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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Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (also know as Shadow Strike during its development) is a third-person stealth game in the Splinter Cell series, developed and published by Ubisoft Shanghai in 2004. Below you can see a video compiled by Silenceofthehills, with lots of early concept arts and beta screens. Text and video annotations in the video help explain the differences between the earlier planned renditions and the final version of various spots in each area.
As seen in the video, a fully missing level map is viewed under the first game‘s HUD. Since the first game had cut a level and used it as an extra in another version of the game, its quite possible that these shots are from a missing level. Its also possible that these are merely early renditions of a previous level, or even simply a test level considering the unaltered HUD.
Secondly, we can also see the previous incarnation of the PS2 and GameCube port before it had be delayed and taken under various graphical tweaks to ensure the artwork was nearer to par with the original versions of the game. This is also available in the GameInformer article scan as well, which also oddly contains a beta HUD akin to that of the online mode’s. This HUD was also apparently shared between all versions of the game.
Below is the direct quote on this from Gamespot itself, posted on February 4, 2004 by Justin Calvert.
“Ubisoft has today announced that while the Xbox, PC, GBA, and cell phone versions of Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow are still on track for release next month, the PS2 and GameCube versions will now launch at a later date. The only reason given for the delay is that the development team is committed to making sure that the other two console versions are as good as the Xbox version.”
Thanks to Silenceofthehills for the contribution!
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Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones is an action-adventure game developed and published by Ubisoft Montreal. It was released in December 2005 for the Xbox, PC, PlayStation 2 and the GameCube. In the game the Prince develops a split personality, known as the Dark Prince, and this alter-ego constantly bickers with him in his mind about right and wrong. At times, the Prince physically transforms into the Dark Prince. [Info from Wikipedia]
As noticed by Zapages from the NeoGAF Forum, initially the Dark Prince had a different design than the one in the final version. Check the videos below for a comparison:
Video (Beta Dark Prince)
Video (Final Dark Prince)
Sonic Heroes is a platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team USA and released in 2003 for the GameCube, Playstation 2 and Xbox. Kieranmay linked us to many beta videos from the game, as you can see below! Many cutscenes were still unfinished and the songs were changed for the final version.
Also, as we can read at Sonic Retro, various Sonic Heroes betas were leaked online:
Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!
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prototype of the early song “what I’m made of”
final version of what I’m made of
Lady Sia 3D is a prototype for an action adventure game that was in development by RFX Interactive in 2002 / 2003, for the GameCube and Playstation 2. The game was meant to be a tridimensional sequel to the original Lady Sia, created by RFX and published in 2001 by TDK Mediactive for the GameBoy Advance.
This Lady Sia 3D prototype never evolved into a full game and it’s possible that the team found it too difficult to translate the fun gameplay of the original GBA version into a 3D world (before this proto they only worked on 2D games for the GBC and GBA). In 2003 RFX closed and TDK Mediactive was acquired by Take-Two Interactive.
Thanks to Holly for the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!
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