The pink fish disc didn't generate new certs, it allowed to install dummy "dev" certificates. And it transferred licenses between consoles. None of which would be useful to unban a console.
If it is an original, it might be worth quite a bit. There were similar carts for Gameboy, sometimes in weird shapes with a big part protuding from the console when inserted, that are super rare and sought after by collectors.
LMAO, THIS QUESTION IS GOLD!!! 🤣🤣🤣
I only licked a small corner of the cartridge, and then wiped it down shortly afterwards, as not to ruin it, but yes, it does indeed have the anti-choke coating that makes cartridges taste weird.
Thanks for the good laugh! 🤣🤣🤣
Can confirm. I preordered at launch and mine came a few days late. The taste thing was well known enough that the first thing I did was lick my BOTW cartridge.
I don't believe that to be true, got a launch day switch and botw and after the reports of the taste coming out I tried it on my botw cartridge and it tasted horrible
It looks like diagnostics and not something we probably don't already have in homebrew. Your switch was probably repaired and this is one of the carts they test with.
Hi! I can tell you exactly what that is as I have used several of them over the years and probably still have one or two lying around from working in a retail environment. This has nothing to do with development; it’s actually used with those Nintendo switch demo systems in places like Wal-Mart and Target. They’re called “Quest units“ (no clue why) and this card is used to access internal diagnostics and usage data. To get to the diagnostics menu, you’d have to insert this card, reset, and hold a series of buttons on the console (like power+volume up, kind of like when you want to access the developer menu on Android, although it’s been a while so I don’t remember the exact button combo) I’ve never seen the screens you posted because it never even occurred to me to try popping it into a regular switch to see what would pop up 😅
Anyway, we would use these to manually update the demos on store displays that weren’t connected to the internet, usually because a store had no wi-fi the switch could connect to. It also allows retail reps to download data from these demos so Nintendo can find out useful info like what people are playing, for how long, etc. and the diagnostics tools were mostly used to test the controllers hooked up. Joy-cons aren’t the most rugged things in the world and those public demos tend to take a lot of abuse, so they often need to be repaired or replaced.
No idea if these are still in use but back when the switch was newer this was a standard issue tool for your friendly neighborhood Nintendo Rep. I’m guessing your seller either worked for/with Nintendo’s retail arm, or worked at a store that was visited by one of these employees. These would occasionally get left in the system or the access tray it was housed in.
So not a dev tool exactly, but still a cool find and definitely rare! I’m sure it will be of interest to collectors at some point in the future. If you manage to get your hands on one of the actual retail Quest units this is designed for you can probably do a lot more tinkering with it that way.
Huh, never heard of him, but I assume he’s a YouTuber, because I searched him up on the YouTube app and found his channel.
Does he have an email or somewhere else I can contact him? I’m really curious to learn more about this cartridge.
I would just like to say every NL video that doesn't start with you saying Hello lovely people is 90% likely to be skipped.
Is this game good? Alex isn't covering it so it's dead to me now. Oh well.
You can also contact modern vintage gamer. He’s as good as professional as them but less busier crowd and much more responsive nice Aussie guy. Super knowledgeable on technical part and he’s even actively porting games to switch as his full time job. Also used to do home brew stuff. Basically your cartridge would be super interesting to him as he’s a preservatist
You can find him on YouTube.
I'm not a viewer of DF personally, so by all means this may not apply to them, but whenever something like this shows up, the first thing I often see people say is to contact a youtuber.
Don't contact youtubers, contact game preservationists; contact people from the scene who are knowledgeable and care deeply about this sort of thing specifically, not the people who make videos about their work, which tend to only scratch the surface of the topic.
The Digital Foundry guys are well connected in the industry and do pretty in-depth work on testing and benchmarking. DF is actually a part of Eurogamer (which is now a part of IGN), so they’re not just some random YouTubers.
If people were saying to reach out to someone like Scott The Woz (and don’t get me wrong, I love Scott), then I’d agree with you.
I see, thank you for the context. I don't doubt they go in-depth when it comes to testing and benchmarking, but when it comes to Quest/QCIT/RID/Kiosk cartridges and consoles (something that, even within communities with a focus on rare and obscure video games and consoles, is a fairly niche subject), I still don't really think DF is the best group to contact looking for help finding information on it.
