Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes/Sprite Changes

This is a sub-page of Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes.

General Changes

Stage Previews

While the code for displaying the stage previews has mostly been removed (some of the subroutines still exist), the preview images can still be found in the ROM (except for Tunnel Rhino & Neon Tiger, see below). Blast Hornet, Toxic Seahorse, and Volt Catfish are identical to the final.

August builds	Final

The preview for Blizzard Buffalo's stage looks completely different, aside from the same graphical layout.

August builds	Final

The preview for Crush Crawfish's stage added some shading to the sky and darkened the lines on the building in the final.

August builds	Final

The preview for Gravity Beetle's stage changed the clouds and added a setting sun in the final.

August builds	Final

The preview for Tunnel Rhino's stage is missing in the August prototypes, but the palette still exists.

August builds	Final

The preview for Neon Tiger's stage is missing in the August prototypes, but the palette still exists.

Charging Palettes

August builds	Final

X's fourth charge level uses the third charge level's palette in the August builds. This unique orange palette was added in a later version.

Extra Life

August builds	Final

The extra life has some extra shading in the earlier builds -- this is also how it looked in the previous two titles, but the golden palette X gets with the Hyper Chip doesn't work well with the older graphic, necessitating a sprite change.

Ride Armors

August builds	Final

The flame coming from the Hawk Ride Armor was redrawn in the final version.

Enhancement Chips

	Head Chip	Arm Chip	Body Chip	Leg Chip	Hyper Chip
August builds
Final

In the August prototypes, each enhancement chip will tint the white parts of X's armor a different color.

Note that the energy orbs that come out of X share the same palette, and they end up looking pretty weird as a result.

The final version discards this concept and gives no visual indication for any chip except the Hyper Chip, which gives X's armor a shiny golden hue. The energy orbs look fine with the golden palette, so there's no problem there.

August builds	Final

The chip Capsules use the same blue palette as the normal Light Capsules in the earlier prototypes. They're pink in the final game.

Boss Icons

August builds	Final

The Dr. Doppler boss icon is a yellow D in front of a red triangle - this is basically an edit of the boss icon from Mega Man X2. The final game's icon is a bit more unique, with a red D in front of a blue diamond. The stage intros already use the final design.

August builds	Final

Sigma uses his own boss icon in the final version.

Enemies and Sub-Bosses

Escanail

August builds	Final

In the August prototypes, the wheel on the Escanail enemy is inanimate and a bit larger - it was shrunk down to keep the animated part of the wheel down to 16 8x8 tiles. The actual snail part is also animated slower, though they actually move at the same speed in both versions.

August builds	Final

The platform under the Escanail's shell is 8 pixels shorter, making the long climb up Doppler Stage 2 more difficult.

In the August builds, the red eye of the Escanail will turn yellow as it's backing up. This detail had to be removed from the final version to make room for the extra wheel and platform tiles.

Hell Crusher

August builds	Final

The drills on the Hell Crusher's tank are more detailed in the August prototypes, but the tank's treads are only animated on the final version. There's not enough space in VRAM to animate both the treads and the drill, which is probably why the drills were simplified.

Mac

Mac doesn't have a defeated animation in either of the August prototypes. This graphic is only found in the final game.

August builds	Final

Mac's capture ball uses a different palette in the earliest prototypes.

Shurikein

August builds	Final

In the August prototypes, Shurikein's wireframe art looks more like a snail shell than a shuriken.

In the August 9th build, only the top half of Shurikein's wireframe is drawn during the fight.

Worm Seeker-R

August builds	Final

The shading on this sub-boss's thorax is a bit odd-looking in the August ROMs, especially on the first sprite.

Bosses

Blizzard Buffalo / Frozen Buffalio

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

Blizzard Buffalo uses a more compact design in the August 9th prototype. The earlier design's blue and purple tones were changed to a more winter-appropriate cyan and lavender palette, and some red-pink shades were thrown in for good measure.

Blizzard Buffalo's stage intro animation is different in all builds. In the earliest prototype, he does a little charging animation, with frost coming out of his nostrils. The animation is reversed at the end, which looks a little strange. There's no animation at all in the August 23rd prototype, while the final version matches his regular intro animation.

