Shining Force II (Prototype, SEGA Genesis)
In June 2014, former Tips & Tricks magazine Senior Editor Jason Wilson sold a prototype of the acclaimed SEGA Genesis strategy RPG Shining Force II for $520. The buyer, Wayde Daigneault, has generously released its binary to the public.
Unfortunately, file comparisons show that there are not many changes in this prototype when compared to the final North American version.
Some of the byte differences can be found in the header, which does not affect the actual game in any way.
Notice how the July 1994 copyright date is the same, signifying that this prototype was made in the same month as the final build of the released American version.
The prototype also contains a block of blank data, which accounts for the rest of its differences.
(Image source: Wayde Daigneault)
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that a save file exists in the game despite the lack of a save battery on the prototype’s SEGA 171-6563A development board.
(Image source: Wayde Daigneault)
The save progress is corrupted, however, and does not allow for the player to move more than one step, resulting in the game being completely unplayable.
(Image source: Wayde Daigneault)
This glitched save cannot be deleted from the game, either. The .SRM file had to be manually separated from the ROM image in order for the prototype to run properly on an emulator.
While there are stickers over all of the EPROMs now, the prototype originally had three of its chip windows exposed.