Proto:Mega Man X2/Sprite Changes

This is a sub-page of Proto:Mega Man X2.

General

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The early prototype recycles the boss icon from the first game, while the icon in the later prototype and final game changed the nebulous skull to a more distinct Sigma emblem.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The final Ride Chaser sprite adds a proper edge to the front of the seat.

X

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

While dashing, the prongs on X's Second Armor helmet are longer in the early prototype. This is the only sprite that has the longer prongs; they were shortened to match the helmet's design in the rest of X's animations.

Enemies

Later Proto	Final Game

Aclanda's tail is one tile taller than it should be in the prototype; after it's destroyed, the base of the tail is destroyed too, leading to this strange sprite.

Both Protos	Final Game

Barite Lastar's lasers are twice as big in both prototypes.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The Barrier Attackers have a warmer palette in the early prototype.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Blecker is missing its "eye" in the early design.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The large Croak Hopper's back was widened to cover up more of the small Croak Hopper's platform, while the small Croak Hopper's back was slimmed up a pixel or two.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The final game only stores the left half of Croak Hopper's spring in its tileset and then mirrors the right side, losing a small amount of asymmetry in the spring's shine to free up space in VRAM and the ROM.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

In the early prototype, the Installer blocks animate when they move but simply explode when they're destroyed.

In later versions, the Installer blocks aren't animated; the space taken up by those tiles is instead used for debris.

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

Refleczer has a slightly different design in the prototype; It has two small, beady eyes instead of one large eye, and that purple thing that charges it up is a long tube instead of three small spheres. Its shining animation is also different: In the earlier design it covers up most of the brain, but in the final version the shine completely envelops the brain. These changes were made to reduce the size of Refleczer's tileset in the ROM and in VRAM.

The redesigned version appears in the later prototype, but the horizontal variant actually retains the beady-eyed design for a single frame. This was fixed in the final game, which also brightened up Refleczer's metal base.

Early Prototype	L. Proto + Final

Refleczer's beams are darker in the prototype and lack a bit of detail in the middle.

Early Prototype	L. Proto + Final

Scriver has a duller palette in the earlier prototype. There's also a blinking animation that was taken out to save space in the ROM / VRAM.

Both Prototypes	Final Game

The Tiranos enemies can come in one of four colors based on its subtype, one of which is never used (use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E0D2303 in the early prototype to make the first Tiranos in Wheel Gator's stage use the fourth palette). This feature is in the later prototype, but every Tiranos's subtype is set to 00, which is the default palette. The final game removes this feature entirely...but the palettes are still in the final ROM!

Both Protos	Final Game

The Tubamail Generator's hatch changed from two simple plates to a dome, and the base was redrawn to match.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

More space-saving fun! The Weather Crystals in Wire's Sponge stage have three different states of disrepair in the early prototype, but only one in the later prototype and final game.

Gigantic Mechaniloid CF-0

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The turned leg sprite doesn't properly connect with the foot sprite in the early prototype. The machinery in the gap of the foot was extended upwards to fill in that gap.

Chop Register

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

The design of Chop Register was changed in the later prototype to a more asymetrical blade with a thinner hilt and handle. Then, it was changed again to incorporate elements from both designs. The blade and hilt are modeled after the earlier prototype's design (but the blade is shorter), while the handle matches the later prototype (but the handle is longer.)

In both prototypes, Chop Register's hilt and handle are the same color as the blade.

Morph Moth

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Morph Moth's cocoon turns an odd green color when it's burned in the early prototype.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Morph Moth's wings aren't properly synced up with his lift in the earlier design. In later versions, he properly drops when his wings are retracted and raises after flapping his wings. The final animation also adds a few more details to his flying animation, like his right leg and both hands bobbing as he floats.

Early Proto	Final Game

Morph Moth's left antenna is usually one pixel lower in the early prototype.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

...this is the one animation that's an exception. The later prototype adds an error here by placing two transparent pixels on Morph Moth's left knee, and this wasn't fixed in the final game.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Standard antenna realignment in the final game, but the final game also erases one of the pixels on Morph Moth's left arm.

Magna Centipede

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Magna Centipede's palette is a smidge brighter in the early prototype. Not very fitting for a ninja...

Overdrive Ostrich

Both Protos	Final Game

Overdrive Ostrich's outline color is almost imperceptibly lighter in the prototypes.

Bubble Crab

Both Protos	Final Game

The difference in Bubble Crab's palette, though, is obvious.

