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Shining Force - Pre Release Coverage

One beautiful day in 2023 I woke up and said, "I'm gonna go over a whole collection of magazines from the 90's, and gather every bit of information I can find on the production of Shining Force games". And then I did just that. And ended up with posts so big they broke tumblr in multiple ways. Hopefully Neocities will be kinder to me as I move the info here.

To contextualize the dates, the game was officially released in Japan on March 1992. The english version came out a year later.

Obviously, also remember that the dates below are of when the magazine issues came out. We can't be sure that the game didn't have more stuff at the time, this is only what was revealed to the public then.

Navigation:

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October 1991

Page 70 of that month's Beep! Megadrive magazine give us the first article I could find on the game, and it already has plenty to look at.

		The sword sprite here (left) is completely different, having a cool smear frame as it is swung. And while Max's sprite seems mostly the same as the final version, you can see the sword's hilt in his hand. In the final version (right), characters and weapons are separate sprites, and the character is drawn completely over the sword sprite, covering the hilt. This implies that, at this point of production, either there was no visual difference when equipping different weapons, or the whole character sprite would have to change to show a different weapon, which would require a lot of cartridge space, so even if the devs considered doing that at some point they likely had to give up on it.

The background for the Gate of the Ancients is also different. The walls seem the same, but the place is darker and lit by torches, with no sign of the outside. In the final version, it is an outdoor location, and the sky and mountains can be seen. The platform Max stands on also looks different and bigger.

Max also has 0 MP, as opposed to his usual 8, or the 98 of debug mode. It's possible that Egress hadn't been implemented at the time, or didn't cost any MP.

Also, the enemy in the screenshot is labelled "Goblin", and as shown in the next images, goblin map sprites were already in. The skeleton is likely a placeholder.

Here are screenshots of the map itself. Menu icons were completely different, and Gort and Mae are there. Obviously this could be just the use of debug features to test the characters, but I suspect their story roles were actually changed and they were meant to be starting characters. More on that later.

There’s also a screenshot of Guardiana with a slightly different layout. There is a centaur* in town as opposed to only in the castle, the old man sprite is different, and the little girls are normal as opposed to dragging cats around. In the final version, this little girl sprite is only for Karin, Krin and Koron, the important little girl trio. The bed sprites are also different and kinda failing at perspective. *Note: even in the final game, the centaur NPCs use the same sprite as paladin Arthur. I assumed NPC here when I first wrote because Guardiana has them in the final version, but as you'll see in the next articles, this is actually Arthur. Perhaps this is even how his sprite came to be reused for Guardiana NPCs to begin with.

Besides screenshots, we also get a synopsis:

Centuries before Mephisto’s uprising in "Shining in the Darkness"... In the continent of Rune, far to the east of Thornwood, many countries big and small lived in endless days of peace. However, the great nation of Rune Faust, wanting to take over all of Rune, plotted to get its hands on the “Legacy of the Gods” inherited by the country of Guardiana since ancient times. The Legacy of the Gods is said to be both a superweapon and a frightening beast. Whoever attains it can become a god or a devil... But even though the Rune Faust army has invaded Guardiana and ravaged the country for its plans of domination, it hasn’t succeed in finding the legacy... Meanwhile, the soldiers of Guardiana, forced into a life of wandering after the fall of their country, have risen to the task of defeating Rune Faust. And as they resist against the unknown evil power controlling Rune Faust, people have come to call them “the forces of light”, Shining Force... The grassy plains of Guardiana, mountains full of precipices, jungles, deadly deserts, rivers where piranhas live, those and other stages await our heroes. After all, who is the one controlling the powers of darkness? And what is the truth behind the Legacy of the Gods? Hiding many mysteries, a new legend begins now!!

A minor detail, but "Rune Faust" (ルーン・ファウスト) would eventually have its spelling change to "Runefaust" (ルーンファウスト). In fact, it already appears as such in the next text, meaning the spelling might have been inconsistent at this point.

For last, we get some character art and info. Translation notes are under the horizontal line as usual.

