Proto:The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse/Stage Differences
This is a sub-page of Proto:The Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse.
Contents
World Map
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The most obvious difference in the world map: An extra point on the world map between Snowy Valley and Pete's Castle, evidence of a cut seventh stage! Unfortunately, this prototype only contains tilesets and layouts from Stages 1 through 4, so the theme of this cut stage can only be guessed at. From the map, it looks like it would have taken place in a village setting.
Besides that, the path that Mickey takes is a dull brown and red palette in the prototype, while it's a much brighter pink in the final game. The palette of the grass around Pete's castle is a darker green in the prototype.
The way that Mickey moves is different between versions.
- In the prototype, the game draws the path to Stage 2, then Mickey walks down that path. This is done regardless of what stage Mickey is on.
- In the final game, Mickey walks along the path first, then a path is drawn to the next stage. If Mickey is on Stage 1, he stays in place while the path to Stage 2 is drawn.
Stage 1-1
Background
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There are a few minor differences in the prototype background. The bottom-right tiles of the largest white clouds are inconsistently shaded, the leaves at the bottoms of the trees' crowns are darker, and the way the beanstalks' vines disappear into the clouds is less convincingly drawn.
Layout
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Well, the biggest difference here is the lack of a door on the Wizard's house. Other than that, the second beanstalk is taller, there are two more coin birds, the topmost coin bird and beetle were moved around, and the other beetle on the vine was moved to the ground. The parenthetically-shaped vines are thicker and a bit brighter in the prototype.
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Both versions have an upper path where the player has to jump across disappearing cloud platforms, but the prototype path is a lot shorter than the final version's. The treasure box in this section was moved down from the upper path to just above the first green beanstalk platform.
There are four more beetles in the prototype than in the final version. The final layout adds one of the soldier Pete enemies, and a regenerating red block to show how the player can knock them out. In the prototype, to get over the wall in the lower path, the player must use one of the flying berries. In the final version, the player has a choice between using the flying berries or using the cloud platform to the left of the wall.
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The upper path continues all the way to this area in the final game, with the treasure box containing a cache of coins. The soldier Pete on the lower path was replaced by four beetle enemies, two more cloud platforms were placed by those beetles (one in place of two gold blocks), and the beetle in the spike pit was replaced by a bee before the spike pit. The way that the clouds are placed in the prototype makes grabbing the flying berry harder than it is in the final version.
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This entire area up to the end of the spiked vines is lower in the prototype. The first soldier Pete was removed and a beetle took its place, while the second beetle was placed lower and starts out flying instead of walking. The spiked vine section is harder to get out of in the prototype; the final game adds two grey blocks in the middle of the spiked area just in case they fall in.
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The bonus area of Stage 1-1 is simple in the prototype: Just pull the chain, grab the fruit and get out. It's a little more complicated in the final game, since the player has to jump on the disappearing cloud to get to the treasure box's chain. Two coin birds were added to keep the room populated.
Miscellaneous
- In the prototype, when the flying berries reach the peak of their flight, they'll start falling and burst when they hit the ground. However, if the player is holding onto the fruit when it starts falling, they'll be able to carry it around again once they hit the ground and use the same fruit over and over again. The final game prevents this reuse by having the berry explode after reaching the peak of their flight.
- The coin birds don't drop coins in the prototype. Guess they're just birds, then.
- The lack of a door on the Wizard's house can lead to some glitches in the first cutscene. Carried objects will remain in place while Mickey walks to the right, and object palettes will usually glitch.
- Mickey doesn't have talking sprites in the prototype.
Stage 1-2
Background
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Same beanstalk change, different background.
Layout
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There's an alternate path in the prototype that leads to a treasure box with coins. This path is retained through Hard Mode in the final version, where one of the clouds is replaced by a beetle enemy, the treasure box containing coins is replaced with one containing a heart piece, and vertically stacked clouds lead you back down instead of forcing you to make a leap of faith jump. The vine below that path (and the transparent cloud layer) was moved more to the left in the final version, and the end of the vine was extended to the right.
Special tiles were added in the final version to make it look like the rolling tomatoes are actually growing on the vine instead of just sitting there in the prototype. In said prototype, it's possible to see where the foreground tiles cut off on the middle-left side. Another 256x256 block was added to the final version which also ended up pushing the transparent cloud layer to the right.
The treasure box was moved up and to the right, which makes it slightly more difficult to get to...?
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More gold blocks at the upper-left corner in the final version. The two side-by-side gold blocks were lowered 16 pixels to make them easier to get onto via rolling tomato. To get through the upper path in the final game, the player just has to wait for two beetles to get into position and then jump on both of them. In the final game, the player has to deal with a bee first, then wait longer for the two beetles to finally fall down.
Note that all the vines are connected in the prototype.
