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capcom

Even if Capcom had already planned an online version of Resident Evil in 2000, Outbreak (aka Network Biohazard) was officially announced only at E3 2002. This beta version was much more ambitious than the game that we got in the end: originally there were about 20 playable scenarios, some of which were completely removed, notably a Dock stage and The Raccoon City Hotel, while others later appeared in Outbreak File 2, like “Flashback”, the episode located in the forest.

Of course, more levels meant more characters, and unfortunately they had to renounce to include personalities such as little girl with a gun (!), some UBCS members, the fan-favorite Hunk, a policewoman, and on so on. Their polygonal models are still inside the two outbreak games, and it is possible to access them using Gameshark codes.

Another feature prominent in the original trailer was a four player split-screen mode, probably dropped for technical reasons. At the end, Capcom decided to divide Resident Evil Online in two different games: Outbreak and Outbreak File 2. A File 3 was supposed to follow shortly, but Capcom never bothered with the series again.

Here we can also find the videos of the beta versions of the characters endings.

Thanks a lot to daisu1 for some of these images!

Beta Scenarios

The removed dock level.

This removed level was located in the Raccoon City Hotel.

The forest level that later became the “Flashback” scenario in Outbreak File 2.

This is the location of the Raccoon Hospital from Resident Evil 3. We don’t know if it was supposed to be a separate scenario.

This sewer was later included in the “Underbelly” scenario of File “2.

Beta Characters

Four Players Split-screen

Images

Videos

Unseen News

RS Links: Phoenix Wright was removed from Tatsunoko vs. Capcom

monokoma

21-10-2009

No Comments

Robert Seddon has linked us to an article on GoNintendo, that reports an interview by NGamer with Ryota Niitsuma, producer on Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, in wich he revealed that the team had some plans to add the Phoenix Wright character in the game, but in the end he was canned because of his special move:

Because Phoenix Wright only has one move, ‘Objection!’, we struggled. We designed a move for him: when he says objection, the actual writing attacks the opponent. However, ‘objection’ in Japanese is ‘igiari’ – it’s four characters, whereas ‘objection’ becomes ten [sic. It’s nine, actually.] When we localize, the balance of the game gets destroyed because the move becomes bigger. There’d be no way of avoiding it! We had to remove him for these reason. In the future, it is one of our aims to get him in.

That sounds like a weird reason to remove a character. Why not to remove just his special move? We’ll never know.

Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Street Fighter Alpha 2 [SNES – Beta?]

monokoma

28-09-2009

8 Comments

Street Fighter Alpha 2 (also known as Street Fighter Zero 2) is a 1996 fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom, and later ported to the SNES. Israel has found some beta SFA2 screens for the SNES/SFC version. These were published in the “Club Nintendo” magazine in Mexico.

According to the magazine, SFZ2 was going to include “an special chip to aid in data an sprite processing to make the game more fluid”. The description matches Nintendo’s SA-1 chip but there are no confirmations if it was going to be an SA-1 game.

There is some evidence that it could have been the case, thought:

1. The characters seem to be bigger in the beta, at least in the Rolent vs Vega shot. In the Sakura vs Sakura shot you can tell by the size of her thighs.
2. In the final build, the shadows flickered while in the beta they don’t (both can be seen in the shots). Why is this relevant? In the finalized game the flicker doesn’t look good. Why didn’t they just leave them like in the beta?

Israel thinks that they were indeed aiming towards a SA-1 cartridge but late in the development cycle they switched to a SA-1 + S-DD1 because of space constrains and maybe in the last few weeks decided to settle for a S-DD1 only cart due to costs concerns.

The screenshots were published in August 1996 so that means the the screenshots were taken in June or July. SFA2 was released in November so it must have gone gold in October at least.

Some differences noticed in the screenshots:

The game used to have a custom font for the character names. This was changed to a default SNES font.
Win icons were red (Sakura vs Sakura screenshot)
Shadows didn’t flicker, both are visible in the screenshots.
Characters seem to be a little bigger than their final iterations.

Thanks to Israel for the contribution!

Images:

Unseen News

Mega Man X3 [unused W meter?]

monokoma

17-07-2009

3 Comments

Bowsersenemy and xMrNx have found some unused Zero sprites and a strange W Meter bar in Mega Man X 3!

Playstation, Sony

Resident Evil 2 Trial [PSX – Beta]

yota

09-07-2009

4 Comments

Resident evil 2 Trial was a demo of Resident Evil 2 included in Resident Evil Director’s Cut. After dropping Resident Evil 1.5, Capcom made a first version of Resident Evil 2, now called Beta 1, that was remarkably different from the released version and with more leftovers from RE 1.5. Unfortunately we don’t know much about this beta, but the trial should document a build between the beta 1 and the less interesting (and leaked) beta 2. In the screenshots and the video in this page we can see some beta items, the unfinished rooms of the RPD station and a few layout changes.

A removed ventilation shaft. It is likely that it was used by Sherry, because there was no hole in the RPD room corridor in the trial.

This screenshot is from the removed last cutscene from the demo. In the final game, we encounter Ada much later. It is likely that at this point of the development the story wasn’t finalized yet, and the various encounters with the support and the playable characters were different.

A removed reference to a switch that was supposed to open the card lock of the evidence room.

For more informations check our article about Resident Evil 2 Backgrounds

Thanks to Helegad, Pickyeater, KEK8 and Dark Biohazard of the THIA Forum for some of the pics! Thanks to OKei for the “unused voices” video!

Images:

Videos: