Chrono Compendium

Enhasa Halls - Chrono Series Analysis => Other Topics and the Prerelease => Topic started by: Reld on February 07, 2021, 03:05:22 pm

Title: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 07, 2021, 03:05:22 pm
I recently bought some Chrono-related stuff online and the seller threw in a few bonus "posters". One of these "posters" was a magazine foldout that, after some research, I figured out is from the October 31st 1994 issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. It was apparently a semi-regular feature about video games called "V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine". I'm only mentioning how I got it because I'm mildly amused by the fact that I essentially stumbled across it by accident.

Here are the scanned pages:
Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/12/S8Y6juU9_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f0/85/fMwhD908_o.jpg)

Anyway, the main reason I decided to scan these is the images at the bottom on both pages that appear to show Robo and an empty Jetbike on the track where you race Johnny. I don't recall ever seeing this before. I did a quick scroll through the alpha screenshot page and didn't notice anything, so I think this is totally new (to us at least).

A few other interesting observations:
Blade-armed Zombor on Zenan bridge. I know I've seen blade-armed Zombor a few times, but I don't remember seeing a shot of him on Zenan bridge. I could be wrong about that. I didn't actually check for this one. The map itself is also different though. The bridge is narrower (like the super old "Omokage Bridge" screenshots) and there's a patch of grass on the right side that isn't in that spot in the final game.

An intermediate world map that has shown up in a few scans. I've seen it before, but this is the first time I've gotten a good enough look at it to notice that the town graphics used to feature a church steeple with a cross on top. It's on the upper edge of the bottom-right semi-circle of buildings, partially overlapping the trees.

A pretty decent shot of the four elemental stats in the menu.



Edit: I was just taking a closer look at that menu screenshot out of curiosity. Crono has equipped:
Father's Katana
Leather Hat (on his torso apparently)
Leather Clothes (on his head?)
Holy Ring

Also, I watched some video about CT speedrunning strats a while ago and somebody mentioned that the playable characters have some sort of hidden elemental affinity stat (apparently Ayla's is fire). Is that what these elemental icons are for, and the stat just wasn't always hidden?
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Boo the Gentleman Caller on February 07, 2021, 09:34:07 pm
A few other interesting observations...

1.) The official art of Marle casting Fire magic fighting a Hekran in the snow is created in the Trigger engine! I'm pretty sure that's nothing new, but this the first I can recall in seeing it. How cool!
2.) The overworld of Zeal Kingdom seems to have {recolored?) Crono sprites (as in plural) also on the overworld.

Quote
An intermediate world map that has shown up in a few scans. I've seen it before, but this is the first time I've gotten a good enough look at it to notice that the town graphics used to feature a church steeple with a cross on top. It's on the upper edge of the bottom-right semi-circle of buildings, partially overlapping the trees.

3.) I've seen a variety of alpha and beta version screenshots before, but to add to your observations, I don't think I ever noticed that the Guardia Forest trees were different!
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 07, 2021, 10:20:36 pm
1.) The official art of Marle casting Fire magic fighting a Hekran in the snow is created in the Trigger engine! I'm pretty sure that's nothing new, but this the first I can recall in seeing it. How cool!
Definitely not news to me, but it might be the first time I've seen it explicitly acknowledged in print that the screenshot and artwork are depicting the same thing.

Quote
2.) The overworld of Zeal Kingdom seems to have {recolored?) Crono sprites (as in plural) also on the overworld.
I think this is probably just a result of stitching multiple screenshots together to create a larger image. You can see a really obvious seam in the image of Magus's castle where they did this.

Quote
3.) I've seen a variety of alpha and beta version screenshots before, but to add to your observations, I don't think I ever noticed that the Guardia Forest trees were different!
The graphics for the land meeting the water and the fountain in the center of town are different too.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Razig on February 09, 2021, 04:30:08 pm
Interesting stuff. Maybe they used Robo as a placeholder before Johnny's design was finished? The background colors are also wildly different from those in the final game.

A few things that stood out to me in these pictures:
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 09, 2021, 05:32:29 pm
Interesting stuff. Maybe they used Robo as a placeholder before Johnny's design was finished? The background colors are also wildly different from those in the final game.

Your guess is as good as mine. The jetbike sequence may have even been something else entirely instead of a race against Johnny at one point. I find those shots totally perplexing.
 
Quote
  • In the picture of Guardia, the Epoch is flying around even though the characters are on foot.
Yeah I'm pretty sure that's just a mockup to show things off, but interestingly enough I do believe it was created in the game's engine rather than just cobbling the various graphical elements together. If you look at the first image in this tweet (https://twitter.com/Bo_deWindt/status/1150985531393658880) there are a couple of pictures of someone who appears to be working on the overworld. He has two computer monitors, one displaying the overworld graphics and one displaying what looks to me like a full-screen picture of the characters from Secret of Mana. In the top picture (to the left of the Chrono Trigger logo) you can also see a little black monitor hooked up to what I believe to be a Super Famicom dev unit. That little black monitor is displaying the same overworld image from the scans in my first post.

As an aside, I think the tweet I just linked to from Frank deWindt II/@Bo_deWindt was missed when all of those tweeted scans were added to this site. At least I couldn't find them here, which is why I'm linking to a tweet instead.

Edit: The way twitter handles linking to tweets is very annoying. In case it's not clear, the tweet I'm referring to is the one from Jul 16, 2019 that says
Quote
Some early Chrono Trigger scans from the VJump Dec 1994 issue I scanned

Nice pics and coverage of the "Dream Team" and other Chrono Trigger staff

Part 1/2
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 14, 2021, 01:30:33 am
I just recently acquired issue 23 of Family Computer Magazine (AKA Famimaga) from November 18th 1994. It has a fairly in-depth Chrono Trigger preview article in it that I intend to get fully scanned in a few days. I'm holding off because I'm having issues with a bunch of dust and fibers showing up in my scans. I've tried wiping the surface of the scanner down with some glass cleaner, but whatever cloth/tissues/paper towel I use just seems to end up leaving its own fibers behind so I want to try hitting it with a can of compressed air to see if that helps, but I don't currently have any.

Anyway, one of the more interesting things in this preview article is a full view of the world map that I don't think I've ever seen before.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/4e/85/SspdkYUQ_t.gif) (https://images2.imgbox.com/4e/85/SspdkYUQ_o.gif)
This is an animated gif showing a comparison of a small section of five different versions of the overworld. Version 1 is the version we were previously discussing in this thread with the church steeple and the Epoch in the corner. Version 2 is a small screenshot that was in the same Famimaga issue as the full world map. Version 3 is a cropped down section of the full world map from Famimaga. Version 4 is from the "Prerelease"/Sample ROM cart. Version 5 is from the final game.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/c8/83/tM1Aamdh_t.gif) (https://images2.imgbox.com/c8/83/tM1Aamdh_o.gif)
This is another animated gif, this time starting with the full world map from Famimaga, then the "Prerelease"/Sample ROM version, then the final version.

I personally find this to be the easiest way to spot differences, but I'll get a proper still scan of this new map up when I scan the full article.

The obvious stand-out difference to me with this new map is the full Guardia castle clone taking the place of the Choras ruins.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Vehek on February 14, 2021, 03:44:45 am
That reminds me, in the V-Jump March issue, there's a tiny inset of the 600 A.D. map.
https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/2/21/Frank_deWindt_II_V-Jump_March_1995_07.jpg
The exact extent of the desert area is different, and the house is further down.

Definitely not news to me, but it might be the first time I've seen it explicitly acknowledged in print that the screenshot and artwork are depicting the same thing.
There's certainly a tendency to pair the artwork with images from Death Peak.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Boo the Gentleman Caller on February 15, 2021, 10:35:23 am
I won't lie, the Prerelease / Sample ROM is probably my favorite. I wonder why they downgraded in the release version? It seems like they removed a few of the standalone trees and made some of the roads have "gaps" of just plain grass.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 16, 2021, 12:44:15 am
That reminds me, in the V-Jump March issue, there's a tiny inset of the 600 A.D. map.
https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/2/21/Frank_deWindt_II_V-Jump_March_1995_07.jpg
The exact extent of the desert area is different, and the house is further down.
That's a nice find! I probably never would have noticed that since it's just this tiny little shot.

I won't lie, the Prerelease / Sample ROM is probably my favorite. I wonder why they downgraded in the release version? It seems like they removed a few of the standalone trees and made some of the roads have "gaps" of just plain grass.
Yeah, they kinda went wild removing the standalone trees. I don't really get it either. The only thing I can think of is that they might have thought it was too cluttered or something, but I had never even noticed the difference until I made those comparison gifs so it's not like I personally think the extra trees looked messy or anything.



Here are the scans of the full Famimaga article:
Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/76/aa/59pygfiz_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/8b/55/EoyJfsBP_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/94/38/zxAEmXFv_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d8/ee/trzzSw7f_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/bd/05/AbfRRkoG_o.jpg)
Page 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/bf/1d/XOAMdWJa_o.jpg)
Page 7 (https://images2.imgbox.com/7f/80/M1r39CKQ_o.jpg)
Page 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/9c/d5/NVOYVrpJ_o.jpg)
Page 9 (https://images2.imgbox.com/76/09/M0UEF2TD_o.jpg)
Page 10 (https://images2.imgbox.com/c4/06/PEWUwn8T_o.jpg)
Page 11 (https://images2.imgbox.com/82/35/gY2vLClU_o.jpg)
Page 12 (https://images2.imgbox.com/e5/55/RolroRGV_o.jpg)

There's some interesting stuff in there. On page 3 there's a shot of King Guardia, Queen Leene, and a soldier in what I believe to be an early version of the cathedral boss room. It's a tiny room compared to the final version, but I think it's the only room that uses the open version of those windows. I don't think that shot is new, although I'm having trouble keeping track of what I've seen where at this point. There's another one in the top left corner of page 8 though that shows the same scene with some dialogue.
Quote
そんな、あわてて出ていかなくとも、どうぞ、ゆっくりしていってくださいなギャギャギャギャー!!
Which translates to something like:
Quote
Oh, no need to rush out, please, take your time! Gya gya gya gyaaaaa!!
I'm wondering if maybe Yakra was originally posing as the king instead of the chancellor.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Vehek on February 16, 2021, 02:29:54 am
There's some interesting stuff in there. On page 3 there's a shot of King Guardia, Queen Leene, and a soldier in what I believe to be an early version of the cathedral boss room. It's a tiny room compared to the final version, but I think it's the only room that uses the open version of those windows.
More like an early version of the room next to the secret room with the Magus statue. The quote's almost exactly the same with only minor punctuation differences.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 16, 2021, 07:10:10 am
Oof! You're right!  I probably need to play through the game again before I throw out any more wild speculation. Like I said, I can't remember where I've seen what anymore, and apparently that includes stuff from the final game. :oops:
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on February 19, 2021, 03:53:50 pm
Damn, somehow I missed those additional pages from November 1994, plus all of December 1994. I've saved them down and will get them on the "Alpha" page.

Would love to see what's translated for the Nu caption on the last page of Famimaga. They really played the hell out of that 600 A.D. scenario, didn't they? Should we assume, then, that what's depicted in those screenshots was another build, earlier than the Prerelease? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Zombor in the Prerelease doesn't have the sword-arms. We always thought the Zombor with sword-arms was a mock-up character (I think he's on the prism cards), but if they got all of these other screenshots live from their review build, it would mean this Zombor actually was in the game at some point.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 19, 2021, 05:01:54 pm
Should we assume, then, that what's depicted in those screenshots was another build, earlier than the Prerelease?
It's definitely a slightly earlier build, yeah. I think it's the same build as (or one very close to) the one shown in the Brut Press video. It seems to feature some of the same elements like the gradient-less windows and battling a Goon on Zenan bridge.

Quote
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Zombor in the Prerelease doesn't have the sword-arms. We always thought the Zombor with sword-arms was a mock-up character (I think he's on the prism cards), but if they got all of these other screenshots live from their review build, it would mean this Zombor actually was in the game at some point.

It may still be just a mockup. The V.Net Dash scans (page 2) and the Famimaga scans (page 11) feature the exact same Zombor screenshot. Zenan bridge in that screenshot is also narrower than it is in the Goon battle screenshots. My guess would be that the Zombor shot was part of a press release packet of stills. It's either a mockup, or it came from an even earlier build.

Edit: According to DeepL the text to the right of the Nu says something like "You seem like the type of person who would stand up to the protagonists' attacks without a second thought..." (I think "You" here probably refers to the Nu, and DeepL is just getting confused due to a lack of an explicit pronoun) and the pinkish text below says something like "He's a strange guy, and you can't tell from his expression what he's thinking. As his name suggests, he may appear out of nowhere." I'm not sure how his name suggests that. Nu = New maybe?
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on March 10, 2021, 02:44:48 am
Got some more scans to dump. I found and scanned the "Atsusugiru souryoku tokushuu Appendix" that this image came from.
(https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/0/04/Techs.jpg)
It's a little booklet, like a mini magazine, that came with the Feb. '95 issue of V-Jump. It's a little weird how they did it. The open edge of the front cover was bound into the spine of the main magazine with a perforated edge so you could tear it out (which I ended up doing so I could scan it).

Here are the scans:
Front & Back Cover (https://images2.imgbox.com/14/7e/3kujAMUP_o.jpg)
Pages 2 & 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/96/23/ZeRtyS7t_o.jpg)
Pages 4 & 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/3a/62/2ktk2bVV_o.jpg)
Pages 6 & 7 (https://images2.imgbox.com/b7/03/4fEijbaW_o.jpg)
Pages 8 & 9 (https://images2.imgbox.com/ed/96/AXHsrkLa_o.jpg)
Pages 10 & 11 (https://images2.imgbox.com/4c/d2/O3kZ24QF_o.jpg)
Pages 12 & 13 (https://images2.imgbox.com/41/6e/u7b7zxHe_o.jpg)
Pages 14 & 15 (https://images2.imgbox.com/10/80/KtU7aj9n_o.jpg)
Pages 16 & 17 (https://images2.imgbox.com/2a/11/JN0ggVrx_o.jpg)
Pages 18 & 19 (https://images2.imgbox.com/de/22/IQW0Eu7Q_o.jpg)

I did them all up as two-page spreads and tried to make them presentable. The quality of the print and the paper wasn't great, and mine was a little stained along the top edge from exposure to something. They seem to count the cover as a page, which is why my page numbers start at 2.

I also attempted to isolate that artwork of Ayla, Marle, and Lucca since there seemed to be some interest in it a while back. Here's a transparent PNG (https://images2.imgbox.com/cd/19/rdjgHQRA_o.png), and here's a JPG on a white background (https://images2.imgbox.com/ab/c2/oLrrv5mv_o.jpg).



Some observations:
Several old world maps in here. I believe these actually predate the full 1000AD map from Famimaga that I posted before. The 1000AD map at least appears to be "version 2" from my little comparison GIF. I'm assuming the other maps probably come from the same build.

The sealed pyramid on the 600AD map appears to be brown instead of blue. This was true in the tiny map Vehek mentioned upthread too. Maybe it was supposed to be buried in 600AD? Or maybe they just hadn't finalized the palette for that map yet. It's too hard to tell if the graphic is actually different or not.

Fiona's Villa and Fiona's Shrine both appear south of the desert, although the little key for the 600AD map on page 11 indicates (erroneously I assume) that Fiona's Villa is in the northeast corner of the continent instead. The change in the surrounding forest between 600AD and 1000AD seems really minimal compared to the final game.

For some reason Choras is called "Choriso" (チョリソー/Chyorisoo) in 600AD. It's still Choras (チョラス/Chyorasu) in 1000AD. Another error?

The unknown house in Medina is labeled as Melchior's hut. Melchior's hut isn't in the Prerelease/Sample ROM at all, is it? And I think that unknown house had a different interior and associated dialogue for an imp. Maybe it became Melchior's hut later? Or maybe the person doing the labeling just got confused because the map in the screenshot was outdated.

Ozzie, Slash, and Flea in the mayor's manor in Medina on page 10. There are more screenshots from this location on this page (https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/f/ff/Frank_deWindt_II_V-Jump_Feb_1995_02.jpg) of the main Feb. 95 magazine. I did a quick hack-job translation with DeepL.
(https://images2.imgbox.com/60/72/WwWy7RIf_o.jpg)
The dialogue in those screenshots is this from Text Block 07 3BB400-3BD43B (https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Translated_Text_(CTP).html#Bronze_Statue) in the Prerelease/Sample ROM:
Quote
Bronze Statue
[Green Imp]
この広場のまんなかにあるのが
魔王様のどうぞうだよ。[END]

[Green Imp]
The thing in the middle of this square is
a bronze statue of the demon king.

Ozzie VIII
ワシがこのメディーナ村の村長、
ビネガー13世じゃ!
ワシの先祖は、あのいだいなる魔王様の
一の部下として人間どもと戦ったのだぞ。
ああ、魔王様…… なぜ400年前に
人間達をほろぼして下さらなかったのじゃ?[END]
In the Prerelease, he was known as Ozzie XIII instead of Ozzie VIII.

Slash and Flea, Weiner and Ketchappa
 [Weiner (Slash)]
 オレは、ワイナー。
魔族がその力を取り戻す日にそなえて
剣の修行にいそしんでいるのだ。[END]

 [Ketchappa (Flea)]
 私は、ケチャッパ。
日夜、魔王様をあがめて、魔族がこの地を
手に入れる日を願い続けているのよ。[END]

 [Weiner (Slash)]
   I am Weiner.
   To prepare for the day when the demons regain power,
   I'm working hard on my swordsmanship.

 [Ketchappa (Flea)]
   I am Ketchappa. Night and day the demons worship the
   demon king, continuing to pray for the day when the
   our kind will gain control of the world.
So I guess Wiener and Ketchappa weren't early names for Slash and Flea. They're the names of Slash and Flea's descendents who once lived in Medina with Ozzie XIII.

The unknown village in 65,000,000BC gets a label on page 13! Buuuuut... it just says "tent".



Something else that occurred to me while putting these scans together is that I think the name of the Blackbird is a pun. There are a few sections in these scans that are labeled "KuroTori Check" (クロトリチェック). "KuroTori" is just short for Chrono Trigger (Kuro[no] Tori[gaa]). These sort of shortened portmanteau titles are pretty common in Japanese media, but I didn't get it at first so I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out what "kurotori" meant. While I was trying to figure it out it occurred to me that "kuro" in Japanese means black, and "tori" means bird. So I went and looked up the Japanese name for the Blackbird. It's 黒鳥号 or "kurotorigou". I guess the "gou" on the end makes it "the Black Swan" rather than just the black bird? Regardless, I doubt it's a coincidence that the game "KuroTori" features a vehicle called "kurotorigou". I think it's a sort of meta pun on the game's title.



One more thing I thought might be worth mentioning is that these V-Jump magazines did not come out in the month that's on the cover. The Feb. '95 issue for example came out Dec. 21st 1994. This date is in the back of the Jan. '95 issue telling the reader when the next issue will be out. I bring this up because that means despite being dated only a month before the game's release, all of the content in this issue is from at most about a month after the Prerelease/Sample ROM build.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Acacia Sgt on March 11, 2021, 01:48:15 am
Wait, Flea and Slash also had descendants in 1000AD? Huh, that's neat.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on March 11, 2021, 01:17:40 pm
Great as always. I'll get this in the encyclopedia. That's awesome about Slash and Flea. Between that and their appearance in Chrono Cross, plus the "outside arts" thing in the Japanese version of Chrono Trigger regarding Slash, I feel like they're really mysterious and interesting characters.

