Exceedingly rare final prototype of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in North America in March 1992. The NES cartridge features excised windows to the front that expose the interior socketed IC chips, the top and bottom shells bear no labels, and the inside of the cartridge contains a Nintendo development PCB with the part number “NES-TKEPROM-02,” which is populated by four EPROM chips. These chips bear affixed stickers with printed “Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back” designs, as well as what appear to be handwritten dates of “1-7.” Encapsulated in a Wata certification holder with label details: “Nintendo Development board, Printed EPROM Stickers, Final Version.” Accompanied by a prototype evaluation report from Wata, which grades the cartridge as “PRO.”
