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| A very early prototype of the game was leaked in 2018. It contains two complete stages, and has a lot of differences. | |
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| Another prototype was released in 2021. This prototype is much further along than the previous one, with five playable stages, but there's still lots of differences. | |
Here are some interesting images of the game taken from various gaming magazines -thanks to Retro CDN for hosting the majority of these.
Click on any of the magazine shots to make them bigger.
Player One, issue 33
Preview
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This single screenshot was from part of an article covering the Summer CES event. The screenshot show an early version of part of the first stage, with background graphics that were replaced for the final game.
Joypad, issue 22
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Joypad also covered the CES event, and included two screenshots in their preview. The first screenshot shows stage 1-1, the background graphics appear to be identical to the final version, but the candle placement is different. The candle placement does seem to match up with what's seen in the 0.1 prototype though. Also note the timer at the top right -the timer was cut from the final game, but is still in prototype 0.1. Finally, the screenshot displays 3 lives, in the final version you only get 2.
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The other screenshot shows a different part of stage 1. The background graphics and stage layout were completely changed for the final version.
Gamefan, issue 109
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Gamefan also covered the CES event, their preview contained two screenshots. The preview states the game is less than 10% complete. The first screenshot shows another look at the early version of stage 1, it's difficult to tell which stage it is due to the image quality, but it's possibly stage 1-3. If this is the case, this part of the level was completely changed for the final version.
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This screenshot shows another part of what was possibly stage 1-3. The hanging corpses can still be seen in the final game... unless you're European.
Japanese print ad
Japanese ad |
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The Japanese print ad for the game features three screenshots. The first shows an early version of stage 1-2. Note the timer is still present, the different candle placement and the fact that John is fighting skeletons -in the final version, no skeletons appears here, you fight zombies. The screenshot has a missing picture on the left side.
Japanese ad |
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The second screenshot shows the skeleton from stage 1-9, but it doesn't appear to be falling apart. The skyline also hasn't changed color -in the final version, it gets darker the more you move up.
Japanese ad |
Final |
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The third screenshot shows an early version of the first boss. The screenshot is missing the three platforms the final version has, and the moon sprite is larger, but a lot less detailed. The background details seem to have blue colors in the screenshot, which were changed to brown for the final version. Finally, the floor sprites are different in the screenshot.
UK print ad
UK ad |
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The UK ad for the game contains four screenshots, all of which show prototype screens. The first shows stage 1-4, although the screenshot appears to show it as 1-3. The main difference here is that there are minotaur enemies in this room, whilst in the final, there are mermen. The candle placement is slightly different too. The timer can still be seen in all of the screenshots.
UK ad |
Final |
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The second screenshot shows part of stage 1-2. John is destroying a skeleton, in the final version, skeleton don't appear here, you only get to fight zombies. The screenshot lacks the picture on the wall that the final version has, and there are no candles to be seen -although they may have been whipped already.
UK ad |
Final |
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The third screenshot shows stage 1-1. As usual, some of the candle placement is different. There are some harpies here, but in the final version, there are no enemies at all in this part of the stage, and the earliest you can fight the harpies in the third level.
UK ad |
Final |
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The last screenshot shows another part of stage 1-2. Again, the screenshot has skeleton enemies in this stage, but in the final, you only find zombies here. This screenshot was also featured on the Japanese ad.
