Attempts to locate Dragon Hopper?

He probably sent it back to NOA like every other review copy that goes to Nintendo Power.

Finding a prototype like this is always difficult. Most unreleased protos end up surfacing on auction sites or through forums on their own. If they don’t, making one surface significantly harder.

If we had a staff list for Dragon Hopper, one could try contacting the NOA specific employees that worked on the game, like translators.

There had to be a few prototype carts I would think. It was playable at E3, which had to have been on more than one unit, looking at the videos there were a few Virtual Boys to set up.

Apparently one of the carts is owned by someone who treats it like their baby and most likely won’t ever part with it or dump it, because they feel elite or something owning the only known copy. Childish, really.

Hopefully another cart surfaces though, I would love to play the game.

I worked for a game magazine in the early 2000s.

Generally but not always cartridge prototypes/reviewables were returned to the publisher. There are a few exceptions to this for example when the publisher went out of business (SNK USA and the Neo-Geo pocket color for example). But usually these were returned and then re-written to another reviewable.

If this has been already stated I apologize. But We know it came from Intelligent systems. why doesn’t someone find a game that came out for the SNES at the time of the making of Dragon Hopper then someone play it on an EMU so you could pause the game and as DogP stated play the game to the end and write down the names. I think that this would be the best plan of action.:VB:

Please, have at it:

speedyink wrote:
There had to be a few prototype carts I would think. It was playable at E3, which had to have been on more than one unit, looking at the videos there were a few Virtual Boys to set up.

Apparently one of the carts is owned by someone who treats it like their baby and most likely won’t ever part with it or dump it, because they feel elite or something owning the only known copy. Childish, really.

Hopefully another cart surfaces though, I would love to play the game.

If those rumors about the very secretive Dragon Hopper owner are true, I highly doubt that he would have left the game undumped, as surely he would know that the cart could go bad any day. Thus, he probably managed to get it dumped by some means, and thus, the ROM is out there at least on one computer. But yes, if we are ever going to get Dragon Hopper, we must find some other source.

speedyink wrote:
There had to be a few prototype carts I would think. It was playable at E3, which had to have been on more than one unit, looking at the videos there were a few Virtual Boys to set up.

Apparently one of the carts is owned by someone who treats it like their baby and most likely won’t ever part with it or dump it, because they feel elite or something owning the only known copy. Childish, really.

Yes, it is childish. But the E3 video on YouTube has 5-6 stations playing Dragonhopper & Bound High; so there MUST be at least 6-10 carts in existence. They wouldn’t have done E3 without backup stations & carts.

What likelihood is there that there are SEVERAL groups of “childish elite”, each thinking themselves “superior”? Or does ONE group own ALL the carts? Surely there are still N employees/programmers who have unsurrendered memorabilia (which explains why THEY won’t come forward).

In time, the “eliteness” has to wear off; it is a system that’s getting older…

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
If those rumors about the very secretive Dragon Hopper owner are true, I highly doubt that he would have left the game undumped, as surely he would know that the cart could go bad any day. Thus, he probably managed to get it dumped by some means, and thus, the ROM is out there at least on one computer. But yes, if we are ever going to get Dragon Hopper, we must find some other source.

The likelihood of dumps being “out there”, is 100%. It’s also likely that at least one person on this board knows something he’s not sharing (wish it was me!).

TheSmJ wrote:

I refuse to believe that this game is buried in a landfill somewhere never to be enjoyed again…

Yikes — perish the thought! 8-/

There is also credible chatter about at least one prototype for Zero Racers, and possibly Goldeneye (we have screenshots). As time goes by, the novelty of “sole elite” decreases…

I’d actually go so far as to say that there are members of this site that have knowledge of who owns the dragon hopper proto or even know them personally, but with the nature of this type of thing, those individuals with said knowledge have either been sworn to secrecy or have actually had to sign non-discolsure agreements. As for the rom being dumped, I’ll say DogP most likely did the dumping as he has had the tech to dump these roms for a long time, but he is most likely one of those that has been sworn to keep this knowledge secret. I could be wrong though. That’s just a theory.

shiro_akechi wrote:
I’d actually go so far as to say that there are members of this site that have knowledge of who owns the dragon hopper proto or even know them personally, but with the nature of this type of thing, those individuals with said knowledge have either been sworn to secrecy or have actually had to sign non-discolsure agreements. As for the rom being dumped, I’ll say DogP most likely did the dumping as he has had the tech to dump these roms for a long time, but he is most likely one of those that has been sworn to keep this knowledge secret. I could be wrong though. That’s just a theory.

Actually there’s a dumper readily available that can have an adapter made to work on a vb cart, and anyone can “dump” a rom. I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of “time travel” — if I could ever build one (and then buy a dumper), I don’t know if I’d try to covertly copy one of the 1995 E3 display carts (did they remove them after hours?), or get a passkey for Gunpei’s hotel room while he was at dinner. It’s expected that he had ALL prototype carts.

(Bwaaaahahahaha!)

(Really sucks about Gunpei’s death — interesting read disparaging “conspiracy theories” here:
http://kotaku.com/5789740/why-gamings-most-tragic-conspiracy-is-bullshit )

HP Lovethrash wrote:
Sadly I’ve wondered if the secrets would only be revealed once general interest dies down. If nobody is going crazy with anguish over these lost games, there’s no point in hiding the game to gloat. My hope is that the supposed owners would feel the urge to be the first to “donate” the ROMs. Would you rather sit on it forever or be canonized as the one who finally made the games playable to all? You can nurture a power-hungry mentality by being nice as much as you can by not giving people what they want 🙂

‘Zactly; given time, the motivation for “hoarding” and being elite evaporates; no one cares (except a few of us die-hards). Seeing as how there had to be so many carts, the first person who donates the rom will be the one remembered.

i would have been a volunteer for their floor staff, and then taken a cart at the end of the 1st night and mailed it to a PO box. “where is it” — “hell if i know” — “you are dismissed” — “ok” — then run home to the PO box.

They took volunteers? You woulda had to have been very sneaky (and had a KEY) to unlock one of the displays and “borrow” a cart. That’s why it would have been good after-hours, if they left the carts in the displays (probably not). You’d be surprised how much you can get away with, if you have a uniform (or even a suit and a badge!) and a “confident-I’m-authorized” attitude. Just walk past security with a brief nod, walk right into the booth and unlock and copy a cart (no one will question the guy with a KEY), lock it back up and leave with a “Have-so-much-to-do-and-not-enough-time” expression…

(It’s highly unlikely that any “N” employees would even HEAR about the intrusion…)

Did all the displays have the same key?

I woulda been happy with just a copy; especially with them not knowing there WAS a copy. I really think it’s only a matter of time until one shows up, and likely soon — I just rewatched the Youtube “E3 1996” video (all 27 seconds), I count about TEN stations (half woulda had “Bound High” and the other half “Dragonhopper”). So there have to be 6-12 carts that were made; I hope & pray none of ’em are in landfills. I’m really really happy to have a Bound High. It’s the best VB game so far.

On an annoying note, I’m glad this thread happened; I went over to the site to look at the copier, and it’s been DISCONTINUED since Summer 2013, only current stock left. So I bit the bullet and ordered one…

The pinout for a “VB adapter” is on their site; I made a very nice “inline” cable adapter — it has a U-shaped cart slot mounted to the VB plug on a ribbon cable, other end is a 0.6″ dip plug. Obviously now I have to buy a sega cart and put a dip socket in it…

And no I didn’t destroy a VB to get the console plug; made mine from scratch!