Lost Neo Geo Prototype FOUND, REVEALED & RELEASED : "DarkSeed"

[Fox1]

WoW! Nice work man!!

[nio]

Could some over priced data rescoue company repair that broken card?

[mookie3three]

Awesome work. Great find.

[ErFava]

Nice find!

[LWK]

Amazing information.

[lithy]

NTM, if you would like any cash to help offset the purchase of the board, or if you pursue other options to possibly salvage the lost data that have a cost, I would love to throw some money at you. Please let me know.

I haven't bought or sold anything neo for lots of years now, but I'm glad to see people are still out there looking for this stuff and then sharing it.

Cheers.

[NeoTurfMasta]

I really appreciate all the kind words guys. I wish more of you could have been there at MGC to see it live. I wanted to do something special, and that was the only place that had so many NG.com members in one place.

Regarding the data recovery. It's just not going to happen. Data on SRAM cards can't be recovered once the battery dies.

EDIT:

Here's the pic of the back of the SRAM cards. The 2 stamps are the replace battery date. If you look at these card's specs, it says to replace the battery once a year.... I have the datasheet somewhere.

[Rot]

Regarding the data recovery. It's just not going to happen. Data on SRAM cards can't be recovered once the battery dies.

I have a dremel... a claw hammer... and some steady hands...

send them to me man... I can get teh DAAAAATTTTAAAA....

xROTx

[lithy]

Regarding the data recovery. It's just not going to happen. Data on SRAM cards can't be recovered once the battery dies.

Kinda what I figured, but I'm a tech dummy. A bummer, but still an amazing amount of stuff in here already to be excited about.

[shadowkn55]

Regarding the data recovery. It's just not going to happen. Data on SRAM cards can't be recovered once the battery dies.

^ this. SRAM isn't like a hard drive where the data is mechanically stored on a platter and can be recovered using clean room techniques. The data is strictly held in memory by having a continuous stream of current supplied by the battery. It would be like trying to recover a lost save on an snes cart with a dead battery. Not happening.

[NeoTurfMasta]

Here's the pic of the back of the SRAM cards. The 2 stamps are the replace battery date. If you look at these card's specs, it says to replace the battery once a year.... I have the datasheet somewhere.

I may have misspoke about the 1 year replacement date. I know I have a PDF of it saying it was recommended to replace every year, but then I forgot I had this bookmarked.

http://www.cpi-tec.jp/adtek/seihin/pccard/axs_diff.html

The 512k card says it can last up to 4 years, the 2MB card says 1-2 years depending on temperature. So that would put the cards made in 95-96 to correspond with the stamped dates on the back.

[Yoshi]

Where did you find it for auction? Yahoo.jp?

[snes_collector]

Very nice, thanks for sharing! I love seeing lost games brought back from the dead

[NeoTurfMasta]

I forgot to share the 2 boss sprites I pulled from the C roms that I cant seem to access in the game. I'm sure some good colored versions can be pulled out by some experts. Until then:

[Lee Gray]

i bet those bosses would look awesome in the game

[mastamuzz]

If there is any chance to make this game playable and keep people from trying to profit from it I suggest now that Raz offered to have a look and free the roms from Dev stage to a playable state and keep the Dev options still with you guys, in other words just keep the files a little longer till a few bright minds see those files, the team NTM and haze crew with a few other virtuoso guys, B you are the PCB design master why not an alliance? nobody even contemplates the idea?

[Larrs888]

I just wanted to express my thanks like many others for sharing this, I opened Retro Collect this morning and saw the article and then promptly came here. The game's artwork looks fantastic and I'm still impressed by the quality of sprites that the Neo Geo can pump out, I look forward to future news regarding the origins of this game. It makes you wonder just how many other protos are lurking out there!

[Rot]

Lurkers... coming out of the fookin woodwork here...

I blame poor ass modding...

xROTx

[dosdemon]

thank you for sharing this with the world instead of hoarding it like a chump, hint hint "collectors" with unreleased material

[loegan43]

Awesome find and nice work!

[greedostick]

Thats awesome. Actually looks promising. Cant wait to see what develops and to read over the rest of this thread. The Neo always delivers with new exciting news.

[SuperGun]

Did those particular cards have the double battery setup? (backup battery that holds the data while the main battery is replaced) or is it just expected & understood that the data must be copied to another card by the user prior to a battery replacement procedure because it is understood that all data is lost during a battery change?

Also, were you ever able to ask any questions to the seller? Such as trying to track down the history of the item like where the seller sourced it, from whom, and if there's anything more to be learned or had from its' past owner(s)?

Can't wait for Raz to have a look at the data. Not just to see if more of the game can be found and recovered, but more so to see if we can find any evidence of the licensee and game title. Also, maybe analyze the Voltage Fighter rom sets as well to see if any patterns or similarities are present in lines of code.

I'm still amazed at this find. Absolutely stunning. And those backgrounds are breathtaking.

[mr_b]

Awesome work again Turfy! :Buttrock: Your work and selflessness is admirable. It was a honor to get to meet you and be in the room for your presentation.

[Neo Rasa]

Lurkers... coming out of the fookin woodwork here...

I blame poor ass modding...

xROTx

I blame emulation. :P

[Zellez]

The game looks promising and really nice (especially the background).
Congratulation on the find and thanks a lot for sharing it! You deserve the utmost respect!