Since Nintendo controls manufacturing of all official games they have a process called Lot Check that ensures the games quality before manufacturing. Every game ever officially released for their platform has had to go through the Lot Check process in order to achieve the Nintendo Seal of Quality.
In the Pokemon Leak on the 10th of April 2020 a bunch of excel spreadsheets were uploaded into the /misc
folder, these contained the full list of all games that have gone through the Nintendo Lot Check process for most systems up until the Nintendo DS.
As part of the Gigaleak the full set of official Nintendo Lot Check ROMS were distributed online on 4Chan. They were located in an archive called Other.7z and the sub archive Famicom_NES.7z.
When extracted from the archive, two folders are created:
Note that in the NES Lot Check list (HNPdata_List.xlsx) it had 3 different codes, HVC, NES and PAL, but all the PAL content was not leaked during the Gigaleak.
HVC stands for Home Video Computer and was the codename for the Famicom during development, this is also the product code for all Japanese games.
The ROMS contained in the 2 main folders are not standard, e.g they are not .NES files and don’t have an iNES header. You can not just rename to .nes and run them in an emulator.
If you look at the internals of NES cartridge you will notice that there are in fact multiple ROM chips on board, known as PRG for Program code and CHR for Character Tiles (Graphics).
This is important as when manufacturing the cartridge Nintendo would need to have the data for both chips and thus the ROMS available in the Lot Check are split into these two parts.
In theory you could create an iNES header and merge the 2 parts into a .NES rom that would run in an emulator, but you might as well just get the rom elsewhere. It is only worth doing this for games that have never been dumped before, which is the topic of the next section.
The name format is:
{HVC or NES}{Abbreviation}{Revision_version}{P or C}.{Software_Number}
So for example for Kirby’s Adventure its Abbreviation is “KR”, it has 2 revisions of the program so you can choose either 0 or one for the revision version.
System = "NES"
Abbreviation = "KR"
Revision_version = 0
Software_Number = '073'
// Result
PRG_FileName = System + Abbreviation + Revision_version + "P." + Software_Number // NESKR0P.073
CHR_FileName = System + Abbreviation + Revision_version + "C." + Software_Numbe // NESKR0C.073
You can find the Abbreviation, revision and software numbers in the HDPdata_List spreadsheet.
As the Nintendo Lot Check process is only done during the final stages of development, don’t expect any beta or prototype games to be here.
However there is an occasional game that made it all the way to Lot Check phase but was then deemed too costly to physically manufacture. It is these games that make the Lot Check leak worthwhile.
I cross-referenced the NES bank dumps from today's leaks, against the known collection of NES roms (No-Intro 2017-06-18). Looks like there's a few previously unknown roms, including a second revision of the Nintendo World Championship cart! pic.twitter.com/tFol8CxyLH
— ラ0.F (@MrCheeze_) July 25, 2020
All computer programs have bugs, and NES games are no different, in some cases there were new patched versions of a game released with a higher revision number. A few of these never got physically manufactured such as 1:
the mystery roms have been discovered pic.twitter.com/tY5sH5yfeq
— I..A..N..S (@IANSYT) July 27, 2020
On the 30th September 2020 the Famicom Disc System Lot Check ROMS were leaked to the public as part of the Paladin Leak. The archive containing these ROMS was called FMC_DISK.7z and was included in the paladin.7z main archive.
It is important to know a few things about the Famicom Disk System before proceeding, the disks could have multiple sides (2 of course) and has different content on each side. Nintendo used a format called RD*
to store these games and had a different file for each side, so if a game has two sides then there would be both an RDA and RDB file (for side A and side B respectively).
When the FMC_DISK.7z archive has been extract it creates the following files and folders:
The readme.txt file is really interesting as it mentions converting side A and side B of the Disk to a format called QD, which is basically both rda and rda files concatenated together.
Presumably the D in both file extension formats stands for Disk, but it is unclear what the Q stands for or even the R in RDA/RDB.
This is a tool that converts from the Nintendo RD* format for Disk System games to the iNES FDS so that it can be emulated on a PC. It seems that nintendo were using an NES emulator to test these games before the virtual console versions were available.
If you are interested in converting the RD* files located in this archive then you can use the rdafds.exe executable located in the tool folder to do the conversion.
It seems that Nintendo had trouble getting any data from the Master Disk for Zelda so they asked Mr. Tomohiro Kawase who managed to get the data from an EPROM (SQCD?).
