Topic: Castlevania Bloodlines Prototype ROM Leaked

[BLOOD MONKEY]

After all these years. Posted by @TheCount#5993 into the CVDungeon discord, with some emulator screenshots.

Please note: This is not the famous .5 build that the guy payed $4k for. This is earlier.
 



Interesting changes I've seen so far:
black title screen with longer intro
title screen says "1P PRESS START" suggesting the possibility of a 2P mode
different mermen
different wolf boss
music restarts every damn time you enter a room
layout changes
the inside part of the second half of stage 1 has no background
the outside part has a light blue background and the falling bone bridge portion is more difficult
the knight bosses sprite is different
the stage 2 water is different

This seems to be the real deal, as I've played the rom. https://gofile.io/?c=h8KAdw Link is relevant.

[Nagumo]

I'm glad this finally got leaked instead of being in the possession of hoarders or opportunistic scumbags who demand money for dumping the ROM.

[Aceearly1993]

OH MY GOD

Literally the greatest thing that could help finding secrets being untold for so many dayum years

[Nagumo]

Differences I noticed so far:

- Eric has a different walking animation
- Different Peeping Eye (much closer to the RoB/X68K version)
- A skull item that doesn't appear in the final game (I actually own a Japanese magazine which talks about this item in more detail, I'll post it later)

[Aceearly1993]

I think there're only two stages playable, and it seems this build still used a different password system that had been revamped in final, player can't even use the stage 3 password from final

The Goblins at stage 2 have more chances to block player's attack, make them million times harder to beat than final

The title screen and last stage music are totally different tunes

There are some controller 2 commands that can make you warp directly to different stage point, but still can't go beyond stage 2 (New Generation Beta build didn't have player 2 debug command)

Region check switch is intact but only recognize the title to Vampire Killer (Japanese region) and Castlevania Bloodlines (World) at the copyright screen (didn't trigger a different title screen graphic if there's any). I don't think the Europe region censorship even started at this point.

When the character perished they become bones instead of Rondo-style blood sweat


Use notepad to open the ROM, at the start point of ROM it says -

 SEGA GENESIS    (C)T-95 1993.NOVVAMPIRE KILLER                                  CASTLEVANIA BLOODLINES                        03GM T-95076-00   J     


Build date of New Generation Beta

SEGA MEGA DRIVE (C)T-00 1993.DECCASTLEVANIA - THE NEW GENERATION (BETA)        CASTLEVANIA - THE NEW GENERATION (BETA)         GM PR-1993-00 e                                                                E

Build date of Final build (Vampire Killer)

 SEGA MEGA DRIVE (C)T-95 1994.MARVAMPIRE KILLER                                  Vampire Killer                                  GM T-95043-00 m                                                               J     

Build date of Final build (Bloodlines)

 SEGA GENESIS    (C)T-95 1994.MAR                                                CASTLEVANIA BLOODLINES                          GM T-95076-00 J

U 


Build date of Final build (New Generation)


SEGA MEGA DRIVE (C)T-95 1994.MAR                                                CASTLEVANIA THE NEW GENERATION                  GM T-95076-00 R                                                                E   


They really made hordes of progress in a sole month...It's so sad since the zeppelin and hot steel scenes were not included in this build either, maybe we won't know the actual structure of them if the 0.5 build is already lost and never dumped

[theplottwist]

What I got (might have repeats from you guys considering I'm not even checking lol):

General:

-The levels have a timer
-Title screen track is an arrange of the invincibility theme from the final game
-Two stages available only (Castle, Atlantis Temple)
-No map or intro screen
-Getting grey crystal ball items upgrade your subweapon to always do "item crashes", different from the final game where the Up + Subweapon button is available always for special attacks
-John's light whip attacks differently and extends like an yoyo
-Eric walks awkwardly with the spear
-Eric's spear spin doesn't spin at all, he simply moves it around
-Skull item causes bloody tears to play and stay at all times in all levels no matter what
-Game starts on easy by default
-BGM 09 is new
-BGM 08 (versailes palace) starts quite different
-BGM 07 (Iron Blue Intention) starts with a beat not present in the final one
-Dying as John causes him to turn into a skeleton
-The player can jump onto stairs but not from them like the final game

