Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Developer: PlatinumGames Publisher: Konami Platforms: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows Released internationally: February 21, 2013 This game has unused enemies. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is probably the most ridiculous entry in the Metal Gear series...and that's saying something.

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Prerelease Info

Unused Music

Multiple unfinished and unused versions of the final tracks exist within the demo's data; The music was adjusted, and some vocals re-written and re-recorded.

Locked and Loaded (Final: Rules of Nature)

Locked and Loaded

Rules of Nature

Rules of Nature, the ever-memetic anthem of Raiden's fight against the Metal Gear RAY, is no doubt the most dramatically changed; The lyrics were entirely re-written for the release version! The song itself has subtle, but noticible, differences as well.

Pre-Release	Final
Locked and Loaded	Rules of Nature
Let the mercury rise on up	And they run when the sun comes up
And it boils in my blood	With their lives on the line
(Alive)	(Alive)
[No vocals]	For a while
(I swear I'll)	(No choice)
Tear out the seams 'till you come undone	Gotta follow the laws of the wild
[Segment ends]	(Alive)
	With their lives on the line
	(No choice)
	Out here only the strong survive

Pre-Release	Final
I take it all	What's done is done
I take it all with me right	Survived to see another day
I save it up	The game of life
I save it up for the fight	The hunter and the agile prey
I feel a heat	No guarantee
The temperature rising	Which of them will succeed
I'll make you bleed	Strong or weak
[Yell]	[Yell]
Locked and loaded	Rules of Nature
	Rules of Nature

A Stranger I Remain

For Mistral's track, instead of lyrical rewrites, we have a cut segment with entirely different lyrics that leads into the track we know and love from the game; After the cut segment, the song is almost identical to the version that made it to final, with another cut segment after the chorus. There is also a line spoken in French, but this is much quieter in the final version.

A Stranger I Remain (Pre-Release)

Cut Segment Lyrics
I've come here to save you
And I can already taste the kill
Like caressing an angel
Burning up in the atmosphere
And with the blood of a dying star above
My true aesthetic's unwinding
And I'm about to come undone
So don't let me become the one you love
'Cause I'll just take your blood and use you up
I know it's tempting to jump off the edge and fly
But this is not a dream
So don't let me become the one you love

The Stains of Time

A pre-release version of Monsoon's theme is lazily appended to the end of Mistral's theme in one file; There are no lyrics, but the song was tweaked slightly before release.

The Stains of Time (Pre-Release)

Red Sun

This track has no vocals and noticeable differences when compared to the final version. In particular, some of the guitar riffs sound different, some segments are featured that did not make it to release, and the drums are much more prominent.

Red Sun (Pre-Release)

Red Sun (Final)

The Only Thing I Know For Real

Essentially the same as the release version. Although, the vocal performance and instrumental are different. The instrumental takes on a more traditional metal style, and doesn't have the synths like in the final.

The Only Thing I Know For Real (Pre-Release)

The Only Thing I Know For Real (Final)

Collective Consciousness

The song itself is different, most obviously missing a particular "wah-wah" synth in the intro, but the most interesting part of this pre-release version is the changes to the lyrics; Instead of total rewrites or cut additions, it's some small, but important changes that affect the meaning of the song.

Pre-Release	Final
The fires will burn in their defeat	The fires of greed will burn the weak
The human heart is obsolete	So we’ll make freedom obsolete
Breaking down the fabric of society	Making whole the fabric of society
Collective consciousness controlled as you will see	Collective consciousness controlled as you will see

Collective Consciousness (Pre-Release)

Collective Consciousness (Final)

It Has To Be This Way

While the lyrics are identical, the vocal performance is very different, and the drums are stronger than the final version.

It Has To Be This Way (Pre-Release)

It Has To Be This Way (Final)

Dark Skies

One of the regular battle themes that plays early in the game, also has an early version with completely different lyrics! These lyrics don't have an official translation, so it's mostly up to interpretation to figure out what they are.

Cut You Down To Size (Dark Skies Pre-Release)

Dark Skies (Final)

Hacking BGM

Metal Gear Rising doesn't contain any hacking gameplay in the final release, but it does contain a few sound files with names related to hacking, including an intense and low-key version. These audio files have no references in the game's audio headers (rendering them entirely unused), but the files themselves are still included in the final release, along with their proper names.

Hacking_Low_Main.ogg

Hacking_High_Main.ogg

Unused Audio

Within the PC version's music and sound effects data is a short sound clip likely used to test the game engine's surround sound capabilities. It's a short clip that reads out the name, in both English and Japanese, of the currently playing audio channel. It's also noteworthy for being the only sound effect in the game to use all six surround channels; no other music or sound effects use the centre or LFE channels.

Unused Bosses

Inside the game's data002.cpk file, there are references to an unused boss in Debug/sound/BGM.txt, simply named 'BN1'. The boss is not linked to any actual music (.wem) files by the text files in Debug/sound, meaning the bgm for this boss was not re-used in any existing levels. The actual music used for this boss is unknown, and is likely missing from the release build of the game.

(Source: firegodjr (finding))

Unused Animations

To do: Get video of these unused animations.

Raiden has unused animations for throwing a knife, different sword combos and for throwing a grenade with his right hand; in the final game, Raiden throws grenades left handed.

(Source: Metal Rising)

Regional/Platform Differences

Cyborg-based characters bleed white blood in the Japanese release, which is consistent with the setting of Metal Gear Solid 4, where Raiden also used white blood. This also has an effect on Jetstream Sam's death scene, where he notably bleeds red blood compared to everyone else's white blood, revealing him to be almost purely human. In the English version, everyone's blood is red, though an explanation of sorts is provided via codec. Extra clarification is added to Sam's death scene as well due to this.

The Japanese release of the VR Missions DLC includes a weapon called the Hebidamashii (蛇魂, literally "Snake Spirit"), a talking sword with Solid Snake's voice that cheers Raiden on in combat. The sword was not included in international releases, presumably due to Kojima's decision to replace David Hayter with Kiefer Sutherland as the English voice of Snake, since Metal Gear Solid V was being developed at the time. This probably would have rendered an English voiced version of the sword unfeasible.

The game was only made available for the PlayStation 3 in Japan. The Xbox 360 version was announced in Japan, but never released due to the console's poor sales in the market. The Windows version is region-locked on Steam and was never made available for purchase in Japan.

The Steam version comes with all the DLCs preloaded and adds the option to view all of the game's cutscenes and CODEC conversations outside the main game, as well as replay boss battles by themselves.