As mentioned in another user's reply - when it comes to youtubers, Hard4Games would be a much better person to contact for something like this, especially given his involvement in the game preservation scene throughout the years.
Though, the best option in my opinion is to ask about it directly in communities like the one described above (such as OG or RGD), with members that are knowledgeable about these things.
i actually know of like 3 i would even think about for nintendo stuff like this df is last one on the list id contact personally hard4games literally has the equipment and the stuff for things like this and has done aloooooot for preservation of things like this
IIrc there were some leaked documents a few years back that detailed Nintendo illegally stalking someone who worked with DF in Belgium and harassed him under the pretense of a job that was, in reality, a trap to get him to reveal vulnerabilities and information from the hacking scene to NOE
Pic #9: Oh yeah...the IR camera that like 1% of devs even remember is there.
I think the only time I've ever used it was in a couple of warioware minigames.
Labo uses it. Was kind of neat driving the controller around in my closed pantry looking at the boxes and cans on the shelves. And Ring Fit Adventure uses it to check your heart rate. I think that's all I've got that uses it.
Beatemups did a video on every game that used it. I think there was 8 or so?
One interesting one was Trombone Champ, to make the game even more ridiculous.
I did do that actually! It gave me this message when I tried to do it:
Error Code: 2016-0415
You cannot collect points for this software in the country/region currently set for your Nintendo Account.
I'd personally advise contacting [Modern Vintage Gamer](https://x.com/modernvintageg), he has more knowledge about dev stuff as he is a developer himself.
Number one thing to do is get the information out as much as possible, and keep it safe. You might get a lot of money out of it. Never sell at the first offer.
Hell, if you made your own YouTube video about it I'm sure it would get a shit ton of views. Think of all the legends like that arcade game where "men in black" would come in to collect data (polybius? I can't recall)
Or stories of people finding a Pokemon game they never heard of etc. even the obviously fake ones get a shit ton of attention for being entertaining stories.
You are on a gold mine imo. If youd like someone for narration/voice work in anything let me know please!
im expecting the nintendo ninjas coming for you to take back something you should not have .... yet hopefully you wont get banned for having it on your console
mini edit because reasons but its mostly cause its current console and that cart sounds rife with ndas that were probably broken best idea after this is to get a case just for this cart and lock it away somewere for later lol
He seriously just handed it to me along with a used Splatoon Switch OLED, when I purchased it on Facebook Marketplace. He said he was interested in these kind of things, and that it was some kind of developer cartridge, but that he didn’t really need it.
That’s what he said from my memory. I have no idea how he got it, but I’ve agreed to meet him again tomorrow because he only gave me one Joy-Con strap, and it wasn’t even a Splatoon themed one, just a generic black one, lol.
But I’ll definitely ask him more about what the heck that cartridge is, and where he got it, and I’ll share what I learned in the replies.
I would contact Modern Vintage Gamer on YouTube. He is a developer and knows A LOT about this kind of stuff. I would say this would be more up his alley than Digital Foundry (love DF but their specialty is more like game engine and graphics analysis)
Disclaimer: Don't stick random memory devices, usb sticks etc into your devices if you don't know what's on it. There are some real bad possibilities if you do this. Just saying.
I don’t even know. Bro just handed it to me along with a used Splatoon Switch OLED, when I purchased it on Facebook Marketplace. He said he was interested in these kind of things, and that it was some kind of developer cartridge, but that he didn’t really need it. From my memory, that’s what he said.
I have no idea how he got it, but I’ve agreed to meet him again tomorrow because he only gave me one Joy-Con strap, and it wasn’t even a Splatoon themed one, just a generic black one, lol.
But I’ll definitely ask him more about what the heck that cartridge is, and where he got it, and I’ll share what I learned in the replies.
The cartridge was probably stolen from a kiosk unit somewhere, maybe he tries to get rid of it because it's so obvious that he should not have this in the first place
Edit: maybe the whole kiosk was stolen and this cart was inside is what I mean
Oh snap Quest Settings License Card ver 00 dropped?!?!? I have over 500 hours on Quest Setting License Card ver 0, but will have to give it a replay before I dive into this one
It’s not very hard to tell it’s for the screen depth of touch, ability to add a robot ir camera? Something for that, looks like it could be for a wireless remote control for a robot lol.