Didn't spot any other differences than what you found. I wonder if the Ayla, Marle, and Lucca sketch was truly drawn by Toriyama, since it basically only appears here?

Edit: I should ask, too—would DeepL be interested, or be able to comment on the going rate for requisitioning fan translations? I'm literally ready to earmark money. There are a million things I'm not satisfied with on the Chrono front (the perpetual, prophesied lack of free time to ever do another ROM hack being chief among them), but Material Requiring Translation is something that can absolutely be done, even while I'm away. I was thinking of just earmarking my own money to start paying for it, commission-style.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on March 11, 2021, 05:20:00 pm
Great as always. I'll get this in the encyclopedia. That's awesome about Slash and Flea. Between that and their appearance in Chrono Cross, plus the "outside arts" thing in the Japanese version of Chrono Trigger regarding Slash, I feel like they're really mysterious and interesting characters.
I don't know what you're referring to here with the "outside arts" thing, but I'm intrigued. Is this a dialogue translation difference? I know there's a big script comparison document that I haven't really read through. I agree about them being mysterious and interesting.

Quote
Didn't spot any other differences than what you found. I wonder if the Ayla, Marle, and Lucca sketch was truly drawn by Toriyama, since it basically only appears here?

I've been wondering that for a while myself about V-Jump exclusive "official" art in general, like the March '95 cover art. It's definitely done in a style that's meant to look like Toriyama's, but that cover art in particular is way "cleaner" than the other official CT art that we know for sure was done by Toriyama. It doesn't have the ink and watercolor physical media grunge to it (although this Ayla, Marle, and Lucca art kinda does). I'm not looking at it right now, but I think the March cover illustration is credited to Banana Grove Studio, which I don't really know anything about. I kind of suspect that the demand for "Toriyama-style" art for V-Jump around that time was higher than the man himself could be reasonably asked to handle, and that there were multiple artists filling that role at times. I'm really just speculating though.

Quote
Edit: I should ask, too—would DeepL be interested, or be able to comment on the going rate for requisitioning fan translations? I'm literally ready to earmark money. There are a million things I'm not satisfied with on the Chrono front (the perpetual, prophesied lack of free time to ever do another ROM hack being chief among them), but Material Requiring Translation is something that can absolutely be done, even while I'm away. I was thinking of just earmarking my own money to start paying for it, commission-style.
I'm not entirely sure if I'm misunderstanding a clever turn of phrase on your part, or if I've accidentally given the impression that "DeepL" is some friend of mine who translates things for me sometimes. DeepL is just a machine translator like Google Translate, but it does a much better job most of the time. https://www.deepl.com/en/translator (https://www.deepl.com/en/translator) I've been considering attempting some more "scanlation" style edits of some of the material requiring translation, but I'm always a little hesitant because 1. I rely heavily on machine translation, and 2. it's a lot of work just transcribing it all to be translated. I also don't know if anyone even enjoys translations in that format versus a plain text transcript. I do, but others might just find it inconvenient.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Boo the Gentleman Caller on March 12, 2021, 10:15:04 am
Quote
I also don't know if anyone even enjoys translations in that format versus a plain text transcript. I do, but others might just find it inconvenient.

Not that it amounts to much, but I do! :D
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Kodokami on March 12, 2021, 04:25:12 pm
Something else that occurred to me while putting these scans together is that I think the name of the Blackbird is a pun. There are a few sections in these scans that are labeled "KuroTori Check" (クロトリチェック). "KuroTori" is just short for Chrono Trigger (Kuro[no] Tori[gaa]). These sort of shortened portmanteau titles are pretty common in Japanese media, but I didn't get it at first so I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out what "kurotori" meant. While I was trying to figure it out it occurred to me that "kuro" in Japanese means black, and "tori" means bird. So I went and looked up the Japanese name for the Blackbird. It's 黒鳥号 or "kurotorigou". I guess the "gou" on the end makes it "the Black Swan" rather than just the black bird? Regardless, I doubt it's a coincidence that the game "KuroTori" features a vehicle called "kurotorigou". I think it's a sort of meta pun on the game's title.

I love little word plays like this. Wish English had a more elegant way to translate such things.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on March 14, 2021, 11:22:41 pm
So... I was wrong about Melchior's Hut not being in the Prerelease/Sample ROM. To be honest I've never really played with it much because this site has covered it so thoroughly, but today I finally tried messing with some of the "Explore The Prerelease" cheat codes on here and headed over to Medina. Melchior's Hut is there. It's just where the Medina Inn is supposed to be.

More interestingly, the Ozzie XIII/Weiner/Ketchappa scene in the mayor's manor is also intact, not just the dialogue.
Code: [Select]
Cheat codes to activate Ozzie XIII/Weiner/Ketchappa events:
F7211DA5
F7211E9F
(https://images2.imgbox.com/ed/5e/jShfXwtP_o.png)
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Vehek on March 15, 2021, 12:14:50 am
Yeah, almost all the dialogue in Medina, except for Melchior/Bosch IIRC, is misaligned in the prototype ROM. I once made a patch to adjust all the stringbanks for the area based on what was the "correct" string index for obvious lines like the innkeeper. That's where the attributions in the  translated pre-release script come from.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on March 15, 2021, 12:21:17 am
To be clear, I didn't do anything but repoint the event data. I didn't do anything with string indexes. There are cheat codes on this site to do the same for the other Medina locations, but not this one, so I made my own.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Vehek on March 15, 2021, 12:26:46 am
Those codes for the elder's house are listed there, just under "Misc events".
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on March 15, 2021, 12:34:18 am
That's weird... why misc. events? I see it down there now, but the way it's written how would anybody even know where to go to activate it?
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on March 15, 2021, 02:45:52 pm
The Slash note comes from the released Japanese version:

Soy Sauce is literally termed 'outside method sword fighter'. Two dictionary entries might apply to 外法: one is a Buddhist term for heresy, the other is a sort of demonic arts linked to tengu or using skulls.