Stage 1 (Dracula's Castle ruins):

-Courtyard has a torch high up you need to use the axe to hit (also there is no subweapon here in the final version)
-Skeleton with rotating mace makes strange sound effect (something witnessed on another beta)
-Hellhound miniboss sprite completelly irrecognizable. His head appears to deteriorate as you hit it.
-Merman sprites also completelly different. Closely resemble more of a gill-man
-The single ghost seen on the merman room is not present here
-Moon background on castle keep looks unfinished/early. Just a flat boring white circle where the moon should be

Stage 2 (Atlantis Shrine):

-General Atlantis level much shorter
-Atlantis water magician miniboss is much weaker and does not lock the screen forcing you to fight it
-Other two armor minibosses after water magician not present
-Medusa Head sprites are very different. They also make an ugly face with a tongue out when they get close to you
-Enemy layout on the Atlantis level (giant statue with breakable head section) is completely different
-Drowning on Atlantis level is instakill

Other:

-Konami code on main menu conjures numbers that can be altered by pressing A and B and C. This is a level select code, also seen in another beta. With the code it IS possible to visit other levels, but only up to number 30. Below is where number 26 takes you for instance:


All levels I saw using this trick were corrupted... It playing "Discolored Wall" on them didn't help matters as it appeared I was navigating some hellish dimension beyond poor John Morris' comprehension

I'll be editing this most likely lol

[Foffy]

I gotta say I do not like how when you get any item it has to "fly" to the top of the screen for it to count. Making the Up+Subweapon as an item to find seems a bit crazy to me. On a pure mechanics level, they greatly improved from this build. John doesn't struggle going up stairs, for one.

Also, is it just me, or do the Medusa Heads in this build actually seem better than the ones in the final game? Maybe it's because I haven't played it in ages, but the animations for the one in this seem more varied than the ones in the final build.

[X]

About damned time! Though it is a shame that it isn't the final Beta build.

I'm glad this finally got leaked instead of being in the possession of hoarders or opportunistic scumbags who demand money for dumping the ROM.

Yeah people really need to get off of that particular train as it makes them look greedy in other's eyes.

[darkmanx_429]

This is awesome!!

[Nagumo]

So here's the magazine scan. It's from Beep Magazine (Janurary issue, 1994). The skull item that also appeared in the beta is called "Mystery Book". It says its effect changes depending on when you pick it up (though I believe it has only one effect in the beta).   

By the way, I suspect this beta is the "0.1" version. Though that version is dated "93. 8 .4". However it's definitely not the 0.5 version (which is dated "93. 10. 7". Not sure why it's dated November in the notepad file.   

[X]

Interesting. It was a skull resting on a book, so in the end they ditched the skull and kept the book.

[BLOOD MONKEY]

So here's the magazine scan. It's from Beep Magazine (Janurary issue, 1994). The skull item that also appeared in the beta is called "Mystery Book". It says its effect changes depending on when you pick it up (though I believe it has only one effect in the beta).   

By the way, I suspect this beta is the "0.1" version. Though that version is dated "93. 8 .4". However it's definitely not the 0.5 version (which is dated "93. 10. 7". Not sure why it's dated November in the notepad file.

however, the beta we have, the skull is a different colour and it's a north american version

[knightmere]

Wow this is awesome, thanks for sharing this great find!

[Mysterii]

One thing I noticed while playing the beta is the first miniboss.  While yes it is very different from the Hellhound in the final, what amazes me is that this would have been the very first appearance of the Behemoth.

[Aceearly1993]

I'm wondering who actually composed the prototype exclusive tunes before they got replaced for final's sake. BGM 09 seems a bit too eerie & creepy if it's for Yamane's style.