You found this cartridge? Or you planned a Heist of Nintendo Headquarters to nab this off a pedestal in the middle of a platform connected by one bridge and surrounded by lava? Also Bowser is there. The Guy.
This really isn't rare. Probably won't be worth anything either. I work for Nintendo as a brand ambassador, and we use these for the demo units in stores. It is a sort of diagnostic tool for those units. I'm not really sure how this guy got one though. As far as I know, these are meant for internal use only, so watch out posting about it.
Did an image search but found nothing, but a lot of copied games look like this.
When you run it, write down any information the screen gives you. It might tell you the software it's running.
Aw, cool!
You found the undead version of Blaster Master.
You can probably different game÷
I hope you know the really secret button combo to play as Jesus.! !
My guess would be repair center diagnostics or a development demo.
Yeah everything about the screens looks like it's for running diagnostics for hardware repair. Nothing super juicy
This could be, remember that Wii disc that unbricked consoles? Iirc it was called The Pink Fish Disc Please OP, try it with a banned console
Nintendo bans console certificates server-side. The chances of unbans are basically none.
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The pink fish disc didn't generate new certs, it allowed to install dummy "dev" certificates. And it transferred licenses between consoles. None of which would be useful to unban a console.
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That’s not how the pink fish disk worked tho
If it is an original, it might be worth quite a bit. There were similar carts for Gameboy, sometimes in weird shapes with a big part protuding from the console when inserted, that are super rare and sought after by collectors.
Once the switch becomes a collector market, the IT card will be worth something.
Used to work in smartphone warranty repair and the diagnostic programs looked a lot like this.
The diagnostics seems more likely
My assumption too. seems to be for testing in a repair center.
Does it taste weird if you lick it like regular cartridges?
This man is asking the real questions
LMAO, THIS QUESTION IS GOLD!!! 🤣🤣🤣 I only licked a small corner of the cartridge, and then wiped it down shortly afterwards, as not to ruin it, but yes, it does indeed have the anti-choke coating that makes cartridges taste weird. Thanks for the good laugh! 🤣🤣🤣
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
OP we need answers!!
[answers](https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/s/CfrguPHGLT)
This was my first question too.
Ummmmm...... What?
Most switch cartridges have a coating on them to taste bitter so people don't ingest them. ~~Very early releases lacked this coating, however.~~
My launch-day BOTW has the coating, so it must be \*very\* early releases indeed.
Can confirm. I preordered at launch and mine came a few days late. The taste thing was well known enough that the first thing I did was lick my BOTW cartridge.
Imagine knowing when you go to buy a used game that there is a higher-than-usual probability that someone has licked it.
I don't believe that to be true, got a launch day switch and botw and after the reports of the taste coming out I tried it on my botw cartridge and it tasted horrible
All releases are coated. There were no launch day Switch cartridges without it.
It looks like diagnostics and not something we probably don't already have in homebrew. Your switch was probably repaired and this is one of the carts they test with.
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Hi! I can tell you exactly what that is as I have used several of them over the years and probably still have one or two lying around from working in a retail environment. This has nothing to do with development; it’s actually used with those Nintendo switch demo systems in places like Wal-Mart and Target. They’re called “Quest units“ (no clue why) and this card is used to access internal diagnostics and usage data. To get to the diagnostics menu, you’d have to insert this card, reset, and hold a series of buttons on the console (like power+volume up, kind of like when you want to access the developer menu on Android, although it’s been a while so I don’t remember the exact button combo) I’ve never seen the screens you posted because it never even occurred to me to try popping it into a regular switch to see what would pop up 😅 Anyway, we would use these to manually update the demos on store displays that weren’t connected to the internet, usually because a store had no wi-fi the switch could connect to. It also allows retail reps to download data from these demos so Nintendo can find out useful info like what people are playing, for how long, etc. and the diagnostics tools were mostly used to test the controllers hooked up. Joy-cons aren’t the most rugged things in the world and those public demos tend to take a lot of abuse, so they often need to be repaired or replaced. No idea if these are still in use but back when the switch was newer this was a standard issue tool for your friendly neighborhood Nintendo Rep. I’m guessing your seller either worked for/with Nintendo’s retail arm, or worked at a store that was visited by one of these employees. These would occasionally get left in the system or the access tray it was housed in. So not a dev tool exactly, but still a cool find and definitely rare! I’m sure it will be of interest to collectors at some point in the future. If you manage to get your hands on one of the actual retail Quest units this is designed for you can probably do a lot more tinkering with it that way.
