Cave Story Pre-release versions thread

Mar 7, 2024 at 8:42 PM
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UPDATE 03/10/2024: Added 6 more versions provided by LemmR

Thanks to the efforts by the Development Room Pixel Discord server, two real pre-release versions were found and preserved, given by @znsYC47Jl54LgW4 on Twitter, dated December 5th 2004 and December 16th 2004 respectively.

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Additionally, 2 days later, @LemmR on Twitter provided 8 more versions, 7 of which are new, including version 1.0.0.0 after all these years. 0.9.0.6 is the oldest version available now.

If you want to download them and comb through the various minor differences, here they are, as mirrored on the tribute site (thanks andwhy!)

In the weeks leading up to this discovery, Rain did most of the research about these pre-release versions, including finding an old thread on 2channel discussing the playtesting versions and describing version differences. Later he searched for mentions of the playtester builds on Twitter and found a few tweets, but most were old, except for one as recent as 2020. Him and I attempted to contact the playtester under the old tweet, to no response, until DrippingYellow asked about it under their most recent tweet at the time and got a reply.
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The original Twitter threads with the playtesters can be found here and here, these discoveries are all thanks to znsYC47Jl54LgW4 and LemmR for their excellent file preservation over the past near 20 years.

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Mar 7, 2024 at 11:03 PM
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Oh my god this is happening. I'm just as excited as...

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Misery's fourth facepic.

 
Mar 8, 2024 at 12:32 AM
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Dang, there's more to these versions than I thought there would be. Jack's face sprite is DISGUSTING.
 
Mar 8, 2024 at 2:32 AM
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Wow, this is unexpected to find an old build sitting around all these years later. Kudos to this guy for hanging onto it. I'll be intrigued to see what all the differences are between these early builds and the finished product that we're all used to playing.
 
Mar 8, 2024 at 5:44 AM
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Anyone know why they have time/date restrictions if Cave Story was released as free software?
 
Mar 8, 2024 at 6:22 AM
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Anyone know why they have time/date restrictions if Cave Story was released as free software?
these versions were only playtesting versions, and internally it has a disclaimer asking not to redistribute (its almost 2 decades later, he doesnt mind right?), so I presume its so that the versions stay as early testing versions that people are more likely to delete later after the game was officially released
 
Mar 8, 2024 at 3:22 PM
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long live japanese
 
Mar 8, 2024 at 4:33 PM
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Mar 9, 2024 at 8:59 PM
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Logging into this site for like the first time in years so I can say this lol

Holy shit, new pre-release content huh?
I hope people document the changes (in code and in stuff in the data folder) and that all that info doesn't get stuck on random Discords

Not expecting much but considering how many things changed last minute (only noticed bc of this thread lol) I wouldn't expect some changes in the TSC or subtle tweaks in the audiovisual side of things
(Edit : Alula told me there's not much of interest in here. I haven't looked through all of the PBMs but if anyone could document this stuff it'd help, I'm too lazy to use CMD right now)
 
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Mar 9, 2024 at 10:48 PM
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I hope people document the changes (in code and in stuff in the data folder) and that all that info doesn't get stuck on random Discords
We've documented a lot of stuff in the Discord server, and we're working on putting everything on TCRF. Never thought we'd ever have to make a Proto:Cave Story page...
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 2:43 AM
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update: there's more (I hope this is significant enough to warrant a double post)
will update original post once they're archived on the main site as well, but for now you can access them at https://filebin.net/y5gr67vlzabkoibg
 
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Mar 10, 2024 at 3:04 AM
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To think we finally have 1.0.0.0 as well. Before 1.0.0.4 too, of all versions. That playtester is truly a blessing to the community.
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 3:13 AM
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Mar 10, 2024 at 3:20 PM
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such a great discovery, really
 
Mar 10, 2024 at 4:47 PM
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we're working on putting everything on TCRF
Thank god
I don't really wanna join any servers, I've just been playing a game of telephone with Alula while I work on other stuff. Watched her play through one of the protos up to labyrinth.

Balrog's old design is so cursed.

I was told that the scene at the end of Sand Zone plays out differently but I couldn't really tell any differences, is it just the TSC? Or is it the actual dialogue?
Edit : Just read through the proto pages on TCRF. "The clock room sign instead reads "`04.12". ("December 2004"?)"
04.12 is the time on the clock too, not a date
 
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Mar 11, 2024 at 3:16 AM
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Mar 11, 2024 at 7:59 PM
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I was told that the scene at the end of Sand Zone plays out differently but I couldn't really tell any differences, is it just the TSC? Or is it the actual dialogue?
quote just stands there while watching his friends die
this is intentional, there is a <MYB when king appears at the door
 
Mar 11, 2024 at 10:24 PM
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Quote was looking at his phone, this is what Pixel intended, Quote was playing Flappy Bird
 
Mar 11, 2024 at 11:11 PM
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Jokes aside it was probably supposed to be that Quote was intimidated, after all he's only fought one of the villains by this point and now all 3 of them are in the same room alone, it would've been a curbstomp.
I assume it was changed because 'cmon the red flowers are right there a single fireball would have done the job
 
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