Sonic 2 GG Auto-Demo leaked! (With a few other prototypes)

[matpower]

And we got another Sonic prototype around and it is pretty different from the final.

Other prototypes are Tails' Adventure - Review Copy and Sonic Labyrinth - Review Copy, but they are nearly final.
The Sonic 2 GG AutoDemo has an internal date code of 1991-12-05, nine months before the final's date of 1992-09-05.
People already hacked the Sonic 2 GG Auto Demo to make it playable, so check that "hack" out too! (There are lots of different stuff, no Tails around and it is pretty broken on some levels, spikes and springs actually work though).

Google is your friend, since it is warez AFAIK.

 

[ShonenJump]

why are review copies nearly final? maybe if there is bugs how are gonna know if it is gonna fixed. Then review will be kinda pointless since they are gonna cover up the game how it plays and everything. back then games couldn't be patched.

 

[Sheimi]

I have played the Sonic 2 Game Gear Auto Demo and some of the early content is better than the final product. A short joke TAS I made of it.

 

[matpower]

why are review copies nearly final? maybe if there is bugs how are gonna know if it is gonna fixed. Then review will be kinda pointless since they are gonna cover up the game how it plays and everything. back then games couldn't be patched.

Well, I will quote the dumper on this matter:

Apart from a few odd bytes in Tails Adventures, both the Sonic Labyrinth & Tails Adventures prereleases appear to be the final builds (review copies) despite being on prototype cartridges. These things can happen from to time to time when it comes to finding Sonic prototypes, but at least it's one less thing to track down and we got hold of some pretty cool SEGA GG prototype PCBs. Let's not forget the most important prototype we managed to get, Sonic 2 GG.

Basically, they are fully working like the final build/released game, there shouldn't be any exclusive bugs or that stuff.

 

[Tomy Sakazaki]

why are review copies nearly final? maybe if there is bugs how are gonna know if it is gonna fixed. Then review will be kinda pointless since they are gonna cover up the game how it plays and everything. back then games couldn't be patched.

Back then reviewers were used as a final test for the games, since they hadn't played the other builds (or if they played it was only a demo with one stage or two) they wouldn't be biased and using workarounds or only a way through a stage, and then they could report those bugs back to the developers.
Even if they couldn't do a new build before launch, they would use those infos to launch a revised version later on the market (or when the game is launched later at another region).
EDIT: And on SEGA's case, they normally sent review copies using prototype casings (as reported by matpower), or in some cases they sent these games "burned" in re-writable cartridges.

 

[Gaming4Ever]

Wow amazing that after all this time these Prototypes still keep popping up...........



So many Gems us gamers never got around to playing or trying out makes me Proud to live in the Age of the Interwebs

 

[matpower]

I have played the Sonic 2 Game Gear Auto Demo and some of the early content is better than the final product. A short joke TAS I made of it.

Yeah, sadly they changed everything in the final game(They also got the game from a broken state to a full game in 9 months )
Some Green Hills Zone comparation pictures here.

 

[ShonenJump]

Back then reviewers were used as a final test for the games, since they hadn't played the other builds (or if they played it was only a demo with one stage or two) they wouldn't be biased and using workarounds or only a way through a stage, and then they could report those bugs back to the developers.
Even if they couldn't do a new build before launch, they would use those infos to launch a revised version later on the market (or when the game is launched later at another region).
EDIT: And on SEGA's case, they normally sent review copies using prototype casings (as reported by matpower), or in some cases they sent these games "burned" in re-writable cartridges.

Thanks didnt knew it. Awesome to see a prototype that was from years ago.

 

[Enigma Hall]

Why sonic is surrounded by black eyed dks? Wtf?

 

[DinohScene]

Yay more betas!