Magic Carpet (PlayStation)

Magic Carpet
Developer: Krisalis Software Publisher: Electronic Arts Platform: PlayStation Released in JP: February 14, 1997 Released in US: March 15, 1996 Released in EU: March 15, 1996 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused text. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

The PS1 Magic Carpet is a comprehensive port that includes the Hidden Worlds expansion.

Level Select

Press Triangle, Triangle, Circle, Square, Triangle, Circle, Triangle, Square on the Option screen. Exiting back to the main menu and choosing Continue Game starts the game from the chosen level.

Unused Levels

The five unused levels from the DOS version are here as well, using the exact same files. While their numbers can be selected using the level select cheat, the game behaves exactly as the DOS version and prevents playing them by loading the next level along instead.

This can even be confirmed by quitting back to the level select from in-game, which will now be one more than what was originally selected.

Unused FMVs

The unused level lose FMV from the DOS version is included on the PS1 version's disc, and seems similarly impossible to ever see here too. It was also translated into Japanese for that region's release, as well.

English	Japanese

Development Text

The US and Japanese versions include files called DESCRIPT.ION that explain the purpose of the various files found inside the current directory.

From the DATA directory:

blk00.dat The floor block GFX
blk00.tab The floor block palette offsets
blk10.dat The Floor Block GFX for Data Disk
blk10.tab The Floor Block Palette offset for dd
build00.dat The Buildings data
build00.tab The Buildings table
carpet.pal All the game palettes
etext.dat English Language Texts
font0.dat A Font
font0.tab A Font
font1.dat Another Font
font1.tab Another Font
font3.dat The BIG in game font
font3.tab The BIG in game font table
ftext.dat French Language Texts
gtext.dat German Language Texts
itext.dat Italian Language Texts
pointers.dat The Pointer Data for the Spell Screen
pointers.tab The Pointer Table for the Spell Screen
scroll.bgr The Scroll Background for Map Screen
search.dat Search Table for creature explosions
sounds.dat The Sound Effect Data
sounds.tab The Sound Effect Table file
tmap00.dat The New Data File for PSX
tmap00.tab The New Table file for PSX
vram.pos Those Loverly VRAM positions
mspr00.tab Panel and Spell Sprites tables
mspr00.dat Panel and Spell Sprites data

From the SCREENS directory:

sptrs.tab The Pointer Table for the Spell Screen
sptrs.dat The Pointer Data for the Spell Screen

(Source: Mysterium Xerxes)

Unseen Text

All versions weirdly still contain remnants of the help text from the September 1994 DOS demo in the main executable:

Cursor up       Move forwards
Cursor down     Move backwards
Cursor left     Move left
Cursor right    Move right
Left button     Use spell to the left
Right button    Use spell to the right
1 - 0           Select assigned spells
Space           Rebirth
Shift Q         Exit to dos

F5              Reflections toggle
F6              Sky toggle
F7              Shadows toggle
F8              Icons toggle
.F9              Speed blur toggle
F10             Stereo modes toggle

Return          
Left and Right  Spell selection

If you are experiencing slowness, try Pressing F5,F6,F7

Magic Carpet comes to you from Bullfrog Productions Ltd

And will be released on the 15th November 1994
Copyright 1994 Bullfrog Productions Ltd

Good Luck!

Version Differences

To do: Should this even be here?

The PlayStation version has some changes and even improvements over the DOS version.

• Completely different simplified menu system.
• The sky is no longer a 2D texture. Instead the sky is three-dimensional with gouraud shaded polygons used as clouds:

• The PlayStation version can show up to 32,768 colors on-screen compared to only 256 in the DOS original.
• The game now features a CD audio soundtrack. This includes the "danger" versions of each original track, and the game dynamically jumps between each version of a track as the game plays.
• The map has been redone. Now important items like spell pots, teleports, and the healing Dolmen have large icons on the map making them far easier to identify than the single pixels used in the DOS original. Accessing the map screen now also pauses the game, unlike the original.

• No multiplayer.

Regional Differences

The Japanese version has some major changes:

• The Krisalis splash screen on startup has been removed.
• The game runs in a pseudo high-res 320×480 interlaced screen mode, as opposed to the 320×256 and 320×240 screen modes used by the European and US versions respectively.
• Each level now begins with a new text-based briefing screen giving hints and objectives for each level:

• The control scheme is modified. While the other versions set pitch up and down to D-Pad Up and D-Pad Down on the controller, and use Triangle for forwards and X for back, here Up and Down are forwards and backwards, and Triangle and X pitch forward and back.
• In the original English version the game's intro is narrated be a male voice who then turns out to be the master wizard that mentors the game's beginner wizard protagonist and voices all FMV sequences in the game. In the Japanese version the intro is narrated by a male voice, yet the in-between level win screens are voiced by a female character.
• The Hidden Worlds levels are removed.