~

I see, gotcha. Well, good to have DeepL in our pocket. I'll keep thinking about how best to attract a guest translator for the heavier lifts.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on May 20, 2021, 10:44:58 pm
https://labx8.org/magazines:pages:chrono_trigger


    📕 1994-08-26 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.17
    📕 1994-09-02 - ファミコン通信 No.298
    📕 1994-09-09 - スーパーファミコンマガジン
    📕 1994-09-09 - ファミコン通信 No.299
    📒 1994-09-09 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.18
    📒 1994-09-09 - マル勝ファミコン No.14
    📗 1994-09-16 - The スーパーファミコン No.16
    📕 1994-09-23 - The スーパーファミコン No.17
    📗 1994-09-23 - ファミコン通信 No.301
    📕 1994-09-23 - マル勝ファミコン No.15
    📗 1994-09 - Vジャンプ
    📕 1994-10-14 - The スーパーファミコン No.18
    📕 1994-10-14 - ファミコン通信 No.304
    📕 1994-10-28 - The スーパーファミコン No.19
    📕 1994-10-28 - ファミコン通信 No.306
    📒 1994-10-28 - マル勝ファミコン No.17
    📗 1994-10-31 - 週刊少年ジャンプ
    📗 1994-10 - Vジャンプ
    📒 1994-10 - ゲーム・オン!
    📗 1994-10 - マイコンBASICマガジン
    📕 1994-10 - 必本スーパー!
    📕 1994-10 - 電撃王
    📕 1994-11-04 - スーパーファミコンマガジン
    📕 1994-11-04 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.22
    📕 1994-11-11/18 - ファミコン通信 No.309
    📕 1994-11-11 - マル勝ファミコン No.18
    📗 1994-11-18 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.23
    📒 1994-11-25 - ファミコン通信 No.310
    📕 1994-11-25 - マル勝ファミコン No.19
    📗 1994-11 - Vジャンプ
    📒 1994-11 - ゲーム・オン!
    📕 1994-11 - コロコロコミック
    📕 1994-11 - 必本スーパー!
    📕 1994-11 - 電撃王
    📒 1994-12-02 - ファミコン通信 No.311
    📕 1994-12-02 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.24
    📒 1994-12-09 - ファミコン通信 No.312
    📕 1994-12-09 - マル勝ファミコン No.20
    📒 1994-12-23 - ファミコン通信 No.314
    📒 1994-12-30 - ファミコン通信 No.315
    📒 1994-12-30 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.26
    📗 1994-12 - Vジャンプ
    📕 1994-12 - 電撃王
    📕 1995-01-06/20 - The スーパーファミコン
    📕 1995-01-06/13 - ファミコン通信 No.317
    📕 1995-01-13/27 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.01-02
    📕 1995-01-20 - マル勝ファミコン No.01
    📕 1995-01-20 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.02
    📗 1995-01 - Vジャンプ
    📒 1995-01 - ゲーム・オン!
    📕 1995-01 - 必本スーパー!
    📕 1995-02-03 - The スーパーファミコン
    📕 1995-02-03 - ファミコン通信 No.320
    📒 1995-02-10 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.03
    📕 1995-02-10 - マル勝ファミコン No.02
    📒 1995-02-24 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.04
    📕 1995-02-24 - マル勝ファミコン No.03
    📕 1995-02-24 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.03
    📗 1995-02 - Vジャンプ
    📕 1995-02 - ゲーム・オン!
    📕 1995-02 - 月刊ファミコン通信
    📕 1995-03-03 - The スーパーファミコン
    📕 1995-03-03 - ファミコン通信 No.324
    📒 1995-03-10 - ファミコン通信 No.325
    📒 1995-03-10 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.05
    📕 1995-03-10 - マル勝ファミコン No.04
    📕 1995-03-10 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.04
    📒 1995-03-14 - 週刊 東京ウォーカー No.11
    📒 1995-03-17 - ファミコン通信 No.326
    📕 1995-03-24 - ファミコン通信 No.327
    📒 1995-03-24 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.06
    📕 1995-03-24 - マル勝ファミコン No.05
    📕 1995-03-31 - The スーパーファミコン
    📒 1995-03-31 - ファミコン通信 No.328
    📗 1995-03 - Vジャンプ
    📒 1995-03 - ゲーム・オン!
    📕 1995-03 - 必本スーパー!
    📕 1995-04-07 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.07
    📕 1995-04-07 - 覇王
    📕 1995-04-07 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.06
    📕 1995-04-14 - ファミコン通信 No.330
    📕 1995-04-14 - マル勝ファミコン No.06
    📒 1995-04-21 - ファミコン通信 No.331
    📒 1995-04-21 - ファミリーコンピュータマガジン No.08
    📕 1995-04-21 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.07
    📕 1995-04-28 - ファミコン通信 No.332
    📕 1995-04-28 - マル勝ファミコン No.07
    📗 1995-04 - Vジャンプ
    📕 1995-04 - ゲーム・オン!
    📕 1995-04 - 月刊ファミコン通信
    📕 1995-04 - 電撃王
    📕 1995-05-19 - マル勝ファミコン No.08
    📒 1995-05-26 - ファミコン通信 No.336
    📗 1995-05 - Vジャンプ
    📕 1995-06-02 - ファミコン通信 No.337
    📕 1995-06-09 - 電撃スーパーファミコン No.09
    📕 1995-06 - Vジャンプ
    📗 1995-07 - Vジャンプ
    📗 1995-08 - Vジャンプ


Screwed with work right now; can anyone find the links that aren't broken and save the images to a backup just in case this goes down before we can update the Compendium/get them on the Wiki?
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 24, 2021, 02:40:25 am
I've updated the page at last. That Labx8 site acknowledges the Chrono Compendium (and the scans they're hosting are taken from our resource). However, I can't find a contact e-mail to save my life, there. Since they're actually living in Japan, it'd be wonderful to offer to crowdsource auctions in order to track down the other magazines; it'd be way easier for him to do it in the actual country itself.

He's accumulated a lot of scans from auctions he didn't buy, represented by the orange book emojis in that list. I've added these to the coverage page as well with whatever images were available.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on January 27, 2022, 08:30:09 pm
I'm back to dump some more scans.

First up is The Super Famicom Sep 16 1994
Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/4c/db/xS52bQLZ_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/e2/1c/KmRYSMS1_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d9/2e/HaVAp7BC_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f9/07/9jR3MKBB_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/da/6f/W3rVFH7D_o.jpg)

These aren't really new, as they were already scanned by VG Densetsu, but I scanned these myself in case we want our own copies here at the Compendium.



Next is Game On Dec 1994

Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/00/a9/EwrR8IVu_o.jpg)

I originally scanned this one a while ago, but never uploaded it for some reason. Just a little one-pager with some old screenshots.



