Scanner (Prototype)
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A prototype of Scanner for the NES.
Notes
This letter, describing the details of this build, was sent by William Novak to Frank Cifaldi:
I am William Novak, known professionally as just “Novak”. This letter is to verify that the SCANNER cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System sold on eBay on October 14, 2022 is an authentic technology demo that I used in an attempt to get the project off the ground.
I was a Project Manager and Designer at Mattel Toys from 1987 to 1991. Prior to joining Mattel, I was an assembly language programmer for SEGA Coin-op division from 1982 to 1985.
During my time at Mattel, I designed the toy-to-TV interface for the Captain Power TV series, and then designed a series of NES games for the Mattel Power Glove. Only one of these games, Super Glove Ball, made it to market in 1990.
During the year prior to the 1991 CES, I worked closely developing Super Glove Ball with RARE’s Chris and Tim Stamper in England, and Coin-It’s Joel Hochberg, their US partner in Miami. When Glove Ball became somewhat playable, I went to England to join RARE’s team in Twycross for four weeks. This is when their software development was taking place in the Stamper’s converted barn. It was really cool.
My job at Mattel was to design new projects, sell Mattel marketing on the project, and then develop it. During my time in residence with RARE, we planned what we could show at the next CES, as RARE wanted to do more work with Mattel. SCANNER used a display format similar to RARE’s earlier game, Snake, Rattle n’ Roll, so that’s what they wanted to tackle first.
I used the SCANNER cart when I met privately with retailers (Toys-R-Us, Kaybee, etc.) at the January 1991 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) In Las Vegas. The pencil markings on the cartridge’s label are from my own hand. In the upper right corner are the numbers “1/91” for January 1991. SCANNER was never shown on the main floor (it wasn’t a real game yet), only in private meetings where I “pitched” the idea to retailers. Mattel required me to demonstrate retailer interest before they would fund further development.
The SCANNER cart was part of my private presentation to retailers. It is a technology demo, which means we were proving that Mattel and RARE were capable of producing an NES cart. I know this sounds funny given RARE’s proven track record, but it’s the type of thing retailers, and Mattel, wanted to see. At that time SCANNER was just an idea, and I must have had some sort of “chalk talk” to describe what I wanted to do with it. I have no documentation of these meetings.
When the 1991 CES show wrapped up, I asked RARE if they wanted to reuse the EPROMs in the cart, and they said something like, “nah, you keep’em”, so I ended up with it. Too bad that in 1991, the Power Glove was “beyond dead” and Mattel cancelled all related projects.
novak, October 15, 2022 - Los Angeles California