We start off with the first episode of “Game Catalogue II dated “1994.10.08”, and what a first episode! This episode starts off with a feature on the then-upcoming Sega Saturn, and the first game they looked at was Clockwork Knight!
As far as I can tell, this is officially the first time Clockwork Knight was shown in motion on TV to the general public. Despite being just 2 months before the game was to release in Japan, this build is clearly a bit earlier than that, and while the feature itself is quite short, it’s a nice look at things to come, and a few noticable differences can be seen…

First off, again we see that title screen. It is of course completely different to the one seen in the final retail version of the game, and sort of reminds me of the emblem title screen that SEGA of this era liked to use in things such as the “Sonic The Hedgehog” series, albeit without the wings, etc.

Now we move onto the the Sega Video Magazine dated “1994.11”, making it a month after the above previously discussed prototype had been shown. Once again, despite the fact that this is a mere month before the retail Japanese release of the game, it is likely that is is actually from a bit earlier than that, and some of the content even matches the previously discussed prototype. That said, there’s plenty of unique/interesting content to see, including some musical differences, so let’s take a look…

First, we again see this earlier title screen. It’s exactly the same as the one discussed prior, so there’s nothing to add.

Much like the build discussed above, the poster in the background is Tongara, while in the final retail version it would be changed to a posted of Princess Chelsea. In addition, we can see that the design of the pillow also matches the previously discussed build, along with the strange positioning of the wall calendar.

Now we’re onto some new stuff! For some reason in this build of the game, we can see that there is a “Magic Door” book casually just sitting here in the level. I believe this was probably just for testing purposes, but it’s funny to see it here. We also see a row of 3 “Peirron” enemies, along with a toy car sitting in the background. In the final retail version of the game, all of this has been replaced with a set of blocks in the foreground and a bronze key to the right. As a side note, one can see that in this earlier build, there is an earth globe in the background, but this is replaced with a plush toy of an Elephant in the final retail version of the game. Why this was changed is a complete mystery.

Now we come to something very strange. The falling houses are a staple of Betsy’s Room, so there isn’t much strange about that in itself, but whenever there is a pit underneath one of them it is usually just one big hole… in this earlier build that simply isn’t the case, with the pit being strangley split into three! In this case it’s obvious to see why this was changed, as the player would likely try to jump between the pits, leading to them being crushed much easier by the falling houses. In the final retail version of the game, the falling house is actually set slightly further down the path with no pit underneath. The pit is also replaced with a “BLOCKS” box, and 2 sets of pencil boxes featuring Princess Chelsea.

Going slightly forward in this earlier build of the game, we see a falling house along with another strange pit split into three. In the final retail version of the game, the falling house is moved a few pixels to the right. The pit has been turned into one large pit. Blocks saying “A” & “K” have been added to the foreground, with the latter placed next to a “BLOCKS” box. The Robots holding up the falling house are also now being supported by pencil boxes featuring Princess Chelsea.

Now we move onto 0:48 in the video, and we’re now in the third area of Betsy’s Room 2 (Stage 2-2). Boy oh boy, this earlier build sure is different here… Not only do we see a lot more blocks to the left, all displaying letters such as “A, B, C, D” and coloured Red, Yellow, Blue, but we also see strange photos and postcards in the background. We also see a “Katchin’” enemy to the right. In the final retail version of the game, the upper blocks have been removed from the left side of the area, with the remaining blocks being changed to have single, solid colours with no letters on them. The strange pictures and postcards have also been removed from the background, with the background becoming a lot more plain, now simply featuring a set of books. The “Katchin’” enemy has been replaced with a set of pushable blocks.

Now, when it comes to the “musical differences” I mentioned at the top of this section, this is the part of this section where we start to talk about them! The music that usually plays in Betsy’s Room 2 (Stage 1-2) is “Lonesome Knight”…

However, the music that plays in this prototype footage for Betsy’s Room 2 (Stage 1-2) is NOT “Lonesome Knight”, and is instead “Walkin’ In a Dream”, which as you may well know is actually the music that plays in Kevin’s Room 1 (Stage 2-1)!
So, clearly this song was originally meant for this stage! But, do we know what music Kevin’s Room 1 (Stage 2-1) plays if not this? We do… but you’ll have to wait a bit to find out! Now, let’s check out a few more differences for this stage…

As we can see even better in the shots below, this section had of the level a drastic overhaul. Not only were a lot of blocks removed, but their textures had a facelift. The blocks also now spell “CLOCK”, rather than just random patterns of “A,B,C,D”. Again, there is another strange photo and the corner of another postcard can be seen, while in the final retail version the background is a lot more plain, and simply contains a set of books.

But, while it looks quite similar, can we be 100% sure that these are the same area? Well, we could take the part of the video right after as evidence, but that wouldn’t be quite as fun! No, instead we’re going to compare a screenshot from the back cover of the Japanese retail version of the game to the exact same spot in the retail version.

While it might seem a bit strange to see this earlier version of the level on the back cover of the game, it’s not hugley uncommon to see such, and makes sense when taking the game development process/physical production into account.
Now, as we can clearly see, the sections pretty much perfectly match, not just in the number of standable blocks/the positioning of said blocks, but the set of three “Pumpie” enemies also match up perfectly to this area of the retail release. A fun thing to note (and also to show just how late this section changed), in the screenshot the HUD is almost the final version except for the life icon art being slightly different, and the life counter being 2 digits instead of 3.

