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New Super Mario Bros. U
subdirectory_arrow_right New Super Mario Bros. Mii (Game)
1
New Super Mario Bros. U began as a tech demo, shown at E3 2011, called New Super Mario Bros. Mii. It allowed players to use Miis in all modes. If all four players chose Miis, Player 1 would be dressed as Mario, Player 2 as Luigi, Player 3 as Wario, and Player 4 as Waluigi but with blue sleeves.

While Miis are no longer selectable in all game modes, this concept did make it to the final game in the form of "Boost Rush Mode".
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
subdirectory_arrow_right New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes (Game)
1
One of the early tech demos for the Wii in 2005 was a re-tooled version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It was the most advanced of the 8 available demos and was the only game to incorporate the Nunchuk. It took one developer two months to complete the demo for the Tokyo Game Show. The game would later be fully ported to the Wii in 2009.
PaRappa the Rapper 2
subdirectory_arrow_right Pipo Saru 2001 (Game), McDonald's Original: Happy Disc (Game)
1
In Japan, McDonald's once sold demo discs of PaRappa the Rapper 2 and Ape Escape 2001 to promote the games in Japan. The PaRappa demo reskinned the Toasty Buns stage to take place in a McDonald's, while the Ape Escape demo included the first 2 and a half stages, added McDonald's buildings and blimps to the level backgrounds, and added McDonald's food as collectible items - it also included a bonus video of Japanese celebrity Papaya Suzuki exploring New York with a man in a Pipo Monkey mascot costume.
StarCraft
subdirectory_arrow_right Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 (Game)
1
The original version of StarCraft developed prior to 1996 was considered to be inferior to other games shown at the time, most notably the real-time strategy (RTS) game Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 being developed by Ion Storm Dallas, which was also shown at E3 and the Consumer Electronics Show that year. The game appeared to be miles ahead of what StarCraft was, with consumers responding to the latter game weakly as "Warcraft in space". Realizing that the version of StarCraft they had was worse than they had thought, following the release of Diablo at the end of that year, Blizzard began to "lick [their] wounds and plan for the future" by restarting development on StarCraft and completely overhauling their development process as a whole. StarCraft eventually released in March of 1998 to critical and commercial success, and was retrospectively dubbed as one of the defining games of the RTS genre.

However, after Ion Storm Dallas closed in 2001, a few of their former employees were scooped up by Blizzard and two of them later revealed to former Blizzard executive Patrick Wyatt that the demos Ion Storm presented of Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 were actually pre-rendered trailers, and the players "presenting" the game's demos were actors pretending to play the game. This meant that the only reason why StarCraft was released in the form it was was because Blizzard got tricked into raising their standards to compete with a pre-rendered video, resulting in the creation of one of their most successful games.
Ultimate Custom Night Demo
1
The Ultimate Custom Night Demo has a serious, non-troll version that was previously only available to well-known YouTube stars and was presented by Scott Cawthon. All characters are available for selection in the menu, making the demo essentially identical to the full game. When the player tried to start the night, a message would appear in the middle of the menu, preventing them from going any further if the chosen roster had more than 2,000 points.
Ultimate Custom Night Demo
1
The Ultimate Custom Night Demo is a reskin of Scott Cawthon's first PC game, "Doofas the Dinosaur," which he created in 1989. The changes include a Freddy head on Doofas, enemies changing to various animatronics from the Five Nights at Freddy's series, and gems changing to Mr. Cupcake.
Super Smash Bros. Melee
subdirectory_arrow_right Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Game), Super Smash Bros. (Collection)
2
Ganondorf's design in Super Smash Bros. Melee is based on his appearance in the Spaceworld 2000 tech demo which showcased a fight with Link and himself where he wields a large sword. This large sword only ever appeared in that tech demo and in one of his win animations in Melee. This specific sword would not be used in Ganondorf's moveset until the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018, where his design is based on that same Spaceworld 2000 tech demo as well as elements from his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Super Mario Galaxy
subdirectory_arrow_right Pikmin (Game), Mario 128 (Game), Mario Bros. (Franchise), Mario (Franchise), Nintendo GameCube (Platform)
1
At Spaceworld 2000, Shigeru Miyamoto showed off a tech demo for a project he had been working on for a number of years known as Mario 128. This project had a tumultuous development cycle with little to no details coming out over the years until finally in 2007 at a GDC Keynote he revealed what came of this laborious project. He explained that some parts of the project were used to make Pikmin and other parts of the project were utilized in Super Mario Galaxy.
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 6, 2023
DidYouKnowGaming video on Super Mario 128:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU1IML3xlp0

