Proto:Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones

This page details one or more prototype versions of Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones.

At some point Tradewest was going to publish the NES version of Double Dragon III before the rights were given to Acclaim instead. Tradewest's version of the game had a very different script from the final retail version released by Acclaim, being a rougher approximation of the later-released Japanese version, but otherwise the two English versions are identical in terms of content. This suggests that Acclaim simply took the build that was already made for Tradewest and made their own changes from there, while Technos independently refined their own version for their native Japanese market.

(Source: Hidden Palace)

To do: retake screenshots with correct resolution

Title

Prototype	Final

The publisher's logo was changed, as was the subtitle from "The Rosetta Stone" to "The Sacred Stones". The Tradewest logo is still in the CHR data in the Japanese version, but is unused in that version.

Script Differences

Opening

Prototype	Final

The opening text in the prototype is almost identical to the opening of the arcade game. Like in the final version, the first screen varies between games modes, showing Billy by himself in 1-player mode or with his brother Jimmy in 2-players mode. In a bit of an oversight, the second opening screen in the prototype is always written in the plural form and doesn't seem to have any singular variant to take into account the fact that you only have Billy at the start of the game.

Prototype	Final

Despite this, the prototype doesn't have the now-infamous Bimmy typo when it shows both Lee brothers.

Mission 1

The dialogue is formatted a bit differently in the prototype. In the prototype, each dialogue box has the speaker's name aligned to the left and their line written around quotation mark on the right (very similar to the Japanese version). In the final version, the character's name (with a colon next to it) only appears the first time a character speaks and the entire dialogue box is used rather than just right portion.

Prototype	Final
ALDO "WELL,WELL, JIM HAS PAID BACK THE BLACK WARRIORS"	BRETT:LISTEN! I TRIED TO STOP THEM BUT THEY WERE TOO POWERFUL FOR ME.
ALDO "THEY'RE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE CITY."	THEY'RE GREAT FIGHTERS, BUT THE ONE YOU MUST FEAR THE MOST IS...

Prototype	Final
HIRUKO "JIM IS THE BROTHER OF WILLY, THE GUY YOU KILLED 3 YEARS AGO."	HIRUKO:I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR YOUR FRIEND BRETT. WE MUST WORK TOGETHER TO AVENGE HIM AND
HIRUKO "THE FIRST STONE IS IN CHINA."	RESCUE MARION. HURRY! WE MUST GO BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
HIRUKO "DOUBLE DRAGON, YOUR BATTLE WILL BEGIN."	WE HAVE A LONG JOURNEY. I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT THE FIRST STONE IS IN CHINA.

Mission 2

Prototype	Final
CHIN "HAVEN'T SEEN YOU TWO FOR A LONG TIME, LEE BROTHERS"	CHIN:I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS THIS MOMENT FOR A LONG TIME LEE BROTHERS
CHIN "DON'T YOU REMEMBER ME?"	WHAT'S WRONG? DON'T YOU REMEMBER ME? I'LL REMIND YOU... BEFORE I DESTROY YOU.
CHIN "I'M CHIN SEIMEI, THE BROTHER OF CHIN TAIMEI."	YOU KILLED MY BROTHER IN YOUR BATTLE WITH THE SHADOW WARRIORS.
CHIN "NOW I'LL SHOW YOU HOW TO KUNG-FU"	NOW GET READY TO FEEL THE FORCE OF MY REVENGE. MY KUNG FU IS WITHOUT EQUAL.

Prototype	Final
CHIN "YOU ARE TOUGHER THAN I EXPECTED. NO WONDER MY BROTHER COULDN'T WIN."	CHIN:I AM BEATEN! YOU ARE THE GREATEST MARTIAL ARTISTS IN THE WORLD.
CHIN "THE STONES SECRET.... I WISH I NEVER KNEW..."	HERE IS THE FIRST STONE. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO JOIN YOU ON YOUR TRIP TO JAPAN.

Mission 3

Prototype	Final
RANZOU "WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MEN?"	RANZOU:WELCOME DOUBLE DRAGONS. YOU MAY HAVE GOTTEN PAST MY MEN....
RANZOU "TRY AND BEAT MY NINPOU, DOUBLE DRAGON"	BUT THEY FIGHT LIKE CHILDREN COMPARED TO ME. MY NINPOU IS UNBEATABLE.

Prototype	Final
RANZOU "ONLY YOU TWO HAVE BEATEN MY NINPOU."	RANZOU:I AM DISGRACED. I HAVE TASTED DEFEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME.
RANZOU "I'LL GIVE YOU THE STONE. BUT YOU MUST TAKE ME TO EGYPT."	YOU'VE EARNED THE SECOND STONE AND ALSO MY RESPECT. MAY I JOIN YOU?

Prototype	Final
HIRUKO "I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. YOU TWO ARE REMARKABLY STRONG."	HIRUKO:IT CAN NOW BE TOLD. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD THE THIRD STONE.
HIRUKO "I HAVE THE THIRD STONE."	WE MUST NOW TRAVEL TO EGYPT TO FREE MARION.
HIRUKO "FROM NOW ON, YOU'LL NEED MY HELP, WON'T YOU?"	BUT BEFORE WE DO, WE MUST SPEND TIME IN ITALY, PRACTISING FOR THE BIG BATTLE.

Mission 5

Prototype	Final
HIRUKO "WE'VE DONE SO WELL SO FAR."	HIRUKO:MARION IS BEING HELD BEHIND THAT DOOR. I MUST PUT THE STONES IN PLACE.
HIRUKO "THE KEY IS IN THE WALL."	THEY WILL OPEN THE DOOR AND ALLOW YOU TO FREE HER.
HIRUKO "GO AND FIGHT."	THERE IS LITTLE TIME TO LOSE. LET US ENTER THE ROOM QUICKLY.

Prototype	Final
HIRUKO "YOU CAN'T OPEN THIS DOOR WITHOUT THE FOURTH STONE. HA!"	HIRUKO:I LIED TO YOU! YOUR FRIEND BRETT TRIED TO WARN YOU, BUT I SILENCED HIM.
HIRUKO "DON'T WORRY. I'LL KEEP CLEOPATRA'S TREASURE."	I HAVE THREE SACRED STONES OF POWER, I MUST GET THE FOURTH TO CONTROL THE WORLD.

The text-only screen that explains Hiruko's death is not in the prototype.

Ending

Prototype	Final

Like the opening, the prototype version of the ending originally featured text copied verbatim from the arcade game. While the first screen was simply rewritten to better fit the altered premise of the finalized English version, the final screen showing the three Rosetta Stones was completely replaced with a new screen featuring a reused image of Hiruko from the opening and an explanation of her fate in the game.

The character-specific epilogues in the prototype are pretty close to the finalized versions. Billy's and Jimmy's were rewritten to be more distinct from each other (but basically say the same thing), while Chin's and Ranzou's were made more elaborate.

Unused Text

Chin Seimei's pre-battle dialogue has additional text strings in which he addresses Billy and Jimmy Lee individually. This suggests that his dialogue was supposed to vary depending on whether the player confronts him alone as either Lee brother or as both in co-op. However, Chin will always address the player as a pair, even when playing alone, leaving the singular variants of dialogue unused.