MediEvil II

MediEvil II
Also known as: MediEvil 2 (EU) Developer: SCE Cambridge Studio Publishers: SCEE (EU), SCEA (US) Platform: PlayStation Released in US: May 9, 2000 Released in EU: April 19, 2000 This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has anti-piracy features. This game has a prerelease article

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Ripping the subtitle information shows a few interesting leads, like pre-release names (Wulfrum Hall was called Vampire Mansions, Kiya was called Princess) and references to what seems like a debug menu

MediEvil II is, as you might have guessed, the sequel to MediEvil. Daniel is back from the dead once again, but this time in a new era and with a new voice.

Sub-Page

Prerelease Info

Build Info

Located at the start of PROJFILE.MWD.

USA
Creation Date: Thursday, 30th March 2000 Creation Time: 19:07:40 Build 1.1Q USA Master Build 68708

Unused Speech

There are several speeches from Winston the Help Ghost that are never used in the final game.

This could be a good time to save.

Winston uses the same line for every mid-level checkpoint. Given his wavering voice, this might have been used right before the final boss fights.

You ought to save your game before you carry on, you never know what's around the corner.

Same as above, but lacks any obvious hints as to its intended location.

Good luck Dan.

This line exists in the subtitles data, and is linked to the above line, but goes unvoiced.

You can put your head back on, through the inventory or the L2 + triangle shortcut, when the light comes on.

Winston explains the head mechanics in situational speeches, like when Dan first gets his head stolen. This speech is unusually brief, considering that most mechanics are explained all at once, and is made obsolete by Greenwich Observatory's opening speech.

When the light comes on you can move your head between body and hand.

This line has the same issues as the above head line, and is made obsolete by Wulfrum Hall's opening speech.

I'm Winston the Help Ghost, your source of information in this game. I can tell you some great tips if you want? Do you know that you can jump by pressing the circle button on your Joypad at anytime? While you're jumping you can still continue to fight. See you later Dan!

This was never narrated, and exists only in the subtitles. It was seemingly replaced by his current intro.

Regional Differences

Europe	US

The logo was changed in the North American version. It now resembles the logo from the original game, just with the "II" added.

Anti-Piracy

Some PlayStation games released after 1998 contain some form of copy protection/anti-piracy measures, in order to curb the use of modchips and illegal copies that were instrumental in the spread of piracy on the system. Sony developed two systems for protecting games. The first one is Anti-Modchip, and the other is LibCrypt.

Anti-Modchip protection works on the hardware level and pretty straight-forwardly. As earlier modchips were active by default through constant injection of region data during bootup, all that it needs for the game to detect one is for the game to return data from a modchip when requested. If it returns data, the game shows an error message screen telling the user that the console may have been modified (i.e. has a modchip). The moment it shows the screen varies from title to title, but it usually happens shortly after booting a game. Early versions of this protection only had a sign with a red hand, hence the Japanese naming for this copy protection: "Red Hand Protect" (レッドハンドプロテクト, reddo hando purotekuto) or RHP for short. Later versions have a "No go" sign with a message in either Japanese or English.

LibCrypt functions on the software level in two ways: by detecting a modchip upon bootup of the game and by detecting an illegal copy through a 16-bit key located in the subchannel data of the disc. The first check is to see whether or not a modchip is installed on the system. As earlier modchips are active by default, all that is necessary to detect one is for the program to return data from a modchip. If it detects it, the game crashes immediately. This was mitigated by pirates with so-called "stealth" modchips, which turn off immediately when loading disc region data during bootup. However, the second check now comes into play. The second part functions as a part of the game. It decrypts the 16-bit LibCrypt data key stored in the subchannel of the disc and stores it in the coprocessor of the system. If the data is incorrect, the game implements its anti-piracy measures. As most CD burners cannot properly replicate subchannel data on the disc, a pirated copy, whether burned directly to another disc or as a disc image, trips the anti-piracy measure by default.

A modded system allows for a backup, a pirated copy, or a legitimate copy of the game from a region different than the console, to start normally. However, immediately after that, the game can crash, freeze or perform tricks to stall pirates, depending on the game.

In this game's case, In the North American NTSC version, the anti-modchip protection initiates only when loading Whitechapel or The Demon. In the PAL version, it is the same as the previous game except when loading Kensington. This unfortunately prevents the PAL version from being played on a PlayStation 3 due to the software emulation config not having an entry for the game thus setting off this measure.

(Source: Kippykip, Copy Protected PlayStation games list, MVG's video about copy protection schemes on PS, Original TCRF Research)