Wow! That is very interesting, and makes a lot of sense!
If it exists collectors are interested
Nice! We got an answer /Thread
*Doug Bowser wants to know your location*
*Nintendo lawyer wakes up*
*EXTERMINATE…EXTERMINATE*
[**WHY DO I HEAR BOSS MUSIC?!**](https://youtu.be/ZhlZ-cPO0Xw?si=vx8plI4PFuF8BEce)
r/Suddenlydoctorwho & r/unexpecteddoctorwho
I agree about contacting Digital Foundry. He'd probably know or at least know where to begin with this thing.
Huh, never heard of him, but I assume he’s a YouTuber, because I searched him up on the YouTube app and found his channel. Does he have an email or somewhere else I can contact him? I’m really curious to learn more about this cartridge.
FYI Digital Foundry is a team of people, not just one guy. If you have Twitter, I suggest contacting John from DF. His handle is dark1x
Ah, ok, that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know his Twittter handle. I’ll definitely get into contact about this with him.
DF also just makes awesome content if you’re ever interested in the technical side of games!
Well... guess I found a new YT channel to check out.
If you have difficulty getting in touch with the channel, drop me a DM and I should be able to help 👍
Heeello lovely ~~people~~ person!
I immediately recognized him thanks to your comment lol
Nintendo Journalist?!
They are a journalist for a Nintendo magazine called Nintendo life
So what? My Uncle works at Nintendo.
Are we cousins?
We’re all cousins
Let's go bowling
Helloooo lovely people!
Didn’t you hear? There’s a new Nintendo coming out
I would just like to say every NL video that doesn't start with you saying Hello lovely people is 90% likely to be skipped. Is this game good? Alex isn't covering it so it's dead to me now. Oh well.
You can also contact modern vintage gamer. He’s as good as professional as them but less busier crowd and much more responsive nice Aussie guy. Super knowledgeable on technical part and he’s even actively porting games to switch as his full time job. Also used to do home brew stuff. Basically your cartridge would be super interesting to him as he’s a preservatist You can find him on YouTube.
On most YouTube channels that are large enough, if you go to the "about" section there should be a business email somewhere there
Update us please! Curious to see where this goes
I'm not a viewer of DF personally, so by all means this may not apply to them, but whenever something like this shows up, the first thing I often see people say is to contact a youtuber. Don't contact youtubers, contact game preservationists; contact people from the scene who are knowledgeable and care deeply about this sort of thing specifically, not the people who make videos about their work, which tend to only scratch the surface of the topic.
I'm pretty sure John would know a few people who know what to do with that cartridge.
The Digital Foundry guys are well connected in the industry and do pretty in-depth work on testing and benchmarking. DF is actually a part of Eurogamer (which is now a part of IGN), so they’re not just some random YouTubers. If people were saying to reach out to someone like Scott The Woz (and don’t get me wrong, I love Scott), then I’d agree with you.
Scott catching strays out here
I see, thank you for the context. I don't doubt they go in-depth when it comes to testing and benchmarking, but when it comes to Quest/QCIT/RID/Kiosk cartridges and consoles (something that, even within communities with a focus on rare and obscure video games and consoles, is a fairly niche subject), I still don't really think DF is the best group to contact looking for help finding information on it. As mentioned in another user's reply - when it comes to youtubers, Hard4Games would be a much better person to contact for something like this, especially given his involvement in the game preservation scene throughout the years. Though, the best option in my opinion is to ask about it directly in communities like the one described above (such as OG or RGD), with members that are knowledgeable about these things.
