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PAL PS1 game released a year early?


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From youtube:

Alexander Sorvino 9 months ago

What year was this game released?

TheLairOfRockwhales 9 months ago

This PlayStation version was released in mid-late 2000. The Windows version came out in September 1999.

OvenTrooper 1 day ago

The PAL version of the PS1 game was released in 1999 along with the PC version.

· in reply to TheLairOfRockwhales

TheLairOfRockwhales 19 hours ago

The PAL version was finished 4 months after the NTSC version, which came out in 2000, so I don't see how.

OvenTrooper 8 hours ago

Believe it or not, I got it for Christmas 1999.

TheLairOfRockwhales 1 second ago

I looked on my discs. The PAL one says 1999, the NTSC one says 2000. This changes everything.


Wikipedia lists the release dates for the PS1 game as

PlayStation

NA August 17, 2000

PAL 2000

With PAL having an ambiguous date of release. But if the disc printing is right, this means it was released at least for Christmas of 1999, if not earlier.

The problem is, we know the PAL game had four extra months of work put into it than the 6 months the NTSC/NA game got. This means...something screwy.

Not sure what it really means or what there is to discuss. Just thought I'd say something about this.

[1:41:24 PM] Lair: here's what I'm getting:

*PS1 game was developed for a little while in 1999, based off of the PC game which was recognizable by at least April

*Game was scrapped and a new arcade-style game was made in six months

*Game was sent for publishing but the PAL area didn't like it

*3-4 months extra work went into the PAL release

*PAL game was released between October and December 25th of that year

*NTSC GAME WAS RELEASED AUGUST 2000

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Do we know with absolute certainty that it was the NTSC version that was developed first, or is it possible that a few people just got the two versions confused? The PAL version has what seems to be a little more thought put into the missions. If they were really given 3-4 months for to redo the game a second time, I imagine that things would be a little less polished, like the levels in the NTSC version.

 

I've always thought that the idea of them making the NTSC version first seemed a little odd, anyway. It has extra features like the sliding puzzles during mission load times, and the squash-able enemies. It seems strange for them to have removed things that seem like improvements when they developed the PAL version.

 

If the NTSC version was second, then the timeline makes a little more sense. The PAL version would have been developed in six months, and launched in late 1999. The game would have been rejected in the US, leading to the development of the NTSC version, with the inclusion of a few extra features that they didn't have time to finish for the PAL version. I have a US catalog that slates the PlayStation game for release in November 1999. Maybe they decided to push the release to around the same time in 2000 to capitalize on the Christmas season, since the extra development time had taken up to midway through 2000 already.

 

Just a possibility.

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That seems incredibly backwards.

I was assuming that the amount of time they had is an incredibly small window for redoing a game like this, although perhaps I am incorrect there. Assuming they were focusing on extra features like the sliding puzzle (just for the purposes of this hypothetical), and were building a completely new set of levels, I just thought that perhaps things may be a little rushed. I don't know, though.

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Do we know with absolute certainty that it was the NTSC version that was developed first, or is it possible that a few people just got the two versions confused? The PAL version has what seems to be a little more thought put into the missions. If they were really given 3-4 months for to redo the game a second time, I imagine that things would be a little less polished, like the levels in the NTSC version.

 

I've always thought that the idea of them making the NTSC version first seemed a little odd, anyway. It has extra features like the sliding puzzles during mission load times, and the squash-able enemies. It seems strange for them to have removed things that seem like improvements when they developed the PAL version.

 

If the NTSC version was second, then the timeline makes a little more sense. The PAL version would have been developed in six months, and launched in late 1999. The game would have been rejected in the US, leading to the development of the NTSC version, with the inclusion of a few extra features that they didn't have time to finish for the PAL version. I have a US catalog that slates the PlayStation game for release in November 1999. Maybe they decided to push the release to around the same time in 2000 to capitalize on the Christmas season, since the extra development time had taken up to midway through 2000 already.

 

Just a possibility.

*ahem*

http://www.rockraidersunited.org/topic/4102-lego-interactive-producer-located/?p=85183

The NTSC version is the first version of the game that was made. The PAL version was revised, as Europe rejected the first version, but the US accepted it.

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Both games have such odd differences between them that it's hard to tell which one came first if you don't know the history behind them, which jamesster just added as I was typing this. Here's a list of some obvious differences.

 

[table]

NTSC PAL

No jetpack meter Jetpack meter

Can squish creatures Creatures block vehicles

Items respawn Items do not respawn

Fewer levels More levels

Can detonate dynamite on command Must wait for dynamite countdown

Slide puzzles when loading Mission briefing when loading

Not many slugs Too many slugs

Six months of work Ten months of work

Final level is in a rock biome Final level is in a lava biome [/table]

Why did the PAL version remove some of the nice things that the NTSC version has? The world may never know.

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I was wrong? How can this be?!? :P

 

That does make me wonder why the catalog I mentioned (it's this one) advertizes a 1999 release date. If the game was finished, why did they push back it's release so far? I suppose that's the point of the topic, though.

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Soo.... let me try to get this straight...

>First version of LRRPS1 is completed

>PAL regeon dun liek it, but NTSC fine with it

>PAL spends a few extra months to rework the game

>remove some features and add others

>reworked game is released in PAL region only

>a whole year later, original build released to NTSC region

That about the gist of it?

None of this makes any sense.

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Soo.... let me try to get this straight...

>First version of LRRPS1 is completed

>PAL regeon dun liek it, but NTSC fine with it

>PAL spends a few extra months to rework the game

>remove some features and add others

>reworked game is released in PAL region only

>a whole year later, original build released to NTSC region

That about the gist of it?

None of this makes any sense.

If PAL didn't like it, and they had to redo the game slightly so that it did, perhaps NTSC no longer liked it. If such a scenario was true I doubt the devs would have wanted to work the new features back into the NTSC, particularly if they were on such a tight schedule as LEGO Media games all seem to have been.

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