These are the forces of light, “Shining Force”! “I’m the swordsman protagonist, Max!” The protagonist of this story, Max. He’s human, but is an expert with the sword and can also use magic¹. He roams across the continent, leading the Shining Force in its way to defeat Runefaust. Archer² - Hans An elf who used to work at Guardiana’s palace. His skill with the bow is first-class. Knight - Mae A young centaur warrior. Daughter of the late Knight Captain. Priest - Lowe A dwarf³ who’s a great friend of Max. Currently training at magic. Warrior - Gort A hotblooded dwarf old man and Mae’s servant⁴. Knight - Ken A centaur knight who admires Max. ¹Of course, Max can use Egress, but keep this in mind. It is possible he was meant to use other spells as well. ²Very nitpicky detail: Hans’ class is written with kanji here, when it’s written in katakana (as the english word "archer") in the final version. ³He's a hobbit in the final version. Shining in the Darkness already had a hobbit priest so i wonder if there’s some miscommunication here. The hobbit discourse is even older than I’d imagined. ⁴Told you there were changes on these two. There’s no indication of any connection between the two in the final version, especially since centaurs tend to be arrogant towards other races, a fact that does not come up here at all, nor does Mae’s tough personality. Even more evidence will come up later that those things were added late in development.

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November 1991

This is a big one, I might have to break it into topics. Besides page 70 of Beep! Megadrive feeding us again, there are also scans of MDFan with some different screenshots as well.

The beta title screen is the least interesting thing to see here, but still curious. It will stick in articles at least for a long time.

Most of the screenshots of the first battle don't show anything different from the last article, the battle is still indoors. However, in this one we get our first glimpse at Mae's battle sprite, which is entirely different from the final one. The lance and shield in particular are identical to the ones in her official art. Again, is it likely that at this point they were drawing character and weapon as a single sprite based on their art, with no variation depending on the item equipped.

There's also this screenshot of "Hans". Yes, the sprite used is Max's, but the screen says Hans, and he does have a bit less HP than the 19 Max has in all the other pictures, so I assume this is actually Hans, and his sprite wasn't done yet. In the final game, the archer sprite is at index 9 of the battle sprites, preceded even by later characters like Guntz and Domingo. So it's likely that there was some delay in making them.

Early Guardiana

We see more of Guardiana, and the centaur NPC was actually Varios all along, meaning the intro was really different. However, I did tell you to keep Arthur in mind.

MDFan shows the same scene but with Arthur's portrait instead. It also shows the full dialogue: "I have been looking for you for a long time... I have heard of the situation. Please, you must let me join you." Knight Arthur has joined the force! I find it unlikely that Varios was meant to be playable at any point, since Mae was already introduced in the past article as having a dead father. So I think this is meant to be Arthur, and Varios' portrait was used as placeholder for him for a very short time, short enough for two magazines of the same month to get different pictures.

Arthur is not given a profile in any of these magazines so it does feel that he started as a very generic recruit. Very funny considering that he’s now the specialest most magical centaur in the block. But I suppose that explains why his sprite ended up doubling as a NPC one in Guardiana only, while he was moved to Manarina/Chapter 2.

We get a look into early shops, neither of which exist in the final version. I doubt that every shop was meant to have its own different sign, so I'd guess what we see here are actually two different iterations of the shop sign tile.

Notably, none of the building have a roof in these images, despite Max being outside. Perhaps the roof layer and animation hadn't been coded yet, or was disabled to screenshot the NPCs inside the buildings.

Nevermind all that though. These early streets hide something much more precious.

"Meow"

Cat NPC. We were robbed. And as you'll see, this was only removed very, very late into production. Which is to say never at all, because while it was removed from the map, its whole data remains in the ROM:

We were so close to having this adorable creature. I cry every day.

Characters and Items

Max and Mae get to smile! Given the story is kinda obvious why this was changed, but I always did find it weird that their artwork had different expressions to begin with. This is also more evidence that Mae didn't have yet her tough personality from the final version. Both of them have 99 attack, and Max also has 99 MP, despite the other stats being more in line with their level 1 (though not the same stats they have in the final version). This isn't exactly how debug mode works in the final version, as it only buffs Max, and buffs his HP as well, but it's still clearly some debug feature.

Mae has a Bronze Lance equipped, but it has a sword icon. Meanwhile, Max has a Short Sword, but its icon is also odd, I can't recognize it from anywhere. The rest of both their icons has a placeholder with what is likely the internal ID of the item. Said item is called an "Old Medical Herb", which is not something in the final game. In the final game, the ID 9 instead belongs to the Bread of Life.

Max also has a couple of spells up to level 3: Blaze and Heal. However, Blaze has the Heal icon, while Heal has a placeholder icon with some katakana in it. I can't make out the first symbol but after that it seems to just say "Heal". So yeah, the point is that icons were still very messy by this point.

It's worth noting that, in final version, Debug Mode does give Max extra spells besides Egress, but they're Blaze, Freeze and Bolt, up to level 4. Heal isn't there.

MDFan shows a different screenshot of Max, seemingly without the debug features. He notably still has 0 MP and no Egress, or any spells for that matter. He's still equipped with the same Short Sword, with the same odd icon, but the rest of his items are different, and not from the final game. The item with the icon 7 is the Hex Whip, straight from Shining in the Darkness. Its japanese name is きまぐれのムチ, something like Whip of Whimsy, fitting for its random effects. The item with the icon 8 is not from SitD, but it might have been a similar kind of cursed equipment. It is called うわきなゆびわ, something like Unfaithful/Fickle/Cheater Ring. I'm no japanese expert, but as far as I could find, the word うわき is very associated with infidelity in love/marriage, instead of just any fickleness. I might be missing something, or the usage changed in these decades, but it feels like kind of a cheeky name to me, especially on a ring.

In the final version, the indexes 7 and 8 became the Legs of Haste and the Turbo Pepper respectively.

The MDFan issue has character profiles, but they are similar to the previous one so I don't see the need to translate them in full. Here's a quick overview:

• Max is again described as capable of magic, even called a "magic swordsman". They were really emphasizing this point;
• Lowe is again called a dwarf, even though the magazine proceeds to find him similar to Milo of SitD, who was a hobbit. They wonder if he's an ancestor of Milo;
• Ken is again said to admire Max, and to be determined to get close to him;
• Hans’ bio states many elves who live in forests choose bows as their weapon because they have excellent vision. It also states again that he worked in the castle of Guardiana before the story began;
• No mention of Mae’s personality, and Gort is mentioned as an old servant of hers again.

Early Field Battle

Plenty of screenshots of a field battle with completely different graphics. The trees in particular strike me as not even fitting the game's art, as they have no lineart.

Also, the road and lake borders are super irregular and detailed, which looks awesome, but likely requires a lot of different tiles, so maybe it couldn't be done in the final version due to cartridge space limitations. It's curious to me that the town graphics already look simpler and more feasible though. Perhaps this battlefield was idealized first and then they realized the space problem. Or it's the opposite and it was done aiming to push limits further, only to end up not working.

Map

Now for the part that really rocked my socks: a whole beta map (left)! I've put the final map in the right for comparison. Click them for better quality.

The beta map doesn’t label pretty much any town and instead brings up a bunch of names for the natural areas which aren't seen in the game proper.

The Gate of the Ancients, or what I suppose is it, it’s not labelled, sits atop the Mountain of Guidance, which seems to be a single mountain as opposed to the big mass that stretches up to Rindo in the final version. The gate also seems drawn like a little castle, which would explain the indoor bgs shown so far.

Alterone is to the northwest of Guardiana as opposed to the northeast. It is also right next to the Beagle Mountain Mass, which, makes A Lot More Sense with how much we hear it is a mining town. I’ve been wondering where their mines were in the final map. They must have mined too much though, because in the final version this mountain mass is largely gone.

Further to the north is Rindo Harbor, and you, english speaker, might think, “oh yes Rindo that’s the final name” but nope, in the JP version the town’s name is Rindorindo, for some reason, so that’s a difference. A difference that matters to no one.

There’s no river near Rindo, and Manarina and Shade are not labelled, though its concepts seem to be around if the settlements drawn in their position are any indication. Manarina also seems to be surrounded by a lot more forest than in the final version, which is how it is described in the ASCII guide book.

Speaking of this forest, it has a name that deserves its own post, Kaien, in katakana so that it is harder to discerning its meaning of course (and intentionally allow double meanings). Possible interpretations are the start of a performance (開演), the opening of a park or garden or banquet (開園 and 開宴), a superb performance (快演), or an eerie yet fascinating performance (怪演). I’d say the last one is the most fitting for Manarina, but localizing it is still a pain in the ass, the english staff dodged a bullet here. Right now most I can think of is Enthralling Forest, but it doesn't quite get the performance vibe as well.

I also have to wonder if Mishaela was conceived as a boss for this place. Puppet performance and all that. She also ends up having a forest stage in Shining Soul.

All the white mass on the north is Pao Plains, no sign of the bridge where you fight Laser Eye or the forests of Bustoke. There seems to be a town in the mountains, though it's hard to tell in the scan, and it has a deep quarry next to it.

The Pao Plains are surrounded by the Boho Mountain Range. Boho is short for bohemian, the romanticized view of nomadic/alternative lifestyles, so it’s very fitting for Pao.

Without labels, it's hard to tell what's going on with Waral. There is apparently some tiny islands close to the port of what should be Uranbatol, but they look so irrelevant I'm unsure if they're meant to be relevant for the game. Meanwhile, there's a very obvious bigger island at the center of the ocean that doesn't exist in the final version. So perhaps that's Waral, and it got moved to the north so that the travel route you take in-game would make more sense. There is no sign of settlements at this beta island though, so it's also possible that Waral wasn't even meant to be a thing yet.

