wyansas | 131 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 (edited) https://www.ebay.com/itm/134383804312 I've seen a few 5 screw test carts pop up on eBay in the past few months and I'm wondering if anybody here knows if they're legit. It's easy to fake one, the label quality even on real ones is always shitty. All the test carts I had seen before, both grey and yellow, were 3 screw. Label on this one says (C) 1990, but it's possible the 5 screw yellow shell was made years before. Anybody know about these? Edited December 26, 2022 by wyansas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkchylde28 | 1,546 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 The lack of board pics would make me immediately suspicious, regardless of how good the cart looks. In this day and age, anybody who has something valuable and knows it basically has no business not cracking open carts that permit it and submitting board photos on all such auctions/listings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWunderful | 2,927 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 Shouldnt it have flat head screws? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 The cheaper cart "they grabbed from Heritage" and the (slightly) more expensive one is not evaluated. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Morbis | 2,088 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 I used to save pics of test carts like 15 years ago when I was looking to buy one, and they were always 3 screw. Also, the label seems far shorter than a standard label on the encased one. If someone here has a test cart for comparison, that would help a lot. On the face of it, I would think fake, but since these aren't exactly retail games, Nintendo would have cared far less about quality control. So buyer beware, I guess... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted December 26, 2022 Share Posted December 26, 2022 Yeah, that label looks all kinds of wrong. Even board pics wouldn't help on this, as it's an NROM board which would be real easy to fake. I wouldn't risk it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 (edited) Yeah I can tell you with 100% certainty this one is legit. I’ve had several 5 screw test carts over the years. For the port test cartridges, they did a revision to fix a bug with the original release and all the revisions had 5 screw cartridges. I’ve also seen Zelda and the joystick cartridges in 5 screw as well. In fact my joystick cartridge is 5 screw as well. The label ware on the one on eBay is consistent with all the used ones I’ve gotten from service centers in the past. So def legit. Edited December 27, 2022 by Penguin Adding photo 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Here’s a closer of my 5 screw one 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_wizard_666 | 1,325 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Well that's good to know. Just out of curiosity, do any of them have back labels? The ones on ebay lack them so it'd be good to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrWunderful | 2,927 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 4 hours ago, Penguin said: Yeah I can tell you with 100% certainty this one is legit. I’ve had several 5 screw test carts over the years. For the port test cartridges, they did a revision to fix a bug with the original release and all the revisions had 5 screw cartridges. I’ve also seen Zelda and the joystick cartridges in 5 screw as well. In fact my joystick cartridge is 5 screw as well. The label ware on the one on eBay is consistent with all the used ones I’ve gotten from service centers in the past. So def legit. Do yours have security screws, or flatheads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 6 hours ago, MrWunderful said: Do yours have security screws, or flatheads? All the test carts should have security screws, even the 5 screw ones. Never seen the flatheads on any of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 6 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said: Well that's good to know. Just out of curiosity, do any of them have back labels? The ones on ebay lack them so it'd be good to know. The only yellow cart that ever had a back label was Zelda, and there should be no production code stamp on it. The greys carts should not have labels, but I have seen a couple directly from centers that had them, we’re probably a reshell thou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted December 27, 2022 Share Posted December 27, 2022 Just now, Penguin said: The only yellow cart that ever had a back label was Zelda, and there should be no production code stamp on it. The greys carts should not have labels, but I have seen a couple directly from centers that had them, they were probably a reshell thou. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,010 Posted December 28, 2022 Share Posted December 28, 2022 Wata has multiple 5 screw variants of these in their population reports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 On 12/28/2022 at 2:09 PM, Code Monkey said: Wata has multiple 5 screw variants of these in their population reports. Wata also has repros in their lists 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,010 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 2 hours ago, fcgamer said: Wata also has repros in their lists Only when listed as such on the label. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 3 hours ago, Code Monkey said: Only when listed as such on the label. Did they grade a few fake protos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkchylde28 | 1,546 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 4 hours ago, fcgamer said: Did they grade a few fake protos? I want to say they did, like a bunch of Atari 2600 stuff, and vintage at that. Maybe Super Pac-Man? I specifically remember it happening, and there being a lot of outrage and discussion about it, and basically they got taken (and never corrected their error) due to the whole thing being from that same era and them not having the depth of knowledge to know better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,723 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 48 minutes ago, darkchylde28 said: I want to say they did, like a bunch of Atari 2600 stuff, and vintage at that. Maybe Super Pac-Man? I specifically remember it happening, and there being a lot of outrage and discussion about it, and basically they got taken (and never corrected their error) due to the whole thing being from that same era and them not having the depth of knowledge to know better. I thought they did some SNES too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,010 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 7 hours ago, fcgamer said: Did they grade a few fake protos? I think they did some that were review copies and not necessarily prototypes but I do remember a SNES game that supposedly was just fake, I can't quite remember the details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,184 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 @fcgamer , I just wanted to chime in and say that test carts exist in four possible major variants. Yellow 5-Screw Yellow 3-Screw Grey 5-Screw Grey 3-Screw There's also minor revisions like the shape of the label, but I'm not entirely sure if those count as actual variants since they may be repair center made labels. Also, in all my years I've never come across any documentation that proves that "The Legend of Zelda Test Cartridge" is an authentic service material, especially since they come in a variety of front label variants. The only thing that lends to their legitimacy is the fact that all "real" test carts have no assembly line stamp on their back labels, meaning it's the normal "Gold Label" but no physical imprint of an assembly line...no other game in the library to my knowledge has this unique feature. There's also been a Gyromite, and Duck Hunt test cart to have surfaced...but only one of each to my knowledge and they're almost definitely service center customs. Ironically though, if the service center did make them, then they're authentic anyway...so the 3-Screw DK Math theory of them being service center repairs still makes them real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePhleo | 2,184 Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Oh, and @Penguin long time no chat. Have you ever seen any SNES Test carts with the "slot" style cartridge shell instead of the slide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin | 198 Posted January 5, 2023 Share Posted January 5, 2023 On 1/3/2023 at 3:06 PM, ThePhleo said: Oh, and @Penguin long time no chat. Have you ever seen any SNES Test carts with the "slot" style cartridge shell instead of the slide? I have a few of both styles, I’ve seen both styles as well, not sure if all the carts came in both variants. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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