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Konami

[Article written by Torentsu]

Castlevania 64 underwent a no doubt rushed development phase and because of it, a lot of content was cut from the final game. The most obvious missing feature is that the final version only contains two playable characters as opposed to beta version’s promised four.

Originally, we were promised Reinhardt Schneider, Carrie Fernandez , Cornell, and Coller. Reinhardt and Carrie made it into 64 and Cornell was lucky enough to pull into the “directors cut” version of the game, but poor old Coller never saw the light of day. He was, however, replaced by Henry. Castlevania 64 obviously had a lot more content than what we got, but fortunately, thanks to a bit of picture hunting and hacking magic, we can see a bit more of what the developers originally intended.

Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony

Metal Gear Solid 4 [PS3 – Beta]

yota

18-07-2008

2 Comments

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a stealth action video game. Directed by Hideo Kojima, Shuyo Murata and Yoji Shinkawa, Guns of the Patriots was developed by Kojima Productions exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It is the seventh title in the Metal Gear series and the first in its fourth generation. The game, designed around the motto, “No Place to Hide!”, is the last Metal Gear game developed by Hideo Kojima, and the last game in the series starring the protagonist Solid Snake. [Info from Wikipedia]

Looking at some old screens from the game, it seems that there are some scenes that i don’t remember to be in the final version, or that are a little different. Also in some screenshots, Snake’s face looks weird. Thanks to Segagaga Domain we can also check an old tech demo that was presented at the Tokyo Game Show 2005, in which Konami shown various real time effects and details from its 3D engine.

Thanks to Jamie for the contribution!

Thanks a lot to Yakumo / Segagaga Domain for the MGS4 Tech Demo!

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An interesting beta-version comparison between new and old MGS4 trailers was already made by people at Kotaku some time ago, where we can see some little differences in the cutscenes of the game, like different colors for the 3d models.. As they said: “Kojima Productions went through and made various changes, alterations to assets that appeared in earlier trailers. But what kind of changes? Are they changes for the better? Or not? Below, is a comparison. On the left is footage from an older, yellowish MGS4 trailer, while on the right there’s brand new footage.”

Videos:

Microsoft, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Xbox 360

Silent Hill: Homecoming [Beta – Xbox 360 / PS3]

monokoma

23-05-2008

8 Comments

Silent Hill: Homecoming is the sixth installment in the Silent Hill survival horror video game series, developed by Double Helix Games (AKA Foundation 9 studio + The Collective + Shiny Entertainment). From the pre-released screenshots, we can already see some beta differences between the “final” version and an old “beta” version, like different hair color for the protagonist and a “better” graphic. If you played the final game and notice some more beta differences in the early screens and videos, please let us know! Thanks to Brad for the contribution

Leaked, Playstation, Saturn, Sega, Sony

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Beta – PSX Saturn]

U64 Staff & Contributors

14-05-2008

6 Comments

The images below are from an old E3 Beta demo of Castlevania: SotN that was sold on ebay some time ago. The description said: “This auction is for the Castlevania E3 edition. Only one known to exist in collector’s hands this could be the highlight of many game collections. This disc was an early development version of the title which was released in the us as Castlevania SOTN. Early development titles such as this were run on test consoles by developers and game testors. If you lack the hardware required to play developmental software game do not bid.

The game gives 2 options. Normal and Special. Normal mode starts out at the end of the Bloodlines story but the text is in English while the voices are still in Japanese. I am unsure if this remains throughout the entire game or just for the first cutscene. Special mode starts you off further along with items and relics already as part of your inventory. In either mode dying brings up a different game over screen which instead says “To be continured September 1997″. I have not determined what other differences may exist and leave that all up to the buyer.”

Some more differences were noticed by Torentsu:

Alucard levels much more quickly
spells are still usable in special mode but they start out not being in the menu
Lead in to the music track in Catacombs is VERY different

This beta demo was leaked online sometime ago and you can download it if you search it on Google. If you play it and find some more interesting differences, let us know!

Images:

Videos:

Nintendo, Nintendo DS

Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow [DS – Beta / Unused]

U64 Staff & Contributors

22-04-2008

7 Comments

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is an action adventure developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo DS, in 2005. As we can read in Wikipedia, the production of Dawn of Sorrow was announced on January 6, 2005 as the first Castlevania game to be released on the Nintendo DS. The DS touch screen was a primary point of interest, and several functions, such as picking up items on the screen and moving them, were originally intended to be incorporated. However, scheduling problems forced the development team to abandon many of these ideas.

As noticed by argh4430, in the first two screenshots (the ones where Soma is fighting a manticore and skeleton archer in the Lost Village), those enemies are not there in the final version of the game. They are in the next area you visit, the Wizardry Lab).

Thanks to Xelba we have some more info about the beta differences in the early game. There was one screenshot that showed Soma fighting Gergoth at the beginning of the Lost Village stage. Also, an analysis of the game’s rom revealed some unused dialogue hinting about the piano room and Hammer wanting to help out Julius, Alucard and Yoko fight against Soma/Dracula.

While the piano room doesn’t do anything in the final version, there might have been a puzzle that rewarded you an item if done so correctly, but this is only speculation. As for Hammer, no action sprites were found other than his normal sprites. But the hidden unused dialogue between him and Julius as well as before the fight against Soma hints that Hammer was once planned to be playable in Julius mode only.

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