(Issue 44, March 1993)
Most of these scans were taken from uploads available at Retro CDN. Click on any of the below scans to make them larger.
Electronic Gaming Monthly
(Issue 44, March 1993)
EGM's one page preview shows screenshots from an early build of the game. The main difference here is that Maki has a completely different sprite.
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| This screen shows Haggar, but it also shows that originally a finger pointer would appear when you could move forward, the final game uses an arrow. | |
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| There are a few small screens of Maki doing various attacks, every single one of them were changed for the final version. The first two moves shown are her jump kick and elbow strike. I don't know what she's doing for her next move, perhaps originally her final combo hit was a palm strike rather than a jumping high kick? The last move is her elbow drop. She also appears to be wearing black fingerless gloves in this preview, which she doesn't have in the final version. She has some silver bands instead. Her hair is also different for each sprite, plus it's blonde, rather than the reddish the final has. Her hair tie is also red rather than silver. Finally, she has a black belt rather than the orange belt she has in the final game. The above changes might have been made late on into development. It would explain why, in the final game, Maki has blonde hair, a red hair tie and non-silver bands in her intro, character select, ending and continue sprites: |
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| The shots of Carlos show that some of his moves had different animation frames. His special attack and high kick sprites were changed for the final game. | |
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| This screen shows part the second level, but it's set during the day time, whilst in the final version, it's set in the late evening. The level layout isn't seen in the final version and the buildings in the background are different. | |
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| Here's another look at Maki's early sprite. There's also an Elick enemy shown in the preview, you don't get to fight these guys this early in the final version. | |
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| This screenshot shows a completely different looking airport level -there is an airport level in the final version (it's the later part of the second round), but it looks nothing like what's shown in this screenshot. Another thing to note is that Carlos appears to be using his special attack, but that frame of animation isn't used in the final game, he never swings his sword at that angle. Either the attack was re-worked, or it had more animation frames originally? |
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GameFan
(Volume 1, Issue 5, April 1993)
A very small preview, which has four screenshots. One of them was featured on EGM's preview, but the others are new.
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| This screen shows an early version of the first round, there are a few small differences in the background, most notably is that there is a guy in a green shirt sat down near Chun-Li who was removed from the final version. An Elick enemy is also present, you don't get to fight these guys this early in the final version. | |
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| On the character select, Maki has a different hair style than what she has in the final. | |
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| This screen shows a later part of the first level, there are more background differences, plus Haggar is fighting an Andore, who don't appear here in the final version. | |
Die Hard
(Advertisement)
This screenshot was taken from an ad by Die Hard, a US game store. It was featured in several magazines, I took this from GameFan's vol 1, issue 5.
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| The screenshot shows the early Maki sprite. | |
GamePro
(Issue 45, April 1993)
GamePro's preview shows six screenshots, all showing an early version of the game. Curiously, Maki is not seen in any of the screenshots. It appears that the life bars aren't working properly yet -it only shows one player's energy bar, the second player's is missing. It also shows the exact same amount of damage taken in every screenshot. The TIME text is colored differently, and above it appears to be a high score, which the final doesn't have. One of the screenshots was also shown in EGM's preview.
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| The first screenshot shows the boss of the first round, Won Won. Again, the background is different, featuring a boat right next to the pier, the final version removed this and had a boat further out at sea. The city in the background is different too. Won Won's sprite was heavily altered for the final version. |
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| The next screen shows the first level, but there's a lot of differences in the background. The windows are slightly open, there's no exposed bricks above the windows and there's no poster on the shutter door. The enemy in the bottom left corner is never encountered that early in the game either, and the ones you do find have different colors. The enemy behind him appears to be an early version of Atlas, who had his sprite re-worked for the final game. |
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| This screenshot early version of the third round, which is set in Holland. The trees and crows are missing, plus there is an Elick enemy to the right who has purple/pink clothes, these enemies wear white in the final game. Carlos is also doing the last part of his combo, which is a high kick. The sprite looks different when compared to the final version. |
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| The next screenshot shows the boss of the third round, Bratken. Not only is the background completely different, but Bratken himself appears to have a different sprite -his head looks different and he has a much bigger chest. He appears to have chains on his cuffs, which were removed from the final game. | |
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| The last screenshot shows a later part of the third round. Rubble is missing from the floor, the buildings in the background are different and the Andore enemies on show appear to still be using their sprites from the first game, they were re-done for the final. There appears to be a railing or something behind the far right Andore, which isn't there in the final game. | |
Nintendo Power
(Issue 48, May 1993)
This one page preview has the same screenshots shown in GamePro's preview.
Consoles +
(Issue 20, May 1993)
A four page preview from a French magazine. The version of the game shown in this preview looks close to the final version, but there are still multiple differences:
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| Here's the opening part of the first round. One of the background signs reads "CAPCUN", this was changed to CAPCOM for the final version. The preview screen shows Maki having six lives, but in the final version, you only start with 4. |
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This screenshot shot shows an early part of the second round. The barrel is in a different place in the final version. There is also some kind of object or graphical glitch in the bottom right corner of the screen, which isn't present in the final version. |
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| Maki's life bar is green in this screenshot, and the bar is full even though she's taking a hit. In the final version, only enemies can have differently colored life bars. The player life bars are always yellow. Mary's attack causes a hit explosion on the screen, but in the final version, some blood is shown. |
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| This screenshot shows the map screen with all country flags colored in, in the final version, only the flag for the round you are about to start will be colored. The map is also slightly lower down in the preview, and lacks the country and time details. The preview shot is also missing the landmines, and Maki is in a different starting position. |
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| The boss of the third round had a different name, at one point, he was going to be called Guild. His name was changed to Bratken in the final version. The background is missing the space for the door Bratken breaks in the final version. |
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| At one point in development, the boss of the second round was called Centaurs. He had his name changed to Freddie in the final version. | |
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| The first bonus game had a different sprite for the car, with it being larger but lacking some of the details the final version has. It doesn't look like there were weapons available to trash it with originally. | |
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| This screenshot shows part of the third round. The graphics all match up with the final version but there's a heart item on the ground. This item isn't in the final version, presumably it's an early health item. There's no item you can get here at all in the final version either. | |
Electronic Gaming Monthly
(Issue 47, June 1993)
EGM's next preview seems to show a game that's close, or possibly identical, to the released USA version. The main thing to note is that Won Won doesn't have his cleaver, and Robert is present rather than Eliza, so the regional differences had been made when these screenshots were taken.
