Proto:Knuckles' Chaotix/1207 Prototype

This is a sub-page of Proto:Knuckles' Chaotix.

This page sucks. If you could make it suck less, that would be awesome. Specifically: Needs a serious rewrite. There's some bogus information in here.

Knuckles' Chaotix Prototype 1207 for the 32X was released by drx during the February 23rd, 2008 proto release. This is the earliest of the Chaotix protos. Its compile date is December 7, 1994.

Download Knuckles' Chaotix (Prototype 1207) File: Knuckles' Chaotix (Prototype 1207).bin (3 MB) (info)

(WARNING) The only way to play this prototype on KEGA Fusion emulators v3.6 and up is to enable "Fast 32x timing" before playing in the config file. The sounds can be very unpleasing to hear, it is best to mute your system before you play this prototype.

Download Savestate past the Sega screen File: Chaotix 1207 After Sega.zip (92 KB) (info)

In case you are not able to get the prototype running in Kega Fusion v3.6 and up, please download this savestate. It will get you to the title screen and past the Sega screen.

Various Differences

General

• Pausing the game does not stop the music.
• The Level Title card calls the game Knuckles Ringstar and refers to Heavy as Heaby.
• Knuckles has different climbing sprites in this build.
• All the 32X art is uncompressed, in final most of the static art uses the C42 compression. Everything that uses the 32X VDP is viewable in this prototype.
• Sound Test is a very basic screen. It's a black background with white text.
• Some songs are vastly different from the final. All the musical differences are based on the regular, keyboard notes, not the percussion that was later removed.
• Due to a sound driver issue involving interpolation in the PWM code, some songs beep, making the music in them unpleasant to listen to.
• The cutscenes before the bosses are fully implemented in this proto, although the boss music starts directly in the cutscenes instead of playing "Have Some Fun".
• Items do not "pop out" of monitors. Graphics do exist for the animation, though.
• Spindashing into a monitor does not break it.

Sega Splash Screen Differences

1207 Prototype	Final

The Sega Splash screen uses a promotional image of Newtrogic High Zone. In the final, (for some reason) they changed it to the Game Over/Level Beat Screen instead.

Title Screen Differences

1207 Prototype	Final

The title screen has a very different layout in the prototype. Some obvious differences are that the 1207 prototype doesn't have the main characters on the title screen and there isn't an intro. The Chaotix logo doesn't have any palette cycling nor a trademark next to it. There is no flashing "Press Start" nor is there a sprite for it or graphics for it. Also, the main menu is where the copyright would otherwise be.

• Cheat menus are accessible by highlighting OPTION, then pressing A + Start for Color Test, C + Start for Sound Test (with preliminary graphics), or B + Start for Jam Out mode, which acts similar to Toejam & Earl.
  • In Jam Out mode, press A, B, C, or Start to play the many different DAC samples. Up, Down, Left, or Right can be held to change between sound banks. A + B + C + Start will Exit the Jam Out menu.

Save Menu Differences

1207 Prototype	Final

• Background for the Data Select screen isn't in yet. Controls are also reversed (Up moves down, Down moves up). Level numbers in the save files do not render properly.
• Selecting file 1, 2, or 3 may place you instantly in the World Entrance with 2 Espios. Selecting "No Save" will start the game normally.

Character Select Screen Differences

1207 Prototype	Final

The character select screen at this point in development is very bare bones. There is an empty slot after Mighty that is unselectable, believed to be reserved for Tails earlier in development. Heavy and Bomb can be selected here, whereas in the final they cannot be.

Gameplay Differences

• Only Mighty, Knuckles, "**********"/Tails, and Charmy have their abilities implemented. Vector can only climb walls, and it's very tricky to do so. There are sprites for Vector's double-jump ability in the ROM, however.
• Vector's running animation is faster.
• The Line that holds 2 characters together is always blue.
• When clearing a level, "Mechanical Dance" plays instead of "From Party to Party".
• Free movement/Debug mode is always enabled.
• Time can't go up.
• Icons for your current powerup don't display at the bottom of the screen, unlike the final.
• When Mighty uses the wall kick, it is different and "automatic". It uses an unused sprite present in the final, and matches with the same unused sprite for Sonic in Sonic Crackers. Another thing to note is that the sound effect when he clings to a wall is different. (It's Vector/Espio/Knuckles' sound when they cling to a wall.)
• When Knuckles is climbing you have to keep B pressed to climb, otherwise Knuckles falls off. In addition, the animation that plays when you move from wall to floor is a little more "rough."
• The invincibility stars are very different - there's less of them (only two at a time, it seems), and they're small, gold, five-pointed stars. The stars also only surround the first player, unlike in the final when both players are surrounded.

Level Differences

General

• All Speed Slider acts are the same.
• As with the final, the backgrounds undergo color changes depending on the time of day selected, except Amazing Arena, which just changes a window's colour.

Intro Level

To do: Get a video/GIF of the different Metal Sonic encounter.

• The intro stage has the standard intro animation that every other level uses.
• During the meeting with Metal Sonic in the stage Espio will just fall out of the sky and Metal Sonic will be in the far foreground afterwards staring at you, and after a few seconds, he will charge at Espio.
• The music in the intro stage is different - "Combination" plays, whereas "Door Into Summer" does not. "Take A Nap" does not play before meeting with Metal Sonic, like it does in the final.
• The demonstration/tutorial section is unskippable.
• The fade-out effect in these levels is much faster than in the final; however, they do not transition into the next level nor do they correctly fade out the palette.
• There is a platform in Act 2 that has an incorrect palette applied. In addition, it plays no sound when broken.
• The lift object in Act 4 has an incorrect palette and doesn't seem to work properly.
• Entering the Special Stage at the end of Act 5 (incorrectly) brings up the end of level results screen. This does not happen in the final.

