Friday, November 17, 2023

Collector to Showcase Various Rockman Prototypes for the First Time in Japan

To commemorate the recent release of his latest book, Not For Resale Guidebook GOLD, author and collector Jironosuke will be showcasing a range of prototype and pre-release software from his personal collection next week in Osaka. 

Among the highlights are prototypes for Rockman 1, Rockman 3, and Rockman X. This event will mark the very first public viewing of these early versions, which currently remain undumped. Jironosuke has previously eluded to a number of differences—both minor and significant—between these prototypes and the final retail versions, so it'll be interesting to finally see them in action. Please note that attendees will not be able to play the games; rather, Jironosuke will demonstrate them on stage.

The event takes place on Sunday, November 26th at 17:30 JST at Umeda Lateral in Osaka. If you're in the area, swing on by and check 'em out for us. For those unable to attend, let's keep our fingers crossed for some footage. 

30 comments:

  1. じろのすけ
    He calls himself an archivist and has published a book, but he only gives out half-baked and uncertain information, and he is not well respected in Japan.
    He does not release ROM data, nor does he release scans of cassettes and packages, so there are many Japanese collectors who do not want him to release the actual items.

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    1. I'm not taking sides, but he has the right to do whatever he wants with stuff he owns. His job isn't to play Santa and hand out freebies because you think "it's just not fair".

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    2. Not taking sides, then hopping onto "santa" and "freebies" lol ok. To me this seems like a collector who weaponizes prototypes to feel special. Ask yourself what the motivation for this showcase was... What are we left with?

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    3. Jann 22 Anon, Nov 19 Anon's stance is perfectly neutral. Why were you trying to start something with them with "lol ok"?

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    4. Mar 26 Anon, the other anon is definitely taking a stance by siding with a guy that showcases prototypes for the sake of his own ego. Not to mention, not backing up history potentially leading it to its destruction for the sake of showing off, it's pitiful.

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  2. Okay, time for me to be the bad guy and ask if you've gotten in contact with him to ask about dumping them.

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    1. Yep. I've been talking to him back and forth for years. No dice. Scared of piracy.

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    2. Hope on of them is Megaman 4

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    3. It's more like he doesn't care about preserving the prototypes and just wants to show off for attention, that kind of attitude is going to cause a lot of history to disappear over time. I'm not trying to be negative but this is a big problem with certain retro collectors.

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  3. As far as I can tell, this is literally the only bit of Mega Man-related news that's been worth a damn all year.

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  4. I really hope he allows someone to record them at least. Man, this will be a gamble. I hope that he dumps them for himself as well at least if he doesn't plan on selling them down the line but it's his property.

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  5. He lies about not distributing ROM data to protect his copyrights.

    He's been persistent about it since before he became famous, and he's said many times in the past that it's because he's a monopolist who wants to be his own personal war buddy at talk events and among his own people, and that collectors are selfish this way.

    That's why he's only partially open to scans, and his activities are half-hearted.

    Now he's changing his claims because of the way people look at him, so there are people who support him and there are people who know his past and hate him.

    He is aware of his copyright infringement and said he wants to be a dark hero, not an innocent person

    I respect Haronosuke's own wishes in this regard and ask that he correct his misinformation.

    We are aware that we are infringing copyrights by publishing books and holding events without the permission of the respective makers, and we are proud that we are taking risks in our activities.

    (Confirmed by published books, talk events, and some collectors' gatherings.)

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    1. IMHO, the moment you start caring more about your own personal wealth and ego than you do the hobby, is the moment you stop being a collector in my eyes and simply become an investor/speculator.

      It's not that much different than other hobbies. You have those who enjoy them, those who enjoy collecting (but are still fans of what they are collecting), and then the smaller contingent of those who amass collectibles purely to seek some ROI down the road.

      It's like those who spend money getting sealed games graded in the hopes they're worth a fortune one day. To me, they're no different than those who buy fine art and store it in a warehouse. They don't care about the piece or the artist, it's mainly a wealth-building tool like stocks or real estate.

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    2. Dont worry about what other people do with their stuff. Thats a bad thing, too.

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    3. Being a "look at all this stuff that I have and you don't" collector just comes across as obnoxious, people don't say this out of jealousy. It's just a selfish way to act and those people only care about how much their stuff is worth and aren't actually into the hobby because of being a fan.

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  6. In the Rock Man 3 prototype there is a TON of differences that he's already posted on twitter. The boss select has NO robot master portraits at all. Just "Stage A - H" for text under the frames. And only ?'s in place of the pictures. Top Man's stage is 100% confirmed different for sure. He showed one of those giant bots in the stage that isn't in the final. Plus the room it's in is different. Rockman X does have differences for sure that he's posted pictures of too like "Now making" pic.

    I remember him saying something like the Rockman 1 cart he has is almost exactly the same as final comparing both rom data. All this info/pictures is on his twitter account last I checked. There's a small chance I would think that some white city data might be there. And for sure there has to be a lot more differences in the Rock Man 3 cart too. Probably a ton more in the rom data not shown in game too.

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    1. Could you share the links to those screenshots, please? The Cutting Room Floor website would have a field day with them!

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    2. There on Jironosuke's twitter. Been there for a few years now.

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  7. If you think about it, he already broke the law by having in his possession something that belongs to Capcom not him. Representatives along with officers could crash at his place and take them at any moment. The piracy thing is just an excuse.

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    1. It isn't the guy's fault that Capcom lost the prototypes to begin with and he managed to acquire them. If they really cared enough to get them back, they'd have done so already. Physical prototypes mean very little to game companies, especially for older games published ages ago, legal property or otherwise. If Capcom really cared that much, they'd have kept better track of development inventory. That's on them, not the people who acquire prototypes.

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  8. Thats about the only thing going on for MegaMan over the past 2 decades. Visiting the past. -_- I want new not old.

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    1. It's difficult being a Mega Man fan these days since Capcom could care less about the franchise other then merch. Probably my favorite series as a kid in the 90s so seeing the state it's in now is sad.

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    2. last two decade is a epic reach. even the dark age only happened started after the mid 2000's, 9 and 10 released less than 15 years ago, and 11 is five years old, which is too long IMO, but not "2 decades".

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    3. 10 was previously the last game. Released in 2010. Then 11 released in 2018. On the contrary, I would argue that the dark age started in 2010 and never ended. One game is not enough.

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  9. Had quite the dream. It was about news that Capcom split into smaller groups to make multiple Megaman games to make sure that there wasn't a huge gap between releases.

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  10. The other part of the dream was not Megaman related, but the other thing in the dream was a trailer for a sequel to Return of the Jedi by George Lucas that takes place a few years later with Luke still young. Then, I woke up, lol. Hadn't have a dream like that since millennia.

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  11. It's today! Please for the love of God hope the owner allows someone to record them and that someone is planning to record it at all.

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  12. Seems nobody recorded anything. If the guy is not willing to sell them nor dump them then I hope whoever inherits them tries to do either. Or else, let it all burn. I don't care if I never get to play them, all I'm after is the knowledge of the differences though seen them and/or playing them is a plus. More things lost to a false sense of fame and pride, oh well.

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  13. I understand if he doesn't want to just give the data away but if he wants return on investment, he could try to publicly crowdfund releases of data, which I know a lot of people would donate towards. If he wants credit for finding these items and have his name tied to the releases, he could look for people to help him make videos celebrating the release event, with some info about him and the data. Showcasing in this fashion is simply teasing and ego-stroking for his own pleasure.

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