Next is Famimaga No. 24 from Dec. 2 1994
Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d9/51/DIZfgn8u_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/22/3e/FmqPYVaB_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/ed/be/nTUnmrRB_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/8d/4c/d8wv5K0z_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/70/ec/gIzwYlMB_o.jpg)
Page 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f0/5a/S9duswiQ_o.jpg)
Page 7 (https://images2.imgbox.com/b3/7f/lyO6JhMz_o.jpg)

There are some nice shots here. Page 5 was particularly interesting to me, as it shows what appears to be the boss battle from Manoria Cathedral, but with a Goon (Papa Bat) instead of Yakra. We've seen at least one shot of this before, but these go into a bit more depth. I did one of my hack-job translations on it, which is enough to get the gist of what's going on.
Page 5 Translated (https://images2.imgbox.com/d0/1e/YbF5ilXb_o.jpg)

Basically it's a demonstration of the "ATEL" event system, which is what they were calling the ability to wander around while a dialogue box is open. Apparently the Goon would actually react to you doing that during his monologue.

On the same page you can see an earlier gate key graphic. It shows up in at least one of the old VJump scans that are already on the Compendium, but I'd never noticed it before personally. Kinda looks like a weird gun or something.

On page 6 is an earlier version of Lucca's mom Lara. Just a generic old lady sprite. She appears to be standing, but since she's kinda half overlapping the bed maybe she was meant to be sitting on the edge of it. The door to the balcony area is blocked with pots for some reason. Looks like she and Taban were sleeping in separate beds too.

On page 7 you can get a look at Melchior's Millenial Fair inventory, and there's an old man selling accessories near the tent where you can exchange silver points in the final.
Silver points were apparently not a thing in this version, as you can also see that fighting Gato will win you 100 gold instead of 15 silver points.
There's a little blond boy where the old man sitting down to his lunch should be. Can't see if the lunch is there or not.
There's a barrel near the drinking contest guy. It's a sprite, which would sort of imply that it'd be interactable. Maybe it's the drinking contest guy's "keg", and you could opt to drain it or something, which would play into the trial later. Could also be a debug object, or just purely for decoration.



Next is Famimaga No. 26 from Dec. 30 1994

Pages 1 & 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/bb/c7/bT2JCGfF_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/47/19/7I8Fvn5q_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/30/27/car7KtMW_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/ee/b2/6g6evk4p_o.jpg)
Page 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/e5/c1/8kQU2Hq7_o.jpg)
Page 7 (https://images2.imgbox.com/66/6b/JtN9xSMy_o.jpg)
Page 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/92/67/UtBfVWys_o.jpg)
Page 9 (https://images2.imgbox.com/10/08/laQ3HJRs_o.jpg)
Page 10 (https://images2.imgbox.com/89/51/vY0XczGA_o.jpg)
Page 11 (https://images2.imgbox.com/b1/d4/tgNmMdCQ_o.jpg)
Page 12 (https://images2.imgbox.com/de/87/Yl8U4pD1_o.jpg)
Page 13 (https://images2.imgbox.com/12/6c/CVrUTluE_o.jpg)
Page 14 (https://images2.imgbox.com/c2/76/TsNtTulP_o.jpg)
Page 15 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/4f/d1hpjKUK_o.jpg)
Page 16 (https://images2.imgbox.com/94/a4/3BjtIZPG_o.jpg)
Page 17 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/66/UBET2jeB_o.jpg)
Page 18 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f3/8f/M8n4lVbX_o.jpg)
Page 19 (https://images2.imgbox.com/a0/87/eZASVCgk_o.jpg)
Page 20 (https://images2.imgbox.com/b7/c1/4C04XsKt_o.jpg)
Page 21 (https://images2.imgbox.com/e0/2a/PJkLN3HH_o.jpg)
Page 22 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f5/f9/b8QvJ1cD_o.jpg)
Page 23 (https://images2.imgbox.com/c0/bd/TuKyuaCT_o.jpg)
Page 24 (https://images2.imgbox.com/22/4d/vGNzmuoL_o.jpg)
Page 25 (https://images2.imgbox.com/e4/db/OMfx2zsn_o.jpg)
Page 26 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f3/48/MhWNDktm_o.jpg)

Most of the new shots in this one seem to come from the "Prerelease"/Sample ROM build, but there are a few insteresting older ones.

On page 5 theres a shot of an old 65,000,000 BC overworld that doesn't really seem to match up with anything that made it to the final build, and it features a couple of the unused overworld sprites. I don't think we've ever seen those in action before. Seems like it's a representation of the Ioka meeting site events.
Next to that are a couple of shots of the Dactyl Nest looking pretty Algetty-esque. I kinda suspect that the Algetty tileset was originally meant for 65,000,000 BC.

On page 13 at the bottom there are a few shots of the Fake Chancellor just before the Yakra battle, and it seems to indicate that the whole ATEL wandering around and getting a reaction thing was still in play at this point. I actually ended up trying it in both the "Prerelease" and the final version because I thought maybe I'd just forgotten or never tried it, but you're definitely locked in place during his monologue in those versions.

There are some relatively large early world maps in this one.
On page 21 you can see more clearly that the brown pyramid in 600 AD is in fact just a brown version of the pyramid and not some unique graphic. I think I know what happened there. In the "Prerelease" and the final game the pyramid has its own palette entries, but the values for the shades of blue are identical to the shades of blue used in 1000 AD roof tiles. I think the pyramid originally shared a palette with those roof tiles, and since the equivalent roof tiles in 600 AD are brown the pyramid turned brown as well. So basically just a technical oversight that was later corrected.
On page 23 you can see that the sewer access is missing from the 2300 AD map.
There are a bunch of tiny differences in the 65,000,000 BC overworld on page 24. For example, if you look at the top right screen shot on that same page and compare it to the world map at the bottom you can see that the little guard tower thingy was originally a bush.



Next is Dengeki Super Famicom No. 3 from Feb 24 1995

Page 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/fe/d8/VAVkI3Wg_o.jpg)
Page 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/7a/a5/bxkbI140_o.jpg)
Page 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/1b/db/bGhC8nX7_o.jpg)
Page 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/9c/87/6sxrsq9d_o.jpg)
Page 5 (https://images2.imgbox.com/2f/89/tS4QTkCJ_o.jpg)
Page 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/b0/fe/jRvvhvT9_o.jpg)
Pages 7 & 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/6e/72/VALeCrED_o.jpg)

A real mishmash of screenshots from different builds in this one, and some more world maps.
The world maps seem to be mostly consistent with what's in Famimaga 26, except for the colliseum island in 2300 AD on page 4. It's near the middle of the map instead of in the bottom left corner. I kind of wonder if this was a mistake made when stitching the screenshots together to make the map. You can see the seams around the individual shots used, and that island is all by itself in its shot, so there wouldn't really be anything misaligned to give it away if they put it in the wrong spot. If it's legit I'd place it as slightly earlier than the one in Famimaga 26.