The ocean between the two sides of Rune is Cypro Ocean/Sea (海 can be read as either depending on context), a name that eventually made its way to the ASCII guide book (though that book also uses the term Lunatic Ocean more often. Cypro only shows up in the Rudo entry, making me assume is the name of sea near that area only). The only label at the north of East Rune is the Dragonia Mountain Range, but you can see settlement where the town of Dragonia and Rudo should be. The region in the center of East Rune is Conga Basin, which is also mentioned in the World Book. Curiously, there is no sign of Prompt anywhere, making it and Waral the only game towns not implied in this map.

(Prompt being a late development would explain why, in the final game, accessing a Chapter 7 battle through the debug mode battle test and then egressing freezes the game instead of finding the correct egress point.)

Finally, the bunch of mountains to the east of Runefaust is the Crescent Mountain Range. Note also the big isolated structure south of Runefaust. Perhaps the Castle of the Ancients has not always been under the ocean.

All this are just my observations for the map. The Beep! Megadrive article has more info, translated below.

I am in so many ways unequipped to understand that jab lmao. The gems from this magazine don't end even here, though.

Interview with the devs

There's also a big interview with the devs. I still don't have the energy to fully translate it, but here's a summary with the main points:

• Unsurprisingly, the game’s biggest challenge was data size. Without compression it was around 30MB, around 15x the size of its final ROM, and definitely not fitting a Mega Drive cartridge. The interview only talks about compression but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to cut things as well.
• It’s brought up that they could have solved that problem by making a Sega CD game instead, but they wanted to reach a wider audience.
• Lots of comparisons with SitD, how the game was bigger and more complex, requiring more work and graphics and maps and everything basically. Again it is said that the story happen centuries before SitD.
• When asked if there’s a connection with the SitD, Masaki Wachi (scenario writer for this game and the GBA remake) enthusiastically replies “Yes! Oops, I said it (laughs)”. He then elaborates that there were big clues about it, but that he wouldn’t comment on the connection with Mephisto and the ending of SitD.
• Kenji Orimo (director and writer) does add though that if it was meant to be a direct sequel, it would just be called Darkness II. He also mentions seeing more potential in expanding the Shining World from Force than from Darkness (ironically though, Kenji Orimo did not work in any future titles of the series, as those were made solely by Sonic/Camelot Software Planning, and he was from Climax Entertainment).
• Yoshitaka Tamaki (character designer, graphics designer, scenario writer) mentions SitD characters having more of a fairy tale vibe, while SF characters were more grounded, with some pretty scary enemies in the late game, and more of a “war spectacle” vibe.
• Lots of hyping up the battle animations.
• Also hyping up the unique spin on tactical games, where characters and enemies all have their own agility instead of just alternating between an ally and an enemy phase.

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December 1991

It's hard to top the massive coverage of the previous month, so Beep! Megadrive gets a shorter article this time (page 70 as usual). There's only a few screenshots of the first battle that add little. We see Tao with jacked up MP for testing, and a Rune Knight using the Golem sprite as placeholder. The Golem art had already been shown since October, but this is the first time the sprite is seen.

Meanwhile, MDFan gives us our first glimpse at Ken's palette. And goddamn are these beta centaur sprites cool.

We also get a look on more beta icons, including the one to show the battle map. I have a hard time understanding these ones, so I'm glad they were changed.

There's also a screenshot of Max's stats much like the one in November, with Blaze and Heal having incorrect/placeholder icons. However, his portrait is already the final one at this time. He also has different items. First, he's equipping the Sword of Darkness, which already has its final icon. Put a pin on this. He's also equipped with the Power Ring, and his third item slot is the Kindan no Hako, a notable debug item still left in the final version. Both these items have no icon at this point.

We then get an avalanche of character and enemy profiles on both magazines. The content on both is very similar, so I'll be showing mostly Beep! Megadrive's as I read them first, and bring up MDFan whenever there's something of note there.

For the six characters already introduced, there's nothing very new, so I'll just summarize some points like before.

• While Max's portrait has already changed to its final version, Mae's remains the same as previous months.
• Again they make a point of mentioned Max is capable of magic. It's also mentioned that you can change his name, as he's the protagonist. His class is listed as warrior, but he was introduced as a swordsman in October, so this is likely just a typo.
• Lowe is still listed as a dwarf, Gort is still mentioned to be Mae's servant, and there's still no mention of Mae's personality, or Hans' for that matter.

Now, a full translation for the characters that hadn't been introduced up to this point. As usual, I'll use the localized names for characters who have different ones, and note the original [in brackets].

