User:Darkaiser/Prerelease:CTR/July Builds

This is a sub-page of User:Darkaiser/Prerelease:CTR.

It seems this build was shown only in European media. Most of the game now seems closer to be finished, but there are still many differences.

Euro Demo 51 / ECTS Trailer

The issue 51 of Euro Demo contains a trailer of the game, which was also featured in the European Computer Trade Show 1999, back in September 5-7. The build used here marks the first appearence of the final speedometer design.

General Differences

The speedometer design has now been changed to its final design. However, the hang time numbers now tend to switch between black and grey at certain moments (sometimes even disappearing entirely). It's not known whether this was supposed to be a feature or just a visual bug.
This is the first time the menu's background can be seen, and it features a very different, dark checkered flag. This early background is still used in the August 5th, 1999 prototype.
Crash's model has bigger pupils on the animated title screen sequence.
- The blue ring also has a small gap below the letters.
The CTR start banners are still missing from the tracks.
The Wumpa sound effect after collecting 10 Wumpa fruits is different, matching the one heard in the later demos.
Some CPU paths are different, as noticed in Sewer Speedway at 1:23 when Tiny suddenly turns left, and 1:25 when N. Gin breaks the Wumpa crate after the rolling barrel. These behaviors cannot be seen in the final game.
There are no team colors in Battle mode. The arrows above the players are based on each character's specific kart colors instead.
- As a result, there are no colored outlines for each player's screen representing the team color.
Oddly, the characters in 4-player splitscreen are using the default high-poly models from single player (apart from player 4), something never seen in any other pre-release version of the game. The ordinal number suffixes for the player positions are also missing.
The Power Shield doesn't have animations.
- The weapon icon is also transparent.
CPU racers aren't affected by crushing hazards, as seen in Blizzard Bluff.
Cortex Castle, Hot Air Skyway and Oxide Station are using Dingo Canyon's theme as a placeholder. Rocky Road and The North Bowl don't seem to have any music set at all.
At the end of the first lap in Oxide Station at 0:45, the player receives an unknown power-up - a huge transparent square covers both the Wumpa counter and the power-up slot. It is possible that either the Invisibility or Super Engine power-ups are one of the given items, as no icon would be displayed if you were to get them in non-battle arenas.

Tiger Temple

The item roulette after the shortcut exit at 1:46 appears from the top left corner instead of the item box.

Dragon Mines

Minecarts emit red lights instead of white.

Cortex Castle

There are four floating Wumpa crates instead of two.
Hitting a spider plays the turtle bounce sound effect from Mystery Caves.

Oxide Station

Crash is racing alone because the CPU path wasn't programmed yet.
Perhaps the most striking change in this version is the first ramp with a boost pad, which originally had a small ramp in the right leading to one of four possible tubes.
- A removed brown model can be also seen in the ceiling in this section.
The walls and ceiling before the low gravity area are entirely covered with a symbol pattern - this symbol is still used in some parts of the track in the final game.
- Turbo pads are facing in the opposite direction.
- The yellow arc has stripes.
The low gravity area has floor textures with the same symbol pattern, as well as the arc texture.
- It also has four turbo pads arranged horizontally.
- The yellow arc has stripes.
The "Wrong Way!" notice is erroneously displayed during the low-gravity chasm jump.
Some missing bits of geometry can be seen above the the track on the other side of the jump.
The tunnel leading to the big fall is entirely covered in turbo pads.
There are three yellow arrows instead of four in the large drop down.

Screenshots

The following batch of screenshots appear to be from the same build. Most of them originated from the PlayStation Autumn Winter Collection 99 Press CD, although some of them have been found in other sources.