Proto:High Seas Havoc

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Notes: Much of this info was taken straight from the Hidden Palace page. Please document more here.

This page details one or more prototype versions of High Seas Havoc.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

An early prototype of High Seas Havoc.

Download High Seas Havoc (early prototype)

File: High Seas Havoc (Early Prototype).bin (2 MB) (info)

General changes

The game's internal header refers to 1992, but it is not certain that this is the year this build was made, as the title screen uses the final date of 1993.
Many palettes for characters, including the player's, are different and generally brighter.
Stages don't have an introductory screen.
Holding C will allow the player to float in air.
Most levels are empty and devoid of any objects, with incomplete assets showing up every so often.
Most levels also are mute. Only a few tracks are available in the game's sound test.
Any level bosses are static and do not move or hurt the player.
There is a weird bug where some objects don't appear unless you go offscreen and return to the same point.

Unused Graphics

For whatever reason, the platform graphic from Sonic the Hedgehog's Green Hill Zone is loaded into VRAM in various stages.

Graphical Differences

Proto	Final

By far the most noticeable difference is that Havoc is blue in the prototype as opposed to dark purple; this was presumably changed to make his resemblance to a certain blue hedgehog a bit less obvious. This appears to have been a rather late change, as the Japanese box art depicts him in the prototype's shade of blue. His expression was also changed to a less determined one, and his feet were made more defined.

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Proto	Final

Havoc's jumping and falling sprites were redrawn quite a bit.

Stage Differences

To do:
Include more stage differences, and more specific layout-focused ones too.

Cape Sealph

Proto	Final

The starting area is a bit different, it features a goal, spring, treasure, and gems in the very start. The background is slightly lower and the dirt is slightly smaller in the prototype.

Proto	Final

These mushrooms in the prototype are nowhere to be seen in the final game.

Pirate Ship

Proto	Final

Once again the starting area is different, this time featuring a platform in the prototype that moves up and down.

Proto	Final

Bernardo's palette is completely different, though it looks rather sloppy compared to the final game. As stated before, the battle itself hasn't been implemented.

Featured in this level is a bug: when pausing the game, the underwater palette will cover up the entire stage. In the final game this has been fixed.

Otarucean 2

Proto	Final

In the prototype you start a bit further in the level than in the final, other then that this stage is quite empty. Strangely enough there are sometimes objects from Cape Sealph.

Burning Hamlet 1

Proto	Final

The prototype features a much rougher background, lacking details on the flames and featuring fewer, less detailed buildings. Other than the background, the level itself is very unfinished lacking the whole chase part.

Mt. Chester 1

Proto	Final

The background has the aurora spanning the entire screen in the prototype, along with clouds underneath them that were replaced with a gradient in the final game. The palette cycle is also quite different.