Chrono Compendium
News and Updates => Chrono News => Topic started by: Vehek on August 20, 2020, 02:07:41 pm
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Something I stumbled upon while doing some research on a completely different Chrono-related topic.
https://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.com/post/172474134540/chrono-trigger-preview-showing-many-differences
(https://images2.imgbox.com/7d/ff/ndWZPnws_o.jpg)
[hidden]Until very recently, the last post on the blog was an announcement from the author that he was calling it quits in part due to frustration at having all his hard work on research stolen.
So I'm hesitant to dump full images here, and am just showing this one very different part.[/hidden]
Besides the image above, these are the scenes I don't recognize from either the ones collected on this site or the V-Jump scans I linked to last year.
- Cathedral-like room (page 2)
- A different early overworld - seems like the future, but could also be prehistoric based on placement next to a hut interior image (page 2)
- Early version of Crono's room (page 4)
- Another portion of the early overworld, with the party by a lone house (page 4)
- Factory (page 4)
[時間移動に関係あり？の不思議な部屋]
[Is this related to time travel? The Wonder Room]
ここで神秘的な雰囲気をもつ、３つの部屋を紹介しておこう。ないかが転送されているように見えるけど、現時点でなまぅたくの謎だ。ゲーム上，重要な場面かもしれないぞ。
Here are three rooms with a mysterious atmosphere. It looks as if it's a transporter, but that's a complete mystery at the moment. This could be an important scene in the game.
*床の形からすると、３つは別々の部屋にがんじ感じるけと、同じ部屋での連続した場面にも見える。
From the shape of the floor, it looks like there are three separate rooms, or a series of scenes in the same room.
*中央の物体には、目や口らしきものが見える。ちょっとグロテスク。
The central object appears to have eyes or what appears to be a mouth. It is a little grotesque.
*見れたのはモンスターらしい。少なくとも人間ではなさそうだ。敵か味方か？
What we can see appears to be a monster. At least it does not appear to be human. Friend or foe?
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
[hidden]
There's an old tweet linking to all the scans he did for that magazine issue.
https://twitter.com/VGDensetsu/status/980349834447282176
I don't know if the quality would be better than downloading them from Tumblr[/hidden]
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I'm going to reorganize the Alpha page to just make it indexed by source, at this point.
It's unfortunate that "Chrono Trigger Prerelease" was the vernacular for two decades now, because I'm totally onboard the proper way to refer to these things (it should be "Chrono Trigger Prototype", with Alpha Version Screenshots renamed "Prerelease Screenshots", but I feel like it'd be too confusing to rename everything this late in the game).
Also experimenting with the idea of small cash bounties for the Material Requiring Translation, at this point. Nowhere near what a professional translator would actually be paid on a time basis to translate, but...something is better than nothing. If I had to think of any unfinished legacy of the site, it would be getting that material translated.
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[/li][li]A different early overworld - from context of where it's placed, apparently prehistoric or assumed as such by the magazine (page 2)[/li][/list]
You mean second to the right? Looks more like the Future than Prehistory.
In fact, I got curious by what looks to be explosion effects used for Lavos's attack. I looked up what the last sentence of the text said:
外を歩いてるだけでダメージ受けてしまいそうだ.
Just walking outside is likely to damage you.
Admittedly, I Google Translate it, but I think it is correct.
In fact, wasn't the whole "Walking outside for long in the Future will damage you" thing an often-brought up rumor for years? Maybe this is where it originated from after all this time?
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That was my first thought too, that it was the future. It's just where they put the image that made me reconsider. I only put effort into transcribing the section of the scans I posted, so I don't know much about the rest of the content yet.
It's unfortunate that "Chrono Trigger Prerelease" was the vernacular for two decades now, because I'm totally onboard the proper way to refer to these things
Yeah, I've been to The Cutting Room Floor too. They use "prerelease" to refer to media coverage and source code leaks, and "prototype" for demos and other early versiobs with ROMs.
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I've been meaning to get these scanned and uploaded for a while, but I kept procrastinating because I'm a good-for-nothing lazybones. Now seems as good a time as any. Posting them in this thread because they contain a lot of the same shots (like that future overworld), but from a different source. These are from the V Fes '94 special edition magazine.
Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/59/98/hxPJEP34_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/05/c3/Fl3mGStX_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f4/fa/WlXZNHOf_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/58/85/Nsd5ZQF8_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/28/91/DxoIMgHu_o.jpg)
Page 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/52/4a/nSU7ikS4_o.jpg)
Page 7 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d2/55/OWmE1iJX_o.jpg)
Page 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/85/7b/inydCfF3_o.jpg)
Page 9 (https://images2.imgbox.com/82/23/Z9F7HiiM_o.jpg)
Page 10 (https://images2.imgbox.com/a3/e9/H5iiOXFk_o.jpg)
Page 11 (https://images2.imgbox.com/38/2e/4AxXnsaU_o.jpg)
Page 12 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d3/89/2BvasmCc_o.jpg)
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I'm drooling right now. Wowza.
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Thanks a metric ton, Reld. I've started getting things updated with the V-Jump scans from Frnak first (linking to the backend, here): https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/Alpha_Version_Screenshot Let me know if you have any ideas on how better to structure the page; no doubt, I'm starting to become aware of how dated everything feels, but...
Will begin parsing this next. It looks like TCRF's prerelease page is pretty damn sparse, so it looks like we'll be on the cutting edge again. I've left to-dos for myself to comb these for better scans of the official art (to think, we've come this far from those awful Tripod/Geocities jpegs), and to also get everything properly indexed on Material Requiring Translation. As you can see, haven't even begun to speculate on the changes/content of the individual screenshots. This is exciting!
Let me know if anything (like the Tumblr) shouldn't be added to the encyclopedia yet, to avoid stepping on toes. My usual practice has been to archive those offline.
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Did you get my scans to load? It looks like you edited out the part about the links not working, but if I need to upload them somewhere else I can try. I use imgbox because it doesn't compress the hell out of large images like imgur does.
Speaking of material requiring translation, did you see these?
I tried translating Next Gate Part 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/9c/92/1Zxw9rRW_o.jpg)
Scanned in an old preview/ad from the 9/23/94 issue of Weekly Famitsu (https://images2.imgbox.com/2a/e2/Ykx6HVrW_o.jpg) and tried translating that as well (https://images2.imgbox.com/41/4d/8lsuU1RZ_o.jpg)
I'll stop derailing this thread now.
The images posted as an embed at the top of this thread seem related to the room in the bottom right box in the Next Gate 8 scans. The blurb for the image in Next Gate 8 says it's a location related to techs. Not sure what to make of that, but it seems ripe for speculation. I also kind of wonder if these were meant to be the interior counterpart to the floating "ice" tileset.
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Yup, got them added to the encyclopedia as well; thanks a ton. I've saved down the VGD tumblr stuff in the meantime, to remain offline until someone else scans that particular magazine, I guess. I'll get these in next!
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Btw, do you know what date the actual V Festival 94 took place? I don't have a date on the cover of the VHS tape, and Googling isn't giving me much luck at the moment. I've been putting it before all the October 1994 issues on the page's new chronological ordering.
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The date on the special edition magazine cover is 9/15/94.
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Wow this is one hell of a haul that was found! It's amazing how different some of this looks. Great find!
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Oh wow, I love seeing the early stages, just how much it's changed and grown! And how it shows off the running and walking sprites, reminding me that it was a big deal then!!
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Ahhh this is so awesome, makes me want to do some digging of my own! It's so cool to see early versions of the game!
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https://mobile.twitter.com/parkerrsimmons/status/964036969444491266
I can track down the Dr. Slump and Crono cover, but the other two ("Cover" and Marle, Ayla, and Lucca) are proving more difficult. Does anyone know what issue those correspond to, or if they're also from the same V-Jump issues and just missed by that original scanner?
Throwing them under an Unknown header for now on the page.
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https://mobile.twitter.com/parkerrsimmons/status/964036969444491266
I can track down the Dr. Slump and Crono cover, but the other two ("Cover" and Marle, Ayla, and Lucca) are proving more difficult. Does anyone know what issue those correspond to, or if they're also from the same V-Jump issues and just missed by that original scanner?
Throwing them under an Unknown header for now on the page.
Cover is easy. 3月号 means "March Issue". So March 1995 issue.
Also, I found this:
https://es-la.facebook.com/pg/VJumpArchives/photos/?tab=album&album_id=694091074038318&ref=page_internal
Has scans of a few issues. March 1995 included. There could something there not yet here. Like, there's this from the November 1994 issues:
https://scontent.ftij3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/s960x960/10458958_579420502172043_8794147041675886508_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_sid=e007fa&_nc_ohc=jOOB-AIB0sAAX-bx-14&_nc_ht=scontent.ftij3-2.fna&tp=7&oh=069c49923f2c8d7cf976a55a8ab95555&oe=5F73BAFC
That I don't see in the section here:
https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Alpha_Version_Screenshot.html
As for the other picture... well, the picture next to it seems to be from the May issue. So unless they're unrelated, it might be also from May 1995.
