Proto:World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck/Round 3

This is a sub-page of Proto:World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

Round 3-1

Object Changes

The effectiveness of the bubble magic was improved in the final game:

• In the prototype, players only need to hold the Jump button to swim upwards. In the final game, hitting the jump button will only lift the bubble for about a second, so the player has to continuously press the jump button to rise up.
• The maximum falling speed is 3 pixels / 8 frames in the prototype, while the final game's falling speed is over twice as fast at 1 pixel per frame.

Layout

Prototype	Final

No stage layout changes here, though the object layout is, as usual, a work in progress. The prototype has only three free-moving tigerfish, all of which are bunched up on the right side of the screen, while the prototype has five patrolling tigerfish nicely spaced at the top. Two free-moving tigerfish were added closer to the ocean bed. The water shimmer objects or whatnot were also repositioned but whatever.

Prototype
Final

The revised layout of this section is essentially a streamlined version of the prototype layout. There are two optional areas in both versions, but the main path is a lot shorter, and the final build has green spike balls / urchins placed throughout the stage as added hazards. Note the remnants of the old layout in the bottom-middle of the stage.

There are four clams / bubble vents in the prototype compared to the two in the final game. The first was eliminated when the layout was changed. The second one, the one in the uppermost area of the stage, was removed because the presence of three bubble vents on screen at once lagged the game down something horrible.

Prototype	Final

An another instance of simplifying the layout of the stage. That long vertical fall at the start lasts 25(!) seconds in the prototype. The three tigerfish in the prototype are nowhere to be seen in the final version. The only remaining obstacles are the added urchins / spike balls / pointy things that hurt.

Round 3-C

Prototype	Final

The rocks that are jostled loose after Mickey pulls Donald through that narrow gap aren't present in the prototype version. Actually, in the prototype, the screen shakes even if Mickey crawls through that gap on his own. Must've lost some weight before then.

Round 3-M

Layout

Prototype
Final

The perspective is all sort of messed up in the prototype, but not so much in this section. It's just the second set of steps in the prototype, which extend further into the sky, making the actual solid part of the ground ambiguous.

The first three falling rocks are further to the left, in-between the first starfish and the second, final-exclusive starfish. The last starfish is no longer embedded in the ground in the final version, while the water spout at the end is closer to the ground.

Prototype	Final

The perspective fixes are more obvious here, probably because there are more steps in this section. Anyway, those steps and the surrounding ground are 16 pixels lower in the final version.

Some of those clams are improperly placed in the prototype, either not centered on the platform right or just floating in the center like it's not a big deal. The last clam in the prototype was removed before the game was released.

Prototype	Final

Aside from the usual perspective changes, the last jump over spikes was adjusted in the final game. In the prototype, the player can just cling to the ceiling while jumping, making the four spike jump under a narrow ceiling possible. In the final game, because the jumping physics were changed, the layout had to be changed as well. So, there's now a gap in the ceiling and the jump is over three spikes, not four. The layering of the water line and the actual water is reversed from what it should be in the prototype, i.e. the water line obscures the player and the water doesn't.

Foreground

Prototype	Final

The seashell foreground layer is 10 pixels lower in the final version, making the player more visible in the last section of the stage.

Round 3-D

Object Changes

Prototype	Final

The jumping fish design was changed from a semi-realistic design to something that actually looks like it belongs in a Disney game.

Prototype	Final

The palette of the swim rings was changed to make them stand out better against the brightly colored background water.

Layout

Prototype
Final

Unlike in Rounds 1-D or Round 2-2, the platform layout here has already been finalized. The plurality of changes involve those previously mentioned jumping fish enemies. Here, one fish was added between the first two swim rings, and the fourth fish was changed from jumping left to jumping right.

Prototype
Final

Only one layout change to describe here, thank goodness; The islands on the left and right swapped designs between the prototype and final versions. The first jumping fish now leaps to the right, not the left, and a fourth fish was placed before the final swim ring.

Prototype
Final

The leaping fish shifted from the start of the swim ring path to near the end. Yeah.