August 23rd build	Final

The horns on Blizzard Buffalo in his intro animation are a bit lopsided and unstable in the prototype.

August 9th build	Final

His Charge attack uses what is hopefully a preliminary flame graphic in the earlier design. He also looks like he's lifted off the ground a bit; The new design looks too heavy to even do that, so the animation was changed to keep both feet planted on the ground.

August 9th build	Final

Blizzard Buffalo has a faster Frost Shield throwing animation in the August 9th build.

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

The animation for Blizzard Buffalo's Freezing Beam is different in all builds; It looks like he's firing some kind of energy beam in the August prototypes.

August 9th build	Final

Blizzard Buffalo has a goofy-looking stunned animation in the August 9th prototype. This was changed to a single frame of animation in later versions.

August 9th build	Final

The ice that encases X has a few frames of animation in the August 9th prototype. Later versions remove all but the last frame.

Toxic Seahorse / Acid Seaforce

August builds	Final

Toxic Seahorse's stage intro animation is all of three frames in the August versions, while in the final version he starts out with a little bit of head-bobbing before sticking his head out.

August builds	Final

Pretty much the same differences can be seen in his boss intro animations.

August builds	Final

Speaking of head-bobbing, he does it more slowly and awkwardly in the August prototypes, plus his tail goes out of sync when the animation loops.

Volt Catfish / Electro Namazuros

August builds	Final

Volt Catfish has an entirely different spriteset in the August samples. The most notable differences are the whiskers and the differently designed power generator on his back.

August builds	Final

His idle animation isn't much of an animation yet.

August builds	Final

His jumping attack has fewer unique frames, using the same frames for jumping, falling, and bouncing off the floor. The final design has different animations for all three actions.

August builds	Final

The large sparks seem to have been positioned with his idle frame in mind in the August prototypes, rather than the animation frame which is actually used - as a result, they don't correctly line up with the power generator backpack. In the final game, the sparks are appropriately aligned with the backpack as intended.

August builds	Final

Volt Catfish's stunned / death animation is a lot goofier-looking in the August sample versions.

August builds	Final

His electric shields look more like, well, shields in the final version.

August builds	Final

Volt Catfish's spark attack produces two different kinds of sparks in both versions of the game. In the August prototypes, the palettes of both sparks make them almost indistinguishable at a glance. The final version fixes this by making the first spark use the global "flashing" palette used when anything takes damage.

Crush Crawfish / Scissors Shrimper

August builds	Final

Crush Crawfish is another Maverick with a short intro animation. The final version lengthens this a bit by reusing a few frames from his backdash animation.

August builds	Final

His stunned animation has a couple of "shocked" effects in the earliest prototypes. This makes sense, since his weakness is Triad Thunder and all, but this animation is also used when he's defeated. It may not necessarily make sense in that context, which is likely why it was changed.

Neon Tiger / Shining Tigerd

August builds	Final

Neon Tiger has a far more noticeable redesign than Volt Catfish, with pink and purple claws and larger green crystals all over his body. His pink and purple colors were toned down to a lavender and red scheme in the final version. His stage intro animation is about the same, but the final version pauses at the start to let the music play out.

August builds	Final

His boss intro is almost the same, though the charging animation is a bit duller in the August prototypes.

August builds	Final

His tail has some, well, "interesting" physics when he jumps in the August builds.

He uses the same animation for jumping and falling in the earlier prototypes. The final game adds a new animation for when he falls.

August builds	Final

Neon Tiger's Ray Splasher animation barely comes across as such in the August samples, while in the final game, you can properly see each one of the beams generate from his tail.

August builds	Final

The Ray Splasher beams were also redesigned.

August builds	Final

Neon Tiger's Rush Attack has a more subdued charging animation compared to the rapidly retracting claws and bright orange palette of the final game's animation. His slashing attacks are quicker in the August builds.

August builds	Final

Here are the standard stunned / death graphics. They are also different.

Bit / Vajurila FF

August 9th build	Final

Bit uses a shorter, more high-waisted design in the August 9th prototype. The flame emblem on his head is darker and smaller, and he's missing the chest accoutrements that appear on his final design and official artwork. The blue colors of his palette were changed to brighter teals.

