Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to thank you, Jon for all the wonderful games you've given us over the years and for all the interesting information you've shared with us lately. It's amazing to find out new facts about the games you've grown up with and finally find out how exactly such feats were possible.
While watching your Director's Commentary on Mickey Mania i suddenly realized that i might have a little story to tell and a couple of questions to ask you. I'm not sure if you'll have the time to read all this or not, but if at all possible, it would be wonderful if you could at least briefly look through and comment on the stuff below.
In any case, the gist of it is that in the 90s i had a Mickey Mania cartridge for the Genesis. I enjoyed the game a lot and tried time and again to complete it. Little did i know that my attempts were futile. I live in Russia and some of you might be aware that at that time Genesis was not distributed legally in my country. Thus buying games for it was kind of a gamble. Not as much of a gamble as buying 8bit games, but still. A game you purchased could turn out to be from any region, it could be a hack or a pirate original port for example. And so, much later i realized that all this time i had been playing a beta version of Mickey Mania. It became clear when i played an actual finished version of the game a friend of mine was lucky to have.
What intrigues me the most is where has the beta version come from? Was it showcased at some event and stolen from there? Was it a version meant for the publisher and then somehow leaked? I still have the cartridge now and so i decided to play through both versions back to back, while comparing the differences. If everything listed below is common knowledge, i sincerely apologize. I searched a bit, but haven't found footage of this version on youtube. I should also gravely apologize for the awful quality of the phone-taken screenshots (i was playing the beta version on the actual genesis hooked to the TV after all), but i hope that you can at least make something out.
Below, i will list all the details i noticed that differ between the beta and the final version. Big and small, insignificant and game-breaking, with screenshots where available.
The beta version has no copyright screens whatsoever. Not even a "Press Start" title screen. As soon as you turn on the console, you are greeted with the main menu screen. The screen itself differs slightly from the final version. Mickey symbol is in the background instead of the usual "MM" (the same applies to all the message screens) and the cursor is the 1up icon instead of a pencil.
Options menu has a unique tune playing in the background, while the final options screen is dead silent. Difficulty option won't let you select easy, it's limited to normal and hard. The maximum number of lives you may choose to start with is four instead of five. No help screen option either.
In the sound test the track "Table" is identical to "Garden" (when you play through the table
section in this version, the Garden music is actually playing in the background). The "Dungeon" music is replaced with the "EoL Boss3" music from the final game, which is absent here along with "EoL Boss2". Only "EoL Boss" remains and it doesn't have a number in the title. The ultimately unused "Options" tune is present here btw.
In the FX section of the sound test the effect "Explode 3" is instead named "Die". Quite sinister, no wonder it was changed. The "Whistle" sound is completely different, sounding much less like a whistle.
In the speech section of the sound test the effect "Think...." is named "Hmmmm....". The last two entries, "Squawk!" and "Woof!" are missing altogether. As we will later find out, they're not just unlisted, but not present during gameplay at all.
Let's finally start the game, shall we?
In the beginning of the first stage, the dialogue between the two Mickeys is quite different. Instead of a simple "Hmm" and "Uh-oh!", Modern Mickey greets his past self with a "Hiya, pal!", to
which the monochrome mouse replies with "Whoa! Watch out!" before running away. Also, after
hitting the trigger for this scene, Mickey doesn't readjust himself and his face is obstructed.
The parrots don't make any squawking sounds when hit. After defeating the boss, the screen does not scroll to the right to reveal Classic Mickey. The level abruptly ends and the "Congratulations!" message is a bit different. Instead of "Mickey has stopped the cranes and rescued Steamboat Willie!" it says "Mickey has stopped the cranes from causing any more trouble!"
In the second stage Mickey reacts to every skeleton dropping from above with "Watch out!" instead of "Uh-oh!". During the cart segment, the music "EoL Boss1" is playing instead of "EoL Boss2", which apparently, isn't in this version to begin with. Sound effects are completely absent during the tower section. The message after finding the Mad Doctor Mickey is mostly the same, save for "Whoops!" instead of "Yikes!" Very important! :D In the section where you have to mix an exploding potion, the containers with liquid actually look like syringes instead of wooden constructions marked with skulls and crossbones. Mickey calls his pet with "Here boy!" instead of "C'mon, Pluto!" at the end of the stage.
