platform

Leaked, Nintendo, Others, PC / MAC, Playstation 3 (PS3), Sony, Wii

Explodemon [PS3/Wii/PC – Prototype]

monokoma
13-01-2010
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Explodemon! is an upcoming 2.5D side scrolling platform game in development by Curve Studios for PlayStation Network, Microsoft Windows and WiiWare. The project is described as “what Treasure would create if they mixed Yoshi’s Island with Half-Life 2”, and is inspired by elements from games as diverse as Street Fighter II, Halo, Super Metroid and Bangai-O.

In the personal blog of Jonathan Biddle, Design Director at Curve Studios, we can read an interesting series of articles about the development of Explodemon!, with images and videos from its early prototypes.  From his blog Jonatahn also released the December 2005 Explodemon proto, that you can download from here. Huge props!

There were always new games concepts bouncing around at Blue, and Jamie had a few, one of which was Exploding Robot 12. Jamie’s concept went something along the lines of humanity’s last hope – a robot that couldn’t stop himself exploding – being sent out to destroy the alien menace that was threatening all of mankind. From what I remember, it wasn’t so much a platform game, as an action puzzler, where you had to navigate sections that you didn’t want to destroy, as well as blow up the enemy spacecraft and whatnot. I always liked the idea, and my recent explosion-based thoughts lead me to wonder if it would translate well to a platform game. I mentioned it to Jamie and he was up for me carrying the idea on. The early builds even had the codename ‘R12’.

For more info on the Explodemondevelopment, check One Bit Beyond!

Videos:

For comparison, here’s the trailer from the final game:

 

Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

MegaMan X7 [PS2 – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors
10-01-2010
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Megaman X7 (Rockman X7 in Japan) came to the American PS2 in october of 2003, and brought with it some of the biggest changes the X series of Megaman games has seen. For the first time, players could control X and Zero in 3D worlds, as well as switching back to 2D at times. It also brought with it, a new face to the series, Axl, with the ability to completely transform into certain enemies.

Players could now switch between 2 characters of their choice in any given level, with the Intro stage, being the only exception, considering that for the first time ever, X, was an unlockable character, instead of being available right from the start. However, it seems this wasn’t always the case. Take a look at these beta videos and screenshots taken from before the game was released. 

GameCube, Nintendo, Others, PC / MAC

Pickles [GC/PC – Prototype]

monokoma
20-12-2009
7 Comments

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.

Images: 

Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Ratchet Deadlocked [PS2 – Beta]

U64 Staff & Contributors
15-12-2009
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Ratchet Deadlocked (Ratchet: Gladiator in PAL regions, also known as Ratchet & Clank 4) is an arena style shooter from Insomniac games, released on 10/25/05 for the Playstation 2. This game strayed the most from the standard gameplay of the Ratchet and Clank series, being the first and only Ratchet game to be based upon the idea of arena fights instead of exploration.

Combat bots at one point were supposed to have legs instead of their hover base. This changed how they affect gameplay, mainly because flying lets them get a better angle than they could by walking. Also to be seen here, is that when given a command, that command appears above their heads. This can be seen at the very start of the video. The combat bot on the left to be precise. Also here, is a beta version of the ammo crate. It’s orange here, but the final version is green. And also, the ammo refills are the Gadgetron ones, and they are cylinder shaped. The final versions, are more box shaped, and green and black in color. Finally, notice that Ratchet has two combat bots here, and rescues a third. It is not known if the third battle bot would have affected gameplay or not.

Evan Hanley found even more differences in the early trailers shown at E3 and Tokyo Game Show:

  • The Eviscerator lacked his leg pads.
  • Ace Hardlight has a different missile glove.
  • The combat bots had legs at one point.
  • The Landstalker had different missile sound effects.
  • The HUD was different.
  • The health bar was different.
  • The weapon icons look slightly different.
  • The number text for the health bar, ammo and bolts was different.
  • The minimap is different.
  • The robot ability box is a different shape.
  • There is no level text for the weapons.
  • The EXP text is different.
  • The EXP bar is smaller and harder to see.
  • The Weapon EXP bar is different and in a different position.
  • The Landstalker’s health bar is different.
  • The Flail Whip has no hit sound effect.
  • The Electric Mine Launcher has a different sound effect.
  • Ratchet doesn’t grunt when hit.

The Online Multiplayer footage has pretty much the same differences as the Tokyo Game Show Trailer but has different HUDs and activity texts for different modes.

Thanks to Evan for the contribution! 

Playstation 2 (PS2), Sony

Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal [PS2 – Beta]

monokoma
10-12-2009
No Comments

Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal is a platform / third person shooter developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony. It is the third installment in the Ratchet & Clank series and was released in November 2004. [Info from Wikipedia]

Bowsersenemy was able to notice various differences in the early beta screens and in some videos:

  • The upgraded version of the N60 storm, used the icon from the Lancer from RAC 2. The whole weapon status meter is from RAC 2!
  • In another beta screen the N60 had the icon of the second form Lancer, with LESS max ammo than before!
  • A beta screenshot of the multiplayer mode
  • Some removed enemies
  • A removed wrench weapon
  • Holostar studios mission was set in the evening, while the final version is in the day.
  • Qwark vid comics had beta timer, beta life bar, and beta Q token counter (bottom right corner)