Proto:Mega Man X3 (SNES)/August Prototypes

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.

This page details one or more prototype versions of Mega Man X3 (SNES).

A Japanese sample version of Mega Man X3 found by one C. Davis, rendered and fixed-up by the good people at arduino.cc, and released by the Rockman Corner.

Dated 08/23 in the game itself, the Rockman X3 Sample Version appears to be a nearly-finished build from four months before the commercial release. Almost all stages and features are implemented in some form or another. However, it's pretty clear the game is not quite finished.

(Prototype source: Rockman Corner)

Sub-Pages

Game Start Not a lot of changes from the final, but some things of note.

Graphical Changes

Color-Coded Enhancement Chips

Each Enhancement Chip you can use places a distinct coloration on the whites of X's armor in this version.

Prototype	Final
File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule1.png	File:MMX3-SNES ChipCapsule1.png

The capsule themselves are indistinguishable from the normal armor capsules, whereas in the final, they're salmon pink.

Head Chip (green trim)	Arm Chip (red trim)
File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule1.png	File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule2.png
Leg Chip (blue trim)	Body Chip (gold trim)
File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule3.png	File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule4.png

In the final version of the game, there is no way to tell which enhancement chip you have installed. However, this feature may have been dropped due as X's explosions share the same palette as his body, thus becoming oddly-colored if he dies.

Prototype (black trim)	Final (gold armor)
File:MMX3-SNES-Proto ChipCapsule5.png	File:MMX3-SNES ChipCapsule5.png

In the final, only the all-inclusive chip you find in Doppler Stage 1 affects how X looks.

Oddities

Older sprite	Used sprite

Vile briefly flickers to this much more detailed sprite while his Ride Armor explodes, during the first fight. It looks to be an earlier design which sticks closer to his official art than what the ended up with. However, it does lack his back-mounted shield/shell (which he never uses anyway).

The Dumping Ground

To do: Make these into actual sub-pages. Some day…

Intro Stage

• The intro stage has some differences:
  • Mac's stun shot has different graphics.
  • Zero's theme does not play when you control him.
  • The Hangerter that holds X takes more damage to destroy
  • Two small health capsules appear after Mac's room, despite serving no purpose since X will have full health
  • The final climb to Maoh the giant has an additional window
  • You can go back to the left wall while fighting Maoh, making the fight incredibly easy.

Stage Select

• There are no miniature previews of each stage in the Stage Selection screen.
• Some boss intros are missing, don't play, or glitch up.

Blizzard Buffalo

• Simpler blizzard effect in the final part of Blizzard Buffalo's stage.
• Blizzard Buffalo doesn't seem to have his infamous wall-hugging glitch in this build.
  • Buffalo fires his freeze beam from his palm rather than from an X-buster style arm cannon
  • The ice shard graphics created when X breaks free from being frozen by Buffalo's freeze ray are glitched
  • The foreground blizzard in the city area before entering Buffalo's building has different graphics
  • The upgrade capsule is shifted a few pixels to the left (?)

Toxic Seahorse

• Toxic waste lacks transparency on Toxic Seahorse's stage.
• Minor stage graphic differences, for example ladders in Toxic Seahorse' stage. In the prototype the ladders have two fences at the top. In the final game the ladders feature no fences.
• There is no miniboss (Hotareeca) in Toxic Seahorse's stage. The miniboss room is not yet there.
• The first boss entrance shutter in Seahorse's stage will sometimes be glitched. It might be linked to going through the previous room(s) quickly.

Tunnel Rhino

• Different background elements in Tunnel Rhino's stage (Large pipes, different-looking crystals, etc). Background is different in general.
• Extra background elements in the beginning of Tunnel Rhino's stage. Spikes also look different, as does the platform where the Heart Upgrade is.
• Tunnel Rhino's miniboss (Hell Crusher) wheels lack animations.
• Tunnel Rhino won't knock you off the wall as easily if he charges into it.
• Tunnel Rhino seems to lack his drill attacks. He only uses his charge attacks.

Volt Catfish

• Volt Catfish's sprites are entirely different

Gravity Beetle

• Different background in Gravity Beetle's stage.
• Gravity Beetle's giant black hole attack will not always be spawned at the screen's center, it can also completely devour the top of the walls, which makes the fight harder.

Blast Hornet

• The polygon ninja star enemy on Blast Hornet's stage looks entirely different. More like a wheel with spikes. It's also WAY easier, being destroyed with 3 charge shots.

Crush Crawfish

• The game doesn't stop dead on your tracks during the 'cutscene' with the enemy dropping from the sky and breaking the floor in Crush Crawfish's stage.
• Some nice little extra graphics for Crawfish when he's shocked by Triad Thunder. Sparks surround his body.
• Crawfish's boss room is larger.

Neon Tiger

• Different backgrounds for the second half of Neon Tiger's stage.
• Entirely different sprites for Neon Tiger.
• Neon Tiger's Ray Splasher is twice as fast, in addition to having a different spread.

Doppler Lab 1

• The Press Disposer boss is nowhere to be seen. Destroying Bit and Byte during the Maverick levels in the final game causes the first boss of Doppler Lab 1 to be the Press Disposer. In the prototype, destroying Bit and Byte early won't cause the final part of Doppler Lab 1 to change. You will still enter the room where you fight Godkarmachine O' Inari (There won't be a boss room at the part of the wall). However, entering the boss room will end the stage without a boss fight.
• In Doppler 1, the edges of the horizontal crushing walls become invisible if they're near the vertical edge of the screen. This occurs only while they are in motion, and was fixed in the final.
• During the REX-2000 fight (Doppler 1 miniboss), if Zero has not died and X ends the fight on the right side of the screen, behind REX-2000, X will moonwalk to the left and then walk to where Zero is. This was fixed in the final.

