Shadow the Hedgehog (May 27, 2005 prototype)

Shadow the Hedgehog (May 27, 2005 prototype)
Build date May 13, 2005 22:52:48 Build name E3 Dump status Released, redump needed Dumped by Hidden Palace Released by Last Minute Continue File dump date January 19, 2024 File release date December 25, 2025 Origin NR disc Labels SONIC SHADOW E3 DEMO BUILD DATE 27-5-05 Dump method redumper Game Shadow the Hedgehog System Nintendo GameCube Genre Action Final build US Oct 10, 2005 EU Oct 20, 2005 JP Oct 16, 2005 Release date US Nov 15, 2005 EU Nov 16, 2005 JP Dec 15, 2005 Article One Bad Ass Hedgehog - Shadow the Hedgehog

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A prototype built for E3 2005 of Shadow the Hedgehog for the Nintendo GameCube.

Notes

The Cutting Room Floor research

This prototype has a research article on TCRF.

This article is a summary of full research available on TCRF.

Debug Features

The Develop Menu / Easy Menu.

• This is the first known ROM to contain a fully functional Develop Menu / Easy Menu, enabled by changing ROM in nukkoro.inf to DEVELOP, ALPHA, BETA, or FINAL.
• nukkoro.inf contains stage spawn positions and rank parameters, which are normally stored in nukkoro2.inf in later builds.
• This is the first known ROM with a functional DEBUGWHO field in nukkoro.inf, with functional side effects (e.g. spawning in test level).
• Contains the E3 Gameplay Trailer, accessible via the Develop Menu.

Audio & Video

• Massive soundtrack differences. Some tracks even contain lyrics, such as Tight like Denims on a Fat Ass.
• Contains a not-seen-before rendition of the Sonic Team Logo.
• Voice clips in PRS_VOICE_E.AFS contain interesting leftovers of a more 'mature' Shadow:
  • SE_15.adx: "one bad ass hedgehog"
  • SE_17.adx: "die you ugly monster!"
  • SE_18.adx: "die you bastard!"

Graphics

The unused radar asset, previously only spotted in an early screenshot/mockup.

• Shadow is more black than in the final, where he appears slightly brown.
• Contains assets for the 'radar' (Rader.gncp), previously only spotted in an early game screenshot/mockup.

Gecko Codes

This code is useful for exploring unfinished stages, as they are devoid of objects and thus difficult to progress through.

[Gecko] $Shadow E3 Moonjump [Sewer56] 2847A7CE FFDF0020 045BCEB0 43a00000 e2000001 80008000 2A47A7CE FFDF0020 045BCEB0 c3a00000 e2000001 80008000

Hold Z to invert gravity. Based on retail NTSC-U version's Moonjump by tybis & dreamsyntax.

Gameplay Differences

Mission clear still shows regular HUD elements.

• Every shot has recoil, slowing player movement; fast shooting weapons slow you down to walking speed.
• Homing Attacking locks your controls until you hit the ground or perform another homing attack.
• The Spin Dash is extremely weak.
• Rail switching does not account for travel speed. Switching always occurs at a fixed speed.
• Rails have a speed cap set, unlike the final version.
• There is no checkpoint menu or warping functionality.
• There is a warp object at the end of each demo stage that sends you near the start of the stage.
• Clearing a mission will still show the regular HUD.
• Pressing 'Restart' on 0 lives leads to a game crash.
• Weapons have excessive amounts of ammo.
• Chaos Controlling past mission characters will despawn them very quickly, as opposed to showing them for a longer duration.
• Black Bull (City) has a loading screen, despite bosses not having any in the final version.
• Route Menu (Y button while paused) shows Hero missions going up and Dark missions going down on the map, which is opposite to the final version.

Stages

• Westopolis ends early, with no extra geometry present after the end of the stage. This suggests the stage might have ended earlier during development.
• Lots of minor visual stage differences for stages unused in the demo.
• Surprisingly, there is no STG9900.

• 

  Black Bull (Ruins) has a completely different arena unlike anything in the final game.

• 

  The ARK has strangely coloured vertices.

• 

  Iron Jungle's Egg Balloon has a placeholder model.

• 

  GUN Fortress has 'TEMP SET OBJECT' placeholders.

• 

  GUN Fortress has battleships and an arena for the Sonic + Diablon boss fight visible in the distance.

• 

  Lava Shelter's lava is not animated. Some lava has Japanese text textures.

• 

  Lava Shelter reactor area. Some lava waterfalls are missing.

• 

  Final Haunt is very purple due to vertex colours and texturing.

• 

  More object placeholders can be found in Final Haunt.

• 

  The two-loop section is replaced with a triple loop and a cool crater.

• 

  2P Stages have railings and other minor oddities.

Partners

Partner models are loaded in the middle of gameplay and cause giant lag spikes (up to half a second) when this occurs. They may be getting loaded synchronously rather than asynchronously, though this is not yet confirmed.

Functional Partners:

• Sonic
• Doom's Eye
• Egg Monitor

Accessible via Hacking:

• Espio
• Knuckles

Other partners cannot be accessed, even if their assets are added, because the code to activate them is missing.

• 

  Espio, accessible via hacking.

• 

  Knuckles, accessible via hacking.

Objects

The Jeep has collision problems and often clips through walls.

• Jumping cancels many of the lock-on weapons (RPG, Four Shot, Eight Shot) when spawned in via hacking.
• Vehicles (Jeep) have collision with all objects. You can drive on killplanes, but cannot break objects. The Jeep has problems with slopes and often clips through walls.
• GUN Turret is faster than the final version (roughly the speed of an SMG).
• Contains object 00 53, not seen in other builds. This is likely the lost 'Orange Frame' object.
• Health bars are fixed length, even if enemies have more than regular max health.

Jeep driving on a killplane.

Origin

• 
• 

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Last Minute Continue for supplying the ROM. Thanks to Sewer56 for helping to research this build! Thanks to Sazpaimon for dumping the disc!