Swamp Thing Prototype dump released!

[Greg2600]

The guys behind the Nintendo Age website have created the same for SEGA, Sega Age. To celebrate, they released the prototype of the unreleased Swamp Thing game for SEGA Genesis.

http://www.segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=49&threadid=41542

[Barone]

Burt Young would say: "Whatta ugly dog!"

[PHANTOM2040]

Damn this game is big. 32meg? That had to be one reason it got canned. Also that was back in 1991 according to the title screen. Doesn't look or play too good. I'm glad I could try it out.

[Cornholio857]

Downloaded and tried it. Nothing too special here.

EDIT

Forgot to say thanks for sharing! So, Thanks for sharing!

[Da_Shocker]

Damn this game is big. 32meg? That had to be one reason it got canned. Also that was back in 1991 according to the title screen. Doesn't look or play too good. I'm glad I could try it out.

There was no 32 megs back in 91. At least not on the Genesis and SNES.

[PHANTOM2040]

There was no 32 megs back in 91. At least not on the Genesis and SNES.

The rom is 4,096kb. I'm thinking that is one reason it wasn't released as it would be expensive to produce.

[MrMark0673]

Thanks for posting this Greg!

I hope you guys enjoy it, I know it's not a video game masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but at least you get to see what it could have been. I spend the $500+ and you guys get to mess with a free unreleased proto ROM. Win-Win, right?

Matt and I have released a whole bunch of protos, both released and unreleased, for various platforms over the years. I still have about 100 more protos that haven't been distributed yet, so make sure to stay tuned :)

[john8248]

Thanks for posting this Greg!

I hope you guys enjoy it, I know it's not a video game masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but at least you get to see what it could have been. I spend the $500+ and you guys get to mess with a free unreleased proto ROM. Win-Win, right?

Matt and I have released a whole bunch of protos, both released and unreleased, for various platforms over the years. I still have about 100 more protos that haven't been distributed yet, so make sure to stay tuned :)

Thank you for sharing the game instead of shelving it for all of eternity. We're lucky to find any new info on unreleased Genesis / Mega Drive games - let alone play them. I feel bad for you guys - the seller made it sound like Swamp Thing was complete, when in reality it's just the first level. I was the runner-up on the Bean Ball Benny auction; we'll probably never see that one again. That makes this release all the more special. Thanks again, guys!

For what it's worth, I haven't checked out the new site yet. Simply haven't made time. I do hope to visit soon, and I hope they do well.

[TmEE]

That game is only 4MBit / 512KBytes... big nasty overdump :P

I tried it and I was quite disappointed for the most part... 30FPS and GEMS music, fuhhh

[Foxysen]

Thanks for sharing, it's always interesting to try prototypes.
Hm, this prototype doesn't show any kind of depth (and fun) neither in core gameplay, nor in level desing. At least in the way it has been done. Looks like it's a good thing that it wasn't finished.
Music, while sounding pretty characteristic, gets on nerves after a while.
I wonder, why Swamp Thing gets in hell almost every minute.

[Phantar]

wow, the cartridge literally looks liek it was pulled out of the dumpster! ;)

Nice find, and thanks for sharing! I'll definitely have a look at the rom (once I get home from work).

[MrMark0673]

That game is only 4MBit / 512KBytes... big nasty overdump :P

Yeah, I just took the raw file that the retrode pulled up and hosted it. I don't even know if I could dump the chips individually as the case is epoxied shut so I don't have access to the pcb


I tried it and I was quite disappointed for the most part...

Disappointed? You have to remember, most unreleased games were unreleased for a reason...

Any pull it apart and find anything that can't been seen through standard game play?

[humbug]

the dudes megaupload link didn't work :(

[Zebbe]

It worked for me just moments ago. Try to refresh.

[MrMark0673]

the dudes megaupload link didn't work :(

I'm the dude, dude!

Works just fine, just checked again. Give it another shot.

[Zebbe]

I wonder why this masterpiece got canned. I've never seen such rich colours, fluid animation and deep parallax scrolling before, and the sound makes anything by Yuzo Koshiro sound like garbage. I'm gonna make a call to DC comics right away!

[Christuserloeser]

lolololololol




Disappointed? You have to remember, most unreleased games were unreleased for a reason...

Yeah, but this game gotta be the most awful bits and bytes that ever ran on a Mega Drive - aside of the intro to Advanced Daisenryaku maybe. ;)




Any pull it apart and find anything that can't been seen through standard game play?

This would be standard procedure with most prototypes but this one just isn't worth the trouble. Whatever is there to be found gotta be even more horrible than what's presented in the actual game. Hard to imagine but likely, I think.


PS: Please don't take any criticism towards the game personally. I am very thankful that you shared the prototype with us. But I doubt it is of any value for anyone other than the ROM collector fraction among us Mega Drive fanatics.

[Da_Shocker]

Why is always the bad games come up like this. I'd love to see the X-Woman prototype.

