Foxhack
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Page added. I also figured out that the game has an unused palette, but couldn't upload an image because ZSNES wouldn't let me rip stuff and getting the graphics from yy-chr is a pain because they're not arranged correctly.
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Rick
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Note to self:
Must actually work on the Monster in my Pocket and Strider prototype pages from...oh, last year, maybe. 
Strider I can map out more of the differences myself but if some of you guys want to remind me of all the cool shit in Monster in my Pocket and make the article where I haven't (I probably haven't seriously edited anything on the wiki in a couple of years because I'm so fucking rusty it's unbelievable), take what I have and go for it.
The Japanese Strider prototype I just have to go through the game again and re-grab like, 200+ screenshots from the proto and the final that got poo-pooed for not being the correct ratio for the wiki. I haven't had the time nor the energy to really go back and do everything again since, but just let me take care of it! ...Famous last words they won't be, hush. 
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Celice
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| Posted on 08-06-15 01:07:07 AM (last edited by Celice at 08-06-15 01:11:55 AM) |
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Originally posted by Foxhack
Originally posted by Hiccup
Shouldn't someone just ask him. Isn't Mato "friendly" with TCRF anyway?
https://twitter.com/ClydeMandelin/status/624293267794956288
There you go.
Edit: And it will be dumped.
https://twitter.com/NewsFedora/status/624295106837893121
From his stream on the same day as your post, Mato mentions that they are still trying to find a way to get it dumped.
http://www.twitch.tv/clydemandelin/b/679759972
1:40:00-ish mark. 3 minutes later he mentions the Lufia 2 trainwreck as a caution and reason for asking for help.
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iniche
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| Just wanted to follow-up that I found a lot more differences in Contra Advance; now the page has more than twice as much content. Still, I'm sure I haven't found everything since I've just been observing at surface level. There's probably a lot of stuff in the data I haven't yet discovered; still, again, that's past my limit so any help is requested and encouraged. |
iniche
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Here are some Contra prototypes I alluded to before. I'm very limited in how much I can dig into them, as it's so far been just through side-by-side comparison. Always looking for interested minds to dig into these.
Contra store sample (FC): https://mega.nz/#!aMNlhADB!csJ54BJCl1PFZjYB8e8x9kaB-CSaFeYgteTfdsFfRFA
What is already found: http://www.nintendoplayer.com/prototype/contra/
Contra IV: The Alien Wars (SFC): https://mega.nz/#!3d0DAYzS!-bN7YYHmYOCuaXLwMGSCqfiJzIpn-LdrX69ioblZH14
What is already found: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/contra-iii-the-alien-wars-pre-releases-contra-iv/
Super Probotector NTSC-U sample (SNES): https://mega.nz/#!mNFHUaTY!LJfpVrw88lCv11AI5s3-a-BauI5bL8gjAavyXllktr4
What is already found: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/contra-iii-the-alien-wars-pre-releases-ntsc-u-sample/
Probotector 2 sample (GB): https://mega.nz/#!rEVnQbLC!dcUL2xe_gKzb0eBC0hkX9bOr4xbvf66_Tw0o0VjoG-U
Nothing is found yet, although hex comparisons show several differences (yeah I know, that doesn't necessarily translate into significance in-game)
Contra Advance review build (GBA): (check the prototopia thread OP on assemblergames and click into the mediafire link, go under Nintendo Game Boy Advance)
Contrary to common assumption, this isn't just a title screen and level select build. Lots have been discovered and there is probably more: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/contra-iii-the-alien-wars-pre-releases-gba-review/
Contra: Legacy of War 1/28/1997 late beta (Saturn): https://mega.nz/#!7QcCwC5Y!yJA6JBncB84q4dTo4s9Q2-R7-lEuF6wDhUK32v0BGcI Alternate backup: https://mega.nz/#!XUlQTIYY!AgA4AQ6Jmi1GocQe-WJYl4knL7c4T2KsZxzhDCM-CNI
What is already found: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/contra-legacy-of-war-pre-releases-saturn-beta/
Contra: Shattered Soldier beta (search those terms on google)
Nothing is found yet, although file dates predate the earliest retail release
Neo Contra E3 Preview (search those terms on google)