Shigeru Miyamoto 2007 GDC Keynote - Part 6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvwYBSkzevw?t=66

Spaceworld 2000 video footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62O2vFfS_Ok?t=1028
Super Smash Bros. Melee
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Channel (Game), Super Smash Bros. (Franchise), Pokémon (Franchise), Nintendo GameCube (Platform)
6
Attachment The trophy representing Meowth in Super Smash Bros. Melee is a reference to his appearance in a tech demo shown off at Spaceworld 2000 called "Meowth's Party", which itself was based on a recurring ending musical number from the Pokémon anime. In his trophy he is holding the same red guitar that he performs with in the tech demo. The flavor text for his trophy even directly mentions this tech demo:

"This...is Meowth's dream. Meowth strides all over the globe, scattering invitations to other Pokémon, insisting they come to "Meowth's Party." At this wonderful party, guests are packed in like sardines as Meowth climbs up the stage with its faithful guitar. It strikes a chord, pauses, and then rocks their world!"

A version of Meowth's Party eventually made its way into the GameCube release of Pokémon Channel.
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 6, 2023
Spaceworld 2000 Meowth's Party tech demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62O2vFfS_Ok?t=1387

Pokémon Channel Meowth's Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DcqH7Cl9MY

Meowth Trophy image:
https://www.ssbwiki.com/File:Meowth_Trophy_Melee.png

Original Pokémon anime short:
https://vimeo.com/267748188
Yo-kai Watch 4
1
The splash screen at the end of the Tokyo Game Show 2018 demo depicts various forms of Jibanyan, including Kuroi Jibanyan and Rudy. However, these two do not appear in the final game.
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
subdirectory_arrow_right PlayStation 2 (Platform), PlayStation (Platform), TT Games (Company)
2
When the PlayStation 2 was revealed in Japan, a demo was shown off of a fountain of spark particles. When this demo was shown to Jon Burton, founder of Traveller's Tales, he coded an identical tech demo for the first PlayStation as a joke. This tech demo would ultimately end up in the files of Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!, unused, by accident.
Star Fox Adventures
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
1
Attachment Dinosaur Planet was originally meant to have eight collectible Krazoa spirits, four for Sabre and four for Krystal, and each of these spirits would be obtained by each character finding various Krazoa shrines found throughout their respective maps, each containing a challenge or trial testing their abilities or even character. Sabre would partake in the Tests of Strength, Skill, Magic and Sacrifice while Krystal would partake in the Tests of Combat, Character, Fear and Knowledge.

In the final Star Fox Adventures game, this was cut down to only six Krazoa spirits and shrines for Fox to find, with only five of them even being proper tests, those being the Tests of Skill (renamed to Observation), Combat, Fear, Strength and Knowledge. The final "test" is a rather anti-climatic "boss fight" with General Scales, which is interrupted by Andross forcing Scales to hand over the last Krazoa spirit. Unused voice clips and also hints found within the 2002 E3 SFA kiosk, as well as comments from SFA developers on Rare's scribes, indicate that the dev team planned on General Scales having a true boss fight: essentially a rematch against his flying galleon like in the game's prologue, though instead of playing as Krystal flying on the CloudRunner, it'd likely would have been Fox in his Arwing.

