Proto:DuckTales (NES)/Feb 5, 1989

This is a sub-page of Proto:DuckTales (NES).

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

To do: Cover level differences Cover cutscene going back to duckburg differences Cover music differences (for example the Moon level) Cover unimplemented stuff (ending, locked doors, etc.) Cover control differences Cover glitch differences.

Download DuckTales (Feb 5, 1989 Prototype) ROM and NSF File: DuckTales (Feb 5, 1989 Prototype).7z (128 KB) (info)

Title Screen

February Build	May Build	Final

The differences are easy to notice right off the bat. The logo is less shaded and uses a different palette, the background is darker, there's no copyright text to be found and all of the options are arranged vertically and colored white, with a mysterious "INFORMATION" option that was later replaced with the CONTINUE option from the May build (Which would eventually be removed in the final game). Scrooge also winks at a much faster rate.

This build lacks a cursor for the menu and the difficulty options aren't implemented. Pressing Start or Select begins the game.

Map Screen

February Build	May Build	Final

Donald's nephews, the platforms they stand on, the arrow on the map view, and the preview of the level's treasures haven't been implemented yet.

Debug Features

• Holding Left or Up on the D-Pad on controller 2 disables collision for ground blocks. Up will disable vertical transitions, a feature that was left in the final version.
• Pressing A + B on the same frame will reset the game.
• Holding A when entering a boss room will replace the boss with Dracula Duck. This works in all boss arenas, but obviously works best in the Ghost House Transylvania.

Stage Select

Prototype	Final

All of the generic stage names were changed into real-world locations.

Prototype	Final

The land money's dollar sign was moved to the left to allow for the adjusted money values. The money here counts down by hundreds in the prototype rather than ten-thousands, meaning that this sequence takes a lot longer to complete.

It's possible to revisit cleared stages in this prototype. In later versions, once you beat a level, you can never return to it on that playthrough.

Glomgold's message doesn't appear after completing every stage. In fact, nothing happens at all — level completion isn't tracked, and there is no final stage.

Dialogue Box

Prototype	Final

The in-stage dialogue in both prototypes is confined to the tiny Time box. This was (thankfully) expanded in the final version, and now uses the same dialogue box as the final version's items list.

Graphical Differences

Sometimes graphics are changed. These are those times.

Prototype	Final

The extra health item was changed from a cheeseburger to ice cream, Scrooge's favorite food in the TV series.

Prototype	Final

The cross was removed from the tombstones in Transylvania. Certainly not because of Nintendo's content guidelines. Nope.

Prototype	Final

This xenomorph-snake looking thing was changed to resemble an alien that appeared in the episode "Where No Duck Has Gone Before". And possibly because its animation looks obscene.

Music Differences

Title Screen

Prototype	File:Ducktales-TitleScreen-MayProto.ogg
Final

Slower than the final version (matching the pace of the original song), and with slightly rougher instrumentation all around.

Land Select

Prototype	File:Ducktales-MapScreen-MayProto.ogg
Final

The land select screen uses a completely different music piece in the prototype! It's much longer and less repetitive than the final song, but doesn't fit a menu particularly well.

Ghost House/Transylvania

Prototype	300px
Final	300px

Transylvania's stage theme is also completely different.

Moon Surface/The Moon

Prototype	300px
Final	300px

About 20% slower than in the final. The song itself is a bit more fleshed out than in the final version; the melody was unfortunately simplified for the final game.

Text Comparison

To do: Double check that the script dumps' are accurate (e.g. linebreaks and puncuation)

All of the game's dialogue was changed, both to take advantage of the game's bigger dialogue boxes, and to fix some odd-sounding text. Text is very similar to the May prototype, but with many more errors, like Scrooge's brand-new rival, Gramgold. The May prototype fixes some of these errors and formatting issues, before they were rewritten entirely.

General

Prototype	Final
I GOT THE HIDDEN TREASURE .	IT'S A HIDDEN TREASURE.

A lot of the text changes were done to make the dialogue snappier.

The Amazon

Prototype	Final
PAY $3000 IF YOU WANT TO GO THRO- UGH HERE. YES - A NO - B.	PAY $300000 TO PASS THROUGH HERE. YES - A. NO - B.

Dialogue adjusted to account for the new money values. A period was added after the Yes option.

Prototype	Final
THE BOSS CAN BE DEFEATED BY LOWERING SCROOGES CANE.	USE YOUR CANE TO DEFEAT THE TREASURE KEEPERS.

Dewey's hint was changed from being incomprehensible to just obvious.

Transylvania

Prototype	Final
OH NO! HUEY HAS BEEN CAPTURED ! HELP HUEY.	HELP! HUEY HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED! SAVE HIM PLEASE.

Webby is a lot more polite about Huey's rescue from a dangerous criminal in the prototypes.

Prototype	Final
THANKS SCROOGE. BEWARC THIS HOUSE HAS AN ILLUSIO- N WALL INSIDE OF IT.	THANKS UNCLE SCROOGE. GUESS WHAT. THIS HOUSE HAS AN ILLUSION WALL.

Huey, traumatized by the kidnapping, forgets to call the player "Uncle Scrooge" in both prototypes, and misspells "beware" in this one. His dialogue was also compressed a bit.

African Mines

Prototype	Final
YOU CAN'T ENTER THIS HOUSE WITHOUT A KEY. THE KEY IS SUPPOSED TO BE INSIDE THE GHOST HOUSE.	YOU'LL NEED A KEY TO GET IN. IT'S IN TRANSYLVANIA.

Louie keyblocks Scrooge. He bizarrely refers to the mine as a "house" in the prototype versions, and the dialogue is less certain as to the location of the key.

Prototype	Final
I GOT THE SKELETON KEY FOR LAND-3.	EUREKA! IT'S THE SKELETON KEY TO THE MINE.

All later versions of the game replace the reference to "Land-3" with its actual name (or thereabouts). The final rewrites Uncle Scrooge's dialogue so that it's no longer in the first-person.

Prototype	Final
TRY GETTING ON THIS SEESAW.	USE THE SEESAW UNCLE SCROOGE.

Do or do not, there is no try.

The Himalayas

Prototype	Final
UNCLE SCROOGE IT LOOKS LIKE BUBBA DUCK IS LOST SPMEWHE- RE BACK HERE. PLEASE HELP HIM .	BUBBA'S TRAPPED IN THE ICE! PLEASE HELP HIM.

In addition to the usual dialogue rewrites, Bubba's name was corrected from "Bubba Duck". The February prototype's dialogue has an amusing "spmewhere" typo that later versions were sure to fix.

Prototype	Final
THANK YOU SCROOGE. TO SHOW MY APPR- ECIATION I'LL GIVE YOUL THIS TR- EASURE.	YOU SAVE ME! GOOD! I SHOW YOU SECRET TREASURE.

Bubba lost most of his brain cells in the final. At least he knows how to spell "you" now.

The Moon

Prototype	Final
THE KEY IS HIDDEN SOMEWHE- RE INSIDE THIS UFO. IT SEEMS WE CAN'T MOVE FURTHER WITHOUT THIS KEY .	THERE'S A KEY INSIDE THE UFO. WE CAN'T GO ON WITHOUT IT.

Dialogue compression, and less repetitive writing.

Prototype	Final
UNCLE SCROOGE ROBODUC- K'S REMOTE CONTROL HAS BEEN STOLEN BY A SPAEE MONSTER. IF ONLY ROBODUCK WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BREAK DOWN THIS WALL.	FIND GIZMO DUCK'S REMOTE CONTROL! THEN HE CAN BLAST THE WALL.

Gizmoduck is not named "Roboduck", so this was fixed. The remote control goes from being stolen by a "spaee monster" to just lost.

Prototype	Final
ALRIGHT I'LL CALL ROBODUCK WITH THIS REMOTE CONTROL AND HAVE HIM BREAKE DOWN THE WALL THAT IS IN THE WAY.	BLESS ME BAGPIPES! NOW GIZMO DUCK CAN BLAST THAT WALL.

First-person dialogue + "Roboduck" + Typo = Bad. One of Scrooge's catchphrases was also snuck in.

Last Level

Prototype	Final
SHOOT I NEVER THOUGHT DRACULA DUCK WOULD BE DESTROY- ED. BUT WE CAN'T GIVE YOU THE TREASUR- ES. IF YOU WANT IT THAT BADLY YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH UP TO ME.	YOU MAY HAVE BEATEN DRACULA DUCK BUT NOT ME! IF YOU WANT THE TREASURES BACK YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME.

The last of the dialogue compression.

Prototype	Final
DARN! GRAMGOLD TOOK THE TREASUR- ES. WE'LL HAVE TO START OVER FROM DRACULA DUCK.	CURSE ME KILTS! GLOMGOLD HAS THE TREASURES. I MUST FIGHT DRACULA DUCK AGAIN.

Interestingly, the first-person dialogue was retained this time. Glomgold stopped being a victim of the L/R mix-up after this prototype. Another one of Scrooge's catchphrases was also snuck in.

Unused

Prototype	Final
I BROUGHT YOU A PRSENT KING OF TERRA FERMICS.	HERE'S A GIFT FOR YOU OH KING OF THE TERRA FERMIES.

Even this unused, typo-laden dialogue string was rewritten, changing "prsent" to "a gift", and "Terra Fermics" to "Terra Fermies".