August 9th build	Final

Bit's throwing animation actually flows better in the August 9th build. In the final artwork, he suddenly snaps backwards as he throws.

August 9th build	Final

Bit's beam sabre is supposed to be orange in the August 9th prototype, but it has different, odd-looking palettes on certain stages. Pictured above is the version seen in Tunnel Rhino's stage. It was later standardized to a pinkish-red color.

August 9th build	Final

Bit's capture rings are 8 pixels wider in the August 9th prototype and use a darker palette.

Byte / Mandarela BB

August builds	Final

Byte's design changed considerably in the final version. All of the green in his design was replaced with gray colors, the green wire connected to his head was removed, and he gained a noticeable pot belly. Oh, and he's taller.

Oddly, he uses his final sprite during cutscenes, such as the one with Doppler after defeating your first two Mavericks. It is worth noting that his cutscene sprite is different from his neutral combat sprite in both the August prototypes and the final version (this is presumably an oversight in the final game).

August builds	Final

Byte's shooting position is different: in the earlier prototypes, he just stands up and shoots, while in the final game, he ducks down a little bit. He also shoots faster in the final version.

August builds	Final

Strangely, in the August prototypes, Byte actually moves up a bit when he tries to tackle X. In the final game, he moves down, which makes more sense.

August builds	Final

Byte both winds up and punches faster in the final game.

Vile / Vava

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

Vile's first Ride Armor uses the Chimera Armor's palette in the August builds. In the final version, this Ride Armor has a unique grey palette seen nowhere else in the game.

In the August 9th prototype, Vile mistakenly uses the ride armor's palette instead of his own.

August builds	Final

After defeating Vile in his Ride Armor in his standalone stage, he briefly uses an older design while the Ride Armor is exploding. The most noticeable difference in this design is the lack of a back-mounted shield / shell. Not that he ever uses the thing, mind you.

Technical explanation: There's not enough space in VRAM to hold both the Vile in Ride Armor boss graphics and the Vile standalone boss graphics. To hide this, there's a single uncompressed frame of Vile in the game ROM that's loaded while the Ride Armor is being destroyed. Once the Ride Armor is fully destroyed, the Vile standalone boss graphics are loaded into VRAM and this graphic is no longer needed. The artists just forgot to update this placeholder frame after finalizing his design.

Anyway, the final game fixes this by using the final design for that frame.

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

The August 9th version has a slightly different design for Vile's Goliath Ride Armor. The parts that are a reddish-pink in the final version are a bright green in the earlier design, and the Ride Armor is more heavily shaded.

In both of the August prototypes, Vile incorrectly uses the Ride Armor's palette. The final version fixes this, but in a pretty lazy way: they changed Vile's palette so that it's always Ride Armor palette number + 1. The Ride Armor palette number is normally 0C, and Vile's palette is 0D.

Interestingly, while the incorrect palette makes it hard to notice, the sprite of Vile when riding in the Goliath Armor in the August 9th prototype uses the same early design as the uncompressed sprite from both prototypes.

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

When the Goliath Ride Armor is flashing, it uses palette 08, the universal flashing palette. As a result of the mentioned workaround, Vile winds up with palette 09, which is actually used by X!

August 9th build	August 23rd proto	Final

The charging palette is palette number 0E. So, either the Ride Armor has palette 0D (Vile's palette) and Vile has palette 0E, or the Ride Armor has palette 0E and Vile has palette 0F, which is used for the boss shutters. Palette 0F doesn't fit either of them, so the first of the two assignments is used.

Godkarmachine O Inary

August builds	Final

The shading on Godkarmachine o Inary is more intricate in the August prototypes. It looks nice, but it doesn't really gel with how the rest of the game looks, so it had to be changed for the final version. The prototypes' body and top are both larger than in the final game, which comes into play when he does his slashing attack - the beams will safely go over X's head!

August builds	Final

The no-handed sprites. See? Larger.

August builds
Final

Hands. Differently-sized hands.

August builds	Final

In the August builds, the beam sword doesn't go back into the blade once he's finished swinging - it just disappears.

August builds	Final

Just to complete the set, here are the orb-firing sprites from both versions.

