MediEvil (partially found original arcade version of PlayStation action-adventure game; 1997-1998)

The older box art cover of MediEvil.

Status: Partially Found

MediEvil is a hack 'n slash comedy horror game developed by the British company SCE Studio Cambridge and published by Sony in October 1998 as a PlayStation 1-exclusive title. The game sets in the medieval period of 14th century, centering around a reluctant skeleton knight named Sir Daniel Fortesque, who was killed in the first charge of the battle, and after being mistakenly resurrected by Zarok's necromancy one century later, his ultimate goal is to go on a long journey around the fictional land of Gallowmere and prove himself as a true hero by taking vengeance on the twisted sorcerer.

The game has been under development for almost 3 years, starting back as late as December 1995. As revealed in earlier trailers and prototype demos in 1997 before next year for the game's official release, MediEvil was originally more different than its final cut, with heavy Ghouls 'n Ghosts-styled arcade gameplay and included more than 22 levels. Sometime around early-mid 1998, the team decided to go for a new game direction, transforming MediEvil into a more The Legend of Zelda-like game. As a result, most of everything meant to be used for the game were either scrapped or repurposed.

The early promotion trailer video, which was speculated to be made and completed on either December 1997 or January 1998, shows what the game's early version could have really been, but as of today, the full 1997 version has never been recovered. Fortunately, a couple of playable prototype demos were found.

Gameplay

The 1997 arcade version (left) and the final 1998 version (right).

Originally a whole different game, its gameplay functions were more simple and arcade-like.

Potions - Potions were scattered around every level and players can use them for their battle aid. There were three potions found in the demos, although the game files reveal four more potions, suggesting that there were more potions included for the game's full arcade version. In the game's final release, the potions were scrapped but some were repurposed for other things.
Extra Life - Dan's skull was used as an extra life instead of a life bottle.
Health Pick-up - Instead of an energy vial, there were two energy bones (green bone for health refill, and blue bone for extending the health bar).
Scoring - Players can earn score points instead of souls, as the chalice was not implemented at that time. Points can be earned by not only killing enemies but also collecting money bags.
Chests - Chests were originally purple and textured with a question mark. They would unseal many weapons and sometimes potions.
Enemies - Enemies can spawn and respawn frequently. Sometimes they can drop pick-ups upon death.
Weapons - Instead of unlocking weapons from the Hall of Heroes (which was not planned before), weapons were found in chests but there is no inventory to switch weapons. Range weapons have unlimited use.
Gargoyles - The Information Gargoyles were formerly called "Help Gargoyles" and meant to appear in a bigger number as the player's recurring guide, before they were replaced by books in the final version. They can be seen in the prototype's preview screenshots from PlayStation Zone Demo Volume 1. Regardless of the game's direction change, the gargoyles as books were still used for a couple of 1998 prototypes until in later versions.

Levels

The game was originally planned to include a total of 30 levels, however the "Return to the Graveyard", "Inside the Asylum", and "The Hall of Heroes" level were not on the list. Formerly, the level list's chronological order was differently shuffled (i.e: completing "The Crystal Caves" level will take the player to the "Pumpkin Gorge" level instead of "The Gallows Gauntlet" level). In the game's final launch, the team reduced the number of levels to 22, with 8 levels entirely cut.

Here is the early level list:

NOTE - The levels that were cut in the final game are texted in bold.

The Graveyard
The Coffin Vaults
Cemetery Hill
The Desecrated Church
The Scarecrow Fields
The Fields of Dust
The Ant Caves
The Crystal Caves
Pumpkin Gorge
The Pumpkin Serpent
The Sleeping Village
Pools of the Ancient Dead
The River
The Muddy Riverbank
The Mud Slide
The Asylum Grounds
The Enchanted Earth
Dan's Crypt
The Gallows Gauntlet
The Haunted Ruins
Circle of Shadows
The Silver Wood
The Ghost Ship
The Entrance Hall
The Hall of Illusions
The Hub
The Great Machine
The Time Device
The Lake
Zarok's Lair

Dragon Level

The screenshot from the late-1997/early-1998 promo trailer.