Wheel Gator

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

Wheel Gator has a dark green outline in both prototypes. The final game changes this to the standard dark grey color.

Wheel Gator's sprite is very buggy in the earlier prototype, with many layering errors that lead to transparent pixels where there shouldn't be any. As the sprites below will demonstrate, they clearly had problems with all the individual parts that make up Wheel Gator's body.

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

Wheel Gator's diving sprite has different errors in each version of the game. The first set of spikes on Wheel Gator's tail are glitched in both prototypes, while Wheel Gator's left leg has a transparent line through it in the later prototype only. In the in-between diving frame, the upper right-spike on Wheel Gator's shoulder is correct in both prototypes but is miscolored solid black in the final version.

The most obvious error is in this frame of the early prototype, where one of the tiles in Wheel Gator's collar is incorrectly flipped vertically.

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

The yellow band on Wheel Gator's left arm is thicker in the early prototype, and there's a priority issue with Wheel Gator's mouth which makes it look like he's eating his own tail! The interior of Wheel Gator's right shoulder wheel is brighter in the final version.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The early prototype has a unique frame for when Wheel Gator jumps out of the oil that has his arms held back. Later versions recycle the arm position from his falling animation.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Wheel Gator's falling animation uses a different head graphic in the early prototype, while later versions recycle the head graphic from the jumping animation. His torso and hands are lower to his legs in the final design.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The first frame has priority issues in the early prototype, and the legs extend one more pixel to the right. The second frame just has priority issues.

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

Standard priority issues and armband changes. Possibly interesting!

E. Proto	L. Proto	Final

These are the bullets that Wheel Gator shoots out when he eats an X-Buster shot, Silk Shot, Sonic Slicer, or Magnet Mine respectively.

• In the early prototype, the graphics for the X-Buster, Silk Shot, and Magnet Mine are switched around. The Magnet Mine graphic is a strange orb that doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the graphics.
• In the later prototype, the graphics are almost complete, but the Silk Shot bullet is now glitched. It's still using the old tile ID from the early prototype, which is now an unrelated part of Wheel Gator's body.
• The final game added a new Silk Shot bullet graphic to Wheel Gator's tileset.

Crystal Snail

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Crystal Snail's second frame is glitched starting in the later prototype. In that version, his tileset was reduced in size by removing duplicate tiles; unfortunately they deleted too many tiles, so one of the tiles for his legs in the second ducking frame was deleted.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The same issue can be seen in the first frame of Crystal Snail's mid-air uncurling animation. The tile that makes up part of Crystal Snail's body, the one to the right of Crystal Snail's head in the early prototype, was replaced with solid black in the later prototype.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Crystal Snail's left foot no longer uses mirrored tiles in his shooting animation in the final version.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Crystal Snail's left antenna is a pixel lower in the early prototype. Woo.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The snail man's right arm is one pixel higher in the final version. Fascinating!

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

In the first frame, Crystal Snail's right antenna is shaded differently in the early prototype, while in the second frame, his left leg is thicker. Intriguing!

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

His left foot was moved one pixel to the right. Wow!!

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Crystal Snails' left arm is thinner, while one of the pixels on his right hand changed from a black pixel to a white pixel! Incredible!!!

Violen

Both Protos	Final Game

The dark shading on the left side of Violen's arms is disconnected in the prototypes.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The chain on Violen's morning star is lighter in the early prototype. It was probably darkened to let the player know that they can't actually interact with the chain.

Serges

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

The light under Serges Tank's cockpit glows brighter in the final design.

Agile

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

Agile Flyer doesn't have those tubes on the sides of his body yet. Those tubes were likely added to mask the creation of those spiked platforms seen in the later prototype and final game. Don't want it to look like they're just spawning out of nowhere.

Early Proto	L. Proto + Final

In the early prototype, Agile's missiles are stored in his spriteset at full size. In the final version, the missiles are stored in a shrunken state, which are then expanded in-game as they get closer to exploding. The early prototype has an extra frame for when the mine is about to explode, while the final version reuses the original tiles but expands them even more and mushes them closer together to make an X shape.

Sigma Virus

Later Prototype	Final Game

Sigma Virus's wireframe model is very much a work-in-progress. With more lines in the model and every line being the same color, it looks pretty messy. The final version colors Sigma Virus's eyes red and changes Sigma's smirk and chin to match his sprite-based design.