Tao Class: Mage Species: Forest Elf¹ A mage in training, but her talent is huge. Has a close relationship with Anri, the princess of Guardiana. Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf A wild girl who lives in Bustoke. Being raised in the mountains, she’s vigorous in battle. Scary. Zylo [Zappa] Class: Werewolf Species: Beastman² Leader of Bustoke, the mountain nation. Focused in hand-to-hand combat, he does not equip weapons, and instead fights with his sharp claws. Guntz Class: Steam Knight Species: Beastman² A knight of heavy power who wears an armor powered by a steam engine. Well known through the world as a mercenary specialized in castle assaults³. Khris [Chip] Class: Priest Species: Cantaul A priest who used to work in Alterone. Despite being both priests, she’s stronger than Lowe in battle. Let’s see who is the best at magic. Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human An old gramps from a noble lineage of knights. Entranced by the dream of flying, he spent fifty years researching flying machines. ¹I find this use of "Forest Elf" curious, since Hans and Diane are not described as such, and neither is Tao in the final version. Perhaps there was some worldbuilding idea that got cut along the way. Notably, Nigel of the game Landstalker, also made by the Climax Co. side of this staff, is also described with this eact term. Meanwhile, in SF2 Elric also describes himself as a forest elf, although using the japanese word for forest instead of the full english spelling used here. ²In the final game, Zylo's species is "Wolfling", while Guntz is "Armadillo (?)". Here, the more generic "beastman" term is used, so perhaps these species names hadn't been fully defined (if you can even call Guntz's was defined lol). Curiously, Khris' species on the other hand had already been dubbed "Cantaul". This might be because several NPCs of this species already existed in Shining in the Darkness. The series would eventually just use "beastman" for certain characters, like Gyan [Teddy] in SFCD and Gerhalt in SF2. ³Possibly the most notable thing here. In the final game, Guntz is an inventor and apprentice to Dr. Crock, and some guides even note that he dislikes fighting. The steam armor is also brand new, so I doubt he did any other work in it, much less became a renowned mercenary beforehand. So this is some good evidence that his character hadn't been nailed down at this point. You still end up getting him on the team right before storming Fort Uranbatol, so that was likely decided at this point, and maybe his role was even more relevant there. I say that because the GBA remake adds some details to the fort invasion, where you need a bomb made by Dr. Crock. Since it's basically the only key item added by the GBA version, I wonder if it was recalling some cut idea from here.

Also worth noting, while Tao's art is already done and identical to final, her in-game portrait has a small difference, having the shoulder stones gray instead of golden.

Next, there are descriptions for some enemies. Nothing too interesting, but I still translated everything because it's frankly more than they get in final guides.

Dark Dwarf [Dwarf] Skilled at close combat due to their strong body, but has low defense. Their lethal axes are menacing. Dark Priest [Dark Priest]¹ Runefaust priests, wearing white masks as per the army’s regulations. Working on an attack with focused magic². Sniper With superior footwork, they attack from a long range with bows. The double teaming kind, working as pairs with the Rune Knights. Evil Puppet [Puppet] Evil marionettes, it’s unknown if they have consciousness. Part of the Monster Corps, they attack swinging swords³. Dire Clown [Hell Pierrot] It seems they are not really pierrot, just disguise as such. Those who are fooled and approach them carelessly end up hurt. Gargoyle They are statues, but had temporary life breathed into them by magic. Seems not all of them turned into flesh, some parts remain stone. Cerberus Guard dogs of hell put into a deep sleep in the caves under Alterone⁴. Trained by the Runefaust army. Worm Giant mutant earthworms, dozens of meters long. Don’t have any senses other than touch. Dullahan Headless ghost knights who used to be Rune Knights. No comparison between their power though. ¹The enemy is called Dark Priest here, but in the final JP version they're called just Priests. ...And then the localization called them Dark Priests again. This series is silly. This entire discussion is so silly. ²The wording is a bit weird on this one. The MDFan version is easier to understand, as it says "Magic is their main way of attacking, but their attacks with their staves are also strong". Were the priests meant to have offensive magic? Not a shocking revelation since it happened in the next games and SitD had offensive magic for Milo, but it didn't happen in this one. ³I don't see swords anywhere on these puppets. ⁴There are no signs of Cerberus anywhere around Alterone in the game. Maybe this is just a lore tidbit that goes unmentioned, though. If we choose to believe it, Alterone was one of the last places Runefaust reached, since they started their conquest from Uranbatol in the north, so these dogs would be a relatively recent addition to their forces.

So, are you paying attention? Have you figured out that I'm playing around with you a bit? Yes, there is actually something very interesting in this enemy section that I skipped translating, because it deserves its own spotlight.