Perhaps the most infamous cut level is the dragon level, titled "The Silver Wood". There exists a level that was cut from the game, which involved Dan running from a dragon (called the Jabberwocky, named after Lewis Carroll's poetry). Co-creator Jason Wilson has confirmed in an interview^[1] that this level was removed for the final release due to time constraints, with the dragon chase being shown instead only in the form of an FMV.

The only footage that has been seen from the cut dragon level exist in the form of a few snippets which can be found in an old MediEvil pre-release trailer, as well as in a short making-of documentary (both included on various PlayStation 1 demo discs, and both of which have since been uploaded to YouTube). In addition, there exists an FMV (that, at first glance, seems to have been intended to take place before the "Inside the Asylum" level) that was cut from the final game, however this FMV can still be seen by using an FMV viewer within MediEvil, unlockable via cheat code. Interestingly, clips from this FMV can too be seen in the pre-release trailer.

Found deep in the Rolling Demo's files, there were unused texture assets for the dragon level as well as the Jabberwocky itself. A nearly-finished map layout for the level can also be accessed in the September 1997 prototype, but due to its unfinished state, the Jabberwocky itself cannot spawn.

Morten Levels

There were two scrapped minigame-like levels starring Morton the Earthworm, who can be seen in the aforementioned deleted FMV. One of the levels was to take place in the Asylum before the actual "Inside the Asylum" level (perhaps explaining why the FMV was removed in the first place). However, no footage from said cut level has ever surfaced, and it's unknown exactly how far into development the level actually got (although Wilson has stated -in the prior mentioned interview- that he got as far as illustrating the level, and creating a mockup). Finally, there is an unused piece of audio that can still be found within the final release (by utilising the game's debug menu), which many speculate to be from the dragon level, although in the same interview, Wilson stated that he is unsure which of the scrapped levels it was composed for, if either of them.

Versions

There are some existing prototypes different to what it was seen in the recent arcade version.

Pre-Rolling Demo

The earliest known version and was only seen in a couple of previews as trailer videos, dated on March 13, 1997.

It is similar to its recent full prototype, but the health meter is instead a health bone counter which holds up to 99 bones. The equipped weapon icon displays at the top center of the screen instead of the left. Some of the environment models are missing their textures.

Zombie enemies and their headless counterparts appear in the Pumpkin Gorge level, though they were likely used as a placeholder before replacing them with the pumpkin monsters later on. The early versions of the wolf enemies were encountered in The Sleeping Village level.

The most unusual enemy that was quickly removed in later versions was a scrambling, legless, headless green zombie variant. According to its briefly-seen concept art from the game's design history video by Jason Wilson, the enemy was called the "Tumbling Torso".^[2]

Rolling Demo

The prototype demo that can be played in PlayStation demo discs. The demo’s build was finished on August 14, 1997, while the hacked version was uploaded in March 2013.

The prototype is nearly identical to its pre-Rolling Demo build. The demo supports 10 playable levels. However, levels suffer with partly unfinished quality, with The Graveyard, The Desecrated Church, and The Asylum Grounds as the only exceptions.

There is a whole list of 30 levels, but aside from 10 available levels, the other levels were not contained in the files, making it impossible to access them.

An unused trident weapon is found using cheat commands, but the game crashes if the weapon is used.

Post-Rolling Demo

Another 97 prototype was dated September 7, 1997, and recovered by Hwd45 and Anonymous 25 years later on September 17, 2022.

This prototype included all available levels in the list, both used and unused levels. "The Graveyard" and "The Ant Caves" level look almost completed in state, but other levels that were previously available on the Rolling Demo nearly remain the same. The half-finished versions of "The Crystal Caves" and "The Pumpkin Serpent" level are now playable. The rest of the levels, along with cut levels, appear to be under early development and feature no enemies, items, etc.

A huge load of unused models (such as the Jabberwocky, the tumbling zombie torso, a trident-wielding mermaid, and even Morton) were seen in the files. Most of these never-before-seen models affiliate with the cut levels.