The wonderful people at SEGA Dreamcast Info have managed to acquire and archive an early build of Shenmue II from April 11th 2001 that features a multitude of differences when compared to the final game. The most interesting discovery is that art assets of the game’s director Yu Suzuki are included in this build, and SEGA Dreamcast Info have also released a version of the prototype that changes Ryo’s character model so that you can play as Yu Suzuki instead. You can see him in action via the embed below:
A full article about every difference in this prototype can be accessed by clicking here. A download link for this prototype and the Yu Suzuki version are also included at the end of the article. Once again we have to say a huge, “thank you” to the team at SEGA Dreamcast Info for preserving this amazing piece of SEGA development history.
The good people over at SMS Power have managed to secure the loose EPROMs of an unreleased Game Gear title called BreakThru! and have now dumped the game and preserved it digitally.
BreakThru! was originally released on other systems such as PC, SNES, Game Boy in 1994 and Saturn and Playstation later in 1995. The game is infamous for being endorsed by Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov. This Game Gear version was completed but never released for unknown reasons.
You can download the ROM file from SMS Power’s page on the title. SMS Power have also released a patched version that is more compatible with different hardware. The ROM file can be played on real hardware using something like an Everdrive cartridge. Alternatively the game can be played under emulation.
The continuing digital archiving efforts of Hidden Palace and Project Deluge have brought the world 80 new SEGA Saturn prototypes that are available to download and play right now. Included in these recent dumps are prototypes of Bug Too!, Fighting Vipers, SEGA Rally Championship, Virtua Fighter Kids, Magic Knight Rayearth, Dragonforce and many, many more.
Project Deluge has brought with it a huge swathe of Saturn, Playstation and CD-i prototypes and its revealed some fascinating discoveries. You can find out more about these latest releases by clicking here.
You may have seen the various unused gameplay elements and alternate artwork from this prototype in pre-release footage or the various magazine coverage from the time. This includes the UFOs in Marble Garden Zone, the different neon signs in Spring Yard Zone, the checkerboard ball that Sonic can run on in Green Hill Zone and the different stage titles for Spring Yard Zone and Scrap Brain Zone. Well, they’re all in this prototype and it makes for a fascinating insight into the game’s development.
Fast becoming one of the most important resources for digital archiving of prototype software, Hidden Palace have released another slew of prototype versions of various Sonic the Hedgehog titles. These new dumps of late development builds of Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Spinball and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine showcase some fascinating insight into their development and feature a slew of differences from their final builds.
Sonic Adventure 2 features many grammatical errors that would be corrected for the final build, Metal Harbor and the final Sonic and Shadow battle are considerably more difficult and the driving stages feature different collision results when driving into other vehicles. The full list of differences can be read on the Hidden Palace entry for this release.
All of these dumps can be downloaded and played through emulation or on real hardware from the Hidden Palace entries linked above. Hidden Palace will be streaming and revealing their “last present from under the tree” tonight (31/12/2020) at 10pm GMT on Twitch, so if you’re excited to see more prototypes from their team then be sure to tune in.
Another incredible find and release from Hidden Palace has been made available! This time we’ve been treated to the first and only ROM dump of an unreleased Akira game developed by Black Pearl Software. Originally developed for release in 1994, the game’s development was halted after a series of resignations in the team and a change in development priority with other Black Pearl titles.
You can watch the game in action via the embed below:
The ROM file for this Akira prototype is available to download from Hidden Palace and can be played in an emulator or on an actual Mega Drive through use of a flash cart.
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