Which game betas differ most significantly from their final release?

[dreamkatcha]

I'm struggling to find good examples. The best so far is Soccer Kid given that the one disk version excludes an animated intro and the first level is very different in terms of layout and aesthetics. The mechanics were already nailed down by this stage so it's still entirely recognisable.

James Pond's beta features lots of undocumented hotkeys, but otherwise seems much like the finished product. Through trial and error I was able to skip levels, make a few objects spontaneously materialize and cause James to jitter about a bit.

[sokolovic]

The first demo of Alien Breed 3D is quite different from the final game (different Hud, differents Monsters) IIRC.

And there is of course Mr Nutz and Kid Chaos that had differents main character not a good change for Kid Chaos IMHO).

[TCD]

Fire & Ice's main character was first supposed to be a dog as can be seen in CU Amiga screenshots: https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/fire-and-ice#scans (at the very bottom)

[derSammler]

Aquaventura by Psygnosis. Almost a completely different game.

Also Mr. Nutz (started as Timet - the Flying Squirrel), which had nothing to do with that character until OCEAN forced the developers to change it, since the Amiga port of the original Mr. Nutz game (for SNES) was cancelled. So Timet had to be that Amiga "port" instead. Not sure how much they changed, but I remember early screenshots were quite different from the final game.

[DisasterIncarna]

Originally Posted by TCD

Fire & Ice's main character was first supposed to be a dog as can be seen in CU Amiga screenshots: https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/fire-and-ice#scans (at the very bottom)

that blue dog looks more like some kind of dog+yeti hybrid, i think the result we eventually got looks better.

Not sure about amiga titles but i remember playing a demo of R-Type on the c64 that looked more like a spectrum game, quite different from what i finally played as a proper release, unless that was an example of the occasional rare euro/usa game variation.

[kremiso]

sadly it has not been released, but i would like to see that Lost Patrol 3 disks version, brutally censored and cutted from Ocean at the time.

i remember to have read some details in the magazines back in the day

[sokolovic]

The Chaos Engine 2 wasn't supposed to be Split screen in one player mode.

CF https://amr.abime.net/issue_624

[Minuous]

The version of APB reviewed by ZZAP! had a solid status panel; this was changed to transparent for the final release (see issue #56, p. 7). That early version seems nowhere to be found.

[Megalomaniac]

Timekeepers was intended to be twice the size (and roughly twice the price) it ultimately was, with eight time periods instead of four (not sure if the dropped ones became the data disk).

Overdrive's preview screenshots weren't all 90-degree bends.

As for Mr. Nutz, apparently the original Mr. Nutz was originally meant to be an Amiga game, it just happens that once it was ready as a SNES-only game Ocean also gained the rights to release Tmet (not Timet, I know it's splitting hairs) The Flying Squirrel, so asked the developers to replace the main character with their existing squirrel

[derSammler]

Yes, the original Mr. Nutz was for SNES, Amiga and other systems. But the Amiga port was cancelled. OCEAN had the publishing rights to Timet already, but did not want to have two squirrel characters, so they forced the change and Timet became Mr. Nutz for the Amiga.

And it is Timet, not "Tmet". No idea where you got that from.

http://www.nemmelheim.de/kaiko/amigagames/timet.html

Btw, from one of the devs:
https://oldbytes.space/@didier@masto...30077922704463

"I’m sure the original Amiga version still exists somewhere on a hard drive."

[Gerry]

No Second Prize by Thalion:

[...]the fastest 3D racing game ever, "No Second Prize". It would be some sort of futuristic (and, not to mention, much faster, smoother and more capably programmed) version of Domark's "Hard Drivin'". [...] Around the summer of 1990, the then Thalion managing director wanted the concept to change. It would have to be some sort of monorailish bobsled thing with well thought out craft design and the whole thing and lots of shooting, too. [..] The concept had by that time been altered completely again. It was to be a motor racing game - no, a motor racing simulation - and the spectacular bits featured in the demo (such as the loops and screws and the multiple other on-screen shapes) had already disappeared. Thalion had a new man at the reigns who knew exactly what kind of stuff people wanted. "Simulations," he said, "that is the kind of stuff people will want." The very hottest and absurdly fastest futuristic 3D shooting 'n' racing arcade game had been turned into a rather more realistic and not all too spectacular (yet still very fast) motor racing simulation.

Quote taken from ST-News Vol. 8 issue 1.

[dreamkatcha]

All great examples/fascinating discussion of course, though I was specifically thinking of beta releases that are out in the wild so can easily be compared to their retail editions rather than what the magazine previews led us to expect. That's a much wider topic.

What I've been tinkering with appear to be internal previews or those designed to be showcased to prospective publishers, not so much demos fit for public consumption. I expect they got leaked in the typical way so can be found in the usual haunts online.

I've got a scan of the Cosmic Kitten character sketch (provided by Andrew Morris) that was eventually supplanted by Kid Vicious, then Kid Chaos, but there's no working prototype of the game featuring the Sonic-like sprite, unfortunately.

Same with Timet. I have various digital backgrounds and sprite sheets (provided by Antony Christoulakis) and used these to reassemble the originally proposed protagonist as an APNG, yet there's no beta in public circulation where we can play as the first flying squirrel design.

[jotd]

In Gods early versions the character helmet was different. Some mid-air platforms may have evolved too as the demo disk shows old style platforms.

[mc68060]

Originally Posted by derSammler

"I’m sure the original Amiga version still exists somewhere on a hard drive."

Very unlikely. If that Amiga version really existed, why would Ocean have bought Timet as Mr Nutz for the Amiga? Pierre Adane probably only developed the SNES version of Mr Nutz using an Amiga and then informed Ocean that it's too much work to port the SNES game to the Amiga. If Pierre Adane really had the SNES Mr Nutz running on Amigas, Ocean surely would have gone with that instead of Timet...

[sokolovic]

You seems better informed than one developper of the game. He even says that he have seen the game running on the Amiga.

This kind of strange moves appears all the time. Maybe Ocean thought that a Sonic clone was more appropriated for the Amiga market ? Who knows.

[mc68060]

Originally Posted by sokolovic

You seems better informed than one developper of the game. He even says that he have seen the game running on the Amiga.

Well, there are also people who claim to have seen Pitfall - The Mayan Adventure running on an Amiga but in both cases it might probably be just some very early tech demo.



Has anyone ever asked Pierre Adane about it? Looks like he's on Linkedin.

[Gzegzolka]

Team17 Overdrive was first developed by different developers from Italy. Different tracks, more cars /rivals during races. But they can not finish it on time so T17 pick different dev team.
Bit later version got different road curves on tracks and nice big pictures of each car type that are absent in final release.

[Gzegzolka]

Anybody got adf with that Soccer Kid demo?

Arabian Nights demo got different sprites for guard, snake charmer.
Early press preview got different hero sprite in white hat and different level complete screens.

Banshee got different hud in early press previews.

Black Viper in early press preview got working towns, each city got more places to visit.

[TCD]

Not 100% sure, but I think this is the Soccer Kid beta that dreamkatcha is talking about: https://ftp2.grandis.nu/turransearch...0&httplinks=on

[dreamkatcha]

Yes, that's the one. I've now completed the single level preview of Soccer Kid and can see what they did. It's the last level and penultimate boss from the finished game, minus the intro and outro.