Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes/Vile, Bit, Byte, and Dr. Doppler
This is a sub-page of Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes.
Contents
Vile (Vava)
Level Graphics
| August Builds | Final |
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The dark gray factory backdrop got a much appreciated splash of blue in the final version.
Layout
| August Builds |  |
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| Final |  |
All of the ceiling pieces in the August prototype are cracked in the exact same way. This was fixed in the final version to add some visual variety.
| August Builds | Final |
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The same change can be seen here. The color of the hexagonal fencing is brighter in the final game.
| August Builds | Final |
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More different cracks. The blue foreground walls extend all the way to the left in the final version.
| August Builds |  |
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| Final |  |
Make sure to thoroughly examine those cracks.
Miscellaneous
- Vile doesn't have an entrance animation in the prototype - he just kind of pops in.
| August Builds | Final |
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- In the August prototypes, Vile will pause in the air for a bit while dropping his napalm bombs. In the final version, he drops them without stopping.
- The napalm flames absorb all of X's weapons in the August versions, including the charged Frost Shield. In the final version, it's the other way around.
- Vile gives his death speech even if he isn't defeated by one of his weaknesses.
- Even though the Ray Splasher is one of Vile's weaknesses, he'll only start exploding after being defeated by the Spinning Blade. In the final version, both will cause him to be permanently defeated.
- Vile is treated as a stage boss, meaning that the stage ends when he's defeated by the Spinning Blade! The game then jumps to the Weapon Get screen, where it tries to generate a wireframe model and weapon name with amazing results.
- The player has 60 seconds to escape in the August builds but only 50 seconds in the final version.
- The Vile teleporter at the end of the stage can be destroyed by a charged Frost Shield in the August samples. Luckily this just destroys the case, not the actual object that teleports X out of the stage, so the player isn't screwed.
The Nightmare Police
- Bit's homing fireball is faster in the August prototypes.
- Byte's magnetic mine is nowhere near as effective as in the final game.
Doppler Stage 1
Layout
| August Builds | Final |
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The blue walls tiles extend further to the left in the final version.
The reason for this change? Once you get to the topmost platform in this section, the game shifts the background layer in preparation for the upcoming REX-2000 sub-boss fight. In the early layout, the player can actually see the background shift on the left side of the screen. The extended blue walls cover up that transition in the final version.
| August Builds | Final |
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The ceiling spikes have a transparent background in the August prototypes, which looks a bit weird when the ceiling starts falling and cutting off other tiles with blank space. In the final version, there's an additional layer of spikes and the spikes are all on a dark blue background.
| August Builds | Final |
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The final game adds three more of those circular floor baubles at the bottom, while also changing the topmost wall decoration in the middle of the screen.
Miscellaneous
- The edges of the horizontal crushing walls become invisible if they're near the vertical edge of the screen. This occurs only while they are in motion, and was fixed in the final.
- During the REX-2000 fight, if Zero has not died and X ends the fight on the right side of the screen behind REX-2000, X will moonwalk to the left and then walk to where Zero is. This was fixed in the final.
- After the REX-2000 fight, the door palette will be glitched if Zero was present. This is because palette F, used by the door sprite, is overwritten by Zero's weapons palette. That palette isn't really used at any point in the fight, so the final version just never loads it. This same glitch is present in Doppler Stage 2.
- Godkarmachine o Inary's top half uses an incorrect palette in the August 9th build.
- Once the player damages Godkarmachine o Inary, he switches to the standard enemy damage table. This means that it takes much more damage from weapons and is affected by the Gravity Well (with the uncharged version freezing the game, and the charged version lifting the top half of its body off the screen) and the Parasitic Bomb (which instantly ends the fight).
- In the August 9th prototype, once Godkarmachine o Inary has been defeated, the body will start moving upwards at lightning speed.
- In both versions, if the boss is flying when it's defeated, the jet sprites will stick around after the boss blows up.
- The player will always enter Godkarmachine o Inary's room in the August versions, regardless of whether or not they previously killed Bit and/or Byte. Additionally, Godkarmachine o Inary will not appear if one of the Bit/Byte duo is killed. Use the 2P warp commands (August 9th prototype) or activate Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E1FB503 (August 23rd) before entering this stage to access the Press Disposer boss fight.
- Press Disposer's boss behavior seems finished, but it's lacking sound effects and has no invincibility frames. There are a few bugs in the August 9th prototype, most related to the Tornado Fang:
- The trunk sprite isn't properly aligned with the boss' body. Hitting it with the Tornado Fang briefly freezes it in place before it snaps back to its original incorrect position.
- Destroying the boss' trunk with the Tornado Fang triggers the boss destruction sequence, though the Press Disposer and all related sprites are not destroyed. The player loses control of X until they take damage.