What is already found: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/neo-contra-pre-releases-e3-preview/
Neo Contra PAL Preview (search neo contra PAL preview assemblergames on google to get a few threads)
Nothing is found yet, although file sizes don't match to say the least
Contra 4 June 27 beta (search Contra 4 beta eur on google)
What is already found: https://contrapedia.wordpress.com/contra-4-pre-releases-june-27-prototype/
Multiplayer in this prototype is basically untested
Apart from all of these, would anybody be interested in helping determine the validity and/or origin of this purported Contra NES beta: https://mega.nz/#!jFF1kDLS!hIqfJCVQe0krMWqE9vkskAJj3eJ4i1JnMo8Zf-gNGis
I've seen this file at least as early as 2005. Later iterations replace beta with prototype. It seems to always bear the goodtools suffix [t1], though there have been sample or test protos with such game-breaking cheats enabled by default. So I'm wondering if it is a legitimate pre-release that had been branded this way during Cowering's auditing process, and subsequently disseminated this way. Or is it just an early ROM hack. |
Mr.Tickles
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Early Age of Empires 2 beta. Very similar to Aoe1 and includes Aoe1 graphics.
http://zeroempires.net/forum/post2474.html#p2474 |
metalman
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| Posted on 11-11-15 09:04:33 PM (last edited by metalman at 11-11-15 11:49:43 PM) |
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Lots of video game samples and prototypes in this Japanese Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/berabo777
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iniche
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| He's like the Japanese DreamTR |
dbg_01
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Azel Panzer Dragoon RPG Prototype Sep 16,1997 (Debug enabled)
https://mega.nz/#!IExFiRQB!sqewjSHgV2lD6S3Tx49vI7XLLrW1E9t57RDfqQhosBE
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Hiccup
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| Posted on 11-14-15 01:38:24 PM (last edited by Hiccup at 11-15-15 09:51:48 AM) |
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Someone on assemblergames said this is the same as "the hidden palace release" other than a one byte (or something) difference and maybe this difference enables a debug mode.
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dbg_01
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| Yes, the link was taken from assemblergames |
divingkataetheweirdo
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Phugolz has a lot of patches like this one. And yes, it's just an Axel Panzer Dragoon RPG/Panzer Dragoon Saga prototype already patched to include koolaidman/evilhamwizard's patch for the debug mode.
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Foxhack
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| Posted on 11-15-15 05:15:21 AM (last edited by Foxhack at 11-15-15 05:17:25 AM) |
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Does anyone know if there's a tool that checks ISO / HFS file system data on CDs and verifies that all the stuff referenced on the file system is actually used?
I bought about 30 different CD-Rs with several in progress versions of multiple Media Station Inc.-developed PC/Mac games and while I'm trying to dump them all, the final sector on every disc is always turning out to be unreadable. In some cases, the previous sector is filled with all 00s, but not always, so I need a tool to help me check things out.
Stuff like Nero DiscSpeed can handle the ISO (PC) stuff, but it can't see the HFS stuff and short of having a Mac I'm not sure if such a tool exists.
I've been dumping the discs using IsoBuster, which handily tells me a list of bad sectors once it's done dumping everything. I managed to get one game to work on a Mac emulator and I noticed some things don't have animation which is probably why these are proto versions. Still, I'd like to compare these to their final retail versions... if I ever stumble upon them. I'm not even sure some of these were even released...
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divingkataetheweirdo
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Jesus. That is an awful lot of games there. I suspect at least a couple of them were never released, given that Media Station (the edutainment company, not the A(dult) V(ideo) one) only appears to have released eight titles at most and appears to be largely a mid-to-late 90's company. There's not much info on the company out there either, not even on Mobygames.