They were disconnected in the final game to hide a bug with the Beetle's AI: If they walk up a slope and into a wall, they'll get stuck in the wall until they jump out of it.
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The flat grass surface graphics are, um, grassier in the final version, the plain jane ground was prettied up by adding sporadic patches of dirt hither and thither, and the water level was raised to make it easier for the player to get out of the drink.
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The hidden tree area in the prototype is more dangerous with a worse reward: Just a treasure box with apples and a coin bird (which does not drop a coin yet). In the final game, the upper path has half as many enemies and there's a door that leads to the first General Store in the game. The leaves at the top of the tree's crown are more densely packed in the final version. On the lower path, the wall and slope on the lower-left were connected together, making for a more natural, organic transition.
Miscellaneous
- In both versions, the tree area at the end of the stage uses a transparent effect to keep Mickey and the enemies visible behind the leaves. The prototype has this transparency effect on the lower path too, and it looks a bit odd with the translucent trees in all. The final game remembers to turn this effect off once the player reaches this point.
- There's a bug in the prototype that corrupts Mickey's palette and both Mickey and Bat's tiles. This seems to happen if the rolling tomato is still on-screen when the player reaches the boss arena.
- Bat immediately flies in from the right after the screen locks in the prototype. The final version adds a short intro where Bat flies in from the left behind the foreground.
- Bat has no invincibility frames in the prototype and is missing his diving and bat-throwing attacks.
- Bat takes 11 hits to defeat in the prototype and 13 hits in the final version.
Stage 1-3
Background
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The final version fixes the trunks of the trees in the background (some of which are an odd green color in the prototype), smooths out the top of the tallest tree crowns, and adjusts the leaves of the closer trees on the right.
Layout
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The tiles connecting the trunk to the crown of the tree are darker in the prototype; the lighter color in the final version makes for a smoother transition. The final layout adds two bees and a treasure box with apples inside. The usual dirt clod improvements can be found throughout this area.
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The frog(fish)s aren't evenly spaced in the prototype, while in the final version they're clearly spaced in two sets of three frogs each. The final game adds a treasure box with hearts right before the beaver dam.
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The two piles of purple logs at the bottom of the lake are closer together in the prototype version. The final version adds a hidden 2up if the player dares to swim through the beaver dam.
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The beetle and Pete soldier split up between versions (but they were so good together!), and the Pete Soldier now faces toward the player. The single gold block on the right expanded to ten blocks, all the better to throw at that unlucky Pete fellow.
Stage 1-4
Background
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One of the trees -- the one below the second white cloud -- uses an incorrect tile in the prototype, making it appear cut off from the other trees. A row of green leaves was added to the top of the background to fix an oversight in the final game.
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In the prototype, when Serpilante shakes the screen, the foreground is shifted up, revealing where the foreground layer ends. In the final game, the background instead shifts downwards, and the extra row of leaves in the background masks where the background ends.
Layout
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A few leaf clusters in the upper-left and upper-right corners were changed in the final layout.
Miscellaneous
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In Serpilante's first phase, one of his attacks is to charge towards the player; the boss is invulnerable during this attack. In the final game, Serpilante turns red to indicate that he is invulnerable and to telegraph the charge.
Stage 2-1
Background
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The final background had two of its tiles fixed. That's it.
Layout
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The leaf layer in the first half of this section was adjusted in the final game, mostly to remove leaf tiles that were obviously mirrored and placed right next to each other. The treasure box has a chain in the prototype, while in the final game the player has to use the Wizard's outfit to break it. The gold blocks on the lower path are all one row shorter in the final version.
There's one more leaf enemy in the prototype, and the Pete archer was replaced by another leafling. A magic lamp was placed on the grey block row at the end of this section.
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Both versions have falling leaf enemies, but the width of their spawn area in the prototype is much wider than it is in the final game. The final layout adds two mudfish in the two pools of water, an additional bean / cocoon / hanging worm or whatever they are, a Pete archer above those...things, and a magic lamp pick-up. The seed pod was removed, with a more helpful treasure box placed near its former hanging spot.
The cliff at the end of this section is much higher up in the final version due to an adjustment in the last section of this area...
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The falling leaf section is more difficult in the prototype. The player has to jump across from leaf to leaf, and the way the leaves fall in this version means that the player has to "climb" the leaves -- staying in place and using leaves to gain height instead of just using them to cross -- at least once. The final version changes this section by making the two sides of the pit almost level and changing the way the leaves spawn. Now, the player is able to just jump from leaf to leaf without needing to ascend upward.
The final game also removes the treasure box and adds two pink blocks for the player to jump off, just in case the player wants to get on the leaves sooner.
Miscellaneous
The final game adds a short section for Stage 2-1 proper where the kindly wizard from Stage 1-1 gives Mickey the Wizard's costume.
