Burning Rangers (Dec 1, 1997 prototype)

Burning Rangers (Dec 1, 1997 prototype)
Dump status Released Dumped by Sazpaimon Released by Hidden Palace File release date July 24, 2021 Origin CD-R Labels BURNING RANGERS 1/12/97 Japan NTSC Alpha Dump method DiscImageCreator (DICUI) - PX-W4012A Ownership Unknown (1997-2021), Sazpaimon (2021-Present) Game Burning Rangers System Sega Saturn Genre Action Final build JP Jan 27, 1998 EU May 6, 1998 US May 6, 1998 Release date EU Jun 16, 1998 JP Feb 26, 1998 US May 31, 1998

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A prototype of Burning Rangers for the Sega Saturn.

Notes

The Cutting Room Floor research

This prototype has a research article on TCRF.

• There are no extra files on the disc (like wallpapers, etc).
• Load times are actually shorter in the prototype in comparison to the final game.
• Despite the game being in Japanese, most of the text and menus are in English already. The opening FMV is different as it features a preliminary English version, while using a rough demo version of the Short Track version of the main theme.
• The title screen is using a lower quality background in comparison to the final. The copyright year in the prototype is 1997 while the final was changed to 1998.
• Game starts with a demo of Stage 3 with Shou in this build, followed by a demo of Stage 2 with Tillis. The main theme of the game plays instead of the character themes. When the demo is over it goes back to the title screen. After the Tillis demo, it’ll try and load up the Sega logo but it will be corrupt.
• There’s no Data Select menu in the prototype. Instead it goes right to the Mode Select.
• A VS MODE option is available from the main menu that was removed from the final.
• VS MODE, OPTIONS, and SUB-GAME are not selectable in the prototype. SUB-GAME becomes available after completing the stage that uses it in the final, and isn’t available at the start. MAIL is selectable even before playing the game for the first time.
• The lighting is slightly different on the characters on the player select screen. There’s a faint white bar that runs across the CHOOSE YOUR PLAYER text that isn’t present in the final. This might be a graphical bug.
• Selecting a character doesn’t cause them to speak in the prototype.
• Selecting Tillis on the character select screen continues to show Shou as the character name
• There’s no sound effect when canceling or going back a menu.
• The Training Space, while selectable in the prototype, loads the last map loaded in memory instead. The map data for the Training Space level hasn’t been implemented yet.
• The mission title isn’t present when starting a stage.
• The temperature increases at a much faster rate in this prototype, making it noticeably more difficult.
• Missing dialog.
• Different HUD.
• No PAUSE graphic.
• Debugging features are enabled in this prototype:
  • You can step a frame by pressing the A button while the game is paused.
  • Pressing Z while the game is paused will bring up a small debugging menu. You can edit the gouraud shading or adjust the palette lighting. You can activate a free camera while editing the light settings.
  • If you press X on the title screen, you can bring up a small sound test menu.
• The retry/gameover screen is preliminary in this prototype, using plaintext instead of graphics.
• The Game Over screen is partially corrupt in the prototype. Otherwise, the graphics and animation is the same as the one used in the final.
• The results screen is also preliminary in this prototype, using plaintext instead of graphics as well. In the final, the mission result displays a replay of your gameplay including a functioning password system.
• Survivors are chosen at random in the prototype. In the final game, your first complete playthrough will have survivors be part of a fixed set.
• There’s a game mechanic where item cards can be awarded for destroying explosive containers. Collecting the cards decreases the temperature temporarily. This was removed from the final.
• Mission 1 differences:
  • Unlike the final game where the map is broken up into segments, the game stores the entire first stage into one file.
  • The room following the first room is more simplistic in this prototype.
  • The room following the hall after the room with the first survivor has a robot in it. This was removed from the final.

