Proto:Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast)/Trial Version for E3

This is a sub-page of Proto:Sonic Adventure (Dreamcast).

To do: Stuff related to this demo in general: A few more general differences about this demo, if any. Comparisons to the final. Probably more other unused content. Stuff related to the localization: Many subtitles are cut off, lack punctuation or just have entirely different lines. Lots of Engrish NPC text. Some cutscenes still use Japanese voice clips (and possibly cameras) There's still some Japanese cameras/objects that were already changed by LE, e.g. Lost World.

Sonic Adventure: Trial Version for E3 is an early US build of Sonic Adventure created to exhibit the game's North American localization progress at E3 1999.

With a burn date of June 8, 1999 (six months after the Japanese version's release), this build predates the official US release by three months. The burn date may however be incorrect, as the expo itself happened the month prior. This prototype was dumped and released by Sonic Retro member drx on August 31, 2008.

Despite being a demo the entire game is included on the disc, bringing a very work in progress localization to light. In fact, it's even earlier than what's seen in Limited Edition, despite seemingly having a later build date.

(Prototype source: Hidden Palace)

Sub-Pages

Early/Unused Content

Earlier English Script Oh no! Among lots of Engrish dialogue and an earlier English script.

Early Knuckles' Voice Give it your best- Wait a second! Actually, this sounds kind of familiar...

General Differences

Title Screen/Logo

Trial Version for E3	Final

What makes this very different compared to the final is that there's a "Trial Version for E3" logo present (for obvious reasons), the background is brighter, a lot of its layouts were moved, and Sonic's render is included on the title screen, who is absent in the final. His render (albeit updated) would later be included in the DX port.

Gameplay

• Beating any stages, dying, etc. will give you the COMING SOON!!! screen.
• Likely for demo purposes, staying completely idle for 2 minutes will reset and take you back to the title screen.

Unfinished Content

Main Menu

To load the Main Menu, change 8C81F9E4 or 8C81F9F8 to 7.

The Main Menu's background is just a faded version of the title screen, rather than a version with the Press Start and copyright text removed. Otherwise, aside from the obvious language difference the menu is identical to the Japanese version - the Emblem Results menu (which is present in Limited Edition) hasn't been added yet, with the Trial menu still having only 2 options as opposed to 3.

Note: The Character Select, Trial Mode and the Title Screen are used for the demo's menus, so they aren't connected to the Main Menu.

Cutscene Differences

This page or section needs more videos. There's a whole lotta words or pictures here, but not enough videos. Please fix this. Specifically: Show Adventure Mode in action, so we can get an accurate look of what's different in this demo compared to the final.

To do: Everything. Adventure mode can be played in this version using the TGS menus (8C81F9F8 to 0), so a more accurate look at the story mode is possible.

The English localization is unfinished, so some cutscenes either still use Japanese voice clips or none at all.

Knuckles' Story

Please elaborate. Having more detail is always a good thing.

His story with the early voice is mostly complete (but still unfinished), which can be seen in the final game in action here. It's possible to see the demo itself in action via the use of TGS menus (8C81F9F8 to 0).

Old Sand Hill Object Layout

While in this version of the game it can only be played as Tails, Sand Hill's object layout for Sonic (SETSBOARD00S.BIN) is, bizarrely, a version that predates the original Japanese release. No other file in the game is from a pre-final build.

Compared to the final version, many objects are missing and the ones that are present are incorrect due to the IDs in the SET file being different to the stage's object list, resulting in objects that shouldn't be in the level appearing such as swinging spike balls and springs. It lacks many of the surrounding ruins and point gates that appear normally.

Early press release screenshots of the stage (shown left) had a similar layout to the one in this file, showing that many of the objects the file expected, such as static versions of the animated snake segments, were no longer in the final game. However, they can be found in the AutoDemo. A fixed version of the file can be seen in this video.

Reaching the end will not trigger the stage, but it can still be beaten if one of the misplaced froggy objects is touched. According to when the file is fixed and played in the AutoDemo, it has a capsule buried in the floor at the end, high enough for the player to reach on the board by jumping.