Prerelease:EarthBound/1994
This is a sub-page of Prerelease:EarthBound.
Contents
April
Weekly Famitsu (April 29, 1994)
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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Originally, an old man NPC blocked the way to the Pink Cloud dungeon. He was replaced in the final with three black rabbit statues that require the Carrot Key to erase. Also, more clouds were added below the area. The graphics for the area still resemble the graphics used in the 1992 version of Dalaam.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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The Scalding Coffee Cup was given a menacing splash in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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There are no NPCs here in the pre-release.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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The trees are different, and the area seems to have been redesigned.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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The trash can was moved to the alleyway in the final, and the pizza place's sign was changed from a nonsensical "2.24" to illegible writing.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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The only glaring difference here is the removal of Orange Kid's wall clock in the final. The dialogue is identical.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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Apple Kid went from being well-off to a slob.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final (Proto NPC's location) | Final (NPC dialogue location) |
|---|---|---|
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This guy was moved to the right side of the room, and a blonde pigtail girl (who used to be in front of the bookcase) took his place. Another NPC was placed at the lower-right desk, and a sun hat girl NPC replaced the pigtail girl's previous location.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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Several trees were removed.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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An ATM was added to the third floor in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
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No difference in the layout, but the ghost and zombie enemies cannot appear during the daytime in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (April '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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An NPC was added outside the Library, and a small bush was removed from around the "Onett Town" sign.
June
Weekly Famitsu (June 3, 1994)
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The pizza delivery person is the girl behind the counter in the pizza shop, while in the final the pizza delivery person is a short man with a moustache. Also, it is impossible to get him to deliver from the left side in this circumstance in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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A tree was moved to the upper right, out of the way of the player's path.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
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An NPC was added to the east of the barricade, and the "Onett Town" city limits sign was moved northwards.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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This location hasn't changed much since 1992, other than the out-of-place Shark. The dialogue for the Escargo Express man, however, is different:
| Proto Text | Translation | Final Text | Translation | Official English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ＊エスカルゴうんそうでーす！ もってくにもつは どれですか？ |
* Escargo Express! What have you got for me? |
＊エスカルゴうんそうでーす！ おあずかりりょうきんは １８ドルです。 |
* Escargo Express! The deposit charge is 18 dollars. |
* Hello, this is Escargo Express! * Your delivery charge is $18. |
The layout is the same; a customer from the For-Sale Sign has been called. However, this customer does not exist in the final nor does her dialogue match any of the four final possible customers (man with mustache in blue suit, punk guy, blonde man in blue outfit, and brown-haired smiling rich woman).
| Proto Text | Translation |
|---|---|
| ＊だいしきゅう まいりました。 なにを うってくれますか？ |
*I came as soon as I could. What will you sell me? |
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The dialogue is the same, but the old man appears to be moving freely (he's fixed in the final) and the Bag Lady is either not coded or is offscreen.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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Lier X. Aggerate gained a sign outside his home.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The tree is still moved, but a scientist and Captain Strong were added surveying the crash as well. The cop, cop car, and right barricade was moved further right in the final as well.
It's not possible to get this far right without Pokey initiating the Buzz-Buzz cutscene in the final.
The Shark in the center isn't there in the final. Instead, a Shark that automatically speaks to you and initiates a fight is in the lower-right of the map.
Weekly Famitsu (June 24, 1994)
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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A tree was moved so a sign could be added, two small trees became one large tree, and some flowers were added. The NPC in the upper-right was also possibly added.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The Peaceful Rest Valley area seems to have been completely redesigned in the final. A tree was removed, a bridge was added, and part of the cliff was modified.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The names of the window options were changed to remove subtle potty humor, although the window colors were left intact in the final:
| Proto Text | Translation | Final Text | Translation | Official English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| おすすめ おとこのこよう おんなのこよう おとなよう さらに おとなよう |
Recommended Little Boys' Little Girls' Adults Only Really Adults Only |
プレーン ミント ストロベリー バナナ ナッツ |
Plain Mint Strawberry Banana Nuts |
Plain Flavor Mint Flavor Strawberry Flavor Banana Flavor Peanut Flavor |
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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An extra NPC is with the NPCs in the lower-left; the person that is there in the final was originally near the town sign. Additionally, a mailbox was added to the northernmost house. Some flowers were added.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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This guy was moved into the northernmost house in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
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The sign was originally inside the fence; it was moved below it in the final. A flower was added to the fence enclosure to the south.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
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This area was redesigned. It seems this bridge was originally initially intact, making it easier to reach the end of the area.
| Weekly Famitsu (June '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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Another tree was removed from the Paula's Hideaway area, and a treasure box was either removed or more likely moved to some other part of the area.
