Mario Is Missing! NES Prototype Is Found!

by Mike

When I told you last month that I had a “nearly unplayable… historic Mario prototype for the NES” to share, I wasn’t joking. I do. In the most literal sense, the game is extremely hard to play through and sickeningly historical, indeed.

Mario is Missing! is a Mario-themed edutainment title developed by Radical Entertainment that teaches you about world history, geography, and soul-crushing disappointment.

For some disturbing reason, I decided to pursue a prototype of this game from a former game journalist, who obtained the cart from the offices of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment Magazine.

Check out the Mario is Missing! NES prototype article to learn more!

Happy April Fools’ Day!

First Look At Historic Mario NES Prototype Find

by Mike

Nintendo Player has just obtained an historic Mario prototype for the NES. While I’m still checking the game for changes, I can say for sure that in its current state the game is nearly unplayable.

Nintendo has a strict policy when it comes to its prototypes. For that reason, few true betas from the Mario series exist outside of Nintendo’s headquarters.

This cartridge is, to my knowledge, the only copy in private hands and has never been seen by the general public before. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, my Mario NES prototype is nothing if not historical.

Please try to stay patient with me while I continue to search through the game code and prep the article. Check back early next month, when all will be revealed.

Twelve Tales: Conker 64 Dev Cart Drives Us Nuts

by Mike

Before departing from the company, a former Rare employee rescued a batch of Nintendo 64 development cartridges that were supposed to be destroyed. These carts were used to develop 512-megabit titles like Dinosaur Planet and Twelve Tales: Conker 64 (the original, cutesy version of Conker’s Bad Fur Day before the friendly squirrel turned into a homicidal maniac). Nintendo Player managed to acquire one of these saved Conker 64 carts recently.

Don’t go all nutty in excitement yet until you read the full article to find out what makes this Conker 64 dev cart different from other N64 prototypes.

Unreleased Steven Seagal SNES Game Is Out For Justice

by Mike

The wait is over. Let the gratuitous crotch punching begin!

Steven Seagal is The Final Option is an unreleased Super Nintendo title starring none other than everyone’s favorite ponytailed ’90s action hero. Nintendo Player has recently acquired one of the only known prototype cartridges of this cancelled game.

To find out more about its development, I interviewed Steve Wik of Running With Scissors (the makers of the Postal series). Steve was closely attached to the project, and he has a great sense of humor about it all.

Check out the full article.

N64 Galore Benefitting Make-A-Wish Foundation (May 31 to June 4, 2012)

by Mike

Between May 31st to June 4th, The SpeedGamers Community will be holding the “N64 Galore,” a 100-hour-straight gaming marathon to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Nintendo Player is an official sponsor of the event.

Last summer, TheSpeedGamers Community held a Super Nintendo marathon and raised over $600. Those donations went to building a playhouse for an adorable little eight-year-old named Caitlin, who has Wilms tumor, a rare cancer of the kidneys. This time around their goal is set at $1,000. Let’s help them reach that number.

Please head on over to the marathon page to make your donation today.

Sneak Peek At Upcoming Unreleased SNES Prototype

by Mike

Nintendo Player has a thing for quirky unreleased video games; California Raisins still to this day remains my favorite prototype find.

So when presented with the opportunity to get our hands on a Super Nintendo prototype of one of the most infamous unreleased video games ever, I succumbed to my strange desires.

Not much is known about this title, so I tracked down the game’s main designer, and that resulted in quite possibly the site’s most entertaining and enlightening interview yet–full of hilarious anecdotes and tales of back-stabbing industry politics.

Stay tuned for the full article!

Resident Evil Game Boy Color Port At Long Last Resurrected From The Grave

by Mike

In 1998, two brothers left their jobs as programmers at Acclaim to start up a new game development studio in South London called HotGen.

Fergus and Kevin McGovern wanted to make a big splash into the industry by undertaking a massive challenge: fit the best-selling 1996 Resident Evil from a Playstation CD-ROM into a palm-sized 4 megabit Game Boy Color cartridge.

Keep reading…

PSA: Just Say No To Wally Bear And The NO! Gang

by Mike

8 Emulator-Fresh Robert Byrne’s Pool Challenge Screenshots

by Mike

8 all-new screenshots of the unreleased NES title, Robert Byrne’s Pool Challenge, have been added to the game’s prototype page.

Polish Your Pool Sticks & Cue Up For The Unreleased Robert Byrne’s Pool Challenge NES Prototype

by Mike

A prototype of the unreleased/unlicensed NES game, Robert Byrne’s Pool Challenge, was auctioned off on eBay back in February of 2011. An anonymous collector purchased the game for $500. That collector recently contacted me to share some photos of the cart and circuit board.