Mimic Transform immediately as you open them thinking it’s a chest. Their lids grow sharp fangs, and they sprout legs to move.

A whole scrapped enemy! That's pretty cool. While no mimic would make it to this or future games, SF2 would have a mechanic of enemies springing from traps. And then the localization would remove it again. Such is life here.

The articles finish with another weird creature. That's right, it's time for Yogurt.

There's also doodles of him describing his secret appearances in game, though without any mention of where in the game they show up. Maybe one day I'll translate them for fun, but it's not info so it's not a priority for now.

The MDFan coverage of Yogurt has a little more info. It specifies he eats bugs besides berries, and says he “understand human speech, but can’t (won’t) talk”. In the JP version he does say only a single sentence, “I don’t get it”, so perhaps this was dropped, or he is learning.

It is also said that he’s kinda popular with the force members, especially the girls, but again, no one could make him a pet. The same antics are then depicted, with different doodles, meaning this is likely art done by the magazine staff. A couple more doodles speculate on what he looks under the helmet.

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January 1992

Pink Haired Simone

On this month's Beep! Megadrive (page 121), we get our first glimpse (left) at our iconic reading girl, Simone (I'm used to calling her that, but do remember she has no name in Japan). It's always hard to judge colors through printed screenshots, but compared it to the final version (right), her hair seems to be lighter, and pink instead of brown. To corroborate with this, she would eventually get pink hair again in the GBA remake, and Yoshitaka Tamaki also continued to draw her with pink hair for as long as he lived, so it seems this was his preferred version of the design. Who knows why it was changed for the release, could be palette limitations. There also seems to be a few differences in her sprite's face, especially the nose, which seems actually drawn in instead of just implied by the shading.

Early Guardiana

We then get more shots of the town. The magazine comments that it is not yet complete, but that you could already get the atmosphere from what they saw. We can see that the church's entrance (right) already looks pretty much the same as in the final version, as opposed to the slightly different layout seen back when Arthur was around. The entrance to the town however (left) looks different, as it has no gate yet. The magazine itself comments on how open the town looks. The priest also seems to be not inside the church. In fact, a lot more NPCs seem to be missing, or different, or in different positions.
We can also see that now, the houses do have roofs. Both magazines make a point to highlight this, so it's likely that this effect wasn't in early builds. Note also how there seems to be a cat over the wall in the left screenshot. That makes no sense given that the walls are covered by roof. Perhaps it was put there before the roof effect? Another evidence that this effect was done late I guess. Still, it's a cute idea. I wish they had moved it to the castle walls or something. Notably, in the final version this would be the first house with a little girl NPC, whose sprite has a cat on her shoulder.
MDFan also gives a screenshot of the shop, notably without NPCs. The item selection is far bigger than the first shop should have, and there's more to scroll, so it's likely a debug shop with every item. Icons are still not done. Also, the Medical Herb costs ten times more. Yikes.

Characters, Items, Spells, and More!

Both magazines also give us different screenshots of the force members list, giving us a good view of which characters are already in. We have: Max, all the knights, Luke, Guntz, Anri, Alef, Domingo, Khris and Torasu. Curiously, Gort, Tao and Lowe are not listed, even though they should be following the final list order (above Luke, Domingo and Khris, respectively). Also, this list does not display each character's level like in the final version.

We can also see a few more placeholder icons in the characters' inventories, plus some icon I can't recognize in Max's bottom slot, and the Doom Blade on his top slot.

Speaking of the Doom Blade, the Beep! Megadrive issue goes on to say that the game would have one-hit kills and critical hits. It does not mention that the one-hit kill is tied a single weapon, so the effect might be intended to be something else, but the presence of the weapon in Max's inventory makes me doubt that. After all, he also has only 7 HP here and in a lot of other screenshots. Pretty weird.

It gets weirder once you see that every character looks like this in every stat at this point. Not sure what they were testing with this. They were obviously also testing spells at this point however. There are lots of screenshots of character with 99 MP, even those who shouldn't have magic. We have here Anri with Blaze, Freeze and Bolt up to level 4, plus Muddle, and Vankar (yes, the portrait's Earnest but it says Vankar, likely a placeholder) with Quick, Attack, Detox, and Shield. We also get to see more items. Anri has the Guardian Staff, which already has its icon, and the Running Ring, which doesn't. Vankar-Earnest has the Steel Lance, with icon.

There's also a (terribly low quality) screenshot of Max with Slow, Egress, Outside, and Sleep. "Wait Claire what do you mean 'Outside'?" Good question! I have no idea! I never bothered paying attention to these particular shots because of the low quality.

