Thanks to some of the magazine scans that Benjamin Steven uploaded to the site,i was wondering if it’s possible to rescue & dump the ROM of any prototype,like Virtual Bomberman,Zero Racers,Dragon Hopper,Out of the Deathmount,Shin Nihon Pro Wrestling,Etc.

A Dragon Hopper dump would be absolutely brain-exploding, but I don’t think we’ll ever see it. Although there are magazine scans indicative that at least some working form of the game (probably a late beta or maybe even a Release Candidate) left Nintendo’s hands, there’s no proof that anyone outside of Nintendo ever got their hands on it after that. I’m guessing that if it still exists in any physical form, it’s in the Nintendo Archives. At best, it’s in the hands of a collector, but if it’s outside of the Nintendo Archives at all, I think the sad truth is that it’s probably in a landfill somewhere.

Can’t tell you how much I would love to be proven wrong, though.

Only time will tell…

its been loosely confirmed prior to now that a working Dragon Hopper exist in private hands.

im sure checking out the discussion tab on the game file page here on PVB will provide you more info

I still find it hard to believe that a programmer wouldn’t have saved a copy of their work. Even if a game was only half-finished, I know I would save a cart if for no other reason than to preserve something I’d put creativity into. It amazes me how many obscure VHS recordings of 80s concerts have ended up on YouTube, and most of those probably have a lot fewer people looking for them than Dragon Hopper does.

The best hope may be unearthing more dev kits and finding a surprise left inside.

KJ4860 wrote:
its been loosely confirmed prior to now that a working Dragon Hopper exist in private hands.

it’s been loosely discussed. i’ve never read/seen any confirmation, only a lot of theoretical speculation. it is assumed that those review carts were not destroyed (nostalgia begets hope), but who knows. i would love to play it, but i just seems to me that we should be putting our collective skills into improving the vb homebrew scene. at least that is tangible.

I’m with Lester on this one. It’d be great to see a new commercial game, but it’d be better to make better homebrew games.

I always hold out hope that there are more new games ou tthere, but I’m not holding my breath. 😉

I’ve actually had the idea for a while now of making what I privately refer to as “Pokemon Very Red” and “Pokemon Extremely Red”. With the relative ease of making your own VUE-004 link cable, it’s a fascinating thought to be able to battle Pokemon with another player on the VB.

Then, of course, there’s the obligatory necessity of making a Zelda game for the system – I mean, what Nintendo system doesn’t have one? Find a need and fill it.

What got me excited for the Virtual Boy again was the moment I found out a Homebrew Scene actually existed for the Virtual Boy, I was blown away and acquired a flashboy as soon as I could.

I am like everyone else on here, I would love to see more official prototypes be released and recovered for our beloved VB but I would love to see more homebrew released. It is too bad we didn’t have some developers interested in releasing new full length games for the VB, like the Dreamcast for example.

Keep on dreaming 🙂

If there is, there is a big chance that the prototype WOULD NOT be Virtual Jockey. There is only 3 possibilities. The chances are very slim that it still exists.
A: Somebody who worked on the game that was there at Right Stuffs closure has a prototype
B:It was found in a garbage can
Or
C:The game was auctioned off to a private collector.
Probably neither of the three.

Nanis wrote:
If there is, there is a big chance that the prototype WOULD NOT be Virtual Jockey. There is only 3 possibilities. The chances are very slim that it still exists.
A: Somebody who worked on the game that was there at Right Stuffs closure has a prototype
B:It was found in a garbage can
Or
C:The game was auctioned off to a private collector.
Probably neither of the three.

We probably are not going to ever find Virtual Dodgeball. Hect is gone.

Don’t give up hope guys.

I am cross-involved with multiple scenes where unreleased titles cone up regularly. As of most recent, things like Ecco II for Dreamcast have been found; Kenju for Atomiswave has been dumped & should be subsequently receiving a cart release in the near future.

There is always somebody out there who may stumble upon the right connections.

Also, don’t forget to check Yahoo Japan once in a while.

Remember the X-Files and its “The Truth Is Out There” saying? We should think “The Prototype Is Out There” 🙂

Dragon Hopper reminds me of BioForce Ape for the NES, since it was thought to be shelf-ready but ultimately canceled. But that one wasn’t even totally confirmed to be real until the proto was found and dumped almost 20 years after.

Though I do also agree that an active homebrew scene would keep the system more relevant than hope for unearthing lost classics.

And nothing new that has to do with prototypes.