Background

Prototype	Final

There's more to the background in the prototype, but because it's always covered by the water line it's just a waste of ROM space.

Round 3-P

Layout

Prototype
Final

There's a sneaky little oversight in the prototype version that would cause the game to become unwinnable. Mickey and Donald have to split up, with Donald heading to that crawlspace in the upper-right and Mickey staying below. Donald then has to move to the end of that crawlspace, while Mickey crawls under that narrow gap below. As soon as Mickey falls in the pit to the right of that gap, Donald is ducked; He's too fat to crawl under that gap, and Mickey has no way of getting back up to help him through.

There were three changes that help to fix that oversight. First, it's now impossible to get up to the crawlspace without standing on the other player, which will scroll the camera up just enough to stop the lower player from moving on in the level: Instead, they'll just go into the "Help!" state. Second, the crawlspace no longer extends as far to the right, so even if the player in the lower section could move, they wouldn't be able to make it past that narrow gap. Finally, and most importantly, a set of rocks was added past the narrow gap that only Donald can break, so even if the last two changes failed to stop the lower player, this one definitely would.

Anyways, the floor underneath said rocks was elevated as well, either as yet another fix, or just to make the level more visually interesting. And the second starfish was replaced by an item bag. That should be it.

Prototype	Final

The platform above the second two-player jump is wider, making it easier for the elevated player to lower a rope down. That background platform to the right of the seahorse statues has about four more shadow tiles than it should.

The second starfish was replaced by another one of those pink crustaceal nightmares. This is the first stage in the game with a significant object missing: Namely, that seashell cart. Without that cart, the next section of the stage is basically purposeless.

Prototype
Final

See, in this section, the cart is supposed to destroying these pink pillars, each of which lowers the ceiling a little bit. This then leads to another crushing ceiling section, similar to the one in Round 2-M. The prototype is missing the cart and those pillars, plus the ceiling never moves.

Background

Prototype	Final

The palette used for the pillars in the background was reclaimed by the purple oversight-fixing rocks in the final game. The rock palette mostly works for the rocky and stone tiles, but not so much for the coral or the seashells. Didn't quite come out right.

Round 3-T

Prototype
Final

It's clear at this point that someone had a fetish for long, plodding underwater sections. This four screen area was trimmed to just one screen, and the amorphous green blob at the right is now a properly drawn wrecked ship. Note that the final game actually uses this screen twice, before Round 3-C and Round 3-2, while in the prototype it's only used before Round 3-2.

Round 3-2

Object Changes

The holes in the floor work differently in the prototype. Instead of opening up when a player steps over them, they're coded to open when they're at the center of the screen. This works fine in 1P mode, but in 2P mode they can get really messed up.

Layout

Prototype
Final

There's a hole in the ceiling that can only be entered in 2P mode...which is pretty unusual, since this is the only time there's 2P-exclusive content in one of the main stages. The first hole object is now correctly aligned with the cracks in the floor, and the last hole was nudged closer to the bottom of the stairs.

Prototype
Final

In the prototype section, there's a wall to the right of the stairs that should theoretically block all progress...but the stairs act as platforms, not solid objects, so players can just walk through them anyway. Since that wall didn't do much of anything, it was removed in the final version, and the tallest step was doubled in size to fill up some of the space it took up.

All of the tridents are lower in the prototype. In the final version, they're up closer to the ceiling, no longer looking like they're hanging in mid-air. The fifth trident got into trouble and must stay at least 64 pixels away from the fourth trident at all times.

Prototype
Final

The rushing water has really bad layering issues in the prototype, extending out much farther than it should and clipping through tiles in the foreground. The ceiling on either side of the rushing water section opened up a bit in the final game to give the player more leeway. There's another 2P-accessible area at the end of the steps, though it's too narrow to actually enter, and it seems more like an improperly placed level block than anything else.

The gate that closes when the water starts rushing in isn't part of the prototype in any capacity.

Background

Prototype	Final

The prototype recycles the first two 256x256 chunks of the Round 3-1 background for this stage, while the final version uses a new version of the Round 3-1 background that lacks the underwater castle.