The icon seems to be the same for Egress in Shining in the Darkness. Which is not something I bring up randomly. This icon is still in the game data, attached to the only unused spell of the game! In the final english version, it's named "Dummy", costs 20 MP and does nothing. It also has four levels instead of the single one we see here. I sadly don't know what it looks like in the JP version.

More importantly, what kind of spell could this be? All the other spell icons seem final already, and this one does match its name, picturing someone outside a dungeon, but isn't that redundant with Egress? The MDFan issue makes a point of differentiating between field and dungeon battles, so maybe there was a different spell for leaving each place? That would be incredibly silly, so it's no wonder it was cut. Still, if that was the case, it was definitely a single level spell, so the four level one in the final version must be some attempt at repurposing it. Obviously, everything in this paragraph is pure speculation.

And I'm not even done talking about that screenshot, Max does have four items after all! He's equipped with the Doom Blade and the Power Ring, which does not have its icon yet.

His third item is an "Key to Underground Tunnel", which sure doesn't exist in the final version. It's easy to assume it is meant for the tunnel in Alterone, but in the final version, opening that requires no item. The index 17 seen here in its placeholder became the Sugoi Mizugi/Teeny Bikini in the final version.

His last item is a Dark Sword. Not the previously seen Sword of Darkness, that one is written in japanese (あんこくのつるぎ), while this one is the english words in katakana (ダークソード). In the previous screenshot, the Sword of Darkness also seemed to have its final icon, so I don't see why it would have been undone here. Perhaps this was a different (maybe still cursed) sword? This game has very few cursed weapons after all, I can see more being considered at some point.

Moving on, there's curious screenshot on MDFan where the Rune Knight of the first battle is marked as a commander. This was likely a feature to indicate which enemy is a boss in the battle, when there's one. Sucks that it was cut. Also, they're carrying a Medical Herb, something only skeletons do in the final version. Speaking of skeletons, there are a lot of screenshots showing many kinds of enemies, like skeletons, cerberus and golems, in the first battle, as opposed to being only placeholders. Likely only for testing so I won't bother putting them here, but still interesting, since these enemies show as level 1, as opposed to their higher levels of the final version.

MD Fan also shows off a lot of enemy animation, and in these scenes, Hans uses Diane's palette, which to be fair only differs in the hair color. Still funny, given that he was announced right from the beginning. Zero respect for the man, everyone wanted Diane already.

Going back a bit to how this is the "test all spells" part of development, Beep! Megadrive straight up tells us that magic animations weren't done yet. Judging by the screenshots, it does scroll through all the enemies hit, but doesn't have the actual animations. Meanwhile, you can see that Tao has no staff here, and instead, Max's sword is floating around and playing its attack animation. It shows off next to other characters as well. This is likely a time where they had already started to render characters and weapons separately, but didn't have the weapon sprites yet, so Max's beta sword is everywhere as placeholder. Shame that it didn't remain as a sword in the final version, as it looks cooler, but I can see how it might have occupied more space with the swing animation, and also it would be harder to make more sprites on this level, with multiple frames. Remember, these issues are only two months away from the game's launch!

Early Field Battle

Despite the approaching deadline, the early field battle is still there, and you can appreciate its apparent lack of collision data in these screenshots. I assume these are not from an earlier build because spells are being tested in it, just like everywhere else in this month.

The best part however, is that we get the full map of this area on Beep! Megadrive. It's pretty big. I also cannot associate it with any place on the beta or final maps.

Early Menu Icons

MDFan decides to spend a good time covering the menus, so we get to see a bunch of early icons up close. From left to right, they're:

• The field menu, with the options (clockwise) being: Talk, Item, Search, and Magic;
• The Battle menu: Attack, Item, Stay, and Magic;
• The HQ menu: Advice, Item, Status, and Join;
• The Shop menu: Buy, Sell, Repair, and Deals.

All these options are the same as final, so nothing shocking here, but I do love that the Join command had a centaur in them. Really gets what the game is about.

...And more!

Moving a bit away from these magazines, this month is also apparently the one where artist Toshihiro Ono would have the first talks with his editor about a manga adaptation of the game, and even get to play the in-development version for it. That is a topic that deserves its own page, and don't worry it will get one. (And yes i'm translating the manga. That's why I began to rush this page despite multiple other pages in progress lol.) Update: here it is :)

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February 1992

A single month before release, things seem a lot closer to final at this point. There are a lot of screenshots of Guardiana this time, and save for the occasional different or missing NPC sprite, they seem identical to final. The HQ is also shown for the first time, but there's nothing of note about it either, it's finalized. Spell animations are ready and proudly displayed. MDFan gives another run down on the menus, and icons are finalized this time. The Gate of the Ancients is finally an outside location, and even the pre-battle dialogue seems finished, along with its appearance in the world map as well.

