Proto:Monsters, Inc. Scare Island/Nov 13, 2001 prototype

This is a sub-page of Proto:Monsters, Inc. Scare Island.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

A prototype of Monsters, Inc. Scare Island dated November 13, 2001, that was released in September 28, 2023. It is an "English preview" disc dated 21 days before retail.

Cheats Menu

The "Cheats" debug menu is unlockable via a cheat code. In game, hold L1 + R1 then press Circle, Circle, Circle, Circle, Square, Square, Square. Pausing the game reveals the new "Cheats" option.

This cheat code still exists in the retail build, but doesn't unlock the menu. Rather, it only writes the usual string into debug output.

General Differences

To do:

Play the rest of the levels

Nov 13	Final

The main font is uncompressed.

Nov 13	Final

Every mailbox is untextured.

Nov 13	Final

Other

The intro video showcases a different trailer for the Monsters, Inc. movie.
By default, music is completely muted and audio is set to Mono.
The game has incredibly broken saves and is probably impossible to complete without cheats.
Any string with PlayStation 2 in it shows a @ symbol instead of ®
The camera speed in first person is much faster and harder to control.
- There is a bug after exiting first person camera where the character is stuck in his running animation.
- First person can be entered in mid-air and can easily softlock the game.
Often when scaring nerves, the camera either stays in place or is in very weird and awkward positions.
The bag of calories has no spinning animation.
Sometimes in medal cutscenes, the camera is in strange positions.
After the credits, the game loads City Park instead of Arctic Pursuit.

Level Differences

Title Screen

Nov 13	Final

The title screen says "Press Start" instead of "Press the START button"

Nov 13	Final

Title screen says "To Select/To Go Back" instead of "Select/Cancel"

Other

There's no demo FMV that would play after being idle for a while.
Moving between doors (New Game, Load Game) has no sound effects.

Orientation

Scream Team	Nov 13	Final

The wooden crate section is completely different, identical to how it was on the PlayStation.

Some of the crates are Z-fighting. Crates also stay in the air instead of falling.

Game gets stuck on a black screen when entering the cutscene about the first blue nerve.

Speedrun tricks or memory editing have to be used to see the rest of the level.

Nov 13	Final

In the last room, a nerve inside of a crate has its headlight poking out of it.

Other

The player cannot choose a character before entering Orientation.
Elevators and doors have no sound effects.
The last elevator can be entered without beating the level at all, which also unlocks the Urban Training Grounds.
There is no mailbox cutscene before the last elevator.

Scare Island

Nov 13	Final

Ooze meter is on display here.

Selecting between characters causes visual glitches.

Character names are colored cyan instead of white.

Other

There is no ambient noise whatsoever.
Randall has no voicelines.
The movie theater shows no button prompt and can be entered by directly walking in.

The City Centre

Nov 13	Final

This level has its old PlayStation name, "Downtown".

Nov 13	Final

There's no skybox.

RC Car

Nov 13	Final

The transmitters for RC cars are floating in the air.

Invincibility frames from getting hit by RC cars are significantly shorter.
They are much more difficult to defeat, but they also go flying easier. (with Mike)
The game often crashes if you are defeated by an RC car.
- Sometimes it's possible to not die to an RC car and get hit by it infinitely.

The Sphinx

Nov 13	Final

The trampoline has no platform below it.

Nov 13	Final

To do:
What the... where are the files?

The orange nerve outside spawns in the sky instead of the ground.

File:MISI Nov 13 Nov 13 SphinxDoor.mp4

400px

The door to the cave opens very slowly and can be walked in without using the speed boost arrow.

Nov 13	Final
400px	400px

This token has no invisible walls in place to prevent the player from picking it up without the speed boost arrow.

Other

The lightning button has no collision.
All the memory game buttons have a way bigger hitbox and can even be pressed without actually touching them
The button initiating the memory game can be pressed without jumping on it.
The cave's falling boulders have no sound effects.
A flame at the end of the cave is not attached to the torch.
There are no flame particles that appear after dying to lava.

The Oasis

Nov 13	Final

The footstep on the memory game button is inverted.

Other

Snakes don't follow the player.

The Tomb

Nov 13	Final

There are some lighting issues near the tomb.

Nov 13	Final

There's an odd square shadow on the roof, which is also Z-fighting.

Nov 13	Final

The blue nerve outside is a smidgen closer to the rock.

Nov 13	Final

There's no black fade-in transition when entering the tomb.

Nov 13	Final

The slots for the crates are both green instead of purple and orange.

Nov 13	Final

Nov 13	Final

The UFO's green beam is brighter. Also neither of the crates have a colored glow.

The green beam does no damage.

Other

You're able to spin with the crate in your hand even as you're placing it down.
You can see the inside of the crate while holding it in first person camera.
There's no sound effect for the final door.
The cutscene for the orange nerve spawning in the final room has letterboxing.

The Pyramid

Nov 13	Final

There's a semi-invisible red nerve on top of this tree, which plays the nerve ticking noise. The nerve gets turns visible when the player gets a silver medal in the level.

Nov 13	Final

The yellow nerve on top of a tree isn't doing a handstand.

Nov 13	Final

This shows multiple differences:

That steam trap goes extremely high.
The red nerve is doing the default animation.
The shadow in the exit door isn't as dark. (This is the case for all doors in the pyramid levels.)

Nov 13	Final

A mailbox in the fireball pyramid has slightly moved.

Nov 13	Final

The blue nerve in the fireball pyramid is not dancing. Pyramids also have no shadows in the void.

Nov 13	Final

A mailbox in the snake pyramid has slightly moved.

Nov 13	Final

A mailbox in the boulder pyramid has slightly moved.

Fake platforms are given away by their bright lighting.

Nov 13	Final

The orange nerve in the boulder pyramid is not holding an umbrella.

Other

None of the doors have sound effects.
All the hot steam traps are constantly on and at the same time, which makes that pyramid extremely difficult.
- The traps also make no noise.
For some reason after exiting a pyramid level, there's a 4 second delay before you can move again.
Every looping sound effect keeps playing after exiting the pyramid levels. After visiting all 4 pyramid levels the noise gets pretty chaotic.