Prime Selection Vol. 1 (プライムセレクションＶｏｌ．１) is a demo disc for the Sega Saturn, released exclusively in Japan. It is seemingly a somewhat little known release, and as such is difficult to come by.

The disc contains 5 video previews for Saturn games and a single level playable demo of the first level of Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau no Daibouken - Gekan. The demo of “Gekan” has a burn/compile date of 20 days prior to that of the Japanese retail release of the game, and as such there are a few object/enemy differences seen within the demo, among other small differences.

The Basics
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I bought this obscure Japanese only released demo disc in 2018 for my own Clockwork Knight collection related reasons after searching for it for around 8 years, and only discovered once I had the disc just how many differences to the final product there were. The exact release date of this CD is not known apart from it’s year, but file dates on the CD give us a clue. The file burn dates are all “1995.06.15 at 07:48 AM”, so it was probably very soon after that date.

This would make sense, as the front cover/manual advertises Clockwork Knight 2’s Japanese release date (1995.07.28), so assuming it was released around a month prior to this would put it about there. Sadly, as I have no information on how this disc was released or distributed, I can’t give an exact date, but late June or VERY early July 1995 seems right.

Clockwork Knight: Gekan - Demo Differences
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Below, we’ll go over the various differences found in this demo build of the game compared to the final Japanese build.
To note, this build is still being researched, and as such more information may be added to this section in the future.

Title Screen
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Copyright date text is different, and has a black outline, matching other previously discovered pre-release footage of the game.

Action Game — Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

“Options” menu is unselectable.

Kid’s Room 1 - Main Path
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No character support message shown.
Loading screen has the text “LOADING” missing.

“Katchin’” enemies have Green pencils and not Red.

Egg gives a single coin instead of a bronze key. There is also an extra flag in the foreground to the left that is not present in the retail version.

“Pierron” enemies are in a formation of only 3 rather than 5, and are spaced out much further, making the 1-UP bonus via the egg impossible to do.

There is an extra flag pole in the foreground and the background next to the spelling blocks. Both of these flags are not present in the retail version.

A “Pierron” is hiding in the background and jumps out at you.

Just before the pit of death after the first turn of the level, there is a “Katchin’” enemy. Very easy to fall onto from above.

After using the wind-up stairs to walk on the climbing frame, an extra “Katchin’” enemy is placed above the first “Tick” enemy, right before the floating platforms you can jump over to

Some of the “Katchin’ ” enemies are closer to the edge than in the final, making getting hit easier.

There is an additional “Tick” enemy on the final yellow bar of the climbing frame.

Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

Source: Clockwork Knight 2 (NTSC-J Ver.) (1995)
Jumping off of the climbing frame there are only 4 pocket watches at first, but then the rest on the way down are the same.

After the wind-up stairs, there is usually an egg with a bronze key, but this has been replaced with a “Katchin’” enemy.

After the first wind up platforms with the Invincibility hidden in the egg, there are usually a row of 5 “Pierron”, but in this version there are only 3, making the 1-UP bonus via the tree impossible to do.

The “Katchin’” enemy underneath the second set of wind up platforms does not instantly die when the platforms are wound, but does die when the platforms fall back inwards.

The egg underneath the second set of wind up platforms gives you a bronze key instead of a silver key.

After using the second set of wind-up stairs to walk on the second climbing frame, “Katchin’” enemies are noticed to be closer to the edge again, making getting hit easier.

“Tick” enemy on second yellow bar of climbing frame.

“Tick” enemy on third yellow bar of climbing frame.

After the wind-up stairs, there is a “Pierron”.

Kid’s Room 1 - Lower Path
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Secret route to the room with pencils on the left hand side is not accessible.

Extra “Katchin’” after the one by the bottomless pit when traveling rightward.

Egg towards the right hand end of the lower path usually has a gold key inside, but it is silver in this version.

Kid’s Room 1 - Alernate Path
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“Katchin’” enemies have Green pencils and not Red.

Extra “Katchin’” enemy on top of box to leave the area.

Hidden path leading to Le Bon race usually has 5 coins to collect. This remains the same, but a 1-UP is placed at the end of the path. Le Bon race is also not accessible.

Kid’s Room 2 - Demo Screen
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Loading screen has the text “LOADING” missing.

There is a complete lack of “Heatman” enemies. “Katchin’” are instead in place of the first “Heatman” enemy. Katchin’ also appear to be a darker silver colour than in the retail version.

Lack of Playing Card at the start.

Graphical glitching as the player turns towards the camera after falling toy section.

Coming Soon Screen
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Upon finishing the playable level, losing or your lives or letting the demo screen finish, the following screen is shown. It includes a cool render of Tongara’s face with wireframe on top. The text states “Clockwork Knight: Pepperouchau’s Great Adventure - Vol. 2” was scheduled for release on “07.28(1995)” and was set to cost around “¥4,800 (JPY)”.