Music during the first section of the third stage is actually the same as during the beginning of Steamboat Willie. Mickey yells 'Watch out!" instead of "Uh-oh! when chased by the moose and the moose himself doesn't make any sounds when galloping through the screen. Moose hunters Mickey does not appear at the end of the section. There is no message between the two parts, after the first segment you go straight to fleeing from the rampaging moose.
On a side note, during my comparison playthrough, a frame limit bug occurred during the moose stage and instead of the message about a secret warp Jon mentioned in one of his videos, an actual error message appeared saying "Welcome to bug world. An error has occured of the following description: DMA over frame limit." The background of the message features scrolling grey text "Bugs and yet more bugs". As you can see, the message is written in a font used in Puggsy. I assume, this was a standard error message before the brilliant idea to mask it as a secret warp message. Also worthy of note is that i couldn't advance after seeing that message, no convenient skip to the next level or anything of the sort, so the only way out was to reset the game.
In stage four there is no sound effect of Pluto barking, so he keeps yapping his mouth silently. Mickey also says "C'mon, Pluto!" right after the raft ride, unlike in the final version. Traditionally, Lonesome Ghosts Mickey is not present at the end of the stage and the message, drastically different from the final one reflects that. So, it's safe to assume that during the time of this beta build other Mickeys were not meant to appear in the levels themselves, except for the secret ones like the Mad Doctor Mickey.
Stage five is named differently — "Fun and Fancy Free", which is technically more accurate than "Mickey and the Beanstalk" from the final version, since this cartoon was a part of the movie by the former name. Design of the bottle in the opening also somewhat differs from the final version. Pluto's barking is once again not heard during the garden section. Messages before the bonus level and upon its completion are a bit different and also instead of a continue like in the final version, you get 3 extra lives. Which one is better? Debatable, but i prefer the lives personally. :) As i mentioned above, during the table section, the "Garden" background music plays instead of a unique one. Naturally, Beanstalk Mickey is nowhere to be found and also the stage ends a little bit earlier. Different messages as expected.
In the final stage both Mickeys are absent and so are the message screens between sections, praising you for finding them. The dungeon section yet again uses boss theme instead of the final version tune, and honestly, in this particular case it fits much better. At the end of the dungeon the moving platform is of a different color, but curiously, Prince Mickey isn't just missing, but there's a key in his place. The tower ascent has no sound effects, just like the first tower section in Mad Doctor stage.
And then begins the final section of the beta version. Yes, your memory does not betray you, it shouldn't be the last one, but in this version of the game it is impossible to complete it (to my knowledge at least, and believe me, i've been trying for years). How it should work is Mickey must make haste jumping from ledge to ledge, dispatching the annoying weasel soldiers, while the flame below swiftly rises. A neat and tough auto-scrolling segment, where you have to catch a good rhythm, while being as fast and precise as possible.
In the beta version, however, it works a bit differently. The flames almost immediately ascend beyond the upper boarder of the screen. the auto-scrolling continues, however after reaching about halfway through the section, Mickey will inevitably die. In fact, the screen doesn't even really care if you even try to jump and climb. You may stay at the very bottom and will not die until the screen reaches the point of your certain doom. I'll attach a terribly muddy and shaky video which shows the whole ordeal.
As a kid i was confused and assumed i was doing something wrong. In fact the one in the wrong were the people who stole this beta version, dumped it on a cartridge and sold to me as a finished game. But of course, i had no way of knowing that at the time.
Now, 20+ years later, it's clear that what's happening is either an anti-piracy measure (unlikely, considering it's a beta build, but would've been a pretty cool way to teach pesky pirates a lesson), or a section of a stage in an unfinished state.
So, Jon, could you please answer the questions that's been bugging me for years: Are you familiar with this beta build? Do you know how and why it was leaked? Perhaps you even still have this build stashed away somewhere. And most importantly, why was this auto-scrolling ascent section at the end in an unbeatable state? Was it an error? An unfinished section? Something you didn't bother to finish in a build meant for publishers? Or was it actually some way of anti-piracy, checking for lack of copyrights and locking the player out of completing the game? I would love to know.
Even if you don't answer, it's fine. I'm simply happy to share this fragment of my childhood with you and all the people on this forum.
I doubt anyone is still reading at this point, but if so, thank you very much for your attention. Good luck and be safe, everyone!
I am glad to read this wonderful article.