Prerelease:The Simpsons: Hit & Run/Late Builds

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:The Simpsons: Hit & Run.

NOTE: As of the July 10, 2003 build, the mugshots were switched to 2D designs, and the mission briefing images are finalized as of the leaked July 10 prototype.

Late June-July

WorthPlaying Coverage

Published on August 31, 2003, Worth Playing's coverage of Hit & Run is perhaps the most interesting, as it features a wealth of self-produced screenshots from the PlayStation 2 version, some of which show discrepancies not seen in the previous materials. Referred to as a "limited beta copy", this particular demo allegedly includes a "character select screen" with a limited roster and not much else.

(Source: Donut Team Community)

Mission Briefing

Prerelease	Final

• The comic strip panel was replaced with pictograms illustrating the objectives.
• The font was squished and resized.

Phone Booth

Prerelease	Final

• "Stability" was changed to "Handling" in the vehicle stats layout.
• The font was squished and resized.

Gameplay

Prerelease	Final

Prerelease	Final

GameSpot Preview Build

Published much later on September 5, 2003, GameSpot's coverage of both the Xbox and PlayStation 2 version comes with little info and very low quality JPEG images. Delightful!

According to the above info, these are likely dated before the July 10, 2003 prototype, due to having the final font, but 3D mugshots and illustrated mission briefings.

Images

Prerelease	Final

• The unused vehicle "WagonA" can be seen in this shot.

Prerelease	Final

• This contains another early image for a mission, however this time the font is final.

Prerelease	Final

• Almost identical to one of the pictures from "Worth Playing" except with the final font.

Other Things of Note

• The article says to start a Wager Race you need to talk to Fat Tony, however in the final you talk to Louie. This was likely a mistake though.
• The article makes reference to the scene from the E3 version of the "Flowers by Irene" cutscene where Kent Brockman shows a clip of a robot being eaten by an alligator.

Commercial

While pretty much resembling the final version, there's one thing noticeable in the trailer:

• While the 3D rendered character portrait for Marge appears at the start, there's another early mugshot of Marge that is 2D that just uses Marge's head. But it only appears once in the commercial, after that's shown the rest of the commercial uses the final Marge mugshot.

August

IGN (August 2003)

On August 8 and August 23, 2003, IGN released a whopping 17 videos depicting the PlayStation 2 and GameCube revisions of the game. These range from snippets of gameplay to full cinematics, all from the first level. Of upmost interest are the prerendered cutscenes, some of which are noticeably different to the ones in the final game.

Opening Cutscene

• The logo has different lettering as opposed to the final which resembles the one used on the show. The trademark symbol was swapped for a copyright.
• The family's models are very similar to their appereances in the cutscenes from The Simpsons: Road Rage, rather than the softer renditions seen in the final game.
• Homer gasps before destroying the wasp camera.
• The wasp has additional sound effects on its demise.

(Source: Donut Team Community)

Flowers by Irene

• The audio sounds more clean, lacking the TV type voice filter.
• Homer is seen eating a donut he reached from his back, whereas in the final version he is sitting still and drinking a Duff Beer. Interestingly, the final game still keeps the sound Homer makes when eating the donut.
• The TV is zoomed in, as opposed to the final in which the knobs and grill are visible.
• Much like the Simpsons family in the previous cinematic, Kent Brockman resembles his Road Rage appearance.
• The illustrations Brockman is describing are slightly different, featuring additional elements and different gradients.
• The crowd attending Mayor Quimby's speech is much quieter in the early render.
• Mayor Quimby has some additional animations not seen in the final.
• The "exclusive footage" of the Black Van were removed along with the robot being eaten by an alligator.
• A music cue plays when Marge tells Homer he is sexy (when he's paranoid).

Other Differences

• The characters have teeth in these cutscenes, the final version doesn't have any.

Unknown date (PC build)

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