It seems they needed to create a tool called scattoqd.exe to convert the resulting EPROM data (called SCAT for some reason?) to the Virtual Console QD format. The source code is also availble for this tool under a single C++ source file called scattoqd.cpp.
The result is in the zip archive under the name 007_FMC-ZEL-0-1.qd, as mentioned before the Virtual Console (QD) format is just RDA and RDB concatenated together, so you could split it up fairly easily.
Thanks to MrCheeze_ over on twitter we have a list of games that do not match any previously released Game Codes, these games are:
Some of the names for the games were found in the MAME source code, so not completely unknown ROMS 2.
of particular note are the Nomura NES Trade ROMS which were used to trade Stock with the Japanese bank Nomura.
The format of each Games product code is as follows (example is for Bandai’s Ultraman):
Publisher = "BAN"
Abbreviation = "UL1"
Revision_version = 0
Unknown = 0
Software_Number = '064'
// Result
SIDE_A_FileName = Software_Number + "_" Publisher + "-" + Abbreviation + "-" + Revision_version + Unknown + ".rda" // 064_BAN-UL1-0-0.rda
SIDE_B_FileName = Software_Number + "_" Publisher + "-" + Abbreviation + "-" + Revision_version + Unknown + ".rdb" // 064_BAN-UL1-0-0.rdb
The Publisher codes used for the above files are as follows:
@LuigiBlood already documented the unreleased FDS port of Balloon Fight. I think this is another unrelease FDS port of "Gomoku Narabe Renju", Nintendo's Famicom version of Go. pic.twitter.com/PAhjtBW8fJ
— ラ0.F (@MrCheeze_) September 30, 2020
I've never seen Balloon Fight on FDS, ever pic.twitter.com/NACIXI3nCP
— LuigiBlood (@LuigiBlood) September 30, 2020
The Game Boy Lot check including both original and Color games was released to the public on the 9th of September as part of the Platinum Leak. The content was available inside the platinum.7z file in an archive called dmg_sgb.7z.
There are two folders at the top level of the archive which are:
For documentation on the SGB folder checkout the Cutting Room Floors article on it: Proto:Super Game Boy - The Cutting Room Floor
The DMG (Dot Matrix Game) folder actually also contains GBC Roms too, it has the following folders in it:
The games are numbered based on when they came into the Lot Check process so release dates can vary.
Not that because they use a 3 digit extension for the number, when it reached .999 it had to start using the alphabet as the first character, counting from @ to the letter O. The @ symbol comes before A but it is unclear why they did this, maybe to give an extra letter incase they ran out, but surely they would do that at the end after Z.
The NG folder contains games:
The POOL folder contains games such as:
As the Nintendo Lot Check process is only done during the final stages of development, don’t expect any beta or prototype games to be here.
However there is an occasional game that made it all the way to Lot Check phase but was then deemed too costly to physically manufacture. It is these games that make the Lot Check leak worthwhile. Unlike the NES Lot Check Leak, for the Game Boy there was a plethora of previously un-released games in the Lot Check set!
The table below contains all the previously unreleased ROMS for the original Game Boy (DMG). Some are from cancelled games, unreleased localisations and others are games that made it to retail but have never been dumped or released online.
Another fascinating discovery 'Philip & Marlowe in Bloomland'. Appears to be an English version of 'Taiyou no Tenshi Marlowe' but lacks the cutscene at the start, but also is dated 1991 - This game eventually came out in 1994! pic.twitter.com/oYzglvAPZW
— Nintendo Metro (@NintendoMetro) September 9, 2020
Ubisoft's unreleased port of John Madden Football for the Game Boy has found its way online https://t.co/l51xnKbbBO pic.twitter.com/58QdHqHVWG
— GoNintendoTweet (@GoNintendoTweet) September 16, 2020
'Gargoyle's Quest II' was released in the US on the NES. In Japan this was also released on the Game Boy, but didn't get an English release.
