Saturn - Marvel Super Heroes Beta Sample Disc

[Yakumo]

I bought this disc from yahoo Auctions for 200 yen which was pretty good going. Thinking that it would be your average sample disc I wasn't even going to bother trying it out. Then I realized that I'd need to know what was on it for the write up on my site. So I popped the disc in to my Saturn and here's the result.

The following text is copy and pasted from my site.

Now this is an interesting sample disc. it seems to be made from an early build of the game. Let's take a look at some of the main points.

1. The game speed is unstable resulting from it either running too slow or too fast. This is especially noticeable from the introduction since sometimes it will run that slow that the BGM needs to repeat it's self while at other times it finished before the BGM does.

2. No options what so ever. There isn't even any 2 player option.

3. No "Marvel Super Heroes" speech or sound effects on the title screen. In fact there's nothing at all.

4. No pause available anywhere in the game.

5. Only 7 characters available and one round playable.

6. Broken A.I. that results in the CPU player continuously walking directly into you.

7. HUD or overlaid text graphics (Whatever they're called) are all off center resulting in some text being chopped off on the right hand side.

8. Sometimes player 2 (The CPU character) will have it's voice replaced by a beep sound.

9. At times graphics can corrupt. This seems to be random.

So as you can see, this is by far from finished. In fact the speed issue alone is something that should have been fixed even in a sample.

Here's a shot of the sample disc and the retail disc.


Below are two shots that show the off center text problem. These shots are taken on a wide screen TV in normal mode so you knwo this is the full image coming from the Saturn and not the TV displayingt he image too far right.



In this screen shot Wolverine is broken. It's hard to tell from a screen shot but all he's doing is continuously walking left in to Spiderman. He did this until the time had ran out.


Finally the character select screen. Nothing too interesting here apart from only 7 of the characters being present.


Yakumo

[Carnivol]

Heh, it's always fun when you find a trial version of some game (especially a pressed one) that turns out to be somehow oddly different from the retail version.


By the way, Yakuma, mind writing out the number written right about "Made in Japan" on the Sample disc?
I can't quite make out the number (610-5664 or 610-6664?)

[Yakumo]

The disc is now stored away with my other Saturn games and I'm about to go to bed (1:10am) but I did write down the code number on my site, www.segagagadomain.com There's a link on the news page that will take you directly to the Marvel Super Heroes sample page :thumbsup:

Yakumo

[Druid II]

Nice, but don't mistake Sampler discs for betas... they are basically demo discs, although often they change stuff in the final.

[Carnivol]

I did write down the code number on my site, www.segagagadomain.com There's a link on the news page that will take you directly to the Marvel Super Heroes sample page :thumbsup:

Yakumo

You are a saint! Thanks.

You may be getting a PM from me about something at some point in the future. (But don't hold your breath for it while waiting, I'll have to get "home" first. Sometime on a sunny spring or summer day.)

Nice, but don't mistake Sampler discs for betas... they are basically demo discs, although often they change stuff in the final.

Not to sound like I'm pulling any "No shit, Sherlock!" cards out of the deck, as not everyone shops a lot of random Japanese promotional stuff, but the two sets of 3 Kanjis on the disc art reads something that somewhat translates to "Trial Version" and "Not for (re)Sale" ;D


Anyway, depending on studio and the time the demo was compiled/released, the developement stage of the game can vary a lot. Some demos are even from a time when a game is by some not even referred to as Alpha yet. Most people I've worked with have had Beta as the phase where they've more or less locked the entire game design and are just ironing out the last quirks before submitting it for approval and going retail.
(And in that case Alpha is the phase where the game is more or less "shaping up", with all elements in place into something playable/enjoyable and Pre-alpha being the foundation of the entire thing.)
This is somewhat why I'm not much of a fan of everything "unfinished" being referred to as Beta all the time. I'm much more content with the word "Prototype", as it does not indicate (or most often falsly indicate) which stage of developement something is in. It only tells you that something is indeed not the final product.

[Druid II]

And on the other hand, some Saturn trial releases have the final game (D-Xhird, Radiant silvergun).

I once saw a RSG sampler go on by Ebay for 600$ titled "unreleased omega demo version" or something.

[Juste]

I think a trial game is different from a sample one. I only saw a sample version of Radiant Silvergun before and not a trial version. :(

[Carnivol]

And on the other hand, some Saturn trial releases have the final game (D-Xhird, Radiant silvergun).

I actually have a Tobal No.1 (PSX-J) like that. It even has a proper catalog number on the disc and cover art, but yet is a 1:1 match with the retail version. (And I've also seen a copy of Tobal No.1 that reads "Sample" in the middle. Along with quite a lot of other games)

[Druid II]

I think a trial game is different from a sample one. I only saw a sample version of Radiant Silvergun before and not a trial version. :(

Technically speaking: demos, trials, samplers, they are all in the same bag labelled NOT FOR RESALE.

