GoldS
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| Posted on 07-29-16 09:48:04 PM (last edited by GoldS at 07-29-16 09:48:25 PM) |
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So there's a game called Led Storm Rally 2011 that was added to MAME's game set in version 0.167. This game did have cabinets made and it got to location testing, but it apparently performed poorly, so it was retooled and eventually released as Led Storm (Early set) / Mad Gear (Later sets).
Should Led Storm Rally 2011 and Mad Gear both have separate articles, or should Led Storm Rally 2011 be in the prototype section of Mad Gear's article?
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devin
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I'd say that depends on how "retooled" it was in this case. Normally I'd consider early location tests to be under the "prototype" umbrella, but I guess that depends on whether or not it's still at least partially identifiable as being the same game or not.
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GoldS
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| Posted on 07-29-16 10:11:39 PM (last edited by GoldS at 07-29-16 10:13:46 PM) |
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Let me list of a few differences:
Rally 2011: You only have one vehicle. You can press jump by pressing Button 1 and transform between a car and a motorcycle by pressing Button 2.
Mad Gear: You can choose one of three different vehicles at the start. Both Button 1 and Button 2 make the vehicle jump.
Both games share the same background / foreground tiles, but the sprite and tile banks have significant differences. The stage designs are the same but the layouts are greatly changed.
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devin
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I'd consider that a prototype, then (and a rather interesting one, at that). Early and different as it is, it's definitely far from a game being totally scrapped and restarted.
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felineki
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| According to this interview with Tomoshi Sadamoto, the initial Led Storm version didn't get released in Japan, but was released in America. Akira Nishitani then reworked it into Mad Gear, which was released in Japan. |
GoldS
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| Posted on 09-05-16 05:27:12 AM (last edited by GoldS at 09-05-16 05:28:56 AM) |
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I think I've got the following chronology now:
* The game is location tested in the U.S. as Led Storm Rally 2011, but performs badly. The decision is made to extensively retool the game.
* The revamped game is released in the U.S. as just plain Led Storm.
* The game is then released in Japan and the U.S. again, and possibly other parts of the world, as Mad Gear. Note that the copyright date has changed from 1988 to 1989.
Now the question is how to name the main article: Use the early Led Storm title, or the final Mad Gear title?
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devin
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Assuming Led Storm (the later one) and Mad Gear are still basically the same game, I'd probably go with the former, with Mad Gear listed as a revision/re-release. Plus it'd be consistent with the naming of the home computer ports, insofar as those are relevant to this.
Actually, now that I think about it, it seems like at least one of the home ports (C64 and possibly Amiga) were based at least in part on Rally 2011, with the transforming car/motorbike. I'm not sure if that should have any bearing on Rally 2011's "prototype" status, or what...
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