Clockwork Knight: Gekan - Hidden Content & Levels
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In late December 2023, a person called Bo (aka @memory_fallen on Twitter)
Below, we’ll go over the various differences found in this demo build of the game compared to the final Japanese build.
To note, this build is still being researched, and as such more information may be added to this section in the future.

Level Select & Options Screen
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The level select reads “Area 5”, “Area 6”, “Area 7”, etc, instead of “Kid’s Room”, “Study Room”, “Bath Room”, etc, as in the final version. The only name that has stayed the same is “Final Boss”. This numbering matches to where the first game ends after “Area 4” aka “Attic”, with “Area 5” being the following on from this. This is further proof of the already obvious and well known “split” that the game went through during development.
“Stage 1”, “Stage 2” and “Boss Stage” are also simply shown as “1”, “2” and “3”.

Onto the Options. With this menu finally selectable, we finally get to see what differences it contains…

The text for the controller buttons in the “CONTROL” section are bigger in the Prime Selection prototype, while in the final retail version of the game they are a bit smaller and also have had a gradient added to them.

The sound tests “BGM” section in the Prime Selection prototype still contains the track names for the songs from the first Clockwork Knight game. While the songs can be scrolled through, none of them can be selected/played. Also of note, while the song list in the Prime Selection prototypes “BGM” section matches the one from the first Clockwork Knight game, the sections have already been shifted upward and match what they do in the final retail version of Clockwork Knight 2. This can be seen in the comparrison screenshots below.

And finally, here are 2 small videos showing the difference in songs when scrolling through the “BGM” section.

Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

Source: Clockwork Knight 2 (NTSC-J Ver.) (1995)

Congratulations Screen
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Usually this screen isn’t shown in the final retail version Clockwork Knight 2. It’s actually a leftover seen when completing the first Clockwork Knight in “Easy” mode. Luckily thanks to an action replay code, we are able to see this screen!

The pallete appears to be wrong/broken, but apart from that it is the same “Congratulations” image.

Something funny to note, when this screen is accessed, the noise of “Barobaro” from the title screen plays.
Then, the congratulations screen displays for a few seconds before finally crashing and showing the “Coming Soon” screen from the end of the Prime Selection prototype. This series of events can be seen in the video below.

Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

Mini Boss - Crazy TV
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The sound effect that plays when Crazy TV’s claw is hit doesn’t play in the Prime Selection Prototype.

Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

Source: Clockwork Knight 2 (NTSC-J Ver.) (1995)

An unused sounds of Cymbals crashing/being banged together.
Perhaps it would have been used by the lost enemy Toy “Lubancy”?

“Katchin’” enemies have Green pencils and not Red.

Egg gives a single coin instead of a bronze key. There is also an extra flag in the foreground to the left that is not present in the retail version.

“Pierron” enemies are in a formation of only 3 rather than 5, and are spaced out much further, making the 1-UP bonus via the egg impossible to do.

There is an extra flag pole in the foreground and the background next to the spelling blocks. Both of these flags are not present in the retail version.

A “Pierron” is hiding in the background and jumps out at you.

Just before the pit of death after the first turn of the level, there is a “Katchin’” enemy. Very easy to fall onto from above.

After using the wind-up stairs to walk on the climbing frame, an extra “Katchin’” enemy is placed above the first “Tick” enemy, right before the floating platforms you can jump over to

Some of the “Katchin’ ” enemies are closer to the edge than in the final, making getting hit easier.

There is an additional “Tick” enemy on the final yellow bar of the climbing frame.

Source: CK2 Demo (Prime Selection Vol. 1) (1995)

Source: Clockwork Knight 2 (NTSC-J Ver.) (1995)
Jumping off of the climbing frame there are only 4 pocket watches at first, but then the rest on the way down are the same.

After the wind-up stairs, there is usually an egg with a bronze key, but this has been replaced with a “Katchin’” enemy.

After the first wind up platforms with the Invincibility hidden in the egg, there are usually a row of 5 “Pierron”, but in this version there are only 3, making the 1-UP bonus via the tree impossible to do.

The “Katchin’” enemy underneath the second set of wind up platforms does not instantly die when the platforms are wound, but does die when the platforms fall back inwards.

The egg underneath the second set of wind up platforms gives you a bronze key instead of a silver key.

After using the second set of wind-up stairs to walk on the second climbing frame, “Katchin’” enemies are noticed to be closer to the edge again, making getting hit easier.

“Tick” enemy on second yellow bar of climbing frame.

“Tick” enemy on third yellow bar of climbing frame.

After the wind-up stairs, there is a “Pierron”.