Just to add to the above claim about how late this section of the game appears to have been kept around until and that the HUD is significant evidence for this, the following 2 screenshots were taken from Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #63 (1994.12) and #64 (1995.01), and if you check carefully, both have an HUD that matches every shot from the episode of Sega Video Magazine that we’re currently taking a look at, making them much earlier than the back cover screenshot.
Apart from that, there isn’t much more to discuss about this small section of this stage, so we’ll keep moving forward…

And now we come up the the first… boxing glove puncher thing. The graphics appear to be the same, but looking at the ceiling, we can see that the texture for that was completely changed. I think what they went with in the end is a better choice. We can also see another random photo on the wall. It’s interesting to note once again that the in final retail version the background is a lot more plain, and simply contains a set of books. As noted earlier, the Katchin’ enemy around this point was replaced with a set of pushable blocks in the final retail version of the game.

Now we can finally see the reason for the Katchin’ being replaces with said pushable blocks! The path here between the first and second set of boxing glove punchers was originally shorter, while in the final retail version of the game, the distance between the two has been somewhat extended and had a set of walkable books with pocket watches to collect on top placed there, hence the need for that pushable set of blocks. It’s an interesting change, I think!

We can see further evidence of the distance between the first and second boxing glove punchers in the following shots between this version and the final retail version of the game, with the latter even including a set of books in the background leading up to the second boxing glove puncher. Not much to add, apart from it’s an interesting change.

Now we can see the second, third and fourth boxing glove punchers, and apart from the change in ceiling texture as already noted, there are two changed. The first is that while in this build of the game the background is empty, there are once again a set of books added to the background in the retail version. The second is the pattern of the 3 boxing glove punchers… in this build of the game, the first and second of the three move upward at the same time while the third of the three moves down, and then the first two move down as the third moves upward. This behaviour changes in the final retail version of the game, where it’s the first and third of the three that move upwards at the same time as the second moves down, and then the first and third move down as the second moves upward. This change looks better I feel.

Just after the boxing glove punchers in this earlier build, we come to a set of red, yellow and blue blocks with the letters A,B,C,D” on them, and there are two pushable blocks at the bottom with the letters “C,C” on them. The background is also empty. In the final retail version of the game, the amount of blocks has been reduced and we can now see a “Silver Key” on top of them. The colours of the blocks have been changed to purple, yellow, blue and green, with the letters being changed to “L, A”. The pushable blocks have been updated to their final design with the “pushing” hint image, making it more obvious they are pushable than the earlier version. The background has also had a set of books added.

Now that we’re right next to the pushable blocks in this earlier build, there are a few interesting things to notice. First off, in this prototype version we can notice that the book that moves back and forth to hurt the player is different, being a purple-like colour and says “Missing Ancient Ruins” on it’s spine, while in the final version of the game it is a dark blue book, and it’s spine says “The Space Odyssey” with a SEGA logo at the bottom.

Moving forward slightly, we can see a postcard with writing in the background, but it is of course not readable, while in the final version a book and a block can be seen in the background. We are also greeted by a stack of small books with a “Tick” enemy sitting on top. Funnily enough, these small books seem to be the same as the “Missing Ancient Ruins” book seen above. In the final version of the game, this stack of small books is replaced with 6 blocks that spell out “Go Rock”.

And finally for this version of the level, we can see more images in the background, including one of an unknown girl, while in the final version this section’s background is a lot more empty with just a few books. We also come to a a stack of 6 red and yellow blocks with the letters “B” and “C”, with the final 2 blocks presumable being pushable blocks, while in the final version these blocks are completely replaced with just 2 green pushable blocks. To the right we can see another moving “Missing Ancient Ruins” book, along-side another stack of smaller versions of the same book. In the final version, this part is somewhat different, as the moving book’s art is replaced with the previously mentioned “The Space Odyssey”, with the stack of small books on the floor being replaced with a set of 2 blue blocks, with a set of green pushable blocks atop of them. Additional sights include a pink block suck to the ceiling, an additional moving book and even a giraffe!

Now, we’re finally onto the second “musical differences” I mentioned earlier in this section! As noted earlier, the music that usually plays in Kevin’s Room 1 (Stage 2-1) is “Walkin’ In a Dream”, but as we know that was being used by Betsy’s Room 2 (Stage 1-2) instead…

So, what exactly IS the music that plays in this prototype footage for Kevin’s Room 1 (Stage 2-1)?! It’s actually a song called “The Donkey Paradise”, which would later go on to become the music heard in Kids’ Room 2 (Stage 1-2) in Clockwork Knight: Gekan (aka Clockwork Knight 2)… say what now?! Not only does this raise a whole bunch more questions about the development of the first Clockwork Knight game, it also sets both stages of Kevin’s Room as having a more “wild west” themed soundtrack, rather than just Kevin’s Room 2 (Stage 2-2) having one. It’s such a cool discovery!

This is the final feature from Sega Video Magazine for Clockwork Knight, and is dated 1994.12, meaning that the game was either about to come out or was already out by the time this video released. It is likely due to certain factors that we will get into that it is the same build seen on the back cover of the Japanese retail release of the game.

Now, getting something out of the way quickly is the following:

In this late prototype, the life counter is only 2 digits, while in the final/retail version of the game, the counter has space for 3 digits, which is an interesting difference. The life icon art itself is also different between these builds. This icon/2 digit life counter also matches the screenshots seen on the back of the NTSC-J release of the game, as shown below:

Now, onto some cool differences:

In the final version, the poster in the background has changed from the character Tongara to Chelsea, the design of the pillow has changed, and the wall calender is no longer right behind the pillow, it is closer to the wall at the start.

In the final version, there is no longer a 1-up under the falling house, and the globe in the background has been changed to an Elephant.

In the final version, the transporter box is further away from the wall.

In the final version, a Darjeeling enemy was added at this spot.

In the final version, a Katchin’ enemy was added to this spot.

And last of all, in the final version, several more honey pots were added to the left at this spot.

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