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Ah, the ROM that started all
this silliness I call System Failure. This my friends, is
the first prototype ROM I ever found. Released through
TSR's NES Archive many many moons ago, this was one of my
favorite Nintendo games of the era as well - not so much
for it's playability, but just the fact that I loved the
Terminator 2 movie so much that nothing that bore it's
name could suck. Anyway, the final game really isn't bad,
and the proto is quite interesting in its own right. |
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the first initial differences with this ROM is the demo
sequence before you press start - it is completely
different than the released game, and actually in my opinion, better than
the release. The proto also reveals that the game was programmed by those
fine gamemakers at Acclaim, makers of such award winning games as Total
Recall and WWF Wrestlemania, instead of the people who actually released
at LJN. The one intermission I have managed to get to is pretty
unfinished, and one of the screens in it is not in the released version of
the game.
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The
two biggest differences you will notice in the game
are the fact that the game starts with a stage select
screen and that the collision detection isn't
finished. Basically what that means is that you
cannot be hit, and some of the enemies cannot be
punched by you. As far as the stage select is
concerned, you can choose to start at any level in
the game, but be aware that not all of them are
finished. Most are missing the enemies, and the
Cyberdyne level is not present. |
View the fullsize
cart scan. |
This is one of the most
interesting prototypes that have surfaced so far, showing
a good example of how a game is developed. According to
TSR's NES Archive, the people who released this ROM, this
cart was found in a pawn shop and purchased for $5... a
far cry from the insane prices that prototypes now bring
in on eBay.
If you haven't played the released
version of this game, I have to strongly recommend hunting
that game down first before trying this to compare the
two. Now if only a few more would surface like this...
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