This is the first version with the 'low res' title screen background: (January and onward versions) Compared to: (December versions)
Door Into Summer has a different mix than the final. Yes, I'm using the side-by-side comparison utility to compare music. The differences seem to be that the final has stronger "shush, shush" and a couple different sections here and there. And the PWM percussion thingy at the bottom doesn't flash in the proto. Also, all those supposedly different music track names aren't that different, Nice Meeting You is still there. Tribute and ??? GOOD ENDING ??? are the same track, but the proto mix is quite different from the final mix. Same with ??? NORMAL ENDING ??? and Destructive Power, this time, the proto difference is that when the final plays three notes on the FM1 (three bass notes that run behind everything), proto only plays one, which is always one note higher than where the final currently is. If someone can give a better description, go ahead. And ??? STAFF ROLL ??? and Just Another Day are also different. Mainly in the DAC percussion in proto, and some other note malarkey I can't describe. The mix IS different, however. Proto is missing DECISION 2ND. Steel Heart doesn't play, it just plays one note and then stops in proto. Decision keeps looping in final, but only stops after two loops in proto. Bad decision (forgive the bad pun), Sega. In Oriental Legend, the mix is also different, along with High Five, Reach The Goal, Have a Happy Day, Nice Meeting You, Surprise! (Surprize! in proto), Chaotic World, Tachy Touch, Silver Screen, Pendulum, Soda Pop (very different mix!), Child's Song, Crystal Nightmare, Tube Panic, Mechanical Dance, Surging Power...well, more than half the songs are different. Most of them are different because the PSG 3 held "note" is a much higher one, making them vastly different, and making the combined sound sound like it was in a metal tube. More musically literate people can tell these differences better than me, just pointing out that there's boatloads of music differences here. ICEKnight: Programmer's rage against SEGA, perhaps? I mean, the music is overwhelmingly better in the protos (and Kega brings out the true potential of the DAC percussion in the protos much more than Gens).
<!--quoteo(post=181033:date=Feb 25 2008, 04:56 PM:name=RyogaMasaki)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RyogaMasaki @ Feb 25 2008, 04:56 PM) (January and onward versions) Compared to: (December versions)[/quote] The reason that this was changed is that the background zooms out further with the extended Metal Sonic intro. The art itself hasn't been changed at all. If you look at the final, you'll see that the same picture is just zoomed in at the start, and then zooms out to the final picture. Why they have it zoomed in at all, though, is still beyond me.
No, it's not simply zoomed in; you can clearly see that it has been low-res-ified. look at the pointy things above the green glowy things in both; you can see it's more than a simple zooming issue.
I ported this info to the sonic cult pedia. it definately needs a rewrite though. theres probably info im missing too.