Stage 2-2
Layout
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The organic gates that are found throughout the final stage are completely absent from the prototype, as are the caterpillars that fly across the holes in the tree. A magic lamp was placed at the bottom of this section, just in case the player ran through a lot of energy in the previous area.
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Another organic gate inside the tree, another magic lamp, and another giant water bug before the next section. Outside of the tree is a door leading to a General Store and an extra rock wall. The player has to jump into what looks like a bottomless pit in the final version to get to the door, while in the prototype, the bottomless pit is just that, bottomless.
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You've probably noticed by now the short stumps that only appear in the prototype. They're mostly pointless additions, which is why they were removed from the final version. Here, though, they mark where the caterpillar holes would go in the final game...with the exception of one pair that was just deleted entirely.
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An organic gate where once there was none. How fun!
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The long vine at the top was shortened, with a rock wall now occupying its space and extending all the way down.
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The mini-boss fight against Boioioing was meant to take place on a long vine in the prototype, while it's on solid ground in the final game. Boioioing hasn't been coded yet, so the player can just walk into the next area. A magic lamp was added in the boss arena, and extra leaves were added to the leaf clusters at the top.
Miscellaneous
This strange graphic is in the prototype ROM and occupies the same space as the organic gates in the final version. It's not clear how it would work, though unlike the gates in the final game this has both horizontal and vertical orientations.
Stage 2-3
Background
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Oddly, the final version introduces a couple of errors in the background: Check out the tree in the background underneath the tree's right arm and the top of the bush in the bottom-right for newly cut-off tiles.
Layout
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The leaves above the second set of gold blocks are arranged differently in the final version, and there's another hanging leaf underneath the Pete statue's left arm. The leaf enemies start falling almost immediately in the final version.
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All of the gold blocks that obstruct the player's progress were removed from this section, as was the treasure box (which makes the bouncy branch a bit pointless, but whatever.) A platform made of grey boxes with a magic lamp on top was placed where the second pillar of gold blocks once was. The leaf enemies start falling here in the prototype, and the area in which they fall is much smaller than in the final version.
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The timing of the clubber statues is slightly different and slightly more difficult in the prototype. The out-of-place starfish was replaced by a mudfish, which makes the grey block significantly less safe to stand on.
Stage 2-4
Gameplay ends at Stage 2-3 in the prototype. Use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E029007 to access this area.
Background
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As this area was shortened in the final game, so too was the background.
Layout
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There are no objects in this stage in the prototype. The final game adds three beans and a magic lamp.
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A falling leaf was placed before the large pit...for some reason. It's not like just jumping straight down is that dangerous.
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The arrangement of the grey blocks in what would become the boss arena is different, and would have made the boss hard to avoid if it was kept in the final game. The biggest difference is the exit on the right that was completely removed in the final game. A similar screen appears in the Stage 3-1 intro, but it's not part of the Stage 2-4 map anymore.
Stage 3-1
An early version of Stage 3-1 has been partially set up in the ROM. The actual stage layout isn't in yet, but the 256x256 blocks have already been set up -- blocks 64 to 6F in the second block set (Used for Stages 3 and 4).
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Most of the unused areas use a placeholder tileset and don't have magical blocks (grey, gold, red, up, and treasure) set up yet.
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The lower-right wall juts out a bit in the prototype, but it's completely flat in the final game. The gap at the bottom is only one block wide in the prototype, while it's two blocks wide in the final layout.
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In the prototype, there are a series of long, thin platforms near the end of this area. This suggests a different setup for how the stage would work; in the final game, the player is on a long stone platform that goes across the entire stage and slowly descends, and there's an equally long spiked ceiling at the top. The stone platform descends until it reaches the lava at the bottom. If the platforms from the prototype layout were in the final game and the player fell into one of the pits, they'd be stuck there until time ran out. Maybe the platform was only meant to be one screen wide?
Stage 3-2 to 3-4
These stages are partially set up in the prototype -- use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E029009, 7E02900B, or 7E02900B to access them -- but the 8x8, 16x16, and 256x256 block settings that would make these areas function properly don't seem to be in the ROM. The game does load an early version of the Stage 3 tileset and the associated palettes, though. Not much can be gleaned from that other than a few graphical comparisons:
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Slightly different graphic for the bricks that appear throughout the stage.
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The instructions above the glass at the start of Stage 3-2 are more verbose in the final game. They're obviously on a wooden sign in the prototype, while in the final game they just seem to be part of the wall. To accommodate the extra text, the top border around the glass needed to be deleted. The Firefighter's costume doesn't appear in the glass in the prototype graphic.
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The holes in the wall that spew fire are wider and look less organic than the ones in the final game.