- If Press Disposer is defeated with the Tornado Fang, some glitch behavior can arise depending on where it is on the screen:
- If it's at the top of the screen, the boss will be defeated normally.
- If it's floating up or falling down, the boss will start flashing as if it's being destroyed, but the boss destruction sequence will never play. The player has control of X, but, since the grinder at the bottom-right disappears, the game is soft-locked.
- If it's on the ground, the game will freeze.
- Destroying the trunk and the boss with the Tornado Fang while they're both at the top of the screen will play the boss destruction sequence twice, causing the blue-to-white fading animation to prematurely terminate.
Doppler Stage 2
Level Graphics
| August Builds | Final |
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The background of this stage changed from an endless array of pipes and tanks carrying water to a stormy, cloudy, mountainous backdrop.
Layout
| August Builds | Final |
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Since the August prototypes are set against an industrial background, the level is allowed a lot more openings in the foreground. The final version added a lot more wall tiles and windows. Oh, how they added more windows.
| August Builds | Final |
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Read that last paragraph again and apply it to this comparison.
| August Builds | Final |
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The blue / purple walls extend down a bit more in the August versions. The brown walls are darker in the final version.
| August Builds | Final |
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Two giant windows occupy most of the foreground here in the final version. The earlier layout has...nothing. They could at least have added some of those blue walls.
| August Builds | Final |
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More of the same here. Windows or open space: it's your decision.
| August Builds | Final |
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This is a very boring climb in the August versions. At least the final game adds a few windows to give the player some sort of reference for how high up they are.
| August Builds | Final |
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Mmmhmm.
| August Builds | Final |
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The August builds use brown versions of those blue wall plates to break up the monotony and give the room vertical symmetry. The final version no longer has those tiles, so it's lacking a bit in comparison. Volt Kurageil is placed higher up in the final version, making it a bit more difficult to hit.
Miscellaneous
- The water layer in this level is initially glitched, with the water line represented by alternating blue squares. Pausing and unpausing will fix this.
- The sequence for obtaining Zero's saber is broken in both August prototypes.
- In the August 9th prototype...
- The game forgets to swap characters, so Zero teleports in to talk to a badly injured Zero! The new Zero will inherit the old Zero's charge level.
- Luckily, the right flags are still set, so X does get the saber.
- The player never regains control of their character -- they have to use the free-movement debug function to move again.
- In the August 23rd prototype...
- When Mosquitus is defeated, the camera will usually lock in place. The only way to fix this is if the camera is either already locked on the left when the boss is destroyed, or if X is able to go far enough to the left -- to the point where the camera would normally lock on the left side -- after he teleports in. This should unlock the right camera bound.
- A related glitch can sometimes make the dialog box during this scene to be invisible. It's not clear what causes this.
- In both prototypes...
- If Mosquitus collides into a wall when it's trying to crash into Zero, it'll start its boss destruction sequence and Zero will not kneel down.
- If Zero is pressed against the shutters on the right after Mosquitus crashes into him (or the wall), he'll walk through the doors and either Zero or X (depending on the version) will end up in the wall on the other side.
- Zero will only take a knee after Mosquitus has disappeared after exploding. In the final game, he takes a knee immediately after Mosquitus crashed into him.
- X won't always face Zero during this cutscene. In the final game, Zero's sprite will be reoriented to face X.
- The music of the stage will stop after this scene and won't start again unless the player dies.
- In the August 9th prototype, the Escanail enemies have strange hitbox behavior which causes X's charged shots to be deflected by Escanail's platform before they leave X's Buster, rendering the climb section unnecessarily harder.
- Volt Kurageil is similarly broken.
- In the August 9th prototype...
- The layering on Volt Kurageil is very buggy in this build. Basically, if any part of its body overlaps with any part of the HUD, that part will either be deleted or flicker in and out of existence. Its sprites seem to display fine, though.
- When X is above the water, Volt Kurageil's body will start bleeding in from the top of the screen.
- In the August 23rd prototype...
- Possibly as a result of fixing the display glitches in the August 9th prototype, Volt Kurageil's body will now scroll upwards with the camera if X goes up far enough. The final version fixes this by locking the camera just below the point where the glitch occurs.
- In both prototypes, Volt Kurageil has no invincibility frames.
Doppler Stage 2 (Wrecked)
This level is not normally accessible in the August prototypes, even if you don't defeat Vile with one of his weaknesses. Use one of the 2P debug commands in the August 9th build or use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E1FAE0E on the August 23rd build on the stage select to access the wrecked version of Doppler Stage 2.
Note that the boss shutters in Mosquitus's boss room won't open, because the object that opens the door isn't present in this version of the level. Use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E1FB501 to warp to the checkpoint after the Mosquitus fight.
Level Graphics
The August version of this stage has a slightly different background for the wrecked version of Doppler Stage 2, with cracks present in most of the water tanks. The final version can get away with reusing the same background for both versions of the stage.
