In this thread I'll be going through all of the early Rayman 3 GBA prototypes and explore them, looking into unused content, interesting changes, sprite animations, maps and more!
We start with the first one, Demo RLE (2002/01/18). This is the earliest and only has one level.
There isn't that much interesting stuff in this ROM, but this unused animation is pretty interesting.
Next prototype is Pre-Alpha (2002/03/01). This has 10 maps, only 2 of which are normally accessible (shown here).
Most of the inaccessible maps are broken, something which will be the case a lot moving forward. I'll mostly avoid showing these unless they're very interesting.
But let's look at sprites now, and there's a lot!
For starters, lums have wings. But what's more, there's an unused animation where they have eyes
Rayman has been redesigned and he has several unused animations. One of them shows him dangling upside-down. This appears to have been for an unused move that's described in the design docs, where you would hang off of thing platforms.
In most of these prototypes the wall jumping shows Rayman facing away from the camera.
There are two unused bitmaps in the ROM which can be triggered to show in-game. They're not all too interesting though.
Next we have Pre-Alpha (B) (2002/03/08). This has 11 maps, with only 2 normally accessible ones again. But this time some of the inaccessible ones are less broken! Here are some of them:
I'll take a break here. I'll be back soon though, going through the remaining 6 early prototypes. There is a lot more content in them to go through!
I'm back! Next up is Focus Group (2002/03/18), the first ROM labeled as "Rayman 3" rather than "Rayman 2". This has 11 maps with 4 of them normally accessible (shown here).
The inaccessible maps are getting more complete here!
And what's this? A Mode7 map, but without a race kart. This appears to be a really early test version of it and has you playing as the sidescroller Rayman, but in 3D. I showed this in a previous tweet and will showcase it more in an upcoming YouTube video.
This is also the only prototype with this snail creature. Did the focus group not like him?
Fun fact: the code for these guys still exists in the final game!
It also appears they were testing multiplayer connectivity here.
Next is Nintendo E3 Approval (2002/04/18). There are 13 maps, 6 of which are normally accessible. Things are looking closer to the final game now. Rayman has been redesigned to look like in Rayman 3 and lums no longer have wings (rip).
We've got another inaccessible Mode7 test level, but this time it's an actual race track. It crashes when trying to play it though, and the sprites for the kart don't exist.
This is also the first time we see right-facing signs used to end the level. Fun fact: this functionality is still in the final game, but unused!
We've also got this early flower platform design. I actually really like this one!
The menu has also been Rayman 3-ified here. The GameCube link functionality is present for the first time, and so is the code for it. Seems to have been in early testing stages.
Time for another, probably longer break. 4 more early prototypes to go through!
Let's continue! Next prototype is E3 GameCube (2002/05/13) with 16 maps, 6 of which are normally accessible.
Here are some of the inaccessible maps. Black lums hadn't been added yet, so interestingly the helicopter bombs act just like them when you're on the flower!
We've also got our first version of rings/purple lums. They look quite a lot simpler than in the final game.
This is also the first time we see a fully implemented Mode7 level, that being a waterski one. There is one major change here: bombs don't insta-kill you. This makes the level much easier.
Next up is E3 (2002/05/16). Once again 16 maps, now with 8 of them normally accessible. The maps are all pretty much the same, which makes sense with this only being 3 days later.
One change they made was redesigning the rings/purple lums.
2 more prototypes left. I'll write about those soon!
I'm back and now we're onto La Ronde (2002/07/19). Big things are happening now! The ROM has 54 maps! Only 8 of these are normally accessible though. Let's look at some of the more interesting ones.
First off, the machine boss fight. It looks completely different! Ly was also meant to appear here, being trapped by the machine (more on that later).
This is the first bonus level (which were later named Mega Havoc). Interestingly this actually uses the bouncy platforms with traps in them, something which was unused in the final game.
The race levels are now functional for the first time. They're really basic though, so clearly just early tests.
This is the only prototype where a black lum, who looks like André, appears as an enemy. I made a tweet about this before.
The first part of The Canopy uses the lava theme for some reason.
Plums could be used to ride across the molten red lava, unlike in the final game where they could only be used in specific lava streams.
The pirate levels have some interesting unused graphics, like wanted posters for Rayman.
Multiplayer levels are here and mostly functional!
The bases where you place the spheres look very different!
https://twitter.com/RayCarrot/status/17 ... 8268957968
The spiders look absolutely terrifying here!
This is also the first version with the level select debug menu. It's normally inaccessible though, unlike later builds where you can access it by pressing L when starting the game.
We've also got a new menu background here.
Just one more prototype now. I'll add that soon.
Alright, let's finish this. The last early prototype is ECTS (2002/08/09). The remaining prototypes were built 2 months later and are very similar to the final game, besides some changes here and there, like early cutscenes, and multiple bugs.
This prototype has 66 maps with only 9 being normally accessible. This is also the first time we see the intro sequence being implemented!
This also is the first to have actual cutscenes, as can be seen here.
The first level I want to bring up is this one. You've seen me post this before, but here it's the most complete. What's interesting about this is that it was completely reworked in the final game. This is the first fully complete level that was essentially cut!
The Mode7 race levels are more or less fully implemented now. They also have this unused feature where you collect 3 blue lums to get a speed boost (which more often than not causes you to drive into the lava and die...).
Oh, the black lum actually appears here too! I thought the previous prototype was the only one with it in.
This prototype has a really early version of the final fight. You can actually turn the flying ship around by rotating it here and you collect lums to give you ammo to shoot at the boss. Just like in Rayman 2!
We've got early hub worlds here!
Ly also appears for the first time, but that's not all...
Early Ly animations! My guess is these were for when she was trapped by the machine and you had to free her.
https://twitter.com/RayCarrot/status/17 ... 8125271192
And that's a wrap on this thread. Thanks for reading!
) became Hoodlum Hideout. And yet, Wretched Ruins looks nothing like the Canopy, unlike Hoodlum Hideout and its treetops. That is even stranger given than pretty much every other level that used to be named after a Rayman 2 location is still very similar to the original: for example, it doesn't take a genius to recognize the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava in Wicked Flow...
Maybe if we take this discussion any further we should move it to the Rayman 2 topic? 