anything we can do?
YES! There is some hope. Fellow retro
gamers besides myself have been working on stuff like this. First off, what are some of the titles with which I'm concerned?
Earthbound Zero - Earthbound is an RPG set in the modern day. It stars Ness, the
same little fellow of Super Smash Brothers fame. Earthbound was released on Super Nintendo in 1995. To avoid confusion
with the game which did hit our shores, gamers refer to the unreleased NES Earthbound by adding the word "Zero" to the title.
The NES Earthbound would have been a game unique by itself and different from the Super NES version, which could be called
a sequel.
Final Fantasy 2 - The list of Final Fantasy games is long and complicated. Long story
short, we didn't get Final Fantasy 2 in the NES version that Japan enjoyed. Roms of FF2 and Earthbound are out there,
but I couldn't get them to run. A team calling itself Neo Demiforce has translated Final Fantasy 2 and offers roms on
their site. When a cartridge of FF2 NES showed up on eBay, I nearly soiled my armor. It didn't sell for fear of
being a phony. Anyway, the Neo Demiforce team was involved with the cartridge, but they weren't supposed to be sold.
Then, can these carts be made?
Sim City - This was supposed to be released in 1991. It is the version of Sim City
known as 'SimClassic' on the computer. Nintendo Power reviewed it, showed screen shots, and hyped it. But this
title as well never saw store shelves. It later showed up on Super NES.
These and several other titles
missed the boat and didn't make it here. The ones that frustrate me the most are the RPGs. They would have been
so good and improved, developed and tested after the older games that we did get.
What can be done? Well, I'm looking into options regarding this
topic.
One is...obtain a Famicom-to-NES Adaptor. Stick a Famicom cart
on one end, and a 72-pin connector to the other. The cart will play on an NES System. It would still be in Japanese,
which would kill my hopes of playing an RPG. But action games would be fine. If I wanted to try this - just to
see if it would work - I have a Famicom cart of Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior.)
Another is...download a rom of a desired unreleased game. They
are out there thanks to discovered prototypes. I've heard there is a way to turn a rom into a cartridge. It would
involve a high level of technical know-how, but it's possible. You can take an extra, normal cartridge, open it, remove
the board, and replace it with a new one. If you had a new board with a rom on it, you get a new NES game. I've
read a detailed explanation on how to do this. Can this really be done?
Well, that's all for today. I'll keep researching this.
Take it easy, and remember...
The NES Dynasty will rise again!