Layout
| August Builds | Final |
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At this point it becomes obvious why the foreground and backgrounds changed in the final version: The broken windows let the player know immediately that something is wrong in this stage. The August prototypes' floors and walls are in much worse shape, with cracks and tears everywhere; The final version splits the damage between the new foreground elements and the floors / walls.
There's an extra Hamma Hamma to the right of the Notor Banger and an additional Wall Cancer above the Hamma Hamma on the middle platform. There are actually more enemies here than in the intact version of the stage! Doesn't make a lot of sense, so they took some of them out.
| August Builds | Final |
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Same basic changes here. Looks like Vile missed one of the windows.
| August Builds |  |
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| Final |  |
While the usual changes are present in the upper part of this section, in the (drained) underwater portion the stages are damaged in identical ways. Guess they got lazy.
| August Builds | Final |
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Standard broken glass. Opa!
| August Builds | Final |
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The Wall Cancer above the last Hamma Hamma in this area was deleted from the final version. There's also a lone Earth Commander in the middle for some reason.
| August Builds | Final |
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In the August versions, the flying enemies in this area differ depending on which version of Doppler 2 the player is in. If it's normal, the enemies are Helits. If it's wrecked, the enemies are Earth Commanders. The final game uses Helits in both versions of the stage.
| August Builds | Final |
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Mmmhmm. Those are some cracks.
| August Builds | Final |
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More cracks, less wall plates.
| August Builds | Final |
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One window intact, one window cracked. The duality of man. Also, geeze, Vile really went to town on those platforms.
Miscellaneous
- In the August 9th prototype, pausing and unpausing the game will corrupt the stage graphics due to an oversight: The game has to load the pause menu graphics to VRAM, and once the player unpauses, the game must reload the appropriate graphics by looking up the current stage ID. The problem is that the Vile version of Doppler Stage 2 use a different id (0E) than the normal version (0B), and there's no entry for that ID yet. So, the pause menu graphics are never unloaded.
- Mosquitus is still around in the August samples. In the final version, Vile presumably destroys it before X gets there.
- In the August 9th build, going through the boss shutters loads Blast Hornet's tiles instead of Vile's Ride Armor. To load the correct tiles, use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E1E6914 to extend the right camera boundary. Then, activate free-movement mode, position the camera vertically such that the boss shutters are halfway off the screen, then go right.
- Vile can only hit X with his claw attack if he's also charging at X. If he tries to swipe at X when he's against the wall, he takes no damage.
- Contact damage and Vile's charge attack only do 1 HP of damage in the August builds. In the final version, contact damage takes away 6 HP and the charge attack takes way 8 HP.
- Vile's Goliath Ride Armor has an extra attack in the August 9th prototype. Vile charges at X in a crouching stance, and then, if the player presses the Fire button, he'll do a short jump.
- Vile's wires don't work right in either of the August prototypes.
- In the August 9th build, they don't spawn at all. It's not clear if they've been coded yet, but they're definitely part of Vile's tileset.
- In the August 23rd build, the wires ignore tile collision, so they end up getting stuck in place where Vile is unable to destroy them. They'll end up piling up just out of reach, where they'll take up most of the remaining sprite space and make Vile's Ride Armor disappear. If there are five on-screen and Vile tries to shoot out more, he'll be stuck in that shooting animation for the rest of the fight (or until the player scrolls the wires offscreen).
- After destroying Vile's Ride Armor in the August 23rd build, when his right shoulder reappears, it will load the incorrect graphics (loads graphics for his projectiles and the top of his right foot). Needless to say, this was fixed in the final version.
- If X absorbs Vile's wires by using charged Gravity Well, X will stay in the pose forever until his weapon is changed to another one through the pause menu, given Vile's Ride Armor cannot reach X if X's pose locks at a certain height.
- In the August builds, Vile's Ride Armor can be destroyed in one-hit if X left him out of screen while a Z-Saber shockwave hits Vile's Ride Armor. The game will freeze if X left Vile out of screen while a Z-Saber shockwave hits Vile.
- Vile's napalm flames can be immobilized by Z-Saber shockwaves.
- The shockwave which should immobilize Vile can make him invincible instead, due to the attribute of impact effects not dealing damage to bosses in the August builds. While the shockwave still deals damage, the immobilize attribute somehow conflicts with the boss beaten event trigger, and Vile no longer retains his hitbox if all his lifebar is removed, like most bosses.
Doppler Stage 3
Normally, the August 23rd build ends after completing either version of Doppler Stage 2, displaying a "COMING SOON" screen then resetting. Use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E1FAE0C on the stage select screen to access this stage.
Level Graphics
| August Builds | Final |
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The earlier background is a little boring, with no animation. Plus it's just the same 128x128 graphic repeated over and over. The final version has a proper 256x512 animated background.
