Proto:Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation)/July 18th, 1998 build

This is a sub-page of Proto:Spyro the Dragon (PlayStation).

  This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

The July 18th, 1998 Prototype of Spyro the Dragon is a late preview version of the game dated around a month before the final North American release version. It was released on March 14th, 2020.

Despite the files suggesting a modification date of July 18th, the disc that this build originates from is labelled with "7/19", suggesting that its burn date was July 19th.

Sub-Pages

Artisans Artisans differences.

Peace Keepers Peace Keepers differences.

Magic Crafters Magic Crafters differences.

Beast Makers Beast Makers differences.

Dream Weavers Dream Weavers differences.

Gnasty's World Entering Gnasty's World World.

Soundtrack Differences There's still no rhyme or reason to any of this.

Unused Text and Dialogue Thank you for releasing me.

Build Dates

The following is a table comparing the various modification dates of each of the files within the ISO between the July 18th prototype and the final North American build.

File	Description	July 18th Prototype	Final
WAD.WAD	Contains most of the game's contents	1998-07-18 16:14	1998-08-12 15:46
PETEXA0.STR	Soundtrack file	1998-05-15 04:33	1998-08-08 12:58
PETEXA1.STR	Soundtrack file	1998-05-15 04:36	1998-08-04 07:20
PETEXA2.STR	Soundtrack file	1998-05-15 04:37	1998-08-04 07:27
PETEXA3.STR	Soundtrack file	1998-05-15 04:33	1998-08-04 07:38
PETEXA4.STR	Soundtrack file	1998-05-15 04:33	1998-08-04 07:47
PETEXA5.STR	Soundtrack file	Not present	1998-08-04 07:59

If all of these dates are to be believed, it is possible that the soundtrack in this version has remained mostly unchanged since at least May 15th, 1998. One exception to this rule is the addition of PETEXA4.STR which appears to be a copy of both PETEXA3.STR and PETEXA0.STR - as both PETEXA3.STR and PETEXA4.STR are copies, the only changes to the soundtrack they would have constituted would be to give more levels themes which would not have had music assigned before. Assuming both of these files were copied later than May 15th, builds of the game from around the time these soundtrack files were created would have only featured music in the first four worlds.

The disc's creation and modification dates also agree with this 18th July figure, as opposed to the 13th August / 14th August figures seen in the final game's disc dates.

General Differences

• No title screen has been implemented. Instead, we're greeted with a "Temporary Boot Menu" with save file options.
• There is no introductory cutscene; the game starts immediately after selecting a file.
  • Similarly, there are no end-of-game cutscenes.
• There is no option to quit the game on the pause menu.
• Pressing circle or square in the pause menu or inventory functions the same as pressing X.
• There is no option for speaker setup in the options menu.
• Pressing triangle in the inventory doesn't switch it to the pause menu, as it would in the final.
• Regardless of the amount of lives the player had at the time of saving the game, it defaults to four lives each time the game is loaded.
• Many Dragons do not feature cutscenes at this point in development. Most of these Dragons instead display a full-screen text prompt containing dialogue.
• All balloonists wear the same clothing, instead of slightly different colours for each world.
• When saving the game, no memory card slot number is listed.
• When pressing triangle while gliding, Spyro reacts and falls much slower. There's also no thud animation when Spyro hits the ground.
• Extra life statues are gold instead of silver.
• Many sound effects are missing or different, especially in later levels.
  • The sound effect of bumping into an invisible wall is missing, despite being present in earlier builds.
  • There is no sound when moving through pages in the inventory.
  • Crystal dragons do not make their signature "rumbling" sound, however they're still animated.
  • Many of the smaller Gnorcs make a different sound when they're killed.
  • Sparx does not make his usual chime sound when picking up a gem.
  • Thieves don't make any sounds when taunting the player.
  • When travelling between levels, the gem sound effects may not play.
• The silence between the soundtrack loops is significantly longer, than in the final version.
• Most levels' gem placements are different.
• When entering boss levels the text on the top of the screen says "Entering [Boss name]" instead of "Confronting [Boss name]".
• In the flight levels of the final game, once the timer is below 10 seconds, it will begin making a noise once every second to warn the player. In this prototype, it makes this noise every second regardless of time remaining.

Completion Percentage

There is an interesting glitch surrounding the completion percentage in this version. Disassembly reveals that the completion percentage is calculated in an identical way to the final game.

int fCalculateGameCompletion(void) {
  int percentage = (gGemTotal * 50 + gDragonTotal * 6000 + gEggTotal * 10000) / 12000;
  if (gGemTotal > 12000) {
    percentage = (gGemTotal - 12000) / 100 + 100;
  }
  return percentage;
}

However, due to the accidental presence of an extra gem in Lofty Castle, it's technically possible to obtain 12001 gems in this version without entering Gnasty Booty (Gnasty's Loot).

This means that the player can reach a point where they have all 12001 gems, but only 50 dragons and 5 eggs. Clearly, this shouldn't count as 100% completion, as there are still another 30 dragons and 7 eggs to obtain.

However, as the caclulation percentage acts differently after the player has 12000 gems (to account for the additional completion percentage accrued in Gnasty's Loot), from the moment the player has collected 12001 gems their completion percentage will jump from a potential minimum of 79% straight up to 100%.

This does not unlock Gnasty's Loot, however, as the individual gem, dragon and egg values are checked when attempting to enter that level.

Cheat Codes

To do: There's a bunch more cheat codes that require documentation, too.

Level Select

A series of level select cheat codes have been included in this build, likely to make the lives of QAers easier. If one holds down all four shoulder buttons (L1 + L2 + R1 + R2) for three seconds whilst the game is unpaused, Spyro will jump to alert the player that the level select mode is activated. After this, you can either press Up to skip to the next level or input a two-button combination to warp to a specific level. Once the code is entered, the current level will disappear and Spyro will fly in the void for a bit until the level loads in, similar to the world transition animation seen in the June 15th prototype.

• Worlds (First button):
  • Artisans - X
  • Peace Keepers - Square
  • Magic Crafters - Triangle
  • Beast Makers - Right
  • Dream Weavers - Down
  • Gnasty's World - Left
• Levels (Second button):
  • Home - Circle
  • First level - X
  • Second level - Square
  • Third level (Gnasty Place for Gnasty's World) - Triangle
  • Boss (Gnasty Booty for Gnasty's World) - Right
  • Flight - Down

If the first button pressed doesn't correspond to a world, it'll be ignored. However, if the second button doesn't correspond to a level, it will cause the level select to deactivate. Inputting an invalid combination (for example, entering Left + Down would correspond to a nonexistent Gnasty World's flight level) will also deactivate the level select.

When skipping through the levels with Up, the levels go in order that they appear in the inventory. For example, using it in a flight level will take the player to the next world's home. Using it on Gnasty Booty (Gnasty's Loot) will warp you back to the Artisans home.

Save Information

The information stored on a memory card when saving the game differs in this version compared to the final release.

Info	Prototype	Final
Save icon
Title	SPYRO TEMPORARY SAVES	SPYRO THE DRAGON
Product Code	SLUS-00002	SCUS-94228
Identifier	SPYROSAV	SPYRO

Most of the data appears to be identical to what is seen in the June 15th prototype. However, the product code has been changed to "SLUS-00002" - perhaps with each preview build the product code was incremented by one.

Furthermore, an animation was added to the save icon.

Dongle Protection

As this build has a level of dongle protection on it to prevent it being played on a standard console, the game checks for the existence of a save file with the following product code:

BASLUS-99999SPYRODNG

"DNG" is likely short for "DONGLE".