I think the best way to do this is show the email I sent and received regarding this issue. Then you guys can make out of it what you will…
I sent this to Chris, owner of this site:
and the response was:
So I’ve created the topic to show you guys. I do not personally know drx, but anyone who’s ever played the early versions of Sonic 2 (with levels like Hidden Palace) have him to thank. He gets given donations by the sega fan community and buys the prototypes and releases them here: in next post due to 1 post limitation before i can post links
I think drx will get wound up if everyone emails him to confirm me asking, but I’m sure one or two emails won’t piss him off too much. I am not asking to collect the money, I just would love to see these demos in the hands of the fans who will treat them right and get enjoyment of seeing how the panzer dragoon universe was created. I know i’m dying to see them!
I read sometime ago how a lot of Sega prototypes had surfaced. At that time though none of the PD games were on the list. I would love to see the Panzer Dragoon ones. I think I would even contribute with some money if I knew it was legit. Welcome btw, Energy.
That’s the problem, proving that it’s legit. Proving I’m legit, and that drx is legit. Not sure how to do it. Unfortunatly the web is full of people trying to screw others over. All I can do is be open, honest, and answer anything you guys want to ask.
Thanks for the welcome, not sure why I’ve never joined the forum before. I’ve always enjoyed reading all the theories and stuff on the main site. I’m currently a student at Lincoln University, doing Games Computing and a lot of what I do is influenced by my favourite console… the sega saturn (not many dare say that). I’m lucky enough to have saga, it’s definetly a used copy tho! But i’d never give it up. Have to say tho, my favourite saturn game is radiant silvergun (now that is close to mint :)). It’s stunning.
Saga was an amazing piece of art in my opinion.
I really wish they’d make a 5th PD… (and get the 4th to work on my 360! grrr!)
Well it’s all down to you guys. I can get him to make a post or something, but tbh could be anyone posting on here pretending to be him. I don’t know him or anything, I just had a few emails back and forth. Originally I was looking for some Burning Rangers prototypes, due to that going through so many different iterations before release (including the lost 2 player mode). By chance I mentioned I would love to know what PD he could get hold of, and he told me exactly what I listed in my original email.
As said, I could put around $100 in (but only at the beginning of April), but it would have to be close to $900 to get both. Tbh I’m a lot more interested in the Azel proto than the Zwei… but both would be so cool.
Hmm. I’d be willing to put $50 towards the Azel prototype, if others are willing to commit their finances. Also depends on what sort of new stuff we could expect to find on the prototype? To be fair I’m not particularly interested in the Zwei one.
I could’ve written this post out much better, but I’m tired and you get what I mean.
i’ll try and get some info from drx about it, but from what i can tell the source he gets them from is reasonbly clueless about differences and stuff. It’s a bit potluck really. Some of the sonic 2 ones drx released recently were just the same game with incomplete sound effects and bugs in them. He mentioned that the zwei prototype was 40% through development, so this would surely have incomplete levels and textures, unfinished levels etc.
I’ve seen a few prototypes that are purely just the game engine with test rooms to test the characters. Stuff is often hidden within the game too… an example being the Hidden Palace Level in Sonic 2. The level exists even in commercial carts (minus the textures), but requires game genie or other such device to access it. The betas of sonic 2 show the level in all its glory but can only be accessed via level select. THere are groups of people who scower the sonic prototypes for hidden information in the carts. They find so much random stuff lol.
It’s been ages since I’ve played Zwei (it’s back at home, while I’m at uni)
What’s on the omake footage that is different?
Was looking through the main page and came across the ‘Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG Demo Disc (NTSC-J)’ that came with the soundtrack. If anyone here has got that, I’d love to learn more about the differences between that and the final product.
I’d put $50 USD towards the Azel prototype if we can find a safe way getting the money altogether and passing it on to drx. I think people here would feel more comfortable if myself or one of the long time forum members took charge of that process (no offense intended, Energy, I imagine you can see where I’m coming from here?).
Another alternative would be to put some Google ads up here on TWotA to help raise money for the prototypes. They probably wouldn’t make a lot, but every little bit helps. Feedback on this idea would be appreciated.