As such, looking at internal files for SFA (as well as its E3 2002 kiosk), Rare had also intended on there being one final true test: the Test of Sacrifice, which fittingly enough was Sabre's final test in Dinosaur Planet and its overall final spirit in general. In both versions of the game, it would have involved Sabre or Fox having to "sacrifice" themselves in order to save an apparition of Tricky. Unused hint texts found within the E3 2002 kiosk heavily imply that Fox would have partaken in the Test of Sacrifice right where the General Scales encounter is today, before he freed Krystal from her prison at the top of Krazoa Palace and also before fighting Andross, who he unknowingly resurrected by releasing all of the Krazoa spirits. The music track that was (as revealed by the leak Dinosaur Planet N64 ROM) intended for the Test of Sacrifice even appears as an unused track found within SFA's sound test, and there's also unused voice clips of Tricky begging Fox for help that very likely pertain to this test. Both of these indicates that this was a very late cut.

Internally, the General Scales "boss fight" shrine is referred to as "nwshrine", which adds up considering that the Test of Sacrifice was meant to be found by Sabre at the Northern Wastes (now now as SnowHorn Wastes) in Dinosaur Planet.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 1, 2023
Dinosaur Planet - Final Krazoa test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VphKLeYw4_w&t=12s

Star Fox Adventures unused voice clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMe05NE8Ock?t=62

Unused Test of Sacrifice theme from SFA's juke box: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCDRrbhbocE

RareThief Dinosaur Planet content archive:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:Star_Fox_Adventures/E3_2002_Demo#Unused_Text
Star Fox Adventures
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
1
Attachment DarkIce Mines, the first SpellStone area in Star Fox Adventures, was another area that was more complex in design in earlier iterations of the game than in comparison to the final release. The leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet showed that DarkIce Mines was meant to have an extra set of puzzle rooms on the right side of the map that would wound up connecting back to the waterfall room. These extra areas were also present in the E3 2002 kiosk for Star Fox Adventures, suggesting that they were very late cuts, very likely as the development team was being crunched to get the game out in time of the Microsoft buyout in late 2002, similar to what happened with Dragon Rock.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 2, 2023
DarkIce Mines beta maps:
https://twitter.com/storyofsauria/status/1354955448630259717

Star Fox Adventures kiosk demo - DarkIce Mines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajFW8ikaoCk

Dinosaur Planet - DarkIce Mines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAP3HDW8Khc&t=1570s
Star Fox Adventures
1
Attachment Star Fox Adventures features many smaller, transitional puzzle areas between the main areas, obviously a way for the game to mask loading times to create the illusion of a seamless world. This is primarily noticeable on the mainland Dinosaur Planet itself.

One of these transitional areas, within CloudRunner Fortress, was cut between the E3 2002 kiosk and the final game, presumably because of time constraints with the impending Microsoft buyout in September 2002. It was meant to bridge the top CloudRunner Fortress map with the area where Fox would have to race against the SharpClaws on the jetbikes to acquire the area's SpellStone. Fox would enter by climbing down a series of ladders and then run through a storage room of some kind with conveyor belts, and then from there he'd encounter General Scales and some SharpClaw who are trying to steal the SpellStone.

This was scrapped in the final game, where Fox instead falls down a long ladder through a cutscene and, then after cutting to black, is then rather awkwardly plopped right in the middle of the room prior to where he encounters General Scales and the SharpClaw.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 2, 2023
The scrapped transitional area seen the E3 2002 kiosk: https://youtu.be/u8AR70WOTnY?t=1137

The final game where Fox instead enters cutscene hell: https://youtu.be/6MSye_MvghQ?t=1
Star Fox Adventures
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
1
Attachment In Star Fox Adventures, the boss of Walled City is known simply as the RedEye King. However, the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet indicates that he was meant to have a name: "Klanadack".

Oddly enough, earlier on, after the battle with Galdon (or "Galadon" as he's called in the December 2000 build) in DarkIce Mines, when Sabre/Fox and Tricky return to Garunda Te with the SpellStone, he tells them he forgot to inform them about the "CLANNAD-ack" and how he managed to freeze him in a waterfall a few years prior, obviously referring to Galdon/Galadon. While spelled differently, it's pronounced the same as "Klanadack", which makes it seems like it was meant to be Galdon or Galadon's name before it was repurposed for the RedEye King in this particular build.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 2, 2023
Garunda Te talking about "CLANNAD-ack":
https://youtu.be/OGlbpbIsmlI?t=102

