akogingu

I've recently started looking into old prototypes that were shown off on the internet ages ago, whether it be a faint memory of an auction or a random post on a forum I remember ages ago. Needless to say, there's quite a lot of things over the years that have turned up only to slip through the cracks and become completely forgotten. I can't even fathom how many protos probably were mentioned on the Assembler forums, for example, and now that whole place is gone with no easy to access archive. Lots of things some random collector maybe hinted at owning are now lost to time, with their now possibly former-collector who probably won't ever have any reason to even think of looking back at what they own. People age, priorities change. NintendoAge is a similar case. I know there were also a lot of prototypes collectors there, but not all of them shared everything they had, or what they did share, they never intended to "share" aka dump the data on the internet. I'm just curious how members of this community feel about prototypes now, since I've seen enough sentiment looking over here that implies some thought of the old guard as being a bit archaic in their ways, not as inclusive as they could have been. Let's face it, prototypes have always been a sort of elusive club many love to get into, and once they're in, they often enjoy having a gloating piece that they have no intent of ever sharing. It's hard to really talk about this without sounding like I'm ready to just start name-calling with terms such as "hoarder", but that's not my intent. Prototypes just have always been something that have admittedly fed into some's egos in getting to own the only known copy of something. Times have changed though. It's kind of funny looking back because it was only 2019 when NA died, but that along with the previous death of Assembler I think put the final nail in the coffin regarding how closed off the whole prototype thing has felt. With Twitter becoming an even more common place for people to discuss prototypes, to Discord taking over with groups such as the Hidden Palace, prototypes have never been more associated with the idea of preservation than now, whereas in the past it was always more a case of mysterious collectors owning rarities on niche forums. The Video Game History Foundation also is known enough to the point I think anyone posting on Twitter in response to any prototypes being shown off (i.e. Tim Stamper's recent Conker 64 reveal) that is begging for a "dump" or for the proto to be "preserved" likely has learned those terms from Twitter accounts such as the VGHF. All of that "zomg torrent please" talk was previously relegated to obscure posts on these niche forums with a niche userbase of nerds. Now you've got tweets with millions of views and almost every response understanding what a "dump" is I suppose I'm sort of ranting, but I guess what I'm getting at is, for anyone here that owns prototypes you've yet to look into preserving, what is your viewpoint on owning them? Do you think you'll eventually share them someday? Do you just see them as collectors objects and think people asking for data dumps are entitled choosing beggars? Do you see them as investments? And in the context of how I began this post, do you happen to own anything that you've been holding onto for over a decade now and it sort of just sits, forgotten? I've been dismayed at how hard it is to track down some individuals that were former prolific members on some forums, and the protos they owned are now probably going to be lost for good unless they make some miracle comeback. Don't even get me started on eBay having zero archival of anything. Discuss!

I've been aware of this site as soon as it went up but never felt compelled to join until recently. Used to go by the name introless on those forums, although I won't say I was the most prolific poster. But I made a deal or two there. It still hurts remembering NA vanishing, I actually had a deal going through with a member there who I had no other means of contacting. It was a pretty rare title, too Ah well... On that note, if anyone happens to know whatever happened to Mr. Gimmick from those forums, let me know. He's one of several users from NA who I wonder if they just got off the internet once it was taken down. So many names didn't make the refuge I'm suspecting. Glad to at least see the legacy continues in some form!

I'm trying to track down a Bubsy prototype that sold on eBay way back in 2012. Does anyone recognize this prototype, know where it may have ended up? There's super sparse info on the web about it if you look around, but I found out the original seller of it went on to have a storied career in faking protos. This Bubsy at least feels pretty authentic, so I have no idea what the deal is there. In any case, I know it sold in summer 2012 on eBay, so someone else should have it now. Gimme a msg if this rings any bells!