[Golpezas]

I wonder why this masterpiece got canned. I've never seen such rich colours, fluid animation and deep parallax scrolling before, and the sound makes anything by Yuzo Koshiro sound like garbage. I'm gonna make a call to DC comics right away!

http://www.neoteo.com/Portals/0/imagenes/cache/AED7x580y1000.jpg
Dude, you will make it explode

[djshok]

Cool! Thanks for sharing that.

I wonder if there's a prototype of X-Women out there somewhere.

[Chilly Willy]

I wonder why this masterpiece got canned. I've never seen such rich colours, fluid animation and deep parallax scrolling before, and the sound makes anything by Yuzo Koshiro sound like garbage. I'm gonna make a call to DC comics right away!

How dare you try to fool people like that! After reading this, I rushed out to play this "phenomenal" game and was sorely disappointed. You deliberately mislead us! :mad:

;) :D

Does this look and sound more like an 8-bit game than a 16-bit one? I'm sure I've played SMS games with better graphics and sound.

No matter the quality of the game itself, I'm glad to see a dump of it. Such games are a part of the SEGA history and shouldn't be lost, if only as a bad example for others to learn from. :cool:

[Bramsworth]

Makes you wonder if there's other levels that aren't normally accessible hidden in there. Shitty game or not, hopefully someone hacks it someday to see what might be left over :)

[JRedmond3]

I just fall into the pit and then it restarts me after I swim around, idk

[PHANTOM2040]

I just fall into the pit and then it restarts me after I swim around, idk

That's what I've done so far.:daze:

I've been thinking about this game. It looks like an action 52 game.

[BeaglePuss]

I just fall into the pit and then it restarts me after I swim around, idk
Select the "Demo" option at the start up screen. It will show you how to transform into different things in order to avoid hazards like that pit at the beginning. You want to turn into the leaf and pump the buttons to fly out of the pit and across to the other side safely.

[JRedmond3]

oh, yeah i saw the demo start playing shortly after i posted and they fell down into the hole as the bat so I figured that's just what you were supposed to do.

[old man]

You mean it's got holes you fall into and can't get out of? FFFFFFFFFFFFFffffffUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.......................

[PHANTOM2040]

Select the "Demo" option at the start up screen. It will show you how to transform into different things in order to avoid hazards like that pit at the beginning. You want to turn into the leaf and pump the buttons to fly out of the pit and across to the other side safely.

I turned into the flying thing and still get forced to go down into the hole.

[TmEE]

Disappointed? You have to remember, most unreleased games were unreleased for a reason...
That is certainly true, though I'm quite sure there are bad games like this that got released... but thanks for the dump ^^

[synapse]

Why is always the bad games come up like this. I'd love to see the X-Woman prototype.

+1

[BeaglePuss]

I turned into the flying thing and still get forced to go down into the hole.
If any of the debris hit's you from above while you're in the pit it will knock you down a bit. You have to do your best to steer clear of that junk in hopes of getting to the other side.

[Wesker]

Yeah, I just took the raw file that the retrode pulled up and hosted it. I don't even know if I could dump the chips individually as the case is epoxied shut so I don't have access to the pcb

Disappointed? You have to remember, most unreleased games were unreleased for a reason...

This one was not unreleased because of the game itself, but because of NuVision Entertainment's closure. Bean Ball Benny, another unreleased Mega Drive/Genesis game by NuVision, suffered the same fate because of this.

Thanks for the release. If you please, try to do an appropiate ROM dump so the game can be preserved more accurately, and in .bin format if possible.

[Suppafly]

Yeah, I just took the raw file that the retrode pulled up and hosted it. I don't even know if I could dump the chips individually as the case is epoxied shut so I don't have access to the pcb



Disappointed? You have to remember, most unreleased games were unreleased for a reason...

Any pull it apart and find anything that can't been seen through standard game play?

Dont let the ignorant comments bring you down.

We appreciate any and ALL releases of un dumped games!!

Thanks again man

[MrMark0673]

This one was not unreleased because of the game itself, but because of NuVision Entertainment's closure. Bean Ball Benny, another unreleased Mega Drive/Genesis game by NuVision, suffered the same fate because of this.

Although possible, that wouldn't explain how Bimini Run made it out the door (developed at roughly the same time). If you've seen video of Bean Ball Benny, it was very far from finished and quite possibly canned for being a poor early tester as well. Nuvision definitely closed due to lack of funds, but whether it happened while these were in production or that shelving these put them out is up for debate.


Thanks for the release. If you please, try to do an appropiate ROM dump so the game can be preserved more accurately, and in .bin format if possible.

The game is in the purest form I'm able to do without butchering the cart, so you'll have to deal with the format. I can't dump the EPROMs individually (actually, I don't even know if they're socketed) as the case has been epoxied shut. I know it's an over dump, but really, is that a big deal? It's preserved and released for free, you can't really have too many qualms about it. I don't really know why a binary would be a more accurate file type either...

Anyway, there will be more ROM dumps in the future, so if you guys aren't digging this one I'm sure you'll like something else we have. Matt and I have (what I believe is) the 2nd largest NES proto collection around, and plenty of other Genny stuff too, so stay tuned for more releases!