Boss "Klanadack":
https://youtu.be/7zWsyG-Z_OM?t=84
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game), Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox Command (Game), Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
1
Attachment The English manual and prologue for Star Fox Adventures implies a bigger backstory for Krystal, in that she's the sole remaining survivor of her doomed home planet, "Cerinia", and that she's been roaming the galaxy in search of answers for the truth of her family's death, until she receives a distress call from Dinosaur Planet. With how the manual states that Krystal "may finally be drawing closer to the truth" behind her parents' and planet's destruction, it seems Rare was loosely implying that Andross, who turns out to be the real villain of Star Fox Adventures and thus the culprit behind Dinosaur Planet's woes, was responsible for Cerinia's destruction. Krystal even says "It's you!" right before Andross imprisons her in the crystal at the top of Krazoa Palace.

However, it would seem the Japanese localization for Star Fox Adventures would completely eschew this backstory, removing all mention of Cerinia and as well as Krystal's dead parents. The Japanese prologue was even heavily simplified to this:

"Her name is Krystal. Guided by an SOS that she sensed telepathically, she came to this "Dinosaur Planet"..."

The Japanese website even states that "it is not known what her purpose is", which flies directly in the face of Rare's original story for her, that explicitly states that she was searching for the truth of Cerinia's destruction. To add more insult to injury, there isn't even any Japanese subtitle presented when Krystal gets knocked into the crystal by Andross in Krazoa Palace.

Curiously, the Japanese localization of Star Fox Adventures also heavily emphasizes Krystal having telepathic abilities, much more so than in the English version. This is noteworthy because neither Star Fox Assault or Star Fox Command, the next two story follows up to Star Fox Adventures that were developed and written in Japan, made any sort of mention of Cerinia. Star Fox Assault however would hugely emphasize her telepathic abilities, and its manual even describe Krystal the same way the Japanese version of Star Fox Adventures does, just as "a mysterious telepathic woman". This also applies to her trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U that once again make no reference to Cerinia. It's very clear that the developers and writers behind Assault, Command and Smash Bros. in Japan were using the Japanese version of Star Fox Adventures as a reference, as opposed to the English version.

All in all, it would seem Nintendo of Japan had their own differing vision of what Krystal's character was from Rare, that being mostly just as a telepathic woman with a mysterious background, as opposed to Rare's original backstory of her being the lone survivor of her kind.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 3, 2023
Suikoden II
1
In the game's files, in a folder called "300_MOVI", there is an FMV file titled ROCK.STR. It is unknown what this video's intended purpose was, but the answer may lie in the Japanese demo version of the game, in the demo's "MOVIE" folder. A video can be found called M_EAT.STR, and based on its name and appearance, it seems most likely it was to be used with Magic Earth Rune - in a similar way to Unite Magic (since they all play their FMV). The last changed date for the file is 1997. The last modified date for the rest of the game's FMVs is 1998, meaning M_EAT.STR was changed quite early in development, being the earliest of them all.

In other later releases like the PSP version, the ROCK.STR file can still be found in the game's data, though they similar go entirely unused.
person Jom12 calendar_month November 4, 2023
Suikoden II
1
Attachment In support of the New Game+ dungeon and Sindar Ruin connection, Suikosource user and dataminer JiN88 explored the Japanese demo to support the idea that Sindar Ruin underwent some major changes during development:

• In the entrance between White Deer Inn and Sindar Ruin, there are 2 statues that are generic. In the demo, those statues are gendered with pronounced breasts, and appear snake-like, resembling the Greek mythical monster Lamia. The generic statues exist in the demo, so there is no reason the developers would go out their way to make a different pair.

• At the last puzzle where you put the plate in, the plaque that you would normally read is there instead of in the room next ahead.

• The two statues of the Double Head are absent.

• In the boss room of Sindar Ruin, there is a weird sprite that isn't seen anywhere else (it's a bit grainy so to see it you will need to zoom in). The position looks like it's supposed to be for an arch, but notably it has three heads. Double Head is the boss you would normally meet here only with two heads, suggesting there was originally a boss here with three heads.
Suikoden II
2
Attachment According to Suikosource user JiN88, the Japanese demo of Suikoden II contains two debug/testing rooms.