Stage 4-1
This is the only area from a later stage that's anywhere close to finished, with a tileset close to the one in the final version, a full background, even a working exit! Use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E02900C to access this area.
There's an even earlier outline version of the stage that uses blocks 76 to 82 in the second block set. The layout for this version is identical to the later prototype layout, though, so only the later version will be featured in the comparisons below.
Background
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The stone tower that the big egg is on is thicker in the prototype, as is the egg itself. Some of the cloud patches below the first set of mountains are laid out differently in the prototype. The final game darkens the darkest color of the mountains at the bottom for better contrast.
Layout
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The palette for the rocks and dirt in the stage has its brightest and darkest browns incorrectly swapped. The early tileset is missing all of the patches of grass on the rock walls and the bird nests that the walking eggs would call home. The hill on the first platform was moved all the way to the edge to accommodate Goofy's entrance in the final game's cutscene. The gold blocks are placed closer to the left in the prototype, making them easier for the player to grab once they get the Mountaineer's costume. The grey blocks above the first pit were removed, and the swinging orb was moved away from that pit.
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More nests and mountains in the final version, fewer grey blocks and swinging orbs. The cliff platform in the middle of this area was elevated in the final game. The grey block steps that let the player go to the next section changed to two sets of grey blocks side-by-side, taking advantage of the Mountaineer's outfit new ability to climb up grey blocks.
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The lack of floating platforms in the prototype would make climbing the mountain and getting to the treasure box impossible, so temporary swinging orbs, grey blocks, and gold blocks were placed in its stead. The large rock on the bottom-right was removed entirely. The door is covered by a Mickey head-shaped block formation in the prototype, while it's out in the open in the final game.
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More grey blocks in the prototype that were either removed or replaced by floating platforms in the final version. The two gold blocks here cover up swinging orbs, which means there's an extra swinging orb here in the prototype. The big rock at the bottom-left is glitched in the prototype, probably as a result of the tileset changing during development.
Stage 4-2
This stage is in the prototype, but it broke at some point in development due to changes in the 256x256 block definitions. Apply the patch below and use Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E02900E to access this stage.
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Download Stage 4-2 Patch
File: MQ1Stage43Patch.zip (198 bytes) (info)
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The gold blocks in this stage are just placed willy-nilly in the prototype. The two gold blocks in this area were removed and replaced by a treasure box. The outside of the cave entrance curves upwards in the prototype layout, while in the final game it's just a straight wall.
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The first treasure box on the upper path is impossible to break in the prototype, since it's too high up to hit with magic or water (and even it was lower, blocks without chains can't be broken in the prototype anyway). It has a chain and is lower to the ground in the final game. More random gold blocks in the early layout, most of which were removed. The floating swinging orbs that appear in the final game don't exist yet, so in the final game they're either normal swinging orbs or just missing. The player has to cross the large spike pit by swinging across the ceiling.
There's a long line of grey blocks in the lower path. They were all removed in the final game, forcing the player to swing across the ceiling at the bottom of the stage. The platform in the lower path is higher up in the prototype.
The two treasure boxes at the bottom are at opposite ends of the gold blocks in the prototype, while they're side-by-side and surrounded by gold blocks in the final game. The second treasure box has the prototype's only extra life, but it ends up inside the ceiling where it's impossible for the player to collect. That treasure box contains a big heart in the final game.
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There are two grey blocks and a swinging orb at the end of the spike pit in the prototype. In the final game, the grey blocks were moved to the left, and the player has to use the floating swinging orb to get out of the pit. The single treasure box was removed from the final game.
The long line of grey blocks continues in the prototype's lower path, with a staircase that takes the place of the floating platforms seen in the final game.
Stage 4-3
Like Stage 3-1, the blocks that make up this area are in the ROM, but the level hasn't been properly set up. Blocks B0 to B1 in the second block set are meant for this area.
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Not that there's much here, anyway. The platform underneath the Pete statue is shorter in the prototype, and the first swinging orb was moved up 16 pixels in the final game. That's pretty much it.
Unknown Areas
The following areas don't match any area seen in the final game. These all use blocks from the second block set and haven't been properly set up in the prototype.
Room IDs: 73 to 75
This short area was probably meant to be accessed from the hidden door in Stage 4-1, and would likely be a secret room like the ones found in Stage 1-1, Stage 2-1, and Stage 3-2 in the final version.
Room IDs: 83 to 92
A very strange section that looks like more of a testing area for the Mountaineer's outfit than a proper area. There's no way to get to the Pete statue on the right.
Room IDs: B2 to BF
A long area like Stage 1-3 with floating spike platforms that don't appear anywhere in the final version. The first pit with water is impossible to get out of without dying. Not clear what those stacked platforms in the middle of this area would do, either. There's no Pete statue on the other side, so the area just sort of ends.
