July 6th, 1994
Golf Magazine: 36 Great Holes Starring Fred Couples prototypes
There are currently over thirty prototypes available for this game.
-This is currently the earliest 32X prototype available for any game released. Not much works.
-The main menu has a game options and player select that don't work, selecting them returns you to the main menu.
-The game modes don't properly work either. Trying to start a game mode results in graphical glitches. You may eventually be able to try and play a few shots.
-When this proto starts, the main menu appears, there is no SEGA logo or even a title screen.
-The main menu doesn't play any music.
-Most of the menus have different backgrounds to what the final version features.
-The options menu doesn't have a replay option.
-The music menu uses the background featured in the July 6th prototype, and doesn't have a commentary option. It does have a "gallery" option, which I'm not sure on what it does.
-There are only five tracks to listen to in the music test, and only 24 sound effects in the sound effect test.
-The courses can sometimes have glitchy graphics.
-Pausing the game reveals a "detail level" option, which actually works -turning the detail on high gives a course better graphics.
-In the stoke play mode, there is a "Sega Sport's Special 18" option. This would later be changed to "The Gauntlet".
-A SEGA logo now appears when the prototype boots up, but is missing the SEGA Sports logo.
-After the SEGA logo, a magazine appears on a black background. Fred Couples will say a few words, but is not actually seen.
-More music and sound effects have been added to the sound tests.
-The menus now feature a golf ball as a cursor rather than an arrow.
-Several of the menus have different backgrounds when compared to the previous prototype.
-During a game, the HUD is now green instead of blue.
-The detail level option doesn't seem to work any more -courses are always on the "high" setting.
A video of Fred Couples appears at the Golf Magazine screen, which has a new background (compared to the all black background the previous proto had).
-The main menu now has music.
-The main menu has been slightly updated -the Golf Magazine logo now has a white background rather than a yellow one.
-After the intro scene, a title screen now appears. It doesn't have a "press start button" message on it, or any copyright info either.
-The options menu now has a "view replay" option.
-The detail level option has been removed.
-The intro screen now has some copyright info on it.
-The title screen has a "press start" message.
-In the mode select, ""Sega Sport's Special 18" has become "The Gauntlet".
-The main menu options have been moved around, so play is now the first one, practice goes from third to second, and player edit goes from first to third.
-The animation featuring a golf ball going over the SEGA logo to reveal the SEGA Sports logo has been added.
-The intro sequence no longer has any copyright text on it.
-The title screen now has copyright info on it.
There are also prototypes from the 18th and 26th of October and the 3rd of November, which didn't have anything of interest from the time I briefly played them. There are also over fifteen other prototypes with build dates between November and December which need more looking into, although I doubt they hold much of note.
