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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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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As we can read on Wikipedia, Elite is a space shooter / trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers. The game’s title derives from one of the player’s goals of raising their combat rating to the exalted heights of “Elite”. Elite was one of the first home computer games to use wireframe 3D graphics with hidden line removal. Another novelty was the inclusion of The Dark Wheel, a novella by Robert Holdstock which influenced new players with insight into the moral and legal codes to which they might aspire.
Despite being ported to virtually every home computer of that time, there is just one version available for a console and that’s Imagineer NES port, released only in Europe in 1991 ( the NES port is considered the best 8-bit version by the authors). However there were various attempts in early nineties to bring this milestone title to other Sega and Nintendo systems.
In fact Nintendo Magazine System issue 9 revealed how Hybrid Technology (developer of the Archimedes version) was developing the ultimate version of Elite using the Super FX chip. However , as Stern correctly noticed, the screenshots in the article were probably taken from the Amiga version. In the next issue ( #10 ) NMS unveiled ( this time for real ) the first official pics for Super Nintendo. Contrary to what they wrote in the previous issue, Elite for SNES wouldn’t utilize the SFX chip and despite that the game was said to have smooth framerate and Mode 6 ( SNES hi-res mode ). Super NES Elite had additions compared to the original title like a “planet buster” bomb and a more console-friendly interface that use icons ( like the NES version ) .
Those two article made clear how Hybrid Technology had yet to found a publisher for their project at the time so that’s likely the reason why it never come out.
Later on , in 1994, Hybrid Technology created two small tech demos as a pitch to port Elite to Genesis / Mega Drive and Game Boy however nothing came out from them. The two tech demos are available on Ian Bell ( Elite co-author ) ‘s website (backup at elitehomepage.org). You can watch two short videos about them below.
Article writteb by Celine, thanks to Steven for the contribution!
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Elite [Game Boy Tech Demo]
Elite [ Genesis/Mega Drive Tech Demo ]
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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Monster Hunter 3 (Tri) is an action coop game that was developed by Capcom and released for the Wii in 2009 (Japan) and 2010 (USA and Europe). As we can read in Wikipedia, the game was originally planned to be a PlayStation 3 title, but due to high development costs for that console Capcom instead decided to develop it for the Wii. Thanks to Monster Hunter Wikia, we can see many concept artworks from the official Hunter Encyclopedia 3, that show early versions of the MH3 monsters and various unused enemies (that may be revived for a possible MH3G expansion).
Beta Royal Ludroth:
Final Royal Ludroth:
Beta Barioth:
Final Barioth:
Check the gallery below for more concepts!
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