Sometimes during production of a game, concepts that were originally part of the game planning don’t make it to the final retail version. Why these concepts and ideas don’t make it to the final version of the game varies from game to game, but a lot of the time, time itself tends to be factor, and sometimes the idea just wasn’t as fun in practice as once thought, especially when playtested by people outside of the game dev team.

Sadly, most of the time such things are lost to time, and we’re left with simple Magazine screenshots, and if we’re really lucky, we’ll even have video evidence of such concepts (and if we’re VERY lucky, we’re either given official concept materials, or come across prototype builds). Sometimes though, things can actually be left over in the final retail version of a game (sometimes they are even left in the game as little easter eggs!), and it’s up to us fans to discover and document such findings. And so, on this page we’ll look at what we’ve managed to find inside the retail version of the first Clockwork Knight game.

While watching the “Game Over” screen video on the channel in November 2022, I made a fun little discovery. If you aren’t aware, the “Game Over” screen fades in, zooms in on an image of an upside down Tongara, shows the game over text and then fades out. To refresh our minds, lets view the video first below.

Now that we’re in the right frame of mind, I can continue. So, while I was casually watching said video, I noticed something strange about the image that is zoomed in on as it fades in… something pink. I couldn’t see what it was, as once the fade in ends it is no longer visible. So, I went ahead and took several screenshots, and while dark, I found..

Well, this…

So… what the heck is that?! “See You”?! Why is THAT there of all things?
Well, after doing a little bit of research via retro gaming magazine scans, it appears that this screen was part of the long sought after ‘94 Tokyo Toy Show Prototype of Clockwork Knight (Joukan). It also says “See You Soon”, not just “See You”.

It seems likely this screen would display once you completed the playable demo. I guess they decided to simply repurpose the screen in the background of the “Game Over” screen, rather than let it go to waste once not needed.

Now, while it’s cool to make the link between the two images, we still don’t have the actual screen as we don’t have the ‘94 TTS Prototype… well, that isn’t strictly true! In August 2023, I used uoYabuse to rip the screen using the VDP2 viewer.

Please enjoy the previously lost/unknown “See You Soon” screen, both raw and cropped!

Until we find the actual prototype, this really is as good as it gets. Hopefully it turns up someday~

(To note, the palette is correct and matches the original version seen in the “Game Over” screen.)

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