Nintendo

Equinox (Solstice 2) [SNES – Beta]

Equinox, also known as Solstice II, is an isometric 3D action / puzzle game developed by Software Creations and published by Sony Imagesoft in 1994 for the Super Nintendo. In some early beta screens (1991?) published in EGM issue 27, we can notice that the sprite of the protagonist was completely different from the one in the final version.

Final Game:

equinoxfinal

Beta:

equinoxbeta01

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Pickles [GC/PC – Prototype]

Pickles is a prototype for a platform / adventure game that was developed by Santa Cruz Games in 2005 / 2006 for the GameCube and PC. They created a playable demo for the game running on their own engine, but it’s currently unknown if they ever tried to pitch the project to a publisher. The Pickles demo was shown at the Game Connection 2006 as wrote in an article published on Gamasutra by Lost Level‘s Frank Cifaldi:

“So the soldier monkeys have bombs, and the elephant shoots peanuts like a machine gun and stuff,” explained Alex Neuse, Project Manager for Santa Cruz Games. “The idea is that you’re stacking, and as you stack your teeter tower is toppling. This is just a tech demo, but if we could really devote some time and money into it, it could be really awesome.”

The Pickles demo looked really interesting, but it never evolved into a full game.

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Wizard [Wii – Cancelled]

Wizard was a RPG in development for the Wii, which was started at SuperVillain Studios (Crash of the Titans, Order Up!) in 2007. The story revolved around heroes who were trying to pursue a mysterious little girl trapped in the mist ravines. Sadly Wizard was cancelled due to a lack of funding in early 2009, but some screens and videos are archived in the gallery below, to preserve its existence.

Thanks to Hey Hey for the contribution!

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Zelda: Oracle of Seasons [GBC – Beta]

The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons was published by Nintendo and developed by Capcom’s Flagship Studio for the Gameboy Color. In the early screenshots released for the game we can notice many beta differences. In the gallery below you can see some of these beta screens:

  • The waggon that we see in the opening place (when Din is dancing near the fire) was once set near the first dungeon too. In the final game it’s never in there.
  • The sprites for the trees and flowers were different in the beta version
  • There are some circle green things near a signboard in one of the beta screens, that does not exist in the final game.
  • The entrance of the first dungeon was different and it did not had a keyhole.
  • Impa’s house was in a slightly different place.
  • There are also many areas in these beta screens that does not look like any other areas in the final game. It’s possible that in this early build they created a small playable demo in a placeholder world, just to shown how the Seasons System worked.

As the game have a complex password system that change some of the content, some of these differences could still be in the final version. If you have more info, please let us know!

Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons were originally going to be themed parts of the Triforce Trilogy along with Mystical Seed of Courage. Each of the three games originally had a piece of the Triforce and one of its qualities (Wisdom, Power or Courage) assigned to them. This idea was scrapped relatively late in the development process, and the games were re-branded to remove all mention of this Triforce theme.[Info from Zelda Wikia]

Thanks to the X-Cult Community for the contribution!

You can find more info about Zelda: Oracle of Seasons in the Zelda Wiki!

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Albert Odyssey Gaiden [SNES – Cancelled]

Albert Odyssey Gaiden (known in USA as Legend of Eldean) is RPG developed by Sunsoft and released for the Saturn in 1996, but it was originally meant to be published for the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo. The SNES version was soon cancelled and the project was ported to the new SEGA console, with many differences. Obviously the graphic was boosted for the Saturn, but even the SNES version looked really good for a 16 bit system.

As in 1994 / 1995 many japanese gamers were going to buy one of the new 32 bit consoles to replace the Super Famicom / Mega Drive, probably Sunsoft thought that Albert Odyssey Gaiden would have sold better on the Saturn.

It’s currently unknown how much the SNES version was completed before its cancellation.

Here is a comparison between the SNES early build and the final game released on Saturn:

Above: Snes . Below: Saturn.

Snes beta Albert odissey 3Albert odissey Saturn Final
Iron Dragon Boss. It seems that in the SNES version you fought it in a different place (or the background was just a placeholder).

Snes beta Albert odissey 2 Albert odissey Saturn Final
Same spell (death rune). We can also see the placeholder sprites in SNES version.

Thanks to Celine for the contribution (Scans from Super Power magazine #20 and #22) and Gamengai for the the fliers shared online.

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