As for tools, I can't say off the top of my head. It's a bit more complicated than just the file tables of a file system and whatnot (i.e. what does the .exe /.bin file have referenced?). You're better off asking the people over at the Mac Garden (something like Rovio's Toast might help you). Short of that, you can try HxD, which can read the raw sector data of most discs using its memory reading features. I was able to extract a couple of HFS-formatted discs this way.
As for the Mac emulator? I'm presuming you're using Sheepshaver, which...is lackluster, to say the least. Basilisk II (and by extension, Cockatrice III) might get you a little farther, since these appear to be largely 68k (or FAT binary) Mac programs. The 'official' builds are also old as hell and designed more for 32-bit computers. The unofficial builds are somewhat better in terms of compatibility with 64-bit computers and have recent fixes such as allowing CDs to be read on 64-bit computers.
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Foxhack
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| Posted on 11-15-15 07:36:42 PM (last edited by Foxhack at 11-16-15 01:52:32 AM) |
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Originally posted by divingkataetheweirdo
Jesus. That is an awful lot of games there. I suspect at least a couple of them were never released, given that Media Station (the edutainment company, not the A(dult) V(ideo) one) only appears to have released eight titles at most and appears to be largely a mid-to-late 90's company. There's not much info on the company out there either, not even on Mobygames.
As for tools, I can't say off the top of my head. It's a bit more complicated than just the file tables of a file system and whatnot (i.e. what does the .exe /.bin file have referenced?). You're better off asking the people over at the Mac Garden (something like Rovio's Toast might help you). Short of that, you can try HxD, which can read the raw sector data of most discs using its memory reading features. I was able to extract a couple of HFS-formatted discs this way.
As for the Mac emulator? I'm presuming you're using Sheepshaver, which...is lackluster, to say the least. Basilisk II (and by extension, Cockatrice III) might get you a little farther, since these appear to be largely 68k (or FAT binary) Mac programs. The 'official' builds are also old as hell and designed more for 32-bit computers. The unofficial builds are somewhat better in terms of compatibility with 64-bit computers and have recent fixes such as allowing CDs to be read on 64-bit computers.
Actually, at least one of these was not credited to Media Station.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/disney-presents-ariels-story-studio
I use a combination of Sheepshaver and Basilisk II to play these but since I'm on Windows 7 64-bit, the CD driver on Sheepshaver doesn't work. I'm able to mount the ISO directly in one of the newer unofficial builds, and the game I tried runs fine, but there's missing animations, which makes sense since this isn't really finished. These are the discs I've finished ripping so far:
F:\Media Station ISOs>dir /b
[0000-00-00] MDK CD-R
[1995-09-05] Cookie 2.0 Beta 2.3
[1995-10-18] Lamb Chop 1.0 Beta 2.7
[1995-11-15] Haunted House v.1.0 Beta 2.6
[1996-08-28] Puzzle Castle V1.0 Beta 2.6
[1997-03-24] Rupert's Interactive Adventures v1.0 Beta 2.0
[1997-10-19] Ariel's Story Studio v1.0 Beta 2.4
[1997-11-05] Rupert's Interactive Adventures v1.0 Beta 2.3
Some of these are tagged as "official 1.0 / 2.0 release" so they may be final, or near final. I honestly have no idea why this included a copy of MDK on a CD-R! It was just in the same binder, and it was on the same kind of media / had the same type of artwork on it, so I grabbed it, heh. Cookie is "If you give a mouse a cookie".
And don't worry, I definitely intend to release these in the future, as soon as I can compare these to their actual retail releases, if they all exist. I wouldn't mind getting back what I paid for these, though - all ten bucks worth. :p
Edit: Ariel's Story Studio was definitely developed by Media Station - MobyGames is wrong.
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iniche
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Would anybody be interested in digging further into the Doom stuff?
There are the 16 32X protos that have had notes to a certain degree. There is also a little-discussed Saturn Doom beta. All these are available in the Prototopia archive. |
Shilz
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Someone has to get a hold of that NiGHTS Proto.
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