Bonus Stage

• The Bonus Stage does not use the special stage sprites like in the final. It just shows the current character's "hurt" animation.
• The "500 pts" block only gives you 5 points.
• The knockback from hitting a block is significantly reduced.
• There are no sparkles after collecting a ring in the Bonus Stage.
• The blocks that hurt you have no effect, you just pass through them.

Special Stage

• The Special Stage is very different and preliminary. The beginning area has a different design, and the colors are completely different.
• Special Stage 1 appears to have two stationary rings with a bad palette on the screen on the left.
• There is very little in the special stage itself, no messages, sprites, etc. The "Pause" text does not show up on the screen while the game is paused. No sounds besides music.
• Rings do count down; however, you cannot be booted from the Special Stage at all, and there is no "3 2 1" countdown on the screen like in the final.
• The Special Stage boots you out to the character select screen when you lose.
• Special Stage 6 only seems to have the finish line pattern, and freezes the player in place after about 2 seconds, forcing a reset.

Training Level

• Training level shows Botanic Base title screen and plays the same music (Door Into Summer) that is found in the title screen.
• Introduction level in stage select is vastly different from Introduction in "main" mode and plays the same track that the final does.
• Training 0 stage may have been used as an Engine Test level because its design is very different from the other training stages. This level features a closed place with platforms, loops and slopes. In the final game it is replaced by a copy of Training 1 although the boundaries fit the prototype version.

World Entrance

• World entrance uses the Combi Select BGM.
• The layout is completely different compared to the final. The clock has no sprite which tells what time of day it is.
• There are no "EXIT" or "PLAY" signs.
• You can't walk off to the left to exit to the title screen.
• The area where you play the roulette game to select a stage has no rotating palettes and no objects programmed for it. In addition, there are more graphics for the background of this area.
• Right before you enter the level select screen there's a Speed Monitor underground, as well as several static rings with the wrong palette.
• World entrance shows no screen, has no collection minigame, no slider. It is empty and just leads to the NPC SELECT screen, in this case only including Heavy, Bomb, Vector, Charmy and several question marks, one of which can't be selected. Afterwards is a level select screen with vastly different names:

Prototype	Final
BOTANIC GARDEN AMUSEMENT PARK AMAZING ZONE RESORT HOTEL MARINA DRIVE	BOTANIC BASE SPEED SLIDER AMAZING ARENA TECHNO TOWER MARINA MADNESS

• "Atraction" is misspelled with only two Ts.

Speed Slider

• Speed Slider appears to be based roughly off the rocket stage in Sonic Crackers. It has been edited since then; so, nothing matches exactly. However, there are noticeable similarities.
• The palette change in Speed Slider between the lower and upper background occurs too high, with the result that some of the tents appear green instead of red until a certain height.
• There are lots of loops in this Zone and none of them work.
• The Zone has no end-sign.
• The boss is not implemented.

Marina Madness

• Marina Madness' Act 4 boat doesn't move, nor does Act 5's.
• Collision on Marina Madness's boats that bob up and down is glitchy.
• The clouds and some other background details don't appear until after the title card has cleared.
• In the final, the area with the Invincibility also has a Speed Shoes.
• The boss is fully implemented.
• The background deformation is entirely different from the final and also incomplete. This is likely due to the fact that Marina Madness uses an unconventional background - it uses sprites to represent the background because the real background plane is reserved for the boats.

Isolated Island

• A portrait graphic similar to the ones on the attraction sign in the World Entrance for Isolated Island exists but is not used.

Amazing Arena

• Amazing Arena has a light on the first level. The hologram Eggman is also functional and can hit you with his fists. The next build with a switch near that first clock is the Jan 19 build, and even then its hologram's fists don't cause damage and instead just flail around.
• In Amazing Arena 5, the cutscene for the boss entrance is in and is fully functional. However, the boss itself never appears, leaving the level unbeatable.

Techno Tower

• The boss is fully implemented.

Botanic Base

• The boss of this level is implemented, but no music plays.

Early/Unused Graphics

Sonic Crackers S32X

Graphics for the game's earlier name - "Sonic Crackers S32X." The S32X stands for Super 32X. This confirms that Sonic Crackers was in fact a Knuckles' Chaotix prototype.

End Of Level Sign

To do: Put up animation here

The end of level sign is completely different and only has a "2D" effect.

Mechanical Pod

To do: Find if this is in the final

Graphics for a device in Techno Tower. In the prototype it only seems to open the hatch when you approach it but you can't interact with it at all.

Flickies

There exist graphics for several Flickies in the game, similar to the ones found in earlier Sonic games. Palette(s) unknown.

Sonic & Tails

• Graphics have been discovered in the ROM for monitors that were used in an earlier version of Chaotix - likely when it was still running on Genesis/Mega Drive hardware. The image above uses a palette that was unused in Sonic Crackers. As you can see, these graphics represent Sonic & Tails, conclusively proving they were intended to be in Chaotix.

• There is an empty space in the character selection menu following Mighty, who originally was Sonic. This space is believed to originally be reserved for Tails - the palette above is assigned to the character in the slot after Mighty, and contains many similar colors that were used in the Sonic Crackers prototype for Tails. In later protos, the palette still exists, but the character's palette pointer points to Mighty's palette instead. Presently, the character in this slot is unplayable due to crashing issues.

Images

• Chaotix1207 1.png
• 
• 
• Chaotix1207 5.png
• Chaotix1207 6.png
• 

External Links

Sonic Retro discussion thread

• Hidden Palace Release Page
• Videos of this prototype: Video 1 Video 2

(Source: Sonic Retro)