[Juste]

Trial or sample games are labelled hibaihin, but I think they are still not the same. Mostly sample games are complete like a normal game, but trial ones are not like that.

[Yakumo]

I know that most Sample/Trial games are the same as the retail versions but there are also those that are quite different since they were put together at an early stage. My Japanese Tomb Raider Sample still has the PAL intro in English. So that's not really a great change from the final but still a bit different. My Wing Arms Sample though is way different from the final including different plane select screen, different controls, odd glitches between the sea and sky and some really bad slow down.

This Marvel Super Heroes is defiantly NOT the same as the retail version. It's most defiantly a sample put together from an earlier build than the final. All the bugs in it show that plus not to mention the major speed problem.

Talking about the speed problem, in the final game it would slow down quite a bit but in this early sample it doesn't yet the game will randomly run too fast, normal speed or too slow. It changes each time you boot the game up.

yakumo

PS: I heard that the Hang On GP sample for the Saturn contains the original bike cockpit that was shown in very early shots. This was changed in the final game. A month or so back a guy was trying to sell this disc on Yahoo but he wanted 5000 yen for it. It never sold twice so I guess he's given up or sold it privately.

[WaSTeD]

I know that most Sample/Trial games are the same as the retail versions but there are also those that are quite different since they were put together at an early stage. My Japanese Tomb Raider Sample still has the PAL intro in English. So that's not really a great change from the final but still a bit different. My Wing Arms Sample though is way different from the final including different plane select screen, different controls, odd glitches between the sea and sky and some really bad slow down.

PS: I heard that the Hang On GP sample for the Saturn contains the original bike cockpit that was shown in very early shots. This was changed in the final game. A month or so back a guy was trying to sell this disc on Yahoo but he wanted 5000 yen for it. It never sold twice so I guess he's given up or sold it privately.

Thats very nice, can you post some pictures? :110:

[Yakumo]

sorry mate, no time bit I'm sure I've posted pictures of the Wing Arms beta years ago here. Maybe you can find them under the search tab.

Yakumo

[WaSTeD]

sorry mate, no time bit I'm sure I've posted pictures of the Wing Arms beta years ago here. Maybe you can find them under the search tab.

Yakumo

No problem, thanks anyway :icon_bigg , ill try the search.

Talking about different versions, i have two pal Virtua Fighter 2 with different cd covers, they are different game revisions. Anyone knows if this differences are documented somewhere?

[Yakumo]

VF2 only has one cover as far as I knwo unless you're talking about the PAL or US versions.

Yakumo

[WaSTeD]

Yep, both are PAL, it only differs in the cd cover color (one black and the other blue) The region patcher lists one as v1.001 and the other as v1.002.

Damn, i can't find one of them right now to take a pic...

[Yakumo]

I wouldn't know then mate. No idea about PAL or US released I'm afraid.

Yakumo

[Ghost]

Why would they make a beta disc that barely works. The beta is to show off that it actually works. POC, proof of concept. But what do I know I don't make the games I play them :D.

[Druid II]

Yep, both are PAL, it only differs in the cd cover color (one black and the other blue) The region patcher lists one as v1.001 and the other as v1.002.

Damn, i can't find one of them right now to take a pic...

Small revisioned releases like those happen often... Super Mario 3 had an alternate revision that fixed one small grammatical issue for example. It was never mentioned on the carts and was probably only found by people dumping and comparing the different roms.

Saturn games also had multiple revisions often: Soukyugurentai had an early release which crashed often (1.003), and a bugfixed revision (2.000). It's why some people have no problems with their copy of Souky, while others do. Note that this is base Soukyugurentai, not Souky Otokuyou, which was a whole new release altogether.
Also, the demo cd Bootleg Sampler had an initial release in the USA (v1.006), and a later revision (v2.009) which changed a prerendered FMV of Bug! to a playable demo.

With a game as complex as VF2, and a revision step as small as 0.001, I'll doubt we'll ever find out the differences between the two versions, though.

[WaSTeD]

Small revisioned releases like those happen often... Super Mario 3 had an alternate revision that fixed one small grammatical issue for example. It was never mentioned on the carts and was probably only found by people dumping and comparing the different roms.

Saturn games also had multiple revisions often: Soukyugurentai had an early release which crashed often (1.003), and a bugfixed revision (2.000). It's why some people have no problems with their copy of Souky, while others do. Note that this is base Soukyugurentai, not Souky Otokuyou, which was a whole new release altogether.
Also, the demo cd Bootleg Sampler had an initial release in the USA (v1.006), and a later revision (v2.009) which changed a prerendered FMV of Bug! to a playable demo.

With a game as complex as VF2, and a revision step as small as 0.001, I'll doubt we'll ever find out the differences between the two versions, though.

Its an interesting topic, is there any effort to document this?