Yet another NES prototype for you today, with the release of an earlier build of Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing by Gremlin. The game was released in mid-late 1993, though this prototype is dated the 29th September 1992.
This particular build was being used by another development team as a reference point for a new conversion. It seems very close to the final version, though there are a number of differences throughout – including a 1992 date on the title screen and credit differences, and minor colour changes on the game panel (especially the “tires” and “behind” segments).
In addition to this, we noticed that the game seems to have been sped up in the final version, and in this prototype – the road routine seems a lot slower paced. There are likely some other enhancements and fixes with the road routine too.
We haven’t had chance to go through everything with a fine tooth-comb, but if you notice any other differences to the final release, please let us know and we’ll update the page with a credit to yourself.
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Do you know Frank, I looked at this version and I thought to myself “Looks very C64ish, I wonder if the same team were developing the C64 and NES versions side by side? Could be a link.”
Then I saw your Zzap talk!
CANNOT. WAIT. Amazing work again!
Haha, no worries Hank! So yeah, it seems the C64 edition was being based off the NES edition in terms of style (with code inspiration from the C64 version of Lotus Turbo Challenge). C64 version is not quite complete sadly, but its being fixed up as much as possible.
That’s cool, the fact we have anything at all is amazing, especially since it’s being fixed up too. Is there a full development story planned for the update or is it just a “here it is” situation? This was always one of my holy grails – the Amiga version was led to me begging my parents for a 512k upgrade for my A500!
Hi Hank – we’ll tell the full story, and i’ll probably do a short commentary video as well. It has been one of our holy grails too along with Daffy Duck, Murder and Batman Returns.