— Nintendo Metro (@NintendoMetro) September 9, 2020
Except thanks to these new #NintendoLeaks.. the seeminly finished game is just here. In English. pic.twitter.com/O4yZjmA4Gs
at some point this game was reworked into SuperShot Golf Robot, where Bobby is replaced with a robot called Vibot pic.twitter.com/ZgCzJo6gTO
— taizou 🏳️🌈🦁 (@taizou_hori) September 10, 2020
Hello Kitty Pocket Camera Game Boy (I never thought I'd say those words and yet here we are..) Press and hold Start + Select while booting up to access an "erase all Data" screen, as in the original Game Boy / Pocket Camera. pic.twitter.com/B9wlynjzMe
— Soul filing cabinets (@nensondubois_) September 12, 2020
Here’s a Toys R Us Vidpro card for the Game Boy game Home Alone 2: Kevin’s Dream. This game was never released and I can barely find anything else about it pic.twitter.com/9MjGWqHNzh
— N4Us (@TheN4Us) July 9, 2020
The game 'X', developed by Argonaut on the Game Boy as a 3D title, never made it to the states. With the new #NintendoLeaks, it appears this was intended to release as 'Lunar Chase' at some point. @dylancuthbert pic.twitter.com/QfeLxC6hb9
— Nintendo Metro (@NintendoMetro) September 9, 2020
'Nick Faldo Championship Golf' appears to be an unreleased 1991 Golf game for the Game Boy by Titus. #NintendoLeaks pic.twitter.com/biarKEJjLT
— Nintendo Metro (@NintendoMetro) September 9, 2020
Checking out Rap Quest, an unreleased Game Boy game featuring Vanilla Ice https://t.co/HoDPMfhCPO pic.twitter.com/NQfYIEtiIe
— GoNintendoTweet (@GoNintendoTweet) October 30, 2018
I've found another huge get in the leak!? This Robopon pre-release, raffled out in Comic BomBom to only 500 people! Unlike the final GBC version, it targets the Super Game Boy, and lacks the special cartridge.
— Samuel 💻✨ Messner (@obskyr) September 14, 2020
With this… some revision of EVERY official GB(C) cart is preserved!!! pic.twitter.com/G1SBoi5qgc
both of the sutte hakkun protos from the leak have a neat SGB border.. huh. pic.twitter.com/nZyEYcnaes
— 🦦kuro!! (@kurobutt) September 13, 2020
In today's #NintendoLeak there is also the GB ROM of the WorkBoy, a never-released peripheral!!!
— WaluigiBSOD (@WaluigiBSOD) September 9, 2020
More info: https://t.co/dJAXlqQFkR pic.twitter.com/kyfvRFOecd
News: Unreleased RockBoard Game Boy Port Discoveredhttps://t.co/6C9WmhkBOA pic.twitter.com/UXizG2448p
— Brian (@Protodude) September 9, 2020
The table below contains all the previously unreleased ROMS for the original Game Boy (DMG).
The table was generated from a file called newroms.7z
was was released after the main leak.
gamers, the motherlode has been found in this latest nintendo leak: TWO unreleased game boy color austin powers games pic.twitter.com/QdAYa9dhBx
— The Ordinary Nintendo (@sebmal) September 9, 2020
Gimmick Land/Tomato Adventure for the GBC!
— toruzz (@toruzz) September 9, 2020
It looks AMAZING!! pic.twitter.com/HKHNAKDKFK
Game Boy Bunko: Hajimari no Mori (Game Boy Pocket Books: The Forest of Beginnings) is an unannounced first party game for the GBC found in the recent leaks. It's apparently a version of Famicom Bunko: Hajimari no Mori, a Super Famicom game.
— toruzz (@toruzz) September 9, 2020
It looks incredible. pic.twitter.com/tjBAp7qekp
[Bonus Posts !]
— Kirby Birthday ! 🎉 (@KirbyBirthday) September 9, 2020
Today, a new Nintendo leaks happened, and it contained the unreleased (JPN only AD-ON/games) "Kirby Family" for the GBC ! which was planned to be released in September 2001 !
So, today we can say that it's the day this game was released (discovered) in the world! pic.twitter.com/TF2nr6tMPm
Canceled Pokémon Picross Game Boy Color Game Surfaces In Nintendo Leak https://t.co/A8QS7LTEno
— ⭐ yyoossk⭐ (@Cloud0835) September 10, 2020
While not quite a Lot Check release, you might also be interested in the DSiWareROM.rar archive from the Platinum leak as it contains a ton of DSiWare ROMS in TAD format.
These were sent to iQue for localisation for the Chinese market and were presumably taken from the Lot Check archive by Nintendo SPD.
Nintendo DsiWare Leak
For more information on the files inside the DsiWare archive check out this post.