Despite that, the battle background is still indoors. And given that these shots in particular show the spell animation for Heal, I don't think they're from early builds. The map must have been updated before the battle scene graphics. Also, note that the centaur sprite still hasn't been changed.

MDFan does give us one shot with a bizarre weapon placement still, although many others with Lowe, Luke, Tao and Anri show finished weapon sprites and animations. Character stats however were not finalized, as Max starts with 12 HP in the final version. His starting 8 MP are also not there yet, though he seems to have MP growth. Notably, he will still have MP growth in the final version, but it's useless as he learns no spells besides Egress. Likely a sign that intentions changed very late in development about his magical skills.

We're not done seeing more interesting things, though. There are plenty of shots from the battle in Alterone this time, and some show enemies inside the town's shops, which is not a thing in the final map. The captions here from Beep! Mega Drive even question how will this look in the final version, so perhaps these were obviously unfinished in the actual gameplay. Maybe they are not real enemies, and just NPCs using placeholders sprites? Even so, there are no NPCs in battle maps in the final version as well.

While there isn't much to comment of the town itself, the castle has some curious things, like a lot of chickens. Simplest explanation is that they were placeholders. In the final version, most of these would be replaced by the centaur NPCs. As I mentioned earlier, those NPCs do not have a unique sprite in the final version and just reuses Arthur's, so maybe they never got done in time.

The castle also used to have a gate that is not in the final version.

The king's chambers also look slightly different, having more decoration in the walls.

Finally, pink-haired Simone is still there, and the line of dialogue we get to see from her is completely different, as it talks about the king of Guardiana instead of Dark Dragon. ..the king of Guardiana said, "you are our only last remaining light"...

A final minor detail, there's a screenshot of the member list with the starting characters (Ken, Luke, Tao, Lowe and Hans) listed all together, unlike the final version where they are ordered by class. Might explain why they were missing from previous list screenshots, however Ken was in the final place in those, so this list was toyed around with a lot maybe.

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March 1992

The game is out! So naturally, all info is from the final version now, right? Wrong. Journalism isn't that easy. While the Beep! Megadrive issue in this month doesn't have anything of note, a couple of beta screenshots still made it to the MDFan issue. Perhaps these things were changed very late in development.

This one shows Tao, still with her early portrait, and a slightly different HQ line. Am I being of service to you? Since I’m fighting to the ends of my MP... Her japanese line is similar, but does not explicitly mentions MP.

The minister also has his own portrait, gone in the final version.

Finally, there's some old footage from SEGA announcements!

To summarize everything I noticed on this one:

• Simone has her final sprite at this point, but her dialogue still has the same scrapped line about the king of Guardiana. The rest of her lines are already final though.
• There are no chapter title graphics yet, only some hilarious placeholder text ("Chapter 1. Adventure of the Shining guy.").
• While the town looks mostly complete, there are some very weird placeholders sprites still. Especially visible on the 0:29 mark.
• The king does not yet have a unique portrait, and instead uses the same portrait as other kings.
• The cat NPC is still in.
• The final, outdoors background for the Gate of the Ancients is also in.
• Some songs (Simone's theme and the field map theme) are already done, but others (town theme and battle theme) are placeholders taken from SitD.

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Reconstructed Sprites

As far as I know, no early build of the game ever made it into anyone's hands, so the pictures above are all we can see of the graphics. But some of the scans are so clean, I figured it would be possible to reconstruct the original pixel art. So that's a long time goal I have in mind.

Mae's portrait

I started with this beloved woman of course. Best scan I found of the portrait on the left, reconstruction on the right. The colors should be different in-game as the print distorts it, but I wasn't confident in how to compensate for that, so I just color-picked the print anyway.

I am very glad that Mae's personality was changed to become to tough and harsh girl I love, but I do like how this art is more dynamic and colorful. It was actually fascinating to pay more attention to the portraits in-game as I made this, and realize just how much her portrait art and especially the colors clash with most other characters. Here, look:

Just how darker her art looks in general! How Ken (and the other knights, I didn't want to fit everyone here) has shinier armor even though they're supposed to look the same! How the other blond characters have very different shading and lighting, which looks closer to her early portrait. I wonder how late the final portrait was made, and if it was made by a different artist, or if the vision for the game had changed a bit by that time. Either way, it's kinda impossible to unsee it now.

If you're curious on how her final expression would look in the early style, I tried some extra frames on the Sprite Edits page.

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