July
Weekly Famitsu (July 15, 1994)
| Weekly Famitsu (July '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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A strange box is surrounding the Ness indicator on the map, and the Ness indicator is not in a spot that is possible. The "To Twoson" sign is also off-center compared to the final.
Aside from this minor difference, all the other screenshots in this issue are identical to the final, which seems to indicate this is a near-final build.
Weekly Famitsu (July 29, 1994)
| Weekly Famitsu (July '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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This bizarre screenshot seems to have been fabricated from the Battle Debug Menu. It isn't possible to fight Gigantic Ants with Poo in the party in a normal playthrough because all enemies disappear from the digging site once you've defeated all five Moles (and the ants don't appear in any other area). Gigantic Ants can't even spawn with Black Antoids, can't call them (they can only call other Gigantic Ants), and the entire enemy setup is not possible in the final, even through the Battle Debug Menu. Paula is using PK Freeze γ, but the effect looks like PK Freeze Ω, and there's an overlay of the Counter-PSI Unit effect for some reason. There is a strange "X" over the HP and PP meters over some members; if the PP meter is "X"ed out, that means the party member is under "Can't Concentrate", or "PSI Block" status in the final, but none of the enemies in the screenshot use that move and it ends at the end of a battle. The "X" effect additionally never happens to HP, which seems to imply that at this point the X was an indicator of 0 HP or PP instead of an indication of a bad status.
| Proto Text | Translation | Final Text | Translation | Official English Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ＊ポーラのこうげき！ ポーラは PKフリーズ を こころみた。 |
* Paula attacks! Paula tried PK Freeze γ. |
＊ポーラは PKフリーズをこころみた！ |
* Paula tried PK Freeze γ! |
* Paula tried PSI Freeze γ! |
| Weekly Famitsu (July '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The hitbox for triggering the Buzz-Buzz/King leaving cutscenes is still more lenient at this point. Several more issues also seem to indicate it was like this until just before release.
August
Weekly Famitsu (August 5, 1994)
Even closer to the final, as the map box has been fixed. The only real differences here are in NPC placement or sprite assignment.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The "Pig Pen" NPC's sprite has been replaced by a businessman NPC.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The girl that talks about the "Check" command doesn't seem to have been added yet.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The Developer Dog, Roofini, was originally wandering randomly, and the NPC that talks about Homesickness was where the dog is in the final. Neither of them move from their spots in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The auto-attacking Shark can't get that close to the arcade machine in the final. Seems the collision detection of the AI was one of the last features polished for the final version.
Weekly Famitsu (August 12, 1994)
Seems to be the same version as the week before (one new shot depicts the Bakery (again) and the lack of the Check girl (again).
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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This is identical to the final, but there is no instance that ever shows this exact part of the daytime Winters map in the final, even in an autoscroll, which makes this shot very strange.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The sunglasses kid normally can't move and is way off to the left from here, and the mustache guy can't move this far right in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The dialogue here uses dollar signs. The final simply replaced these with ドル (Doru), which is shorthand for dollars.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The Hint Guy is lacking punctuation at this point.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The Frankystein Mark II disappears after defeat in the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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Captain Strong's dialogue is slightly different (more likely bad formatting than changed dialogue).
Weekly Famitsu (August 19, 1994)
This build appears to be quite close to the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The guy in the Twoson Hotel that throws out a bunch of separate lines of dialogue, then gives you $50 was moved in the final.
Famitsu Game Catalog (August 19, 1994)
TV Asahi aired a segment of Mother 2 on Weekly Famitsu’s Famitsu Game Catalog that featured an interview with Itoi. The game footage shown appear to have been sourced from a pre-final build, given the time of the airing and the release date.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The title screen shows different fonts used for the copyright text at the bottom compared to the final.
| Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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A pic used during the Itoi interview; most interview pics seem to be from earlier versions or older material taken (but not necessarily published) by the magazine. The cash window is unusually long, and the window design for the Dragon Quest-style "character is down" window color seems extremely different.
September
Weekly Famitsu (September 2, 1994)
This and all further versions appear to be even more close to absolute final, if they're not just the final version (the game released during this week). Even the guy in the Twoson Hotel has moved to his proper location.
| Weekly Famitsu (Sep '94) | Final |
|---|---|
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The Ness graphic is more crudely-drawn.
Unknown Date
Electronic Gaming Monthly (1994?)
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | Weekly Famitsu (August '94) | Final |
|---|---|---|
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Looks like it really was a mockup after all: the Counter-PSI Unit overlay was removed, PK Freeze is in a different state of animation, and the "X" over the HP/PP counters were removed.
Somehow Poo is in the party and Master Belch is still alive. Seems this is either generated by the debug menu, or also a mockup.