The August prototypes use two backgrounds: The first is used only in the teleporter hub, while this background is used in the rest of the stage. The final version uses the new, larger background everywhere in the stage.
| August Builds | Final |
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The background (well, foreground, but whatever) seen in Dr. Doppler's room is animated in the final version. The green colors in the background are brighter in the final game.
Layout
| August Builds | Final |
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The foreground wall tiles are improperly tiled here in the August builds. The palettes used throughout the stage are brighter in the final version, with the exception of the orange lights, which are duller.
| August Builds | Final |
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Bizarrely, the teleporter hub has 12 teleporters in both of the August prototypes! The extra ones don't lead anywhere special though - just the default boss room without an actual boss. The final version gets rid of the extra teleporters, places a power-up dispenser in the top-middle of the room, and moves the lower two platforms down.
| August Builds | Final |
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Just like in the original fight, the August versions have a vertical boss shutter in the top-right of Blast Hornet's boss room. The foreground tiles were updated to match the new background design, though the cylindrical wall tiles seen in the background are used in both versions.
| August Builds | Final |
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The only differences in Blizzard Buffalo's arena are the aforementioned palette changes.
| August Builds | Final |
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Volt Catfish's arena. The volt generator in the ceiling is the same in all versions.
| August Builds | Final |
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This is the generic boss room used by Gravity Beetle, Toxic Seahorse, Crush Crawfish, and Neon Tiger. It's also used by Tunnel Rhino in the August prototypes...
...but he has his own boss room in the final version. This room seems to have been added to fix a glitch - see the next section for more information.
Miscellaneous
- There's a glitch with the generic boss room in the August 23rd prototype that causes X to get stuck in the ceiling. The exact reason for this is unknown, but evidence suggests that having the Tunnel Rhino fight take place in the same room as four other Mavericks might be the cause. The final version fixes this by giving Tunnel Rhino his own boss room, one that's stored above all of the other boss rooms in the level layout.
- In the August prototypes, the player can proceed to the next part of the stage regardless of how many bosses are left.
- The charged Frost Shield can absorb Dr. Doppler's fire effects in the August versions.
- If Dr. Doppler is defeated while in the air, he'll fall down and use his standing sprite instead of his "defeated" sprite.
- Dr. Doppler's health bar is still visible after he's defeated in the August prototypes.
Doppler Stage 4
Level Graphics
| August Builds | Final |
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The Sigma body in the background is the same as the one you'll fight in the final version, but in the August prototypes it's unmistakably Neo Sigma from Mega Man X2! The body is in an open capsule in the earlier background, but in some kind of animated water tank in the final game. The background is 64 pixels taller, but since the bottom part of the background is always off-camera, it's not really needed.
| August Builds | Final |
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Same basic changes here. The final version has twice as many capsules in the background.
Layout
| August Builds | Final |
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The empty space to the right of the longest ladder had to be filled in for the final version due to the previously mentioned background shortening.
Miscellaneous
| August Builds | Final |
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- Sigma's fireballs are spawned 16 pixels further to the left / right and 2 pixels lower.
- Sigma's ground-crawling fireballs are 4 pixels off the ground in the August samples.
- Sigma has an additional talking animation in the August 9th build which he switches his shield constantly in between both of his hands.
- In the August 9th build, Sigma's attack pattern is a bit different from the final build; he will always throw his shield at every start point of his pattern - while in the final build he only starts to throw his shield at the point he has lower than half HP. The shield also begins to change its track at lower than half HP instead of the final version's 1/4.
- There is a (presumably) glitch in the August 9th build which makes X able to permanently destroy Sigma's shield with charged Frost Shield. If the shield is destroyed after Sigma throws it, Sigma will fire flame shots continuously without changing attack patterns. If the shield is destroyed while he's holding it, he'll go through all his normal attack patterns and even attempt to throw the non-existent shield at you!
- Kaiser Sigma's left arm is missing at the start of the fight. It reappears when he starts flying, though.
- Kaiser Sigma shoots out his homing mines twice as often in the August prototypes.
- The hitbox on Kaiser Sigma's head is spotty in the August 23rd prototype, with shots that should be hitting instead passing right through it. Thankfully fixed in the final version.
- In the August 9th build, he can't be damaged without Z-Saber because his armor parts and weak point are all misaligned. His weak point happens to be surrounded by his limbs, which are all solid and can reflect normal shots just like in the final build.
- X will teleport out of the stage before the ending cutscene gets a chance to start. To bypass this, activate Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E0D622E after X starts automatically running and deactivate it once he reaches the wall at the end.
- The ending cutscene is similar to the final version's cutscene, although there aren't any sound effects yet. After the cutscene ends, the player is sent back to the start of Doppler Stage 4.
- After teleporting out before the ending cutscene in the August 9th prototype, the game will softlock.
