Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes/Game Start
This is a sub-page of Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes.
Contents
Boot-Up
The Cx4 chip test screen seems to have been disabled as holding B lets the game boot normally – although the music will be muted until a game is started. In the final game, holding B after the Cx4 chip test still mutes the music, but only until the gameplay demo has run.
There is also no copyright screen here. It instead goes directly into the Capcom logo.
Intro Cutscene
| August builds |
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| Final |
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The city in the background is colored and arranged differently, and the towers also sit a little lower in the August prototypes. The clouds at the top of the leftmost/rightmost building were moved up in the final to accommodate this, as well as having their formation slightly adjusted. In addition, there are two spotlights instead of one, but both are completely non-moving, opaque, and extend from the towers rather than the red building to the right. Though not really noticeable, the background is also two pixels shorter than the final version's.
| August builds | Final |
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Maoh the Giant's animation freezes with his arms bare in the August prototypes instead of covered with electrical current graphics as in the final. The black box containing the text is also larger in the August builds.
| August builds | Final |
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Unsurprisingly, the skyline is also slightly darker.
The Spycopters and lasers are much faster in the August versions. There's also no speed variance, despite the difference in perspective.
There are periods missing on all lines narrated statements aside from the line before the Spycopters attack and the closing line of the intro. However, any other punctuation (ellipses, exclamation marks, commas) are there.
Title Screen and Gameplay Demo
| August builds | Final |
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The beginning of the title screen music is three times as long, repeating as a rising melody before it kicks in to the main part of the song. Appropriately enough, the wireframe "X" takes a little longer to dock on the logo. It's also worth noting that the music cuts off just a little bit earlier than it should before the demo runs.
| August 9th Build | August 23rd Build | Final (JP) |
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The only visible difference between the August prototypes' title screens and the released version is a simple bit of text identifying the sample's build date.
There are also no sounds on the menu aside from X firing, just as in Mega Man X2.
The "Pass Word" option is not selectable in the August 23rd prototype as the X icon can only move to "Game Start" and "Option Mode".
The gameplay demo seems to break under unknown circumstances. This will sometimes cause X to not climb down the first ladder or occasionally get destroyed by a Notor Banger. This happens on very rare occasion in the final game, but happens very frequently in this version.
In another scenario, the gameplay demo completely breaks, attempting to start not from the front door of Maverick Hunter HQ, but from the Spycopters cutscene, causing glitched graphics and placing X in the far left of the screen. The demo ends shortly after X lands.
Password Screen
The "Pass Word" mode is disabled in the August 23rd prototype, but can still be accessed by forcing the cursor onto the option via Pro Action Replay code 7E003C01.
While the password screen is fully functional, no passwords from the final version are accepted. However, all passwords from Mega Man X2 will work and give X the appropriate items, including a non-functional version of the Item Tracer weapon. (Presumably, the Zero part modifiers instead keep track of whether Bit, Byte, or Vile have been defeated.)
| Early | Final |
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In all versions, using an invalid password on the Pass Word screen displays a picture of Dr. Doppler while a valid password displays a picture of Zero. In the August versions, however, both images use the same incorrect palette and are cropped to the same size as the password error/confirmed graphics in Mega Man X2 (32×24 pixels) rather than the final version's 32×32 pixel graphics.
In the final, B leaves the password screen. Pressing B here reverses the currently selected digit on the password screen. The only way to exit is to either reset or enter a valid password. These are both traits carried over from the password screen of Mega Man X2.
Intro Stage
Level Graphics
| August builds | Final |
|---|---|
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Like in the intro cutscene, the background uses a different palette and the spotlights are baked-in graphics.
Layout
| August builds | Final |
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In the final version there are two windows instead of three, and they're both wider and broken. The two small energy pellets were removed, since X will always be at full health after the Mac boss fight.
Miscellaneous
- Zero doesn't have a sound effect when he teleports away at the beginning.
- If you use debug commands to bring all Maverick weapons to the intro stage, the Head Gunner customer will be changed to Head Gunner masspro just like in main stages. After beating the intro stage with all Maverick weapons, the game will automatically load the Dr.Cain scene as if you had beaten all Maverick bosses.
- Mac's energy ball doesn't have a sound effect when it hits X.
- Zero's theme doesn't play anywhere in the August samples.
- The screen doesn't lock on the left side after the player gets control of Zero, so they can go all the way back to the start of the stage if they want.
- After reaching Mac's boss door, backtracking to collect the health pickup at the bottom of the vertical section will cause the game to softlock, and a weird palette to be applied to any spike balls on-screen. This does not occur when collecting the pickup at full health, nor when collecting it before reaching Mac's boss door. This occurs in both August prototypes and was fixed in the final.
| August builds | Final |
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- X's Hangerter capture pose is different in the final version.
- Mac's large energy ball will stun Zero for a few seconds. In the final version, it just damages him a bit.
- The Hangerter carrying X has 32 HP in the August prototypes, with a Z-Buster shot doing 3 HP of damage, a half-charged shot doing 5 HP, and a charged shot doing 9 HP.
- In the final version it has only 5 HP, so it'll go down in two Z-Buster shots or one half-charged / charged shot.
- During the fight with Maoh the Giant in the August prototypes, X can move back to the entrance shutter, allowing the boss to be defeated from a distance. In the final version, the screen is locked from scrolling back to the entrance.
- In the August prototypes, the spiked balls on the ends of Maoh's arms never deflect X-Buster shots. In the final version, the spiked balls will deflect X-Buster shots once Maoh extends his arms.
- After defeating Maoh in the August 9th build, you can briefly see the background graphic moving into place. This was fixed by the August 23rd version.
- In the August 9th build, if you defeat Maoh by using Z-Saber shockwave (activate it through debug commands), the game will freeze in place; If the blade deals the last blow before shockwave comes out, Maoh will be beaten normally. The blade deals 30 damage to Maoh.
- Charged Spinning Blade also deals fatal damage to Maoh - the same damage as Z-Saber's blade part!
- Uncharged Parasitic Bomb freezes the game when it hits Maoh.
- In the August 9th build, if the player inputs the 2P B Button + 2P Up checkpoint warp debug command to proceed to one checkpoint beyond Maoh, the pre-Doppler Stages Dr. Cain cutscene will play, though the background graphics are corrupted. Entering the warp command once more will take the player to what appears to be the beginning development of the Cast Roll cutscene: a room which includes a road, the city background, and X in midair, continually running in place.
