Proto:Beyond Oasis/April Prototype

This is a sub-page of Proto:Beyond Oasis.

This prototype of The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis in America) feels more like an engine test than anything else. While the date in the header is July 1994, it was actually released by scene group PROGRESS on April 30th, 1994. The final version was released in December in Japan.

Download The Story of Thor (Prototype)

File: Story of Thor, The (Japan) (Beta) (b).bin (1.728 KB) (info)

Sub-Pages

Maps
Big honking map differences.

General

After the SEGA screen, there's just a simple title screen. None of the title screen or new save codes work.
The HUD doesn't have the screen-flipping feature in the prototype, so it's always on the left side of the screen.
Ali is immortal; if the health bar runs out, he will still live, and the bar will refill.
Ali is missing the following moves from his repertoire:
- Kick combo
- Running stab
- Rolling Slash
- Double Rolling Slash
- Chaotic Sword Slash
If the player dash-jumps, then holds the opposite direction and jumps again, they'll dash-jump backwards!
Enemy AI is quite poor.
The Ball of Light isn't affected by gravity. Dytto will be summoned by the ball if it hits any part of the foreground.
None of Dytto's moves cost any SP.
Pressing A + B + C doesn't cancel summons yet.
There is no dialogue.

(Porcino: Original TCRF research)

Debug Controls

X: Mutes the current music track.
Y: Drains the player's SP.
Mode: Runs the game at half-speed when held.

The prototype starts the player out with a number of foodstuffs, but they don't do anything yet. Eight of these foods are part of the final game.
There are seven groups of food with three foods each in the prototype, compared to three sets of four foods (HP, MP, and HP+MP) in the final. It's unknown how seven groups would work unless there was a third stat to manipulate.
The empty slots that the removed foods left were filled by the special equipment items, the "CALL" items, and the Elixir in the finished game.
Items 24-2A aren't part of the prototype's starting inventory. Set 0C0E or 0C10 to the appropriate item ID to place them in one of the empty slots.

ID	Name	In Final?	ID	Name	In Final?	ID	Name	In Final
Group 1 - Basic Foodstuffs
16	BREAD	No	17	CHEESE	Yes	18	EGG	No
Group 2 - Seafood
19	ROBSTER	No	1A	SALMON	Yes	1B	SCALLOP	No
Group 3 - Exotic Food
1C	PEAR	Yes	1D	COCONUT	No	1E	W.MELON	No
Group 4 - Fruit
1F	APPLE	Yes	20	GRAPE	Yes	21	BANANA	No
Group 5 - Meat
22	BEEF	Yes	23	HAM	Yes	24	CHICKEN	No
Group 6 - Fungi
25	MUSHROOM	Yes	26	POISON M	No	27	DEATH MU	No
Group 7 - Vegetables
28	CORN	No	29	TURNIP	No	2A	CARROT	No

Proto	Final

Keys and elemental gems are in the prototype...sorta. They can be placed in the player's inventory, but they don't function at all. The silver key in the prototype was replaced with an HP UP heart in the final.

Here are their names and item IDs. Even at this stage of the prototype the keys were changed from what they were supposed to be; check out the item names and compare them to the actual key graphics.

GOLD KEY: 0D
SILV.KEY: 0E
IRON KEY: 0F
COPP.KEY: 10
BRON.KEY: 11
WATER ST: 12
FIRE ST.: 13
SHADOW S: 14
WOOD ST.: 15

Status

Proto	Final

At this point in development, the player's "RANK" is actually their "LEVEL".
What looks like an experience point system was replaced with an enemy kill counter. The counter is static anyway.
The player starts with a number of elemental gems in their inventory except for fire gems, found in the PLAIN map.
The special equipment slots are filled with random items at this point.

Map

Proto	Final

The map screen hasn't been implemented yet, and an area select (the same one that can be found in the final through a code) appears in its place.

Up/Down: Navigate current map page.
Left/Right: Go to a different map page.
A/C: Go to selected map.

Map Page 31 lists a number of test maps. Besides TES6 DRAGON, which loads the dragon boss' head into VRAM, all of these maps simply lead to a black screen and freeze the game.

00:TES0 AME   
01:TES1 MORI  
02:TES2 HASHI 
03:TES3 TRIP  
04:TES4 SINDEN
05:TES5 HASHI2
06:TES6 DRAGON
07:TES7 FALL  
08:TES8 STORM 
09:TES9 SEIREI
10:           
11:           
12:           
13:

(Porcino: Original TCRF research)

