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Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure prototype

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by drx, Jan 9, 2017.

  1. drx

    drx

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    :rolleyes:
    I'm releasing a prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure that I bought from Yahoo Japan. Enjoy!

    News article: http://hiddenpalace.org/News/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Pocket_Adventure_Prototype
    Prototype article (with download): http://hiddenpalace.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Pocket_Adventure_(Oct_22,_1999_prototype)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhGgoojn13Q

    Previous discussion: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=35469&st=0&p=859164&#entry859164

    Thanks to Jelq God, Jen, JTE, Peter Küffner and SoNick for donating!
     
  2. evilhamwizard

    evilhamwizard

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    :D

    great stuff as always <3
     
  3. JaxTH

    JaxTH

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    Jack shit.
    Is this the one you were talking about awhile ago?
     
  4. Techokami

    Techokami

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    Hey look what I found in the second Test Level:
    [​IMG]

    EDIT: Here's some more stuff from the test level.
    [​IMG]
    Looks like they tried to give the item monitor icons the yellow border?

    [​IMG]
    Different hurt animation.

    [​IMG]
    Different spring animation.

    [​IMG]
    And a different win animation.
     
  5. kazblox

    kazblox

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    Diassemblies and decompilations.
    After feeling blessed with the Final ROM Archives, and now this, I feel like I should give thanks for all the great work! The prototype and it's obscure handheld platform nature should definitely fuel some interest back into the reverse engineering scene for sure.

    Oh yeah, also: There's a weird data stream possibly acting as padding, duplicated 2 times throughout the final and the prototype, and it is slightly different in both. No idea why.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  6. Spanner

    Spanner

    The Tool Member
    I noticed that the Knuckles fight uses the normal boss music rather than Flying Battery Act 2 or whatever it had before.
     
  7. Nice work man!
     
  8. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Awesome stuff, drx! Kudos.
     
  9. Techokami

    Techokami

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    There's no cutscene after it, either.

    Also, all the Special Stages use the same palette.
     
  10. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

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    Nicely done!


    But that Aladdin prototype - there was a topic here and it's totally definitely not a Summer CES build. I have lots of evidence (though the key is that the 27th is three weeks after SCES 1993) - just figured I'd quash it before it spread further.
     
  11. Jen

    Jen

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    You're very welcome, drx!

    Thanks so much for finding and sharing this awesome discovery :D
     
  12. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    Neat, thanks for the release drx!
     
  13. Sparks

    Sparks

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    Great work guys and thanks for the release.

    That level select is sporting some... Unusual names.
     
  14. Mastered Realm

    Mastered Realm

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    Several songs have differences in arrangement, with the most different being Cosmic Casino 2 which has some different notes on the 2nd harmonic lead. Valleybell should take a look at this!

    Also the Test level map seems to be this GIF: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=29461

    Would we be able to extract the complete maps?
     
  15. Lanzer

    Lanzer

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    So wait is this the same build then that was being discussed in 2012?
     
  16. Mastered Realm

    Mastered Realm

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    Not exactly, there are screenshots of that build, apparently yes, but there are other screens with alpha material, with green waterfalls and Motobug. So it was mostly 'prototype talk in general' back then.

    Also songs with noticeable differences:

    Knuckles Encounter (Cutscene): Extra/different beat before the loop
    Mushroom Hill (Aquatic Relix 1): No echo on the main Lead, no harmonics added in some parts and different loop
    Slot Machine Theme (Cosmic Casino Act 2): Lacks the intro, different stereo setup, different volumes, different backing harmony and completely different percussion

    Other songs may also have differences but I couldn't point the out just by listening (just maybe some panning/volume changes). I intend to record wavs of the prototype tracks and try 'wave cancelling' with the final songs.
     
  17. ValleyBell

    ValleyBell

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    researching PC-98/X68000 sound drivers
    I didn't have much time to research the prototype yet, but extracted all sound data and collected offsets for level data. (I want to dump level maps later.)
    I compared the music files of prototype and final version and these are my notes so far:
    Code (Text):
    1. proto       final
    2. bgm20.bin ! different song
    3. bgm21.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm21.bin
    4. bgm22.bin = bgm22.bin
    5. bgm23.bin = bgm23.bin
    6. bgm24.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm24.bin
    7. bgm25.bin ! [song differences] bgm27.bin
    8. bgm26.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm29.bin
    9. bgm27.bin = bgm2C.bin
    10. bgm28.bin = bgm2D.bin
    11. bgm29.bin ! [minor song differences] bgm2E.bin
    12. bgm2A.bin = bgm2F.bin
    13. bgm2B.bin = bgm30.bin
    14. bgm2C.bin ! [instrument IDs, song differences] bgm31.bin
    15. bgm2D.bin ! [minor song differences] bgm32.bin
    16. bgm2E.bin ! [minor song differences] bgm33.bin
    17. bgm2F.bin ! [minor song differences] bgm34.bin
    18. bgm30.bin ! [song differences] bgm35.bin
    19. bgm31.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm36.bin
    20. bgm32.bin ! [different arrangement] bgm37.bin
    21. bgm33.bin ! [song differences] bgm38.bin
    22. bgm34.bin ! [song differences] bgm39.bin
    23. bgm35.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm3A.bin
    24. bgm36.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm3B.bin
    25. bgm37.bin ! [song differences] bgm3C.bin
    26. bgm38.bin ! [song differences] bgm3D.bin
    27. bgm39.bin = [instrument IDs] bgm3E.bin
    28. bgm3A.bin = bgm3F.bin
    instrument IDs: If only the instrument IDs are different, the song should be the same, since IDs are shared with sound effects. (i.e. loading more or less SFX results in different instrument IDs)
    minor song differences: There are minor differences in the song data, but overall the data is the same.
    song differences: There are more or less commands/notes in the song, so all data is shifted.
    Songs/SFX are using a bitstream-based format, so you need to decompress them before you can tell the exact differences.

    I haven't looked at SFX yet, but they are ordered differently from the final.
     
  18. Sparks

    Sparks

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    If you're dumping level maps, hopefully you can get the right palette for Gigantic Angels maps. The current rips of the final maps on the wiki have an incorrect background palette.
     
  19. Mastered Realm

    Mastered Realm

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    Also, the level layout - specially Gigantic Angel - is very unfinished!

    EDIT:

    So what we got is earlier than what we saw on the screenshots from before:

    [​IMG]

    Far left: this proto
    Middle: IGN's
    Right: Final game.

    They enlarged the boxes/platforms and made them easier to see with the yellow BG.
    Cosmic Casino roulettes are non-existant in this version, so it's safe to say it's an Alpha.
     
  20. Cooljerk

    Cooljerk

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    Was the puzzle piece added in the IGN proto then removed again in the final, or was it collected in both of those screenshots?