Ed Oscuro
09-15-2003, 11:54 AM
First topic, as you see, is about the two Shinobi three betas (Actually, Super Shinobi 2) that I've found ROMs of floating around the internet. One is market as a beta, and the other as a Japanese beta.
Beta one has very few sound effects, nearly all BGM music has a different title (i.e. Rush [copyright symbol here] and Beat Me instead of Rush and Beat). The intro is essentially the same as the final one, but the graphics for Joe when he dodges a couple shuriken and then jumps from the top of the screen slashing downward are different. Still good, but they seemed lighter, and his feet are more or less ovals with a gradient in them :P
The levels I could play were also quite different. Shinobi looks exactly the same, but his clothing is darker than the final product. He starts off only about half visible since the lower part of the screen is covered in bushes. After going right for a ways and having more trouble with the baddies than I should (though I like the level design...less linear feel to it than the finished version) I get trandported to another area, with a graphical glitch in that the bushes now hover above the bottom of the screen. At the end of this area is a ledge I cannot reach even with a double jump (so far, wall jump, if I can indeed do it, won't help me here) and infinite grenades bounce down to take away all your health, bit by bit.
The second beta has the classic intro, but the story is QUITE hillarious. I'll copy it down sometime; it makes the intro to Shadow Dancer look like perfect english. The song titles in the BGM list are more like those from the final version; I think a boss death voice sample found in the first beta is gone here. I honestly don't remember what this one played like.
Oh, and I'm now interested in getting ahold of Shinobi for the PC-Engine. Looks just like the arcade game, but the people who did the translation completely missed the point of the six Marilyn Monroe pictures at the beginning of the second part of the stage :(
Trouble buying...GameChoice.com.hk is, once again, causing trouble. I bought a Sharp Twin Famicom as I've mentioned before...only thing is they update their page to "restock soon" the day after I put my order in. Well, I was right...they did it to try and cover themselves, and I get an email, finally, saying that I should feel free to get some other game to compensate for that. I said no thanks...I'll wait. They're quite honest folks to deal with so it's a shame that I have to be so suspicious of them. I think that I'll be well served to look elsewhere, though.
Beta one has very few sound effects, nearly all BGM music has a different title (i.e. Rush [copyright symbol here] and Beat Me instead of Rush and Beat). The intro is essentially the same as the final one, but the graphics for Joe when he dodges a couple shuriken and then jumps from the top of the screen slashing downward are different. Still good, but they seemed lighter, and his feet are more or less ovals with a gradient in them :P
The levels I could play were also quite different. Shinobi looks exactly the same, but his clothing is darker than the final product. He starts off only about half visible since the lower part of the screen is covered in bushes. After going right for a ways and having more trouble with the baddies than I should (though I like the level design...less linear feel to it than the finished version) I get trandported to another area, with a graphical glitch in that the bushes now hover above the bottom of the screen. At the end of this area is a ledge I cannot reach even with a double jump (so far, wall jump, if I can indeed do it, won't help me here) and infinite grenades bounce down to take away all your health, bit by bit.
The second beta has the classic intro, but the story is QUITE hillarious. I'll copy it down sometime; it makes the intro to Shadow Dancer look like perfect english. The song titles in the BGM list are more like those from the final version; I think a boss death voice sample found in the first beta is gone here. I honestly don't remember what this one played like.
Oh, and I'm now interested in getting ahold of Shinobi for the PC-Engine. Looks just like the arcade game, but the people who did the translation completely missed the point of the six Marilyn Monroe pictures at the beginning of the second part of the stage :(
Trouble buying...GameChoice.com.hk is, once again, causing trouble. I bought a Sharp Twin Famicom as I've mentioned before...only thing is they update their page to "restock soon" the day after I put my order in. Well, I was right...they did it to try and cover themselves, and I get an email, finally, saying that I should feel free to get some other game to compensate for that. I said no thanks...I'll wait. They're quite honest folks to deal with so it's a shame that I have to be so suspicious of them. I think that I'll be well served to look elsewhere, though.