Graphics

Graphical Differences

Prototype	Final	Comments
		The main object palette, as can be seen here on Ali, features brighter colors in the final. As for Ali himself, the shading on his red scarf-belt or whatever was simplified in the final.
		The next five images are from a splash screen that doesn't appear to be in the game anymore. They clearly aren't meant to be the actual in-game sprites, so only design changes will be noted. Ali's necklace and eyes are more clearly visible here, and his scarf matches its prototype design.
		The tint on Dytto's wings was changed from green to blue, and her shadow shrunk considerably.
		Efreet had the biggest design change, looking more like a djinn here than an embodiment of fire. Oh, and his punching animation was changed to a hook. That's something, right?
		Shade's goofy looking eyes and mouth were excised from his design, a definite improvement. His shadowy claws are just standard shadowy hands at this point. Shadowy hands are so jejune.
		Bow has a cartoony style in the final game, while in the prototype he matches the other spirits. The black spots were removed from his head, and his color changed from dark to light green.
		The cheese wheel is smaller in the final game.
		The salmon item has a visible fin by its head in the finished copy, as salmon generally do.
		The meat underneath the bone on the left side was redrawn to match the curve of the beef.
		The apple shrunk. Who shrunk it? No one knows.
		Mushroom has more spots in the final game. More spots is more delicious.
		The shadow gem was elongated, no longer matching the height of the other gems in the final game.
		This man no longer has a shrunken head, and his hat appreciates that. He's not the main player, so clearly his red belt and blue shoes had to go. Get out of here, faker.
		This woman's hair, belt, and shoe colors were changed, and so was the shading on her dress.
		Yet more changing shoe colors. When will it end? Right now, actually. The shading on her dress was touched up as well, and she got some blue trim added to her shirt!
		The only changes here are related to shading, most noticeably on the shine of his hair.
		The shading on the soldier enemy's armor is in a rough state in the prototype. The soldier's helmet was redrawn between versions to look more like a skull.
		More rough shading on the spear-wielding soldiers, especially on the helmet. The soldier's legs were moved up and to the left slightly, correcting a problem with scale.
		Whoa. The ogre/orc enemy has a drastically different design in the prototype. Looks like he bulked up so much that he couldn't fit into his armor anymore.
		The ogre/orc has a special death animation in the prototype, bursting in a spray of blood(!)
		The pupils on the dragon's eyes were changed to look at Ali instead of nothing. The hair on its head is more plentiful in the final version, and its ears were redrawn slightly.
		The same pupil change, plus the tip of its left horn is longer in the prototype. The teeth on its lower jaw haven't been shaded yet, and they look all the less intimidating for it.
		Look at the previous dragon head. Look at it! It's the same set of changes. Look!
		All of the dragon's neck-orbs are mirrored halves in the prototype version. The first orb in the final game is asymmetrical, and the top of the second orb is also asymmetrical. Both the first and second orbs are thinner in the finished game.

Proto	Final

The background for the Crater map is more complicated than what ended up getting used.
The Crater tileset in the final version is shared with the Fortress maps, which aren't in the prototype yet.
So, to make room for the tiles that the Fortress maps needed, the background was redrawn and simplified.

Proto	Final

The view from the top of the MOUNTAIN2 map changed from being the highest point in the mountain range to somewhere in the middle.

Unused Graphics

The Story of Thor Proto	Streets of Rage 2 intro

Graphics of a city, taken from the intro of Streets of Rage 2, were used as a placeholder image before the final map was drawn. This ties in with the unused sound effects in the final that are Streets of Rage 2 leftovers.

A nearly complete set of graphics for a Barbarian enemy that doesn't appear in the prototype or final versions of the game. All he's missing are hurt and death animations.
These sprites don't match the more detailed style of the other enemy graphics. They must have been drawn very early in development.

The second idea for a sword-wielding enemy was this knight with shield, drawn in the same style as the other monsters in the game.
He too is missing hurt and death animations, and ultimately, the only enemies in the final game who have swords are simple soldiers.

Regular	Alternate

An alternate version of the Knight's idle pose is stored at the end of the Barbarian's graphics bank. This design's shield isn't pointed on the top and features less detailed shading.

A set of key icons that match the ones found in the prototype, extra silver key included.

These wooden bridge tiles are part of the MOUNTAIN5 tileset, but they're not used in that or any other map.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Audio Differences

Music

ID	Music (Proto)	Music (Final)	Comments
00		N/A	The title screen music in the prototype takes a long time to go nowhere. The final reuses the Overworld theme on the title screen. Slot 00 is used for the "Battle" music in the final.
01			A short piece of music that's not used on any map in the prototype. Slot 01 is used for the Rainy Beach music in the final.
02			Another short track, similar to the last one. Sure is a music track. Slot 02 is reserved for the Boss music in the finished game.
03			While both builds have an overworld theme, they're barely similar. The prototype uses slot 03 for this track, while the final games use 04. Slot 03 is filled by the "Triumph" music piece in the final.
04		N/A	This track plays only once in the prototype, on the "Marshy" map. The final game doesn't use a unique track for the marsh areas. Instead, it opts to reuse the overworld theme yet again.
05			Here are the two different versions of the "Boundless Cliff" track. In the prototype, this track only plays on Mountain 3 and Mountain 5. This was moved to slot 09, and the Shadow Shrine music took slot 05.
06		N/A	The last of the three unused prototype tracks. Different from the others, this is more tranquil and half the length. This slot is where the Village theme is stored in the final game.
07	–		The "Water Cave" track is already finished in the prototype! However, where it's used (Water Shrine) changed in the final game. It's used in two later dungeons. The Water Shrine got a new track all its own.
08	–		Used for the "Important Item" pick-up music. Identical between versions.

Sounds

Proto	Final	Context
		Moving the cursor on the menu screen; this is the sound effect used in Streets of Rage 2.
		Selecting an option on the menu screen, also the sound effect used in Streets of Rage 2.
		Invalid selection on the menu screen.
		Dropping an item.
		Kicking an object.
		Soldier death scream.
		Ogre death scream.
		Summoning an elemental spirit.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Text

The prototype does not have region lockout. In the final, this text is very different.

Address $1510:

THIS CARTRIDGE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED FOR
USE OUTSIDE NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.
IT CANNOT BE USED WITH HARDWARE UNITS
FOR SALE WITHIN THESE AREAS

This same text is present in the European Streets of Rage 2:

Address $40010:

Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
68000 Program   
    Version 1.03
Copyright (C)   
       1993-1994
Ancient corp., 
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama

Address $427a0:

Ancient Music   
Driver -MD-     
Z80 Program     
    Version 1.03
Copyright (C) 
       1993-1994
Ancient corp.,  
Programmed By   
   Hideki Koyama

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Proto:Beyond Oasis/April Prototype

Contents

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General

Debug Controls

Menu

Weapons

Items

Status

Map

Graphics

Graphical Differences

Unused Graphics

Audio Differences

Music

Sounds

Unused Text

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