News/Final ROM Archive Release Part 4
May 27, 2016
Here it is, the fourth and final part of the Final ROM Archive (for now…)! We have a couple of cool things for this week to wrap up the month.
Check out the Sega ROM Archive article to view some general information about these releases and remember to check out the articles themselves by clicking on the hotlink on each game heading in this article.
Enjoy! Next month we will have a different theme, so stay tuned.
The unique builds for this week are as follows:
Death Duel prototype (May 6, 1992)
A prototype of Death Duel for the Sega Megadrive. Appears close to final. Contains some spelling and grammar errors as well as code changes.
European Club Soccer prototype (Oct 25, 1991)
A prototype of European Club Soccer for the Sega Megadrive. No Virgin logo credit, lacks copyright on title screen, no "more options" option.
Growl prototype (Aug 26, 1991)
A prototype of Growl for the Sega Megadrive. Still has the "EASY" difficulty option despite being removed from the US release. Built a few months before Japanese release.
Paperboy prototype (Oct 28, 1991)
A prototype of Paperboy for the Sega Megadrive. Built two months before the US final.
Pat Riley Basketball prototype (Jun 14, 1990)
A possible prototype of Pat Riley Basketball for the Sega Megadrive. Almost the same as US final, except for a one byte code change and different data at the end (possibly padding).
R.B.I. Baseball 3 prototype (Jul 18, 1991)
A prototype of R.B.I Baseball 3 for the Sega Megadrive. The copyright screen appears to be missing completely. Contains some other differences as well.
RoadBlasters prototype (Jun 27, 1991)
A prototype of Road Blasters for the Sega Megadrive. Build date hints one month before final US, though header references Aug 1990.
Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe prototype (Jun 7, 1991)
A prototype of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe for the Sega Megadrive. Lacks trademark on the Arena company logo before the title screen. Demo mode starts with a different timer.
Tommy Lasorda Baseball localization prototype (Apr 30, 1989)
A possible revision prototype of the Tommy Lasorda Baseball localization for the Sega Megadrive. Either pre-US final or pre-PAL final. Contains additional code to control the Z80 bus in VBlank. The code is present in the PAL final but absent in the US final and JP original, however it could be a debug setting.
Turbo Outrun prototype (Dec 9, 1991)
A late prototype of Turbo Outrun for the Sega Megadrive. Sound test tracks not named yet.
Miscellaneous ROMs
Just like last week, there are a few ROMs that can be considered “Altered Finals”, where the build itself is based off a final ROM but altered slightly for whatever reason. These ROMs have nothing that changes the game in any way, but are included here as an interesting curiosity.
The games are as follows:
- Centurion - Defender of Rome (Apr 24, 1991 build)
- Home Alone 2 - Lost in New York (Sep 29, 1993 build)
- Ren & Stimpy - Stimpy's Invention (Dec 9, 1993 build)
- ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron (Sep 11, 1993 build)
Afterword
As always, remember to keep tuning in sometime every week (preferably Friday) for more releases. And expect to see something different every month! Remember to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube for the latest as soon as it all happens. Be sure to tell your friends as well!
Until next time!