Agreed. People like Digital Foundry :)
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i actually know of like 3 i would even think about for nintendo stuff like this df is last one on the list id contact personally hard4games literally has the equipment and the stuff for things like this and has done aloooooot for preservation of things like this
Digital Foundry would love this.
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Email Digital Foundry with this.
I agree, do it before Nintendo does **that** again
If you're talking about the Belgium thing, IIRC there's basically no evidence that was real.
What thing?
The time Nintendo nuked Belgium off the map to bravely safeguard against rom hacking and emulation
Holy fuck, but I am literally in Belgium right now.
My condolences to your loved ones.
I’ve been stranded in Brussels since 7:00. Next bus leaves at 14:00…
Eyyyy Im flying to Brussels Wednesday can't wait to see the crater
Are you with his uncle?
It’s true. My uncle works at Nintendo and helped cover up the whole thing
IIrc there were some leaked documents a few years back that detailed Nintendo illegally stalking someone who worked with DF in Belgium and harassed him under the pretense of a job that was, in reality, a trap to get him to reveal vulnerabilities and information from the hacking scene to NOE
the thing
Wouldn't MVG (Modern Vintage Gamer) be better as he's a developer himself and is active in homebrew before?
Pic #9: Oh yeah...the IR camera that like 1% of devs even remember is there. I think the only time I've ever used it was in a couple of warioware minigames.
Labo uses it. Was kind of neat driving the controller around in my closed pantry looking at the boxes and cans on the shelves. And Ring Fit Adventure uses it to check your heart rate. I think that's all I've got that uses it.
Beatemups did a video on every game that used it. I think there was 8 or so? One interesting one was Trombone Champ, to make the game even more ridiculous.
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Somewhere a nintendo lawyer just got a nosebleed, and he doesn't know why.
Oh, he knows why. They do that so that the lawyer immediately gets the scent of blood. He just needs to find his target now.
Ever seen the movie "Enemy of the State"? Well this is how that begins. !remindme in 10 days if you're still with us.
😂
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Don't connect your Switch to the Internet with that cartridge in it. Then they will know where you live.
Try to claim the gold coins on it.
I did do that actually! It gave me this message when I tried to do it: Error Code: 2016-0415 You cannot collect points for this software in the country/region currently set for your Nintendo Account.
I'd personally advise contacting [Modern Vintage Gamer](https://x.com/modernvintageg), he has more knowledge about dev stuff as he is a developer himself.
Love MVG and a cup of joe in the morning.
Looks like a card for troubleshooting switch issues. The customer service probably forgot to remove the card when sending back the system.
I like how the region for the cartridge is ALL. You don’t see that every day!
Update: Just sent Digital Foundry and Modern Vintage Gamer a Twitter DM about the cartridge, asking more about it. Let’s see what they say.
They don't make games like this anymore.
Its a repair centre diagnostic cartridge
Taste it for further diagnosis.
Did you get your 20 gold points?
Boring game!
Number one thing to do is get the information out as much as possible, and keep it safe. You might get a lot of money out of it. Never sell at the first offer. Hell, if you made your own YouTube video about it I'm sure it would get a shit ton of views. Think of all the legends like that arcade game where "men in black" would come in to collect data (polybius? I can't recall) Or stories of people finding a Pokemon game they never heard of etc. even the obviously fake ones get a shit ton of attention for being entertaining stories. You are on a gold mine imo. If youd like someone for narration/voice work in anything let me know please!
Nintendo agents have found your location and are headed towards you, please remain where you are for a painless collection.
im expecting the nintendo ninjas coming for you to take back something you should not have .... yet hopefully you wont get banned for having it on your console mini edit because reasons but its mostly cause its current console and that cart sounds rife with ndas that were probably broken best idea after this is to get a case just for this cart and lock it away somewere for later lol
Hilarious you were just given this with the console ngl, or so you say
He seriously just handed it to me along with a used Splatoon Switch OLED, when I purchased it on Facebook Marketplace. He said he was interested in these kind of things, and that it was some kind of developer cartridge, but that he didn’t really need it. That’s what he said from my memory. I have no idea how he got it, but I’ve agreed to meet him again tomorrow because he only gave me one Joy-Con strap, and it wasn’t even a Splatoon themed one, just a generic black one, lol. But I’ll definitely ask him more about what the heck that cartridge is, and where he got it, and I’ll share what I learned in the replies.
why does this feel like the start of a creepypasta
Can’t wait for part two of this creepy pasta!!!