Press Disposer

August 9th build	Final

The garbage chute in the Press Disposer fight was thankfully gussied up in later versions.

August 9th build	Final

The trash blocks are just a mess of indiscernible pixels in the August 9th prototype. The final design is made up of recognizable parts that belong to the scrap robots that the garbage chute occasionally drops down.

Dr. Doppler

August builds	Final

Dr. Doppler's cutscene sprite has different hand motions in the earlier prototypes. His arm doesn't even move!

Prototype	Final

Doppler's design in Doppler Stage 3 uses a different palette that lacks the blue colors seen in the final game. He's also not animated to talk yet, though the sprites to do so are already in the ROM.

August builds
Final

One of the main problems with the August prototypes' sprites are the boots, which change in size in each animation and are rarely proportionate. The final version fixes all of those frames.

August builds	Final

The other problem are the flame graphics, which use (hopefully) placeholder graphics.

August builds	Final

This is most obvious when Dr. Doppler does his flame dash attack. Those are some ugly flames.

August builds	Final

His broken-down sprite uses the proper color scheme, but boot problems still persist.

Sigma

August 9th build	Final

Yikes! The August 9th design is much closer to how Sigma appeared in the previous two games; for once, it's the final design that seems off-model. One would think that since the earlier sprite is larger that this was changed to save ROM or VRAM space, but both designs take up the same space in VRAM and the earlier design actually takes up less space in the ROM. What happened here?

August 9th build	Final

Sigma's fireball shooting animation lasts three frames longer in the August 9th build. Man, he's really putting his whole body into it.

August 9th build	Final

Sigma has a more detailed shield-tossing animation in the August 9th prototype. Look how happy he looks after throwing it! The final animation is much faster and is only 3 frames long compared to the earlier prototype's 6 frames.

August 9th build	Final

In the August 9th prototype, there are 10 frames dedicated to Sigma jumping up in the air and landing. The final design has a single jumping frame and nothing for landing.

August builds
Final

Each of Sigma's airborne fireball-shooting animations have an extra frame for turning in the August 9th prototype. The same speed difference for the grounded fireball shooting animation applies here.

August 9th build	Final

Sigma's shield is 8 pixels shorter (or thinner, depending) in the August 9th prototype. It also flashes faster, cycling every 3 frames instead of every 4 frames.

August 9th build	Final

After Sigma loses enough health, his shield gets powered-up. In the August 9th prototype, this is indicated by a field of electricity that surrounds the shield. Later versions had to delete that graphic to make room for the larger shield sprite, so it's instead indicated by the shield flashing faster (cycling every 2 frames).

August 9th build	August 23rd build	Final

Kaiser Sigma's entrance is prefaced by two small sparkling eyes in the August 9th prototype, three sparkles in the later prototype, and large glowing eyes in the final version. The sparkles disappear before Sigma starts talking, while the glowing eyes stay on-screen until the screen fades back in.

August 9th build	Final

All of Kaiser Sigma's sprites (arms, legs, laser cannons) are slightly different in the August 9th prototype. His body, which is part of the foreground layer, is the same in all known versions.

The limbs aren't properly connected to the body yet, making Kaiser Sigma as a whole slightly taller than he is in the final version. It's also missing the normal Sigma's head -- or, rather, it's invisible. It's actually positioned somewhere around the waist in the August 9th prototype, which makes hitting the boss much harder than it should be.

August 9th build	Final

Kaiser Sigma's legs don't bend as he's lifting off in the August 9th build. The flames below his feet are smaller in the final version.

August 9th build	Final

Only when he starts flying across the screen do his legs bend in the earliest prototype.

August 9th build	Final

This is his firing pose. It's different and such.

August 9th build	Final

Sigma's mines use a different color scheme and have an electric effect that's not present in the final version.

August 9th build	Final

The missiles that Kaiser Sigma shoots out reuse the mine sprite in the August 9th build, but there is a missile graphic that's loaded to VRAM. However, it's missing the tilting frames and tilted flame graphics found in the final version. To make room for those graphics, the aforementioned electricity on Sigma's mines was deleted.

August builds	Final

The Sigma Virus sprite in the ending sequence is just an outline of Sigma's head instead of a proper wire-frame generated by the Cx4 chip.