Turn back the clock for a moment to the days of 1989 and 1990 when Nintendo was first making plans for its second generation of home video game console.  The Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) was starting to pick up speed and the time had come for Nintendo to make the next move in what was becoming quite the business rivalry.  At the same time NEC had lofty dreams about its PC Engine (TurboGrafx-16) console.  Early prototype images of these consoles and their respective software libraries began to appear in the Japanese gaming press of the time, and thankfully these images have been preserved for those of us reading in the twenty-first century.

Chris Covell (the same gamer who brought us a look at the beta version of Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge) has put together a great collection of "vintage" scans from Japanese gaming magazine Famicom Tsushin from the dawn of the 16-bit era including images of a very early Super Famicom, the Dragonfly flight demo that would become Pilotwings, and what some have speculated are the very first images of Super Mario World released to the public.  If all of that isn't enough for you, don't miss the other images in the collection.  There are some early pictures of popular games such as Mega Man 3 and Super Castlevania IV in there plus looks at several unreleased games including the Bonk RPG, the Famicom version of Sim City, a Batman title for the TurboGrafx-16, and a modem accessory for the PC Engine.  Looking at all of these images has me pining for my old Electronic Gaming Monthly collection.