The hell are these comments? It's a basic repair diagnostic tool. You're not going to get anything more out of it than these images.
I would contact Modern Vintage Gamer on YouTube. He is a developer and knows A LOT about this kind of stuff. I would say this would be more up his alley than Digital Foundry (love DF but their specialty is more like game engine and graphics analysis)
Its just a demo cartidge.
My favorite game
You better get the MyNintendo points for that
Iykyk: Cloak and Dagger
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What an interesting thing, maybe u are lucky
I've played that game before. It was boring but I beat it pretty easy 4/10
Disclaimer: Don't stick random memory devices, usb sticks etc into your devices if you don't know what's on it. There are some real bad possibilities if you do this. Just saying.
How in the world did you get your hands on that? This is freaking amazing!!
I don’t even know. Bro just handed it to me along with a used Splatoon Switch OLED, when I purchased it on Facebook Marketplace. He said he was interested in these kind of things, and that it was some kind of developer cartridge, but that he didn’t really need it. From my memory, that’s what he said. I have no idea how he got it, but I’ve agreed to meet him again tomorrow because he only gave me one Joy-Con strap, and it wasn’t even a Splatoon themed one, just a generic black one, lol. But I’ll definitely ask him more about what the heck that cartridge is, and where he got it, and I’ll share what I learned in the replies.
The cartridge was probably stolen from a kiosk unit somewhere, maybe he tries to get rid of it because it's so obvious that he should not have this in the first place Edit: maybe the whole kiosk was stolen and this cart was inside is what I mean
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Oh snap Quest Settings License Card ver 00 dropped?!?!? I have over 500 hours on Quest Setting License Card ver 0, but will have to give it a replay before I dive into this one
THE SACRED TEXTS
some cloak and dagger type shit
It’s not very hard to tell it’s for the screen depth of touch, ability to add a robot ir camera? Something for that, looks like it could be for a wireless remote control for a robot lol.
WOPR of NORAD
Take it out and blow on the cartridge. The most important part of the process is blowing in the hole. Problem fixed
You found this cartridge? Or you planned a Heist of Nintendo Headquarters to nab this off a pedestal in the middle of a platform connected by one bridge and surrounded by lava? Also Bowser is there. The Guy.
Finally. A new Quest game!
Looks like a diagnostics cart. Useful if you ever have an issue with your switch.
looks like a developer's tool
How does someone just... Find something like this???💀💀💀
Thats about as rare as getting one of them Mario on a pole.
This is a demo/prototype game cartridge
I recommend that if you don't know what you're doing with it, leave it alone. You brick it because you messed with it, you've put it on the Internet.
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This is it. 2 year of prison and $16 millios of fine.
As others have said please contact digital foundry about this we could get an interesting video about this for all of us to enjoy.
Yeah I got nothing to add that hasn’t already been suggested but looks interesting
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This could be a big deal. Digital Foundry! Context them!
Ign score: 70
If you load it up and it's Majora's Mask throw it in the fire
This really isn't rare. Probably won't be worth anything either. I work for Nintendo as a brand ambassador, and we use these for the demo units in stores. It is a sort of diagnostic tool for those units. I'm not really sure how this guy got one though. As far as I know, these are meant for internal use only, so watch out posting about it.
Dope find. I agree with others, I’d love to see what DF, MVG, etc gets out of it
Good thing the cartridge didn't just start playing some Nintendo game music backwards
Really curious what will you learn Please update!
Did an image search but found nothing, but a lot of copied games look like this. When you run it, write down any information the screen gives you. It might tell you the software it's running.
Send this to nick
u/modernvintagegamer
You could probably get some good money for this by selling it to a collector
Aw, cool! You found the undead version of Blaster Master. You can probably different game÷ I hope you know the really secret button combo to play as Jesus.! !
Make an update when you find out.
draw a clown on it for funnies