Rare ‘QVC sample’ prototype of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) video game Batman Forever, which was released in North America in August 1995. The top of the SNES cartridge shell has been excised to house a Nintendo development board numbered “SHVC-8PV5B-01” and featuring six EPROM chips, two of which bear affixed labels annotated “Batman, ‘QVC’ 4” and “Batman, ‘QVC’ 5.” The front of the shell, which is obscured by a protective foam sheet, bears a label that identifies the game as a ‘confidential copy for QVC,’ the home shopping network; a receipt that no longer accompanies the game listed the buyer as Rick Houseworth, who held the title of senior electronics buyer for QVC in 1995. Encapsulated in a Wata certification holder, which grades the cartridge as “PRO.” Accompanied by a prototype evaluation report from Wata, which notes a contrast in gameplay from the original retail version: ‘A brief side-by-side comparison of this game’s code and the retail release showed several differences, though an overall structure is comparable and similar. A gameplay comparison revealed two observable cosmetic differences: a lack of background graphic during the ‘Featuring’ and credits screen that plays in the game’s attract mode, and the lack of a large bat symbol during the ‘bat computer’ loading screen before the first level (in the QVC version there is ‘ACCESSING…’ in plain text instead).”
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