Gameboy Game Genie Prototypes?

[LandoXIII]

Hello everyone,

I've been a collector of Nintendo and Nintendo-related items for quite some time now, but have recently found interest in accessories and peripherals of the systems (Gameboy, NES, SNES, N64). Currently, I've been fascinated with Game Genies...

After a bit of research, and reading a few interviews/blogs by Richard Aplin (programmer elite, and creator of many of the Game Genies), it appears as if there may be Gameboy Game Genie prototypes floating around out there. Aplin states that after the success of the NES Game Genie, Codemasters enlisted his help to reverse engineer a Game Genie for the Gameboy system. He goes on to say it took several prototypes until both he and Codemasters went ahead with production.

My question to you guys is, do you think these prototypes actually exist? And if so, would they have any inherent value (aside from being a piece of electronic gaming history)?

Any ideas or input is appreciated.

[Flake]

They might exist but the problem you run into with prototypes is in exactly what form they might exist in.

A lot of prototype games, for instance, never even graced a production cartridge. A lot of prototype hardware never gets far enough to actually look like what it is supposed to be.

If there are any prototype gb genies around they might be nothing more than loose connectors and a couple of wires, with none of the accoutrement to make it recognizable as such. That might make it very difficult to sell to someone.

[noiseredux]

They might exist but the problem you run into with prototypes is in exactly what form they might exist in.

A lot of prototype games, for instance, never even graced a production cartridge. A lot of prototype hardware never gets far enough to actually look like what it is supposed to be.

If there are any prototype gb genies around they might be nothing more than loose connectors and a couple of wires, with none of the accoutrement to make it recognizable as such. That might make it very difficult to sell to someone.

my thoughts exactly.

[LandoXIII]

Thank you for the input.

I've been talking to a gentleman (who has been pretty reliable in the past, as far as these things go), and he claims to have seen a few of these gameboy game genie prototypes, and describes them as elongated EPROM boards with different adaptors and outputs on them.

I will have to research this further.

[Flake]

Just be wary if this Gentleman suggests you buy any such prototypes.

Also if he tries to sell you beachfront property in Arizona.

[LandoXIII]

Just be wary if this Gentleman suggests you buy any such prototypes.

Also if he tries to sell you beachfront property in Arizona.

[RichardAplin]

Hi, I know this thread is stale, but..
I have a Super Nintendo Game Genie II prototype (never went into production). I don't think it still works but don't have a SNES. Maybe I'll pick one up.
That's about the most interesting one b/c it had a bunch of nice features that never made it into mass production; we had (for example) ability to trigger cheats off the joypad in-game, e.g. "Make mario big" in Marioworld could be if you held down both L+R buttons or whatever. That was pretty cool. Also it did codefinding...

Anyway,
Other than this one I have here I doubt there are any other Game Genie prototypes left around of any variety; it's possible Codemasters still have other prototypes in some box in an outhouse, but they would just be preproduction (i.e. non-working or partially working) versions of what was later seen in Walmart.

The very first genie prototypes were hand wired on big fugly boards of TTL logic and didn't tend to work for very long. The later ones (e.g. Gameboy, SNES, etc) were prototyped using FPGAs which made life a lot easier. Then the design was migrated to an ASIC and hopefully worked.

Rich Aplin

[Flake]

Interesting. That makes sense as the retail game genies are notorious for wearing out your cartridges over time.

Sometimes I forgot how 'wild west' the world of game peripherals was back in the 90's.

[LandoXIII]

First of all, I must say it is a treat to have Mr. Aplin respond to this thread. If there was anyone would could confirm/deny such things, it would be you. Thank you for your response.

In the years that have passed since my initial posting, I had decided to purchase the supposed Gameboy Game Genie prototypes. They are pretty amazing (even if they are homebrewed). I have taken photos and they can be viewed below. Some of the stickers have writting on them that doesn't show up too well with the flash, but if necessary, I can take closer pictures with a better camera.

All of the "prototypes" work in that they power on and have the Game Genie logo appear. Other than that, their functionality differs with each board. The final/store version appears to work like those available for retail purchase. (The Gameboy games attached to each of the boards are just shells.)

Any input, Mr. Aplin?

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2310/14640149.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8742/62933483.jpg

[RichardAplin]

In the years that have passed since my initial posting, I had decided to purchase the supposed Gameboy Game Genie prototypes. They are pretty amazing (even if they are homebrewed). I have taken photos and they can be viewed below.

Any input, Mr. Aplin?

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/2310/14640149.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8742/62933483.jpg

Heh yep those particular ones are prototypes built by Galoob Toys (the US toy company we partnered with) - the bottom two PCBs are different FPGA versions (there were two different designs at one point), the top two look like dev (ram) boards for s/w development and codefinding. I recall on the Gameboy Genie there was a bit of duplication of effort on both sides of the Atlantic; everyone was _super_ keen to get a product out.

Nice find!