Hello all, I was sent here from Seattle Retro Gamers on Facebook. Where there was some previous discusion.

I have in my possession an authentic, functional, 1995 prototype cartridge of Bound High for the Virtual Boy.

It is as of yet unclear to me what version of the game I have? If it is the same or different than the buggy->patched ROM used to make the repros? What is the easiest way for me to determine the version?

I have included pics of the cartridge and PCB. (I apologise my phone camera sucks.)

Any further information, or insight would be appreciated.

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Interesting, prototypes are always VUE (E) BA3A with boards twice the size extended beyond the case.

Your cart is VUE (F) BA3A and also a normal sized board, which means it’s probably a finalized cart. I would estimate that it was likely used to show reviewers right before release.

The only real way to know is to either rom dump it for comparison or just play it.

Glad to see you were able to get pictures and sign up without a problem! I hope everyone here can help you get the answers you’re looking for!

ahh… this just makes me feel we are one step closer to Dragon Hopper.

The only real way to know is to either rom dump it for comparison or just play it.

Yes, the next problem being my VB is experiencing display issues which I hope to address in the next week or two.

Then playing it and deciphering if the know bugs are present or not?

I played through several levels with no obvious issues before the display really crapped out. Though I am new to this game and was not attempting to identify bugs.

Cpt. F. wrote:

The only real way to know is to either rom dump it for comparison or just play it.

Yes, the next problem being my VB is experiencing display issues which I hope to address in the next week or two.

Then playing it and deciphering if the know bugs are present or not?

I played through several levels with no obvious issues before the display really crapped out. Though I am new to this game and was not attempting to identify bugs.

If you’re close to Lynnwood, WA and want to give it a go on a working VB, you’re welcome to come by my place and give it ago (as well as any other games you wanna try out). I can always load up the dumped version on my FlashBoy+ and we could do a side by side comparison (I have 2 VBs)

Cpt. F. wrote:

The only real way to know is to either rom dump it for comparison or just play it.

Yes, the next problem being my VB is experiencing display issues which I hope to address in the next week or two.

Then playing it and deciphering if the know bugs are present or not?

I played through several levels with no obvious issues before the display really crapped out. Though I am new to this game and was not attempting to identify bugs.

It’s an awesome game; I’ve had the pleasure of owning a reproduction since 2012, thanks to MineStorm. I am amazed that you have an actual copy of it though, as yours was actually used in the original process.

I recommend having your led screens soldered permanently, so you will never have to worry about the issue ever again.

Very cool. Care to fill us in on how you came to own it?

Cpt. F. wrote:
Hello all, I was sent here from Seattle Retro Gamers on Facebook. Where there was some previous discusion.

I have in my possession an authentic, functional, 1995 prototype cartridge of Bound High for the Virtual Boy.

It is as of yet unclear to me what version of the game I have? If it is the same or different than the buggy->patched ROM used to make the repros? What is the easiest way for me to determine the version?

I have included pics of the cartridge and PCB. (I apologise my phone camera sucks.)

Any further information, or insight would be appreciated.

Very cool! The most interesting part to me is the presence of the battery, since that game doesn’t support saving games.

As everyone said, it’s best to either dump it, or play through it and compare it with the rom that’s out there. There’s tons of people on here who can help, depending on your location.

Dumping is the best way to tell if it is legit. If the rom is identical to the buggy or patched rom it’s most likely not legit due to the way those have been build. The current rom is known to be the final version so I doubt there would be any ingame differences.

Maybe someone can tell from looking at the board if it is fake. That would be even easier.

speedyink wrote:
Very cool! The most interesting part to me is the presence of the battery, since that game doesn’t support saving games.

I don’t know about VB games in particular, but a fellow recently dumped a prototype of Street Fighter Zero 2 for Super Famicom (which doesn’t use the S-DD1 chip so it’s playable on flash carts!, but I digress). Anyway, the zip package had a .srm file (the standard save format for SNES games) and I asked him about it since that game also didn’t support saving. He said it was common for prototype boards to have SRAM even if it wasn’t utilized and he dumped it for completeness or in case it held some gem but that it didn’t do anything useful with regard to the ROM. Maybe VB dev boards are similar?