Doppler Lab 2

• Entirely different background for Doppler Lab 2. Water graphics seem to be glitched, it was not visible until the game was paused and unpaused.
• The sequence for obtaining Zero's saber is broken. You MUST make sure to defeat the Mosquitus boss as Zero by being close to the exit door. If you don't, you will NOT be able to exit the room as X. The game locks the screen in place once the cutscene is over. If you are not near the exit door, the screen won't allow you to reach it, making it inescapable by any means except game reset. 
• After defeating Mosquitus (Doppler 2 miniboss), the camera scrolling can get locked in place occasionally. Additionally, all terrain and background palette animation stops.
• Volt Kurageil's body has strange behavior. If you climb the walls out of the water, the boss' body will follow your altitude. In the final game it cannot leave the water. Deafeating Volt Kurageil will end the game with a "Coming Soon" screen, unless you use PAR codes to proceed further.
• Volt Kurageil (Doppler 2 boss) has no invincibility frames, allowing him to be easily taken out with rapid-fire uncharged shots. This was fixed in the final.
• There is no way to fight Vile a second time (Goliath Armor in Doppler Lab 2). No matter the way you defeat Vile in the Maverick levels, the boss in Doppler Lab 2 will always be Volt Kurageil.
• The alternate (Destroyed version) of Doppler Lab 2 (Accessible only with PAR codes) is only complete until the Mosquitus boss. After you defeat the boss, the screen will lock in place, trapping you inside. The exit door also doesn't work.

Doppler Stage 3

• In Doppler Stage 3 (Maverick boss rematches) there are 12 capsules in the room instead of 8. The mechanical tower that gives you items when you shoot it in the final game is not present in the prototype. 8 of the capsules take you to the 8 Maverick rematches, however the spawning spot of X is incorrect in several of these rooms. It will spawn you in the top left of the screen and you will be stuck in the ceiling, unable to move. Only 3 or 4 Maverick rooms actually teleport you in correctly.
• The 4 extra capsules take you to empty rooms and you get stuck in the ceiling, unable to escape.
• You can actually open the exit door and continue the stage without beating any Maverick rematch.
• The background of Doppler Lab 3 is different.
• The elements of Dr. Doppler's armor that are blue in the final game, are gray in the prototype.
• Dr. Doppler's fire shield has a different, more muted color palette.

Doppler Stage 4

• The stage background for Doppler Lab 4 (Final Sigma level) is completely different. It features several Sigma bodies from Mega Man X2's sprite.
• Sigma's final body (Kaiser Sigma) is glitched (His right arm overlaps his chest). Sigma's also more aggressive

The Nightmare Police and Vile Mk-2

• Dr. Doppler's symbol in the Mavericks' lifebars is slightly different to the final version.
• Bit's homing's fireball is faster, and thus harder to dodge. Also, in the final game, when Bit's lifebar has been depleted around 2/3, he will launch two homing fireballs simultaneously. In the prototype he only launches one at a time during the whole fight.
• Vile's first Ride Armor is blue instead of gray like in the final game. It also lacks sound effects.
• Vile stops in mid air to throw his fire bomb attack.
• Byte's sprites are entirely different. Also his magnetic mine is nowhere near as effective as in the final game.

Weapons, Armor and Items

• X's picture doesn't change color during the "Weapon get" screen. Also, there is no demostration of the weapon. The wireframe of the weapon is white instead of green like in the final version.
• The usage of Sub Tanks is glitched in the weapons menu. It works, but the graphics don't reflect it.
• The Charged Shot with the upgraded arm cannon is glitched. If you fire a fully charged shot, X will remain in "charged status". You can continue to fire normal bullets, but you cannot charge. You have to switch to a weapon and then back to fix it.
• The helmet part's radar detects more than upgrades. It also marks mini boss and boss rooms. However it doesn't show missing items on each stage on the stage select screen.
• X gets locked out of switching weapons with the trigger buttons every time you get a new armor upgrade. Pausing and unpausing fixes this.
• Zero's Z-Saber is not an instant-kill attack on bosses with invulnerability frames, like it is in the final. It instead does a flat 4 damage.
  • Similarly, a direct hit using the Z-Saber with X seems unable to do more than 4 damage to most bosses. In the final, it does a whopping 16 damage to most bosses.
• X's Z-Saber beam surrounds normal enemies as it does to the bosses. In the final game, the saber goes straight through the normal enemies and destroys them.
  • X's Z-Saber energy wave only does 2 damage to most bosses, rather than continual damage. It sometimes immobilizes certain bosses, as well.
• The charged-up S. Blade can only be swung up using the D-pad. In the final, you can also swing it down.
• Use the Pro Action Replay code 7E1FCEFF to enable I. Tracer from X2 in weapon select, though it will crash the game if you try to use it.
  • The icon for the I. Tracer's weapon energy uses the VRAM placeholder graphic, due to not having a special graphic to load. Said graphic is a "W" (weapon) and is present in Mega Man X1-3.
  • Additionally, when quick weapon switching is used (L/R shoulder buttons) it will simply use whatever icon is currently loaded to that slot in VRAM.

Other Differences

• Zero's death lacks sound effect.
• No password screens after beating the bosses.
• If X or Zero are hit by an attack that does 6 damage or more, they will take a knee and be stunned for about 3.77 seconds (or 226 frames).
• Some bosses, like Gravity Beetle or Blizzard Buffalo, will pause their assault and let X/Zero recovery, should they take a knee in their presence.

(Research/PAR codes: GoldS)