Proto:Ristar (Genesis)

August Prototypes
These are the later two Ristar prototypes released in drx's February 2008 prototype dump. While the July Prototypes were near-final versions of the final Japanese game, the August prototypes are in-progress versions of the finished localized game.

The most noticeable change is the name: Ristar's name is now Dexstar. While the name change isn't unexpected (Even in the July prototypes, a name change was planned, though in that case the localized name would be "Volt"), reverting the name back is more unusual. One possible explanation -- and keep in mind that this is an educated guess, don't take it as gospel -- is that "Dexstar" was already trademarked by a rim manufacturer in 1985. While a seperate trademark could have been filed, since the old trademark was not in the same field of interest, Sega of America might have wanted to play it safe anyways. The name "Volt" is too generic to trademark, so they simply went back to the Japanese "Ristar".

Title

 * The August 12th script is obviously an early draft, probably not written by a native English speaker. Besides the confusing sentence construction, this draft doesn't mention the corruption of the planet leaders.
 * One line in the intro doesn't show up in the game proper:

LIES 'VALDI SYSTEM'..
 * FAR OUT IN THE GALAXY...
 * FAR OUT IN THE GALAXY...
 * }
 * The August 26th script is almost finalized, barring a few fixes in the story's formatting and punctuation.

This text only appears in the August prototypes. It's on screen after the story text but before Ristar/Dexstar flies in from the background.

The localization team gave the game logo a redesign as well! The shooting star was moved to the upper-right part and evokes the image of a neon sign. Two brown stars were stuck to the bottom, and the planetoid was removed entirely.

The added details help to fill the void that the "The Shooting Star" subtitle took up in the Japanese game, but it was ultimately reverted back.

Text Differences

 * The "CONTINUE!" text is still "CONTINUE UP" in the August 12th build.
 * The text for beating a developer time in the August 12th prototype is "GIVE UP", as it is in the Japanese version. In the 26th prototype and the final game, it's "NO WAY!"
 * While the second best password rank has already been changed from "WONDER!" to "WONDERFUL", the best password rank still uses the Japanese "MIRACLE!" in the August 12th prototype.
 * The bonus score text is "1000PTS!" in the August 12th game, and "1000 PTS!" in the final version. The only difference is in the spacing.
 * Opening Theme 1, "EBONY FORCE", is misspelled as "EVONY FORCE" in the August 12th build, just as it was in the July prototypes.
 * Round 1-1's track name, "DANCING LEAVES", is "DACING LEAVES" in both of the prototypes. This is also how it was spelled in the July prototypes.

Credits

 * The August 12th build is missing the SOA Staff credits.
 * The text "BY PJ.RISTAR" is "BY PJ.DEXSTAR", matching the game's title change.
 * The text for beating the game on the Super difficulty was rewritten three times.
 * The first just changed Ristar to Dexstar.
 * The second tried to change the message to "YOU ARE A DEXSTAR MASTER‼", but because of a mistake in formatting, the "A" appears at the end of the second line.
 * The final game shortened the message to fit the formatting.

Passwords
The infinite continue password, "AAAAAA", still works in both prototypes. This password was disabled for the final localized version.