Next is Dengeki Super Famicom No. 4 from Mar 10 1995

Pages 1 & 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/c7/e2/lnphM1XS_o.jpg)
Pages 3 & 4 (https://images2.imgbox.com/f4/fe/iwXt4lna_o.jpg)
Pages 5 & 6 (https://images2.imgbox.com/21/f6/3Sg7j5OJ_o.jpg)
Pages 7 & 8 (https://images2.imgbox.com/a5/8f/xtqWO3qC_o.jpg)
Pages 9 & 10 (https://images2.imgbox.com/5c/92/BLIfXx1h_o.jpg)

This would be nice to have translated as it seems to be mostly developer interviews (including a whole "CD-ROM" section, which could prove interesting), but I don't really trust my DeepL machine translation hackery with this much text.



Finally, here's a foldout from the VJump Jan 1995 issue

Foldout (https://images2.imgbox.com/b4/68/6PwvEIvw_o.jpg)

There are already scans for this issue up on the site, but this foldout was apparently skipped (probably because it was a pain to scan, or maybe it was just missing since there's a poster on the other side). Features a big ol' 1000 AD map and some old Millenial Fair shots. One interesting thing about this map is that there's no bridge to Lucca's place. It's just a strip of beach.



BONUS: Foldout Posters

Heckran Battle (https://images2.imgbox.com/ac/d1/kWIbMSlN_o.jpg)
Dactyl Ride (https://images2.imgbox.com/7f/e5/VirLsRhN_o.jpg)
Medina Battle (https://images2.imgbox.com/68/e1/LSia9aYW_o.jpg)
Magic Cave (https://images2.imgbox.com/12/2a/9nJrWC15_o.jpg)
Pendant (https://images2.imgbox.com/28/0b/tbtpyRCN_o.jpg)
Cast (https://images2.imgbox.com/76/f4/Bd9JVQnE_o.jpg)
Forest Camp (https://images2.imgbox.com/af/c3/knaSjCAp_o.jpg)
Magus Battle (https://images2.imgbox.com/16/c5/H1ErU5g5_o.jpg)

These are mostly from VJump issues, with the last two being from the VJump Strategy Guide. Those two were already scanned by someone else, but I figured i might as well do them while i'm at it. I cleaned these up and tried to get them as close to the quality of the Heritage Auctions "Resting at Lucca's" scan as I could, but they're all old magazine-quality prints so there's only so much you can do. The Medina Battle one came out the best in my opinion.



Comparison Images

I put together some comparison shots of different versions of the game. I've been sort of roughly categorizing the different builds we've seen evidence of as follows:

V-Fes 94
   The most ancient version. "Flat" overworlds, floating crystal islands, rough character sprites, etc. I suspect these actually represent various incremental builds, but there isn't really anything to distinguish them as the shots pretty much all came out at once. The only difference I can point to is that there are two shots of the earliest version of the telepod exhibit, one where the telepod is all black and white, and one where color has been added.
   This build is mostly unrepresented in these new comparison shots.
Pre-Spaceworld
   Gradientless dialogue windows.
   All Millenial Fair tents are closed.
   All Millenial Fair tents are purple.
   Taban wears a purple shirt and has blond hair.
   Gold chests in Manorial Cathedral.
   Manoria Cathedral Goon battle instead of Yakra.
Spaceworld
   This is the build that was shown off at Spaceworld 1994, as seen in the Brut Press video coverage.
   Gradientless dialogue windows.
   All Millenial Fair tents are closed.
   Some Millenial Fair tents are now blue.
   Taban wears a yellow shirt and has green hair.
   Purple chests in Manoria Cathedral.
   Yakra battle added.
Post-Spaceworld
   This one shows up in the second VJump promotional video.
   Gradient added to dialogue windows.
   Font still matches the Spaceworld build.
   Basically a build right between the Spaceworld build and the "Prerelease" build.
"Prerelease"/Sample ROM
   Font changed to near-final state.
   We all have access to this one so we're pretty familiar with it.
Final Build
   Dialogue window gradient refined.
   Gray pixels removed from font.
   Additional minor font changes.
   Obviously the build most people know best.
   
That's not an exhaustive list of differences, and obviously I have no way of knowing exactly how many builds there actually were. Certainly in-house there would have been many more incremental builds, but this categorization is at least giving me a point of reference when looking for differences.

Here are the images:

Millenial Fair Gif (https://images2.imgbox.com/d0/11/upIcsZ8Q_o.gif)
I tried to cobble together as much of the Millenial Fair map as I could using old screenshots, and then made this comparison gif of the different versions I've identified.

Millenial Fair Pre-Spaceworld (https://images2.imgbox.com/7b/b5/DvavPKe9_o.png)
Millenial Fair Spaceworld (https://images2.imgbox.com/1a/f7/kCBolutE_o.png)
The gif is super busy and kind of hard to take in, so I also made these png files of just the two builds cobbled together from magazine shots.

1000 AD Shots (https://images2.imgbox.com/9e/8a/z1ZzaM60_o.png)
Just a bunch of various scenes from 1000 AD.

Chrono's Room (https://images2.imgbox.com/50/ac/Aew8sw5D_o.png)

Gate Scene (https://images2.imgbox.com/b8/03/C3mXZdwV_o.png)

Lucca's House (https://images2.imgbox.com/3b/b0/W62UJInZ_o.png)
There are some notable differences here, in addition to the obvious changes to Lara. The earliest screenshots show a vertically oriented wrench on the table in the main room that I don't think appears anywhere else. The black cylindrical things on the floor aren't as tall in the oldest shots. There seems to be something wrong with the red palette used for the chair cushions and books on the bookshelf. It looks like the darkest red shade was set to a light gray instead.

Manoria Cathedral 1 (https://images2.imgbox.com/72/74/g7g1LjSp_o.png)
These are largely the reason I think the build in the second VJump promo video fits between the Spaceworld build and the "Prerelease" build. If you look at the first screenshot in the "Post-Spaceworld" column, the map and the font match the earlier build, but the dialogue window has the gradient from the later build.
Manoria Cathedral 2 (https://images2.imgbox.com/81/71/3mMftE1x_o.png)
Manoria Cathedral 3 (https://images2.imgbox.com/d4/52/HqHEcMKl_o.png)
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Acacia Sgt on January 27, 2022, 10:22:48 pm
Oh, quite an interesting haul.

