16-Bit Gems Extra #1.5: Earth Bound Prototype Hands-On (NES)
It's one of the rarest video game cartridges in existence. Earth Bound (Mother) was fully ready for release on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, but only got as far as a handful of prototypes. Roo has acquired one of these rare carts and is going in depth to give you all the info he can on it.
Where do each of the carts that have escaped Nintendo of America live now? What's on the circuit board? What does a play through look like? All this and more brought to you courtesy of the Clan of the Gray Wolf.







Wow, such an in-depth look at the prototype. Thanks for the great video, Roo!
(I want that shirt. I suppose Starmen sell it)
I like Matt Alderman's Mullet... is pretty "rad" :P
sorry I couldn't help it
Funnily enough, good old Matt actually was (partly) the subject of a Seanbaby article a few years ago. Apparently his reputation preceeds him: http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/sexy.htm
And Kurara, you're right, that shirt's available from Starmen.Net/Fangamer. It's one of my favorite gamer shirts, along with this number from ThinkGeek.
I actually have that shirt in red!! It's such a great shirt... Gotta love the starmen.
Great video! I can't believe you have one of those cartriges. That is so cool! I hope somebody gets back to you on how to dump it so we can all enjoy it!
I've never been able to find a decent rom or emulator to play this game. I ended up trying to muddle my way through the GBA version on my Virtual boy, but that didn't work out well... I still maintain that one day, I'll get to actually play this game.
I've been doing some reaserach into ROM dumping and found very little in the way of NES duping, but I did find this:
http://hackaday.com/2009/06/19/usb-reader-for-snes-game-carts/
I have the shirt in green. It's a great and cool shirt.
Also, great video. Enjoyable. It was pretty "rad"
Roo, I had to watch these videos once again, as I think they are genius and I was linked to them from the new Christina Hendr- errr, ahhh... I mean 3DS video. I absolutely love the "timeline" of owners for each of the cartridges, this was brilliant!
My two best friends and I have been playing EB since it came out in 95, and immediatley it became one of our favorite games of all time. But only until about a few years ago I guess have we been really getting into collecting EB merchandise and really the whole EB "culture." Now it has become part of one of my daily internet rituals to check EBcentral daily- from that site is how I found out about you guys!
Like I was saying, I love how you really broke it down and showed the graphic timelines for each of the prototypes- EB is such a unique game because there are SO many strange and RARE pieces of merchandise, collectors items and promotional items- my friends and I will sit and have long winded discussions about the stories and history behind some of these treasures, especially ones such as the EB promotional ruler, mach pizza air freshener, EB pogs, etc
Out of the 3 of us, EB is my friend Chris' absolute favorite- he was the wacko that won the EB ruler not too long ago for $776
earthboundcentral.com/2010/02/earthbound-ruler-sells-for-776/#comments
Did or would you ever have any interest in doing similar timeline research for some of these other rare EB gems? Things like the ruler and air freshener as far as I know have around less then 10 even in existence, since they were not mass produced. I think its so interesting to think that only a true handful of some of these items exist and even more interesting is where they have trickled down to over the years.
What even happened to EVERYONE's EB box?!?!?! I know!! Isn't funny how everyone who owned EB back in the day has NO idea what ever happened to it?! And now they go for over $100 on ebay. I can't help but to think about all the rulers and promotional newspapers that might have been tossed out by someone's mom cleaning their room.
Thanks Roo- keep up the fantastic work!!
Wow, this is a cool video. I guess I saw it a bit late, but I am glad I did see it. You seem overwhelmed with happiness to have the cart. :)
Thanks, CharlesMainegra for your deep, thought out, in depth, emotional post.
I could cry . . . . . . You friggin' spambot!
Grow your penis in three days!
Awesome review Roo. I really enjoyed watching it. Very in-depth look.
I only just watched this, but it was awesome Roo. I really enjoy your informative videos. Im glad a genuine fan got their hands on this rare cart! And yeah, dont let the cat near it...cats are shifty...well at least mine is.
And have a think about that "lock out Chip" video as I would love to know how certain consoles did it and then how 3rd parties got around them, and it would be sweeet hearing it in CotGW format.
Anyway , Bask in your rare game glow.
Take it easy!
"Reset, Power, Off." Forgetting to do that killed my save of FF1 so many bloody times as a kid
Pretty Cool look at the game, Roo. I'm probably going to get Mother 1+2 on GBA and also Mother 3 (Since I'm learning Japanese)
Mother 3 can be played in English with a language patch.
Thnx, Mr. K.
I had tried that a year ago but couldn't figure it out, but I figured it out yesterday and now I'm on Ch 2
I love that you kept the file that was still on there!
The research for this video must have been a lot of fun and very frustrating at the same time. I'm sure this was one of your most timeconsuming videos. :thumbsup: