Stretch Panic Pre-Release: GameGo! Issue No. 1

Even a prototypical game like Stretch Panic had some noticeable differences during development.  Present here is a magazine that show off screenshots of the game during development which will be accompanied by comparison screencaps taken from the U.S. Stretch Panic game.

GameGo! was a very short lived gaming magazine that featured Stretch Panic in its debut issue.  The cover was drawn up by Patrick Spaziante, who's done art for different comics and for GameFan.  I'm not certain if all the characters on the cover are official Stretch Panic characters or guys dreamed up by Patrick, but there's some notably missing characters if they are official.  I gotta give him credit in that the cover matches the official art's designs and style really well.  Damn fine work, man!

  

Here's the whole five-page feature on the game, loaded with images and a bit of game artwork.  The writer gave a very positive reception to the game (a bit overboard even to someone like me who really likes Stretch Panic) and detailed some of the gameplay and visuals.  Some noteworthy bits of text from the article, however nitpicky:

• It mentions no plans for a Japanese release at the time of writing.  A Japanese release did eventually happen six months later, and even had some touch-ups the western versions didn't.
• The game was mentioned being DVD-ROM on page 16 but Stretch Panic was released in CD-ROM format. It might just an oversight.
• Anne Droid V2.1's referred to without the version number.  Yes it's very nitpicky but some people might care.
• Fay Soff's description's a tad vague, as it mentions snapping her face to dismantle it and taking damage when it's reconstructed.  In the actual game you have to do a torpedo attack to dismantle her face and deal red damage after reconstructing it.
• Not really related to Stretch Panic, but page 14 mentions another Treasure-developed game Silpheed: The Lost Planet being made in two months.  It was released around a year before Stretch Panic and I'm curious if they were stretched on time (hoy hoy) for developing it as well.

• The former's a sketch of the artwork used in the article, with some slight design changes to Linda and Spinner.
• Second image is concept art of Linda with varying degrees of details applied.  The image is dated September 29, 2000; nine months before any of the game's releases.  The Japanese reads "Linda 5" in the left box and "Protagonist" in the middle one.

Note for the comparison screenshots: missing enemies won't be pointed out because it's possible whoever took the screenshots defeated some first (which I admittedly did for some of my screencaps save for the ones where notable enemy layouts were changed.)

Here are the comparisons; the first image of each bunch is from GameGo, larger square images afterwards are screencaps from the U.S. release of Stretch Panic.

• EX-Factory is much lighter in color and features a different cloud background that looks similar to Samantha's but doesn't seem to be the same exact BG.
• The stage in general seems to be more desaturated and monochrome in color.
• The spotlight that follows Linda around is completely missing.
• There's two enemies that aren't present in the spot(s) the screenshot shows.  In the final there's only two Bonitas in areas where the ramp's on the narrow side of the platform rather than the broad side.  On top of that, the spots that do have two are both blue Bonitas rather than black & blue.
• A black Bonita's winding up for a "punch" attack, something only red Bonitas do in the final.

•  A blue Bonita's doing a "punch" attack; in the final only red Bonitas punch, the blue ones are very passive and only bodyslam the rare occasion they notice Linda.

How the Bonitas function in the final game for reference's sake:

-Black Bonitas: Only rushes at Linda to try and push her off the ledge. (2 red hits to kill)
-Blue Bonitas: Bodyslams, rarely attacks or notices Linda from what I've experienced. (2 red hits to kill)

-Red Bonitas: Does "punches", rushes, and bodyslams; more alert than the others and will sometimes turn around to face Linda, namely if she's close to them.  (4 red hits to kill)

-All Bonitas: They will fly back to their respective areas if they move out of it or fall off a ledge into a pit (even if they can still walk back they'll sometimes choose to fly.)

Looks like the Bonitas originally shared the same abilities rather than acting differently.

• The terrain doesn't perfectly match up to any particular spot in the final, with the closest spot being a ledge a red Bonita's hanging out on near the top of the stage.
• The coloring's a deeper blue for both the walls and ground, though slight color issues like that in these magazine images could just be the scans/screenshot quality rather than actual game differences.
• The ice mound in the background's sticking straight up rather than being slanted downwards at an angle.

• The slope on the right's more narrow than in the final.  On top of that, the left palm tree got moved back a ledge.
• The position of the Bonitas got changed around; the black one on the slope became blue, and going by the sky's positioning one of the blue Bonitas near where Linda starts was removed.
• A blue Bonita looks like she's getting ready to do a "punch" attack, just like the one in the EX-Ice image.

•  The camera's placed higher than normal (which is why my second screencap's that close to the ground.)
• The stage is desaturated and using the same cloud backdrop that EX-Factory used.
• The towers have what look like cannon turrets poking out of the walls, likely intended to fire at Linda and knock her off.  These were completely scrapped from every release of the game, even the Japanese one.

•  Jelly-chan's stage has a stone wall around it; this also means she might not have had one of her attacks implemented (the one where she rushes off stage and tries to leap in on top of you.)
• Jelly-chan herself is a deep blue color while she's neon green in the final.

•  The stage has a green tint to it; could just be the scans.
• Miss Mecca's robot has a much shinier effect applied to where you can see Linda and her scarf's reflection.  This reflective coat's present as an effect that can be applied to the bosses in the Gallery of Shame; seems like it was meant to be permanently on Miss Mecca but was changed. (Edit: you can still see their reflections on Miss Mecca in the final, but it's far less noticeable.)

•  The Satellite Zakos have a more transparent visor, making their black bodies more clear.

•  The animal ramps are black instead of pink.
• There's a monkey faintly visible in the background that has...a black censor dot over his crotch.  This was removed from the final.  Also the wall pattern seems to be changed up a bit, with a turtle replacing the monkey by the door.

•  The stage's tint is a bit more blue, though again it might just be the scans.
• The iron ball's partially buried into the ground.

 

•  The sky looks like it's from EX-Island, which amusingly looks better than the final where it's a tiled, stretched-out cloud background.
• It looks like there's fewer rainbow beams holding up the gold ring, though it's hard to tell in these particular pre-release images.

That's all of the from GameGo!.  You can find scans of this issue online if you wanna read the whole thing.  Next up will be the pre-release images from the Spong website, featuring even earlier images of the game than these.