Awesome! So this is the rare flash chip equivalent of the EPROM cartridge [1] we have all seen before! Note how the (E) or (F) part of the serial relate to the type of chips used. Looks quite different than the cart that has surfaced before (holding Space Pinball) [2], which was most likely a prototype flash cart.

Thank you for sharing, Cpt. F.! I hope you can dump the ROM so we can compare it to the version that was built from the (final) sources. For a quick classification, does the game look like the final version [3] or might it be an early version that looks like in the promo video [4]? The on-screen indicators, the title screen and menus should be the most interesting parts to look at.

[1] EPROM cart: https://www.planetvb.com/modules/hardware/?type=vue&sec=ep_rom_pcb
[2] Flash cart: https://www.planetvb.com/modules/hardware/?type=vue&sec=flash_rom_pcb
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaJ-Ak2XDqQ
[4] https://www.planetvb.com/modules/games/?u001m029

Ok, I put my glitchy VB in the very hot garage for an hour or so and it worked again! I played in there for quite awhile, (while sweating) and noticed no obvious bugs and made it to World 3 Stage 5 on Normal before I got too sweaty and tired awkwardly leaning over the workbench.

It looks like this one [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaJ-Ak2XDqQ that KR155E referenced. Not the demo version.

If my VB will continue to function outside an extremely hot room I would like to play more, as I scribbled down the passwords (old habit) and it appears I was most of the way through the game.

I tried, mostly in vain, to take some video through the eyepiece. It’s all pretty crappy, my phone is old and locks up, but I could try again. Is there anything in particular I could attempt to capture that would be especially helpful?

this is an interesting find. did anyone know this existed? i can’t recall ever reading about this or hearing about it before.

cpt. f, would you happen to know any of the cart’s history? any way to trace it back through those who have owned it? it’s the provenance of this cart that has most curious. i want to pick it up and ask it where it’s been! lol.

Yeah it’s hard to take video on the VB. I find a good quality cell phone usually does a great job, or if you have a DLSR you can normally change the video shutter speed to 50 which helps.

Otherwise, I’d say the most interesting part for me would be from turning on the power switch until the start of the first level. I could tell you pretty quick if there’s any differences.

Cpt. F. wrote:
Is there anything in particular I could attempt to capture that would be especially helpful?

The best I have been able to do was to record with my cell phone camera lens right up against one eye of the VB. You may find better fitment of your phone if you remove the eye shade (at least in my experience it helps). Make sure the room is absolutely pitch black and if not, toss a towel over the console (leaving the phone screen visible so you can still play).

I was able to capture from ON to Stage 1. It appears identical to the full YouTube playthrough previously referenced.

An interesting note is that while the PCB says 1995, the in game menu has 1995,1996 Copyright.

In order to get the .AVI under 40960k I had to rush through it hitting start as fast as I could. Sorry, lol, 25sec was too long, but 19sec was fine.

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Is there another finished prototype of this game besides the one I have?

The history of the cart is pretty limited to be honest. At some point it walked out of NOA, that much is certain. May have been passed around, unclear. Then it sat in storage until now, when I asked my associate to let me investigate his old collection. He does not wish to be involved.

Cpt. F. wrote:
Is there another finished prototype of this game besides the one I have?

The history of the cart is pretty limited to be honest. At some point it walked out of NOA, that much is certain. May have been passed around, unclear. Then it sat in storage until now, when I asked my associate to let me investigate his old collection. He does not wish to be involved.

Sorry if this is intrusive, but does he possibly have any other VB protos?

If you want to dump it, we can send you the community dumper (as I like to call it). It’s an adapted retrode 2 unit.

AFAIK Eric (bigmak) or Ben has it at the moment.

Don’t what ever you do send the cart to Mellott (he’ll steal the ROM and make carts for EBay).

If your displays ever start acting up again, feel free to let me know. I’m also located in the greater Seattle area and can do the solder repair for the glitchy displays.

Best of luck with the awesome prototype!