Hmm, I'd say, one of the things that caught my attention is that 600AD World Map, with the forest housing Ozzie's Fort completely covered up. So did it not exist originally? And then that pic showing Magus with the three Generals in his boss room. Was that pic done for promotional purposes or was there originally going to be a battle against all four at once? I feel like those two things are connected, but well, who knows...
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Dialga_Palkia on January 29, 2022, 08:17:55 pm
the majority of the scans look new to me. the warm colors, the unused locations and objects that were left out like that statue transforming into something else.  Is that the day of lavos in that one specific scene with the craters lighting up? I noticed the overworld sprites look a bit different and if I recall correctly they at one point considered a mode 7 overworld for the map? the time gate is trippy as hell too. wonder if that Zeppelin was a placeholder for the Blackbird? Ah now I remember, Queen Zeal looks like she was meant to have some second forme rather than hands and a face. and what was that room with schala and janus? i see two green diamond shape objects next to what might have been the mammon machine?
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on February 02, 2022, 02:41:48 am
I just noticed a bug that's relevant to my description of the differences between builds. I'm sure somebody's probably noticed it before, but I wasn't aware of it until now.

I had mentioned before that the "gray pixels" were removed from the dialogue font for the final build, but that's not exactly true. Instead, it looks like the palette for the dialogue font was changed and those light gray pixels were just made much darker. The bug is that entering a battle causes a different palette to load for the battle UI (which includes the light gray), and the correct palette for dialogue doesn't get reloaded until you leave the area, so the appearance of the dialogue font changes a little depending on whether you've fought a battle on the current screen or not. This extends to the English version as well. Here's a comparison gif (https://images2.imgbox.com/04/7f/fMVMNLwF_o.gif) of reading the sign at the entrance to Guardia Forest before and after engaging in battle.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 21, 2022, 01:13:34 am
Huge thanks for the Super Famicom scans. I always hate having to keep things offsite, especially since (knock on wood) the Compendium's survived since 2003 while witnessing tons of other fan pages go down and get lost forever. I've literally got a folder nestled next to my Compendium backup of other sites' content, just as insurance.

I'll get started on adding these now to the encyclopedia. I'll then take a pass through ye olde faithful (Labx8).

~~~

The Super Famicom editor is hilarious, because he's speculating on literally every single screenshot without having a single idea what they're depicting. Man, it looks like Square didn't provide any captions or information about this first batch of mockups, did they? :/

~~~

For Game On! November 1994 -- I had this for some reason under that category:

https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/6/69/I-img1200x900-1548056574cajfow199895.jpg (November)
https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/File:Game_On_October_1994.jpg (october)

Do you think I may have had these out of place? I'll go ahead and put your scan under November for now.

Fed the page through DeepL as well, and nothing too interesting. The editor is once again just speculating on most of the screenshots (on the Robo one, it's "Is this a race?!")

~~~

The attached Mystical Knights concept art is totally new, right? Do we think it was done by Toriyama? I'll get it on Official Art. I have to add that Crono timeline explanation art, too, even if the magazine did it...
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on November 21, 2022, 05:36:39 pm
For Game On! November 1994 -- I had this for some reason under that category:

https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/6/69/I-img1200x900-1548056574cajfow199895.jpg (November)
https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/File:Game_On_October_1994.jpg (october)

Do you think I may have had these out of place? I'll go ahead and put your scan under November for now.

That was my mistake. The Game On! scan I posted is from the December issue, not November. I just corrected my post. I scanned that one separately a while before the others and at the time I was putting together a timeline in my head and I was focused on when I thought the issues were actually published, and I think I labeled the image "Nov 1994" for that reason.

Quote
The attached Mystical Knights concept art is totally new, right? Do we think it was done by Toriyama? I'll get it on Official Art. I have to add that Crono timeline explanation art, too, even if the magazine did it...

I could be wrong, but I think that artwork was created by the staff at Dengeki Super Famicom. It shows up in one other issue that I have but haven't scanned yet, plus I believe that Flea artwork showed up in a Twitter post around the same time that the character concept art for the PSX cutscenes did, and I think It was from another Dengeki Super Famicom issue that I don't have (the poster never said which issue).
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 22, 2022, 07:44:54 pm
Do you recognize this cover, by chance? I saved this to the "future update" folder and have totally forgotten what it is. I see CT advertised as featured in the bottom left, but no clues through reverse image search.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Reld on November 22, 2022, 07:51:48 pm
The two big kanji are 覇王 which apparently means overlord(?) and is pronounced the same as the smaller  "HAOH" in the middle. I've never heard of it before though, sorry.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 22, 2022, 08:11:16 pm
Got it. Okay, yeah, LabX8 put a ton of Overlord issues on their wanted list, so that must be it.

I feel guilty for being disappointed that Video Game Densetsu is still updating, since that means I can't upload the V-Jump Koryaku-hon world maps they did yet (the claymation-looking ones). Alas, I'll keep them in deep storage.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 23, 2022, 01:02:12 am
I've started going through things with DeepL as a stop-gap, but wanted to point out this Mystery Interview I saved from a Japanese Geocities site untold years ago (maybe I'll discover it's from one of the magazines you've scanned).

https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/Mystery_Interviews

The first third has them discussing the active time event system, and Aoki seems to reference the Manoria Cathedral Goon scenario. The bottom third has Kato and some others talking about what was added after the 24 to 32 megabytes decision. DeepL really struggled there, but it's clear that the elaborate courtroom graphics, the intro to Magus's castle, and the Blackbird (which part?) were added after the increase in ROM size.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: Vehek on November 23, 2022, 03:44:58 am
That first one at least looks like the one Shmpulations translated.
https://shmuplations.com/chronotrigger/
But I'm guessing it was taken from the same Japanese site and thus its original source is still unidentified.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 23, 2022, 04:08:54 pm
Getting through more with DeepL. Shinichiro Okaniwa is zerohime524. This is in reference to the translucent floating world map. Sounds like it was meant for "antiquity" (12,000 B.C.)

ネットで見つけた古代編のボツマップ。ガラスでできた半透明の浮遊マップっていうお題が降ってきのですがSFCの仕様と当時の技量では全くもってムリでした。 pic.twitter.com/s34vq8EJ7z<Br />
— 524 (@zerohime524) 2017年4月21日<Br />

This is a rejected map of the ancient version that I found on the Internet. I was given the task of creating a translucent floating map made of glass, but with the SFC specifications and my skills at the time, I was completely unable to do it.
Title: Re: Robo Racing an Empty Jetbike? (V.Net Dash Paper ROM Magazine Scans)
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 23, 2022, 11:43:44 pm
I took a crack at https://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php/Chrono_Trigger_Scene_Logs

One of the posters is almost definitely describing the Prerelease prototype, so that probably settles that. But interestingly, it shows that the Prerelease may have first popped up after being dumped to a CD of Super Famicom games sold in Hong Kong.

I have to wonder how a normal user would play the games at this point, considering there weren't common emulators yet. I guess they would've had that actual SNES pirate hardware that the anti-theft SRAM checks were designed to detect.