A very short entry for a set of extremely early NES Lion King prototypes that we found lurking within the Enigma Variations archives. They aren’t playable, but you can see the early structure for the game including test graphics throughout.
The first prototype seems to be built over the top of Populous’ codebase as a starting point and even features some corrupted graphics from the game. Starting the title, you just get three test sprites and you can move around the mansion from Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt.
The second prototype is slightly more advance and has actual titles from the final game – but the graphics are heavily corrupted on the titles. Once you start from the menu, you get level screens – but the levels themselves are incomplete and just feature some test graphics and a few sprites moving around. You can move the map around with the controller.
Pressing the buttons on the controller, you can finish the level and see a small broken cut scene with what might be a flying bird (missing the sprites) and then you can see glimpses of later levels – but they are pretty much all the same with the same test graphics. Once you get to the end, the prototype will crash out.
If any other prototypes come to light, then we’ll be sure to add them here. With thanks to Mark Greenshields for allowing us to preserve these prototypes.
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