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Speedy Gonzales in Los Gatos Bandidos

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This is a prototype of the US version of Speedy Gonzales in Los Gatos Bandidos. Thanks to alcoatjez for the dump and scans.

By: Evan G
Last updated: January 7, 2017

There are several known prototypes of Speedy Gonzales in Los Gatos Bandidos. In 2011, alcoatjez bought one of them and released the dump on the No Intro forums. It was originally sold on Ebay in December 2010 by seller lilgames, with this description:

This is a legal, authentic test cartridge manufactured by Nintendo, marked as being from 1991. It has model number SHVC-2Q5B-03 printed on it. If you don't know what this is, it is a circuit board that basically is a game cartridge without the shell, and works with EPROM chips. This board was used for testing games in development as well as for sending out prototypes and pre-release review versions of games to magazines, journalists, etc so they could review a game and write their reviews in time for the game's retail release.

This was given to me in this exact condition, by Sunsoft of America in 1995 after completing production of the game Speedy Gonzales Los Gatos Bandidos. This is the game that is programmed on it and it was shrink wrapped with a photo-copy of the box art. The shrink wrap has kept this circuit board in pristine condition!

One notable thing about this prototype is that it is wrapped in plastic. This is likely an anti-piracy measure, if the wrap was broken, Sunsoft could tell if the organization this was loaned to attempted to dump the EPROMs. It also has a photocopy of the box art, but with Sunsoft branding. Due to Sunsoft USA shutting down, the game was eventually released by Acclaim instead.

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The game binary isn't really all that different from the 1.0 version release of the game, with only 12088 bytes of difference. A lot of the difference is due to three or four byte offsets in the binary. Sunsoft apparently watermarked every prototype for each place they were sent to, but I think without having a second prototype to compare it to, I don't think it would be easy to find out what it is. I'd assume the differences are a result of minor bug fixes.

Download here


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