Thanks to Serenes Forest we can read about a list of differences that were found in the prototype version of Fire Emblem 7, a beta that was leaked online sometime ago. Major differences are in the colors of the CGs, options, sprites, animations, extra shops and items. The 2 betas can be download at the Read more
According to some 1995 magazines, a new chapter of the Final Fantasy series was already in development for the Nintendo 64 and there were even rumors of a simultaneous release in the U.S. and Japan for the end of the 1996. Was it for real? Not really. In order to test the new Silicon Graphics hardware, Squaresoft created a now well-known interactive CGI demo (not running on the real Nintendo 64 hardware, even if the N64 was powered by Silicon Graphics) with characters from Final Fantasy VI, to show it at the SIGGRAPH 95 expo. That was the “Final Fantasy 64” that magazines talked about, but it was not really a game for any console, just a tech demo. The real Final Fantasy 7 would have been released on the Playstation in 1997. But what happened between Nintendo and Square, and why was there no Final Fantasy for the N64? Read the full article »
In the website of ATMachine we can read an interesting series of articles about the old Lucas Arts adventures and between them, we can even find a wonderfull page with informations and screens for the beta version of Monkey Island! Various differences like removed puzzles, changes in the text and missing dog closeup are show in those screens.
Robert Seddon has linked us to an interesting article at Grumpy Gamer, in which Ron Gilbert has posted some reminiscences about developing the game:
My brain is filled with a lot of old adventure game puzzles, most of which never made it into a game. DeathSpank actually has a couple of puzzles ideas that we talked about for the original Monkey Island.
Originally, I wanted the Grog Machine to be a Coke Machine, baring that, I wanted it to look like a Coke machine. It originally had the “Coke Wave” on it, but said “Grog”. The Lucasfilm legal team came back and said it was too close to the real trademarked Coke Wave.
The key to the Monkey Head used to be called a Q-Tip(tm), but in my second legal lesson of the project it was changed.
Elaine Marley was just called “The Governor” until the scene in the church was written. Dave Grossman wrote that scene and put in the gag dialog choice where Guybrush shouts “Elaine!”, which is from the movie “The Graduate”. I liked that, so it became her name. In the original design, Elaine was a more ruthless Governor, but she softened up and became a true love interested as the project processed.
There was supposed to be ship combat during your voyage to Monkey Island. It would have been done top-down view with you controlling the ship and firing a cannon. It was right to cut that. Never be afraid to cut.
Also, according to Kotaku, the dog will be in the Monkey Island remake that is going to be released for PC and Xbox 360 Live Arcade.
Spiffy, the dog at the Scumm Bar, showed up on the back of the original box, but had to be cut from the actual game due to space. Now he’s back, though mostly as decoration.
In november 2009, an article on the Workshop blog revealed some unused dialogues that are still hidden in the game’s code:
One thing I quickly noticed was that Ron and Tim had left a lot of notes in the code, explaining why things were the way they were, or putting a date when a certain bug was fixed. This was fascinating to see and read. The other thing I noticed is that when they made some changes, they left the original versions of the code in there, but commented out, so that it wouldn’t be used.
Thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!
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Xavio hasn’t updated a lot the last time, but no worries folks, the one and only Xavio is back – WITH AN INTERVIEW!! How great isn’t that? I was trying to contact Borman from Past To Present / Superior Version, but he was far to little on his computer (so we’ll have his interview for another time) and I decided to contact DRX from Hidden-Palace.org instead. God Bless that guy, now I’ll get an A+ in English. Anyway, let’s go down to business.
I went down the streets, looking for the man. The city walls were gray, and I smoked on my cigarrete as I heard the noise of the wind coming through me. Then I saw him. He stood in the city corner, the guy who took care of Hidden-Palace.org. He watched at me as I came towards him, with my cigarrete and my pimped out nose. We stood and chatted for a while, and then I began interviewing him. Read the full interview »
In 1998 Psyiko’s “Steel Hearts” team released the highly obscure fighter Daraku Tenshi: The Fallen Angels. The game saw limited release in Japan, and even slimmer distribution in America and other places outside the land of the rising sun. Despite this the game was at least “semi” translated and there is a dip-switch option allowing you to change the after battle quotes into English. Perhaps the thing that makes Daraku Tenshi so interesting is the air of mystery that surrounds its development, and the finished product that we got. Thanks to the rise of the internet however, a few more scraps of info are starting to turn up. The general consensus is that Daraku Tenshi was released unfinished (or in the very least rushed).Read the rest of this entry »