• Mission 2 differences:
  • The first switch is replaced with a loading zone in the prototype
  • The skybox does not properly load in the tube tunnels and is instead just a white background
  • The room with the vent duct requires a switch to open
  • The area where the first victim is in the final is very different. The victim is missing, and to the left of where they would be is an area labeled “Staff Quarters 14”, containing several small rooms with crystals or fire
  • The room labeled “Elevator Hall 14” is different
  • The hallway leading to the dolphin tank has a partition
  • The dolphin tank cannot be interacted with, and the dolphin’s water is not overheating
  • Control Room 14 is much less destroyed in the prototype
  • Walkway Area 15 is completely different and leads to an area called “Boiler Room 15”
  • The area leading to the elevator is completely different. It contains extra rooms, survivors, and puzzles
  • A door blocked by a blue robot is missing
  • The room containing the man who gives you the ID card is replaced with a simple door switch
  • The entire section containing the area with the dolphin plays differently, with an entire section before the Contuit Control area added
  • The room leading to the boss arena does not have a loading zone, making it impossible to progress to the boss.
  • The boss has a much larger health bar that goes off screen

• Mission 4 differences:
  • The robots that shoot lasers and generate fire are significantly more aggressive and take many more hits to kill
  • The switch allowing you to progress to the second area is missing, and instead, two fire barriers guard the exit above a wireframe platform. You can damage-boost through them instead of defeating them
  • The second area also contains more fire barriers guarding the exit, which can again be bypassed.
  • In the area with falling rocks, the exit to the room loops back to the start of the room, making it impossible to go to the boss map
  • The first boss map contains several robots from earlier in the level that shoot fire at you.
  • Once you reach the top of the first boss arena, the boss does not activate making it impossible to finish the map
  • The burning ship minigame is missing
  • The map where Big Landman assists you freezes at the start, possibly due to not being able to load his model.
  • The final boss map loads you into a black void. There is some part of the level elsewhere on the map, but it appears copied from a different map and corrupted

• A debug menu can be activated from the title screen. Hold Z and D-pad up, then press the left trigger.

• The debug menu contains the following options:
  • START STAGE: Will start on the selected map when selecting the training option.
  • KEY ASSIGN: Switches between control schemes. This was moved to the options menu in the final.
  • PL NODISP: Disables drawing the player model.
  • PLAYER-2: Loads a second player during the main game. This character can be controlled by the second player controller.
  • NO OBJECT: Disables object generation in the level.
  • GENERATE: Not implemented. In the final game this is used to determine whether the original map and object locations are used when replaying a mission.
  • INFO OFF: Disables the HUD.
  • TIME LIMIT: Unused.
  • ENV. LIGHT: Unknown.
  • IMM GOUR: Crashes the game when using the Pause screen's "SET LIGHT" feature.
  • MAP EDIT: Crashes the game upon loading a map. Possibly looking for development hardware connection.
  • DEMO NUMBER: Selects which demo to show on the title screen.
  • CRYSTAL ALL: Unused.
  • CRYSTAL 20: Caps the number of crystals at 20.
  • LIGHT ONCE: Causes some unknown debugging information to appear at the start of a stage.

Screenshots

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Files

File	Type	Date	Size	SHA-1
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha (Track 1).bin	File	2021-06-05 02:02:21	278.96 MB	3d4490842097abe6ce75cea2e74b1952badce283
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha (Track 2).bin	File	2021-06-05 01:50:59	40.06 MB	ec433007742cdfe2144a4a172b37f19ae482449e
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha (Track 3).bin	File	2021-06-05 01:51:00	43.01 MB	fb5d18ac87e9193365cfbac78e1cb269f197803c
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha (Track 4).bin	File	2021-06-05 01:51:00	1.22 MB	a2a26b463a9b8f8fa160f37aa4cf32f4f6d31256
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha (Track 5).bin	File	2021-06-05 01:51:00	46.17 MB	6ab3d95b8c1b710e63e9f643b0d960d6d8e4b267
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha.cue	File	2021-06-05 01:50:58	515 bytes	f403e040d85eb9bce968505a08920942a44f946f
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha.img	File	2021-06-05 01:50:53	409.43 MB	1c0ad55c61a4b5fc1701a87572e8c24b23e60804
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha.scm	File	2021-06-05 01:50:50	409.43 MB	57e31c01ddac2a5d96fb357e80bde05b14650a7d
Burning Rangers 1997-12-1 Alpha_logs.zip	ZIP file	2021-06-05 01:55:42	6.17 MB	868e1dc503b14cce75ce6ba072df3fcc98197003

Origin

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  CD front.

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  CD back.

Acknowledgments

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank site admin Sazpaimon for acquiring and generously allow us the opportunity to preserve this one of a kind prototype. We’d also like to thank ndiddy and Andreas Scholl for going through and researching this prototype in the effort to find all the hidden goodies that could be still be in this build.

See also

• Original announcement article for this prototype.
• The Cutting Room Floor (comparisons coming soon)