Pac-Man World (PlayStation)/Pac-Man Ghost Zone Leftovers
This is a sub-page of Pac-Man World (PlayStation).
Pac-Man World more or less started life as a Super Mario 64/Tomb Raider-styled platformer called Pac-Man Ghost Zone, which was in development for a good 13 months (eight of which it spent without a finalized title) and shown off at E3 1997, only to be brought to a screeching halt due to company politics and quality concerns. So far, no build has been released to the general public.
Notably, the final game has lots of Ghost Zone leftovers among its files. Pac-Man World has a hard-coded file system of folders, each containing the specific data for a specific scene in the game.
Contents
Graphics
VRAM folders 178-185, 288, and 290 are all unused and contain some Ghost Zone assets such as sprites and textures.
Pac-Man's Face Textures
Pac-Man has a total of 51 face textures which are used for various facial expressions that he makes, present in every folder mentioned above. Descriptions are written based on found footage and the game's design document.
Opening Cutscene
Pac-Man falls flat on his face and sits back up all dizzy after falling from the sky. This was used later on in development.
Pac-Man looks around at the Ghost Zone.
Pac-Man looking down at his hands.
Pac-Man looks around again, dumbfounded.
"Pac-Man" screams, realizing he turned into Pac-Man.
Gameplay
Pac-Man jumping out of a ledge grab.
Pac-Man running with his tongue sticking out.
Pac-Man holding his breath underwater. (This graphic is only found in 184_VRAM.)
Pac-Man gets hurt from a fall.
Pac-Man whistles, puts his hands on his hips, and taps his foot.
Pac-Man obtains a power-up, such as flight or ice gloves.
Pac-Man yelling, apparently. (Probably used when he jumps.)
Pac-Man spits out a ghost's eyes.
Misc. Pac-Man Textures
Purpose unknown. This goes with a set of alternate colors (pmblue.mtl) for Pac-Man found in Bernie Bernstone's "Art Asset" release.
This graphic would be rendered over Pac-Man's upper body when you pressed the shoulder buttons to look around, in order to hide the fact that Pac-Man wasn't really round.
Pac-Man's shadow. Pretty self-explanatory.
Enemies
Ghosts
Blinky (referred to in the files as "Clyde")...
...and Clyde (referred to in the files as "Blinky").
Ghost eyes. These eyes would appear once Pac-Man shoots or eats a ghost.
Each ghost has a blue texture of them indicating that they're vulnerable, likely used for when Pac-Man eats a Power Pellet.
Bosses
Models
To do: Find a way to extract the models from the extension-less file formats. |
Surprisingly, very few actual models are left over from Ghost Zone, especially compared to the sheer amount of textures and sprites present. Some of the models are in S3D format, while a few are extension-less.
Strangely, there are lots of animations left over for models that don't exist anymore, stored in A3D files. (These may be something to look into, since Ghost Zone used vertex animation and A3D files hold vertex positions. It may be possible to recreate lost models from these, even if they aren't 100% accurate.)
WO.S3D
Unknown what this is meant to be. We know it's a Ghost Zone leftover because of the uncompiled file path in the S3D file, I:\GZART\NPC\WORI:\GZART\NPC\WORI:\GZART\NPC\WOR. It would have been bright green.
B2
This is the Green Bit enemy. He would fly around and try to hurt Pac-Man. He's fully complete with his model and face texture. The version found in the Art Assets is very identical.
B1
This is the Red Bit enemy. Same with the Green Bit enemy, he's fully complete with his model and face texture and is very identical to the version found in the Art Assets.
PB
This is the Pin Bug enemy. He would crawl around and try to attack Pac-Man. His model is complete, but his face texture is completely missing.
CP
This is the Capacitor enemy. He would usually explode, trying to hurt Pac-Man. He's fully complete with his model and textures.
As with the other models, the version found in the Art Assets is very identical.
PF
This is the Flower Power enemy. Nothing special about this enemy as its attacks are very little. The version found in the Art Assets is very identical.
TR
This is the Transistor enemy. He would bounce around trying to land on Pac-Man and hurt him. This is actually a rare enemy considering that he's nowhere to be found in the Art Assets. He's fully complete with his model and textures.
CT.S3D
This is the Circuit Trooper. He would be able to shoot electric sparks from his staff. UV mapping and vertex colors are fully intact in the version found in the Art Assets, so that's what is rendered here. The model is otherwise identical.
NB.S3D
This is Nibble. He would be able to fly around and try to eat Pac-Dots before you do. Just like with the Circuit Trooper, the version of the model found in the Art Assets is identical between the two.
His face texture is not present in the files, but is among the Art Assets.
Levels
To do: Find a way to extract these levels. |
ONTW folders 11-35, 85-99, 147-163, and 289_LIST contain a bunch of leftover levels from Ghost Zone that managed to slip into Pac-Man World's file system.
While these levels are completely inaccessible in-game, every single "NONAME" file contains level geometry, UVs, normals, and vertex coloring. The triangles of the level geometry are intertwined, which was a technique used in every other level in the game. Every level except 289_LIST (the maze level) has missing textures.
Maze Level
289_LIST contains the maze level from the game. This is the only leftover level in the game's files that is fully complete as every other leftover level has non-existent textures.
- A total of 17 textures are assigned to the level.
- The level geometry has a total of 2,158 tris (Roughly ripped from the files). It also contains UVs and vertex coloring which has yet to be ripped.