F-Zero GX is a futuristic racing game developed by Sega’s Amusement Vision and published by Nintendo for the GameCube in 2003. There are not many screens with beta differences, but a couple that shown the Mute City – Twist Road track with different textures and removed buildings.
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StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty is a RTS developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released on July 2010 for PC and MAC. As we can read on Wikipedia, the project was announced on May 2007 at the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational in Seoul, South Korea, but the development began in 2003, shortly after Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne was released. According to Rob Pardo and Chris Sigaty, development for StarCraft II was put on hold for a year in 2005 due to the assistance needed for World of Warcraft. On February 2010, StarCraft 2 began closed beta testing, that was expected to last for 3–5 months.
Thanks to the beta, players were able to experience various changes during the development of the game, as posted by ABetaname and Zero7 in our U64 Forum.
Stuff from earlier builds such as cut units were found as leftovers in the beta.
soul hunters aren’t in now
phase cannons aren’t in now
tempests were changed back to carriers
no twilight archons, I believe anyway, I think they’re still normal archons though there is a twilight academy so maybe it’s an evolution/transformation
There has been a lot of other changes over the years that we can find from the Alpha version of the game. Such as the Thor.
“The Thor also originally required an SCV to construct, as opposed to being internally built from a structure. The idea behind this is the Thor was too large to be created from a Factory.” It also had a different (obviously place holder) voice actor. Basically over the years the Thor kept getting smaller and smaller.
It seems that Blizzard planned on having the Corsair from Starcraft Broodwar in StarCraft 2. However only the voice clips exist of him, hidden in the game’s code.
Various beta voice clips of some units were on the old StarCraft 2 website can be listened below, thanks to Starcraft2units‘ Youtube Channel.
More videos that explain some interesting beta changes can be found in PsyStarcraft‘s Youtube Channel:
The 4th Unit is a series of “point and click” graphic adventures published by Data West in Japan for CD-Rom PCs and Fujitsu FM-TOWNS. It seems that athe sixth chapter called “Merry Go Raund” was also planned for the Sega Mega CD, but it was never released for some reasons. Thanks to Myfishbone we were able to save a promo page about the cancelled Mega CD version, a translation of the main plot and a list of the developers!
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Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a platform developed by Nintendo EAD and released for the Wii in 2010. As we can read on Wikipedia, shortly after the first Super Mario Galaxy was completed, Shigeru Miyamoto approached the development team and suggested that a follow-up be produced. The game was originally planned just to do variations on the original game’s planets and call the game “More Super Mario Galaxy”, (it was dubbed “Super Mario Galaxy 1.5” during early development), with a projected development time of approximately a year.
Over time, more and more new elements and ideas were brought into the game, and it was decided that the game would be a fleshed-out sequel rather than a slightly modified follow-up. Thus, development took two and a half years. Super Mario Galaxy 2 was first shown at E3 2009, with a beta version that was similar to the final one, but still had some interesting differences, as noted by users at the Super Mario Wiki:
In the debut trailer from E3 2009, there were several changes before the game’s release date.
A planet shaped like Mario’s head could be seen. This planet is an early version of the Starship Mario.
In Cosmic Cove Galaxy, the switch which freezes the water into ice is placed on a wooden buoy-thing, similar to the place where Penguru is standing. In the final version, the switch is found on a tower.
The starting planet in Boo Moon Galaxy originally was going to have a different type of terrain and coloration that did not resemble the interior of a haunted mansion.
A giant Silver Chomp seemed to appear as a boss, possibly in the beta Battle Belt Galaxy.
Comet Medals were designed differently, as the comet’s star had no eyes.
Mario is seen sliding on a stone planet similar to Tall Trunk Galaxy’s Trunk Slide Planet is present. This game doesn’t exist in the final version.
On the E3 trailer, Sky Station Galaxy’s Soundtrack had an extra part (that sounded like a part from Gusty Garden Galaxy) that didn’t make it to the final.
In a beta version of the Flower Planet in the Supermassive Galaxy it was shown that Goombas appeared. In the final version, they don’t appear. Plus there were different flowers when Mario walks on the planet and the planet was made of dirt instead of grass.
Blue Grass Galaxy is a name for a possible scrapped beta development level of Super Mario Galaxy 2. Proof of this galaxy may exist in the E3 2009 Announcement Trailer of Super Mario Galaxy 2. A screenshot showing an unknown platform with Mario jumping on three Twirlips in a row also shows a planet in which resembles none of any of the planets and galaxies in the final release of
Galaxy 2.
There are two songs that did not make it into the game. Galaxy song 19 and “SMG2_galaxy08_strm” Galaxy song 19 is rumored to be the main theme for Blue Grass Galaxy. SMG2_galaxy08_strm was scrapped but did not become orchestrated.
Finally, although they are not found in the final game, Ice Mario and Flying Mario from the prequel can be playable via hacking. Despite the fact that they were apparently decided to be scrapped early, updated versions of their themes were found as well. Some test levels and models have been found hidden in the code of the final game, but you can’t get to them, since they lack a “UseResource.arc” the game will crash when loading them.
Also, Super Mario Galaxy 2 Could have featured Donkey Kong and Pikmin Cameos, but they were never implemented:
“One of the early proposals that we discussed for Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the possibility of including characters from other [Nintendo] franchises,” Hayashida explained through his translator. “For example, you might have Donkey Kong or Pikmin show up.”
“We presented this to Mr. Miyamoto, but he came down pretty hard, saying that there has to be a functional reason to include characters of a certain type in a game. He went to specify precisely why the Pikmin wouldn’t work.”
Some more info about the unused stuff found in Super Mario Galaxy 2, can be read at the Cutting Room Floor!
Thanks to Ismaw34 and Goomther for the contributions!
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WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It is a professional wrestling fighting game developed by YUKE’s Future Media Creators and published by THQ for the PlayStation 2 in 2001. In the early screenshots from the beta version Lionheart noticed some differences:
Jericho, Angle and Jeff Hardy had different costumes in the final game, these models can still be used with a gameshark/codebreaker
The game had 3D announcers sitting at the announcers table, who would sometimes pop-up in a “picture in picture” view to talk about the match. Both of these features where cut out of the final game (Although you can see a picture of Tazz and Micheal Cole commentating on the back of the boxart).
You were able to attack the announcers during the match
In the final game there is only one ladder in ladder/tlc matches, while in the beta there were a lot.
There are no big ladders at all in the final game.
In the beta it was possible to do attacks with the ladder which were removed from the final game (Dropkicking the ladder into the face).
You can also notice an alternate start screen.
Thanks to Lionheart for the contribution!
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