The first test room claims to be in Radat Town, despite seeming to be in Kyaro Town. The room contains various warping and unfinished textures, out-of-place objects like barrels, and two non-functioning Warp points. Of the warp points, one can be found down near a river and loads nothing, while the other can be found near a bridge with an Anita NPC and some invisible objects. While this test room seems to be empty, except for one small area featuring several invisible objects, a pushable tree that you can talk to, and a row of NPCs that can be pushed, but cannot be interacted with without crashing the game. There are also two Gabocha NPCs, one of which can warp you back to somewhere else in the test room, while the other has some dialogue and acts like a shopkeeper. Finishing the conversation with the shopkeeper Gabocha will cause the game to crash. Interacting with any Anita NPC will cause the game to crash.

The second test room contains several repeating groups of Anita, Gengen, and Old Man NPCs in a sort of army formation. The name of this second debug room is "神様の村" which means "Village of God"/"God's village". Talking to the Anita and Gengen NPC groups will have them say a single line of dialogue (the Anitas however will have no text), and once finished will cause the game to try and load something, which results in the game crashing. It's thought that they would try to warp you somewhere with a cutscene. Raww Le Klueze, global admin of the Suikosource forums, has translated this room's dialogue as such:

"The Gengens each say:
• "I am the sound change god"
• "I am the sound test god"
• "I am the window change god"
• "I am the unit change god" (for this phrase, he uses the same word as Apple does when you rearrange war units)

Some of what the Old Man says follows the same format "I am the god of !" in the middle row
Library, Suggestion box, Restaurant, Cooking Battles, Guardian Deity and Peeping...? (He also laughs after that one. Bath scenes maybe?)

Top says "The detective god is here!"
Bottom "Fishing god here!" "I'm the god of tablets" (same word as the plates found in the Sindar ruins, presumably tests that?)

Last one on the bottom I don't know, he just seems to be making noise cause it just says BABANBABANBANBAN - HAAPIBANONO."

This latter piece of dialogue might be a reference to the song "Nice Hot Water", a 1966 song in the "Nihon no Uta" Japanese local song series that was famously covered by the Japanese comedy rock band The Drifters. The first line before the hyphen is the same as the song, and the second line after the hyphen is almost the same as the song.
person Jom12 calendar_month November 6, 2023
Suikosource thread:
https://www.suikosource.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=14842

Second test room images:
https://imgur.com/CMtRBJw
https://imgur.com/YUxf3iF

Translated rows of dialogue in second test room (pertinent to Raww Le Klueze's translation):
https://imgur.com/P4ekv1T

First debug/testing room (the second debug/testing room covered in the above three Imgur links are in the attached image):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3sSmi2G2Y8

The Drifters - Nice Hot Water (Vivanon Rock):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXnucKfHEE
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/いい湯だな
Suikoden II
1
There were 2 official demo versions released for the game. Suikoden 2 (JP) demo was given alongside Metal Gear Solid (JP) on September 3, 1998; Suikoden 2 (PAL) demo was given alongside Vandal Hearts 2 (PAL) on June 30, 2000.

In the game there are 2 modes: New Game and Battle Mode.

New Game essentially has the the gameplay it would at retail until the battle against the Mist Shade, and an additional skit as an ending. When translated to English, this reads:

”Hey wait a minute! Why don‘t I get a turn!?”

”Seems natural to me.”

”...what does that mean?”

”Hey! Wait a minute!!!!”

In Battle mode, the player traverses North Swallow Pass, now called Trial Road, with a couple of different party members, battling against enemies and a different boss. This mode is also present in the normal game, but is inaccessible without hacking. Both modes also have their respective ending.

There is not much different from the retail version, but the PAL demo does contain the full base game (although it is translated into Spanish for some reason).
person Jom12 calendar_month November 6, 2023
Suikoden II JP demo New Game ending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9pRkyUhotY

Suikoden II JP demo Battle Mode ending:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWrRCRcmgvQ

Suikosource wiki page on Suikoden II demos:
https://www.suikosource.com/games/gs2/indepth/demo.php
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