Man Selling Alleged Ninja Gaiden NES Prototype

5. May, 2012 by Shawn Console, News 474 comments

In the last few years the collecting of rare and uncirculated games has reached a fever pitch. It doesn’t take many classic games selling for tens of thousands of dollars for families to go scouring through their attics to see if they too might have a title that is capable of paying off their second mortgage. Unfortunately this has also led to the creation of several fake, or bootleg copies entering the mix forcing each new discovery to be heavily scrutinized for its authenticity.

Today’s diamond in the rough is brought to you by an unnamed person on the Sacramento Craigslist. The ad titled “NES Ninja Gaiden I Prototype Game – 1987 EPROM Rare!” tells a story of an individual receiving the game from a family member who passed it on to them in the late 80′s. The game remained in storage until rediscovered, and examined to be an extremely rare “prototype” of Ninja Gaiden for the NES.

This particular “prototype” has several things going for it as the game’s innards contain a PCB that is similar to many other prototype games which were unused in the commercial production of the original game. Conversely the exterior is a plain NTSC NES cart with the word ninja written in sharpie on it. While many prototypes do not bare a illustrated label, they typically contain some sort of semi-official looking markings beyond part of the title scribbled on the cart.

At this time, the owner is looking for 500 bucks and seems very reluctant to ship the cart unless very specific (and unclarified) terms are met. If you would like to scour the details, and help join the cause to properly identify this cart, you can investigate the ad here. If we hear of any outcome we will be sure to let you all know.

Do you think this is a legit prototype? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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