Sample and test cartridges

Various beta-version and test or sample cartridges. These were used to test the games in-house or sent to video game magazines for previews. The games on these cartridges often differ from the released retail versions and usually exist in quantities from 1 up to 20. The pcbs shown on the picture are Super FX, SA-1, 8Mbit Lorom, 16Mbit Lorom/Hirom and 48Mbit Lorom/Hirom. The cartridge labeled "game processor ram cassette" is believed to come from a never released Nintendo end-user game development machine, much like the Sony Playstation Yaroze. The machines US patent number is 5680534. Schematic drawings can be found here and here. Recently, some of these carts have popped up at a japanese reseller of used games.