Silent Hill Prototypes?

[Dot50Cal]

Can anyone out there give a list of the "released" prototypes for the series? I heard there was a Silent Hill 1 one floating around, but I haven't really investigated it myself. Just curious if there are others out there.

[alf717]

Are you talking about this?

http://www.unseen64.net/psxsaturn/silenthillbeta.htm

Not sure if those screens are from the trial disc though. I've never seen a floating copy of a Silent Hill prototype before, but I do have trial demo disc laying around somewhere.

[Ultra_Glior]

I know there are two versions of the North American one (1.0 and 1.1) 1.0 is commonly refered to as the "Beta". I have a friend who visited Russia many months before the game was released in America and he bought this copy off some random guy, this version is not in Japanese but clearly displays Sony Computer Entertainment America on boot. If you like Dot I can get hold of this to check and verify it's authenticity and also upload some pictures of it.

[randomwab]

There is only one "released" beta for the series that I know of, that being the Silent Hill PAL Beta. As far as I can remember, it's basically just a PAL version of the US release (in other words, a PAL version with the demon kids, not the teddy bears).

As for known beta material, the stuff alf717 is the most known. Those were shown at E3 '08 I believe, and were removed shortly after. There were also rumours of several more endings that were planned in the game, as well as the confirmation that the team had wanted to do a Cybil side scenario, much like Maria's scenario in the Silent Hill 2 Directors Cut, but they simply ran out of time.

Some of the things people believe were dropped from the final. I'm doing these from memory as I haven't played Silent Hill 1 in about 3 years. There was something about the ability to make a bomb in the school (something that I thought was just Team Silent making fun of how easily school kids could make bombs, much like how you find the handgun in Silent Hill 2). There was also something about the ambulance in the Alchemilla Hostpital grounds which could be used to escape, as well as a boat near the lighthouse which could also have been used to escape. I wouldn't be suprised if these were not true, however.

Silent Hill 2 doesn't have much known beta material. At one point during development, Pyramid Head would have stalked you through the streets of Silent Hill, not just in the buildings (as seen in the TGS '01 trailer I believe). There was also a slightly different scene when James finds the radio, and some music was changed as development went on (for example, Theme of Laura in the E3 '00 trailer compared to the final version seen in game, as well as a version of the final with a guitar solo, and more).

For Silent Hill 3, I can't think of any beta material. I know there was a slightly different version of the main theme, "You're Not Here", but it wasn't anything major. I'm sure someone can think of something i'm not remembering.

Silent Hill 4 didn't even start as a Silent Hill game, so a beta of that would be fantastic. It's a pity though, because we don't know when the change was made. Various sources point to different times in development. What we do know is that the game began development around the same time as Silent Hill 3, under the title of "Room 302". At an unknown point, Konami told the team to make it into a Silent Hill title, and make it tie in. As far as I know, nothing was really added though, as I remember reading the the story and all of the references to Silent Hill within Silent Hill 4 were there before the decision.

[Ultra_Glior]

What you said about the PAL beta Randomwab is actually in our final build of the game! Orangish Demon Children with claws instead of the Grey Children with just a single blade in the North American release. Also in our version the title screen is just black with the fog across the bottom as a pose to your blue Harry Mason one. We got ripped off!

[Mr_Zombie]

About SH2 - in one trailer (don't remember which one) the scene, when James finds Laura sitting on a wall was different. It began with Laura singing "Ring around the Rosy" (something that was cut from the final version) and the background behind her was changed.

Also, the scene when Maria says "I'm here for you, James. See, I'm real" originally was different. On trailers Maria says those words not through a bars in a cell, but in a dark, blue-lit room.

[Ultra_Glior]

About SH2 - in one trailer (don't remember which one) the scene, when James finds Lisa sitting on a wall was different. It began with Lisa singing "Ring around the Rosy" (something that was cut from the final version) and the background behind Lisa was changed.

Also, the scene when Maria says "I'm here for you, James. See, I'm real" originally was different. On trailers Maria says those words not through a bars in a cell, but in a dark, blue-lit room.

Don't you mean Laura? And not Lisa?

[nemesis_lover]

i got my trail disc with a pal metal gear solid 1 and the children and diffrent, as described above. That's the only realy diffrence i've known about really.

[Mr_Zombie]

Don't you mean Laura? And not Lisa?

Yes, I've changed it already Don't know how could I mixed them up ;)

[randomwab]

Mr Zombie, that's a good one. Most the CGI scenes did change through development, and a lot were made and hardly used (you can see this in the opening FMV, stuff that you never see in the game).

Ultra Glior, the PAL version also had a diary made by Alessa which was never in the Japanese/American release. I also prefare the title screen we got to the American one. Perhaps it's just 'cause that was the one I played back in the day, perhaps not.

[Ultra_Glior]

Ultra Glior, the PAL version also had a diary made by Alessa which was never in the Japanese/American release. I also prefare the title screen we got to the American one. Perhaps it's just 'cause that was the one I played back in the day, perhaps not.

I don't remember ever remember picking up this diary you've mentioned but then again I've never played the PAL version thoroughly. But now I'm gonna play it get this Diary, do you know where it's located? And I'm full agreement with you about the title screen, the Russian bootleg import that I mentioned earlier was also the version I played back in the day and that had the same blue title screen. One more difference between the PAL and NTSC versions is the Inventory screen, yours has "Stock" and ours has "X" just before the quantity of whatever ammo or health items you may have and the item slots aren't numbered, I prefered this also.

[randomwab]

I can't remember the exact location, i'm planning of running through Silent Hill 1 and 3 now that i've replayed 2. When I find the diary, i'll tell you where it is.

[Rombie]

There is a different US version of Silent Hill out there, it has some of the item placements different than the finished version. How early it is I'm unsure, but it was sent to most of the magazines for reviews, and the official guide authors too... so most of their guides had incorrect details in relation to the finished game.

[Gradon]

I know where theres a site with something called "Silent Hill Beta" and is around 50mb...but I think thats illegal. So, I can't say...

EDIT: Damnit! Seems to have been deleted...

[Dot50Cal]

THIA recognizes the difference between beta and retail