[Wesker]

Bimini Run was released in fall 1990. These two unreleased games, on the other hand, were oriented for release circa 1991, so it makes sense the games couldn't even be finished (Swamp Thing isn't a complete game either) because the company was already going out of the water.

I appreciate the release, don't worry. I just said it would be better to have the ROM as accurate in size and format as possible. If you are not able to appropriately dump the ROM without having to butcher the cartridge, then it's ok.

[NeoVamp]

If its an overdump.. could that mean there's the remains of another game in that data?
wouldn't be the first time unknown stuff was found like that.

[Guntz]

Another run-of-the-mill Genesis proto doesn't really interest me that much. Now if Mark and Beagle could pull an unreleased 32X proto out of that hat, Segaage would more than deserve it's place in the Sega community. :D

[MrMark0673]

Another run-of-the-mill Genesis proto doesn't really interest me that much. Now if Mark and Beagle could pull an unreleased 32X proto out of that hat, Segaage would more than deserve it's place in the Sega community. :D

Ha! What, like that turd Virtual Hamster??? Come on now :p . The graphics, controls, and music are garbage on ST for sure, but the concept for game play could have been pretty cool had they polished up the game a little with further development.

Never dabbled in the 32X stuff myself, but we've got a few more Genesis titles we'll be releasing over time, some cool proto box art, unreleased games, and works in progress. Stay tuned, if you're into pre-release Sega stuff you're bound to like something we release.

[Cornholio857]

Still waiting on a Sonic 1 prototype. :D

[Da_Shocker]

Ha! What, like that turd Virtual Hamster??? Come on now :p . The graphics, controls, and music are garbage on ST for sure, but the concept for game play could have been pretty cool had they polished up the game a little with further development.

Never dabbled in the 32X stuff myself, but we've got a few more Genesis titles we'll be releasing over time, some cool proto box art, unreleased games, and works in progress. Stay tuned, if you're into pre-release Sega stuff you're bound to like something we release.

LMAO! At least X-Men was somewhat decent on the 32X.

[MrMark0673]

LMAO! At least X-Men was somewhat decent on the 32X.

Absolutely man! No idea why that one didn't go through to completion, but from the ROM floating around that one certainly had some potential.

[Eke-Eke]

The game is in the purest form I'm able to do without butchering the cart, so you'll have to deal with the format. I can't dump the EPROMs individually (actually, I don't even know if they're socketed) as the case has been epoxied shut. I know it's an over dump, but really, is that a big deal? It's preserved and released for free, you can't really have too many qualms about it. I don't really know why a binary would be a more accurate file type either...

you don't need to butcher the cart at all. You could just look at the number of EPROMs and their size if they are labelled or pin counts, to determine the exact ROM size but otherwise, simply by looking at the 4MB memory area dump, you can easily see that ROM header is being mirrored every 512K.

I am always very grateful for new dumps because without generous people like you, those games, even if they are shitty, would have been lost forever but I think that for the sake of accurate preservation, and contrary to what has been done in the early days of emulation scene, dumps should be verified before released.

[0x15e]

Thanks for sharing! I hear so many stories about people getting protos and just sitting on them so they can be elite or whatever. It's cool that someone's actually making an effort to get them out there.

I know it's an over dump, but really, is that a big deal? It's preserved and released for free, you can't really have too many qualms about it. I don't really know why a binary would be a more accurate file type either...I demand that you give me rare and unique things for free, in exactly the way I want it. The law of the internet requires it!

you don't need to butcher the cart at all. You could just look at the number of EPROMs and their size if they are labelled or pin counts, to determine the exact ROM size but otherwise, simply by looking at the 4MB memory area dump, you can easily see that ROM header is being mirrored every 512K.No, dude, epoxy. The case is glued shut. He doesn't want to break the case open. Chances are, with such an early game, the rom is practically hooked straight up to the cart port anyway. It wouldn't need bank switching or anything. Who cares if he dumps straight off the chips or off the edge connector? If it repeats every 512K, then truncate it at 512K if it makes you happy.

[BeaglePuss]

you don't need to butcher the cart at all. You could just look at the number of EPROMs and their size if they are labelled or pin counts, to determine the exact ROM size but otherwise, simply by looking at the 4MB memory area dump, you can easily see that ROM header is being mirrored every 512K.

The cart is literally epoxied shut. If there were an easy way to get to the EPROMs we would have dumped them individually by now. As much as we love seeing the data out there, we're collectors too. No sense in smashing up a one of a kind prototype when there's a decent dump already out there.

[Greg2600]

Ha! What, like that turd Virtual Hamster??? Come on now :p . The graphics, controls, and music are garbage on ST for sure, but the concept for game play could have been pretty cool had they polished up the game a little with further development.

Never dabbled in the 32X stuff myself, but we've got a few more Genesis titles we'll be releasing over time, some cool proto box art, unreleased games, and works in progress. Stay tuned, if you're into pre-release Sega stuff you're bound to like something we release.

I'm excited for more releases regardless the system (other than like the Odyssey-hate that thing). Plus I can't imagine there are many unreleased 32X prototypes out there, which are also nearly complete, and good.