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Aha, thanks. Man, nothing is ever easy, is it? I'll go through and compare the Facebook links with what we have from the other scans tomorrow.
I had this attachment in my "Compendium Holding" folder (where I stick things for safekeeping that we're not allowed to put on the site yet, or that I haven't gotten around to putting on). micomBASIC_1994-10_0283. I'm not sure why I had it in holding. I probably saved it from Discord or something and just never uploaded it.
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No problem. It's unfortunate they don't have full archives, but it's something.
Ah, I see, there's the picture too.
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https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/Alpha_Version_Screenshot
I've moved Angerona's old scans to this page and have incorporated what I could. However:
- She had the Chapter/Next Gate number sometimes and cover, but not the date
- Frank deWindt II didn't always upload the cover
So the "Unknown" section at the top has grown quite large. Can anyone help figure out which scans need to go under which monthly issue's heading?
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Assuming all the ones labeled as the same Chapter do belong to the same issue, then it goes as follows:
October 1996 is already labeled as such.
Chapter 7 is November 1996
Chapter 8 is December 1996
Chapter 9 is January 1997
Chapter 10 is February 1997
Chapter 12 is April 1997
Chapter 13 is May 1997
July 1997 is already labeled as such, which by the numbering means that pic labeled Next Gate 25 would belong to it too
Chapter 16 is August 1997
September 1997 already labeled like so, corresponding to Next Gate 27
Chapter 18 is October 1997
In any case, the covers should be correct at least. Doesn't look that Next Gate skipped issues, in any case.
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So is the plan to turn the "Alpha Screenshot" page into a general magazine coverage page? Since it's going far beyond the release of the game.
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Pretty much.
October 1996 is already labeled as such.
That's what made me hesitate. The October 1996 that Frank deWindt II scanned has a Magus portrait on the "NEXT GATE" intro page, but Angerona's has Ayla on that page instead, so wasn't sure if someone's copy is labeled wrong...
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That's what made me hesitate. The October 1996 that Frank deWindt II scanned has a Magus portrait on the "NEXT GATE" intro page, but Angerona's has Ayla on that page instead, so wasn't sure if someone's copy is labeled wrong...
Interestingly, the Magus picture has an 8 where the Chapter numbers are displayed. Which means it's from NEXT GATE 8. Since it looks like no issue was skipped, NEXT GATE 8 should correlate with February 1996. Which means that yes, the Magus one got labeled wrong. The Ayla one with Chapter 16 is the one for October 1996. And the cover also displays October 1996, so that one was correct from the beginning.
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Finished. Angerona had labeled October 1997 as the final Next Gate, which is kind of bittersweet.
Now, to find a translator. The secrets must be yielded to us!
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The pic with Lucca/Ayla/Marle—apparently I wrote this on the Official Art page about it:
From VJump's Atsusugiru souryoku tokushuu Appendix
If anyone knows what on earth that romaji refers to...
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Let's see here...
Souryoku [Dai] Tokushuu (総力大特集) is Special Feature.
Atsusugiru (暑すぎる) is Too Hot.
So... Too Hot Special Feature? That's my take on it as-is. Since I'd think the actual phrase was slightly fuller or so.
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While we're on the topic, I've been needing to post this here, courtesy of Cabbusses's Retro Obscurities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4VN-nHzyEk&t=943s
Uploaded for preservation purposes, and if YouTube doesn't like it, they can shove it.
Original NicoNico URLs:
http://nicovideo.jp/watch/sm21657890
http://nicovideo.jp/watch/sm21628083
http://nicovideo.jp/watch/sm21657890
This seems to no longer be present on NicoNico.
A rip of a Brut Press volume from Dec. 1994. Contains previews for various Super Famicom and PC-FX titles.
There's Chrono Trigger coverage in the first third—nothing jumps out visually, but the instrumentation!! There seems to be an actual non-SPU demo version of the Battle 1 percussion, plus the actual SNES songs featured sound rough or have different instrumentation. There is also moving footage of a couple test battles (one of those Black Omen monsters on Zenan Bridge, plus Gato on the Blackbird).
I'll get this uploaded and on the page as well. And on Material Requiring Translation :o
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Went through to identify more stuff he has:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQm_VjqqRdA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJjZ0ybw4jc