The highly rumored, highly hyped, and once highly mysterious California Raisins NES game has finally been found! NES Player was one of the first to be informed, and the very first to interview the lucky gamer who discovered this great rarity.

Below is the interview with Brandon Murphy, screen shots, and more information on this uncovered enigma. This is recent NES history-in-the-making!

So later the guys tell her they can't take 4 of her carts because they all have homemade labels. Mega Man 2, Platoon, a game which the name I will never remember, and a game that said "raisins". I am collecting Capcom, that's my thing, and the "raisins" one had a label that said return to Capcom. So I told her I was interested in it and she just gave it to me for my advice.

So I left the store feeling pretty good and I remember reading in the collector coner in 'Tips and Tricks' about proto carts.. the hand made labels and what have you.

So I went back and asked her where she got them. She said a friend of hers used to work for "some gaming company" and gave them to her as a gift for her son when he was old enough.

Now, he wanted an X-box and she was trying to offset the cost alittle.

So I told her what they all were. I'm not greedy.

You're a very honest man, I'll tell you that much. I don't think half of the NES fans out there would be so gracious. I greatly respect you for that, man. :D
So what the hey, I told her the other 3 probably weren't worth much (I didn't know otherwise at the time) since they came out. So then she starts asking about value and stuff and I told her to keep them, they're a really cool collectible to have. She asked if I was going to sell the "raisins" one, and I told her I wasn't because I collect Capcom.

At the time, I didn't know that raisins was an unreleased game. So I did my research and, for a while, I thought it had come out cause a few game stores around her have a buy back listing for it. So I happened upon an article by "Seanbaby" about the 10 worst video game idea, and there it was black and white: "unreleased". This was a month or two ago.

Wait.. so, when did you first find the game?
When the lady gave it to me - 2 months ago. I had no idea it was THAT big of a deal till I posted today.

Hehe.
Maybe month and half, not that long of a time.

It's a huge deal, you're holding NES history. Can I ask what you have planned with the game? Will you give it to someone to make into a rom? Sell? Hold on to it?
Um, to make a copy to ensure it is never gone, and that's really it. I will keep both copies, of course. I don't want some one to get a hold of it and make ther own "prototypes". And I have to keep it cause it is a) Capcom b) I swore to the woman I wouldn't sell it and c) my fiance would murder me.

Well, if that game becomes a rom.. anyone *could* make it into a homemade cart. And sell for profit.
Thats why I want to hold on to it, I don't want that to happen.

So, making it into a rom is out of the question?
Pretty much, yeah.

Just a back-up for you?
For me and maybe someone who wants it for preservation, not money and profit.

Can you describe a little about the gameplay of Raisins?
I can't say that it was a shame it didn't come out. There are 4 levels. Ware house, factory, grapevine and.... hold on, I'll put it in and check, I don't remember the name of the 4th level. Factory and grapevine are the only 2 level titles I can make out. The other look like dribble.

It has 2 difficulty setting, normal and hard, that you select before you play. You're the raisin with the sunglasses. "A" jumps and "B" throws raisins at various fruit who are the badguys. I think one level is a sewer, anyways.

Are there any cut-scenes/movies? How is the ending?
There is a lot of climbing, which is hard because it seems like the mechanics for the jumping is a little off, jumping of vines is awkward. Can't get that far, it's hard.

There is a scene where the council of raisins tell you to go save them, it is a still shot, it looks pretty good though.

Well the jumping makes it hard for one thing, and some enemies are impossible to avoid, like when you're up on the grapevine, there is a plane that drops peas on you and you can't avoid it, you get hit. And if you jump wrong, you plummet to certain doom. Or I suck, it's one or the other.

Music?
The music is good though, very good. And the vine-climbing sound is the rope climing sound from "Ducktales".

How would you rate graphics (keeping in mind it is an NES game)?
Decent. It would be good if the level design was a little more inspired, all the charaters look really good though.

The levels are kind of lacking.

Was there a year on the title screen?
1990 on the opening screen, the main character walks across the copyright screen into the title screen, I liked that.

Is the gameplay similar to any other Capcom titles?
It's like a much less exciting Mega Man. The music still kicks though and that is pretty consistant with them through the 8-bit era, or at least I like most of there music. Of course, I am biased towards anything that says Capcom, except "Street Fighter 2099" (shudder).

What would you like to say to people who want to "buy" or "dump" the game?
Sorry. It's not about money. I'm a collector, not a salesman.

You're one of a kind, not many people would say that. You could get thousands!
It's only money, you don't come with it and you can't take it with you.

Thanks a lot for the info, man! You've made cynical NES players little kids again.
No prob, later. Have fun writing it. Good night.