Tracking down another Beta

Now, don't think I'm asking for e-mail addresses or anything, but could you at least provide some of the conversations that led you to this topic? I mean, we're talking about people who dealt with the game for a day or so those 12+ years ago, as opposed to having worked on it day in and day out for months (and you see what happened with some of their answers)...

Not being (completely) skeptical, or trying to coax you into what you've already stated won't happen, but a little more info would seriously help your case.

Edit:

What I meant to say was: I don't want it to turn into another case of 'OMG I HAVE TEH BAETA!!1'...

To be honest, I'd love to have another prototype to poke around in, but I'm also prepared to face the reality that even if we did get its location, we may not be able to actually get it.

 

o0o0o nice :D Nothing like a bit of good old social engineering ^_^
Well if you can't contact Viacom over the phone, visit them in person, wear a smart suit and have a fake SEGA ID card... BWAHAHAHAHA :evil:

 

PM'd to Rika for the very reason Dude gave.

Sorry.

 

Why didn't you just PM that info to rika so HE could ask the sources, instead of posting it here so that anyone under the sun could do it, and end up causing the people at viacom to stop listening?

 

Rika, you have a lot easier to get it from Viacom than from Sega. For Viacom it's just an old game and possible crap.

But the most interesting thing is that this Nick Arcade guy you talked to actually know about the game and was able to give you info how to get it.

If you manage to get Viacom to borrow you the cart or something, you can dump it and we will have the most interesting beta ever, with new level designs and oh my god a lot of new things to explore!

Keep trying to reach Viacom, and only you Rika! Not anyone else. Especially not noobs that believe they can get famous of something >.<;;

The one who finds a Beta Sonic game today won't be famous! The game itself will be famous. It's not like we are living in 1999.

EDIT: Mixed trial members with noobs. My mistake!

 

No problem. I will PM you with more contact information, should I stumble across it.

Good luck. I hope this will be a successful attempt.

 

Rika has 10 times more determination than me. I spent a good 2+ years trying to get in contact with these people but to no avail.

 

Good luck, I hope you get it.

 

LOst is getting a bit overexcited... AFAIK, the Nick beta was really, really early?

Hey, if anything, we will probably learn whether there is a Dust Hill zone that is desert or not. That's probably it.

 

Do we even know if it's in there or not.

 

Good luck, Rika. Godspeed.

 

*salutes Rika* Good Luck!

 

The only question that comes into my mind is: Is Nick Arcade's version a complete game, I mean, does it features the whole zones?

By hack it's possible do find all the data inside the rom, but, you really think there's something else to get from this beta beyond it's historical value? To me it looks so simple and limited. It's a small version to attend the show's purpose so...

That's what we'll see when Rika get it (I believe she will). And I hope it gives us some answers...

 

Oh, you haven't seen all the recorded videos from the show have you?

The Nick Arcade version IS a completely different beta build. All the levels up to that date had different layouts!
Our beta would be worth almost nothing if we compare it to the Nick Arcade version because of all the changes in our version making most of the levels look and play like the final.

I don't think the Nick Arcade beta is so much earlier. 6 weeks up to 2 months earlier then our beta I would guess.
Dust Hill would probably be empty, or have some primitive Mystic Cave test layout.
I'm more interested in playing Chemical Plant, Hill Top, Green Hill and Hidden Palace! They all have big layout changes which is proven by watching the demos in our beta.
I would love to see how much of the backgrounds that were finished at that point. Also if the water is added in Chemicl Plant Act 2. I would also like to see if there was any name changes e.g: Chemical Factory.

We would also get to know more about the development cycle.

 

Also, remember the possibility that one of the production staff swiped it when they quit offering it as one of the games (knowing that it was a game that wasn't out yet, had I been there, I'd definitely have at least tried to snag it). So, if Viacom doesn't know anything, then we'd have to start hunting down the other staffers.

Myself, I want to see the level select and the part after the loop in GHZ - I'm curious how, if at all, the corkscrew was implemented. I also want to see if there might have been any other unfinished zones that might have been deleted before our build (if there were ever any tiles actually used in-game for the desert zone or GCZ, this is probably our best chance at finding them short of finding old Digitizer disks). That's assuming that GCZ wasn't to CPZ as HTZ was to GHZ, of course (and even then there would be some GCZ-specific stuff, like there is with HTZ), and that's also assuming that GCZ was actually worked on to begin with.

Nem's hacking guide should give us a possible partial expection as to what we might find - there are several blocks of data from earlier builds, and it's entirely possible that there would be more such blocks in the Arcade build, from even earlier builds. Plus, the ROM would be known to be 100% untainted by pirate crackers (we don't know for absolute certainty that the proto we do have has been hacked, we just posit that based on the omission of the SEGA logo).

Much luck to you, Rika. I've dreamed about finding this build before. Then I woke up and was pissed as hell, because I woke up right when I actually had picked up the cart :/

 

I think it would also be good to see if DEZ actually had 2 levels planned for it instead of the final boss fight.

I wish you luck with this expiditon Rika!

 

Perhaps we could get in touch with the host of Nick Arcade, Phil Moore?

He might know something, however, trying to find any contact information for him is impossible.

Some other names of interest would be:

Brown Johnson and Andy Bamberger (Nick Arcade producers)

Jim Davey (Nickelodeon Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Products Marketing and Planning)

Tanya Haider (Vice President, Nickelodeon & Viacom International Consumer Products)