D2 / M2 - Info dump and other musings
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 2:44 am
So last time I put something like this together (the Killing Time comparison post) it seemed well received, and since I have extra time on my hands lately, I thought..."why not". It's nowhere near as thorough as my Killing Time stuff I posted, but hopefully putting this here will help fill in the holes with someone elses information
so lets get on with it then
D2 for M2 - all the information I can find
So obviously D2 was slated for the ill-fated 3DO / Matsushita M2 hardware platform; we all know how well that went. Considering it was the first game announced for the platform, (if rumors online are to believed) it clearly had some lead time for development before the M2 project was scrapped altogether. Unfortunately, as we all are unfortunately well aware of, almost nothing of D2 remains. So I have compiled everything I can personally find / information I know into this one resource
Backstory : having owned the 3DO when it first came out, and having loved D, I as a kid could not wait for this game, and by extension the M2 to come out. It's my holy grail of lost video gaming
Story : Well this is an extremely loose interpritation, but going on the video posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHD6vY9_0I, I figure the following
Transylvania; at some point during the rule of Vlad Tepes (1431–1476/77. Considering he appears in his middle age in the trailer, lets say)...Transylvania; 1460. Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, loses the one thing he holds dearest to him...his wife. Distraught at the loss, he spirals out of control, aching to fill the hole left in her absence. Through the use of some hidden knowledge from the pages of rare manuscripts, Vlad makes a deal with the other world: bring him a son and heir so that if he may not have a wife, he may at least have his lineage continued
Further conjecture : perhaps Vlad, as seen in the Warp trailer, loses his wife while she is pregnant, and now mourns the dual loss of his wife and unborn child. Through the use of magic he transports the unborn son of one of the members of his own family line (Laura, as seen on the plane in both the M2 and Dreamcast versions of D2, obviously with major storyline differences) back in time to heal his own pain
Ok, so for the details
(the man seen in the D2 trailer)
v.
Minus Vlad's stylish use of a full beard in the D2 trailer, it's pretty obvious Kenji Eno and Warp were using Vlad Tepes as the inspiration for this character, if not making the character Vlad Tepes entirely. In conjunction, if you tie the original D and it's Japanese title (D's Dinner Table) and the fact that D's storyline directly references the bloodline and history of Dracula, it's quite easy to say Eno was fascinated with the entire Dracula mythos, and had continued to use this historical character for his original version of D2
Additionally
Within the trailer for D2, we are shown a scene of multiple bodies impaled on stakes (I'll leave out the historical / art historical bit about where the pike entered/exited the body haha) in the exact same manner that Vlad Tepes (also known as Vlad the Impaler, important point here) executed his enemies
Add that all up : pretty safe bet that the character from Transylvania seen in the D2 / M2 trailer was in fact Vlad Tepes, and that he would be the central antagonist for the storyline of D2
NOTE : I do not speak / read a word of Japanese. In all my looking, I do not see a single instance of the kanji in this trailer having been translated to English. If we get this done, we could completely verify / refute my theory and/or learn what the text actually tells us about the game
More fun things :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmesm0azh8M
Actual gameplay and underlying engine code being spit out onto the screen. As far as I can tell, this is absolutely the only video of the game being playable (minus one very short clip showing Laura's son, now grown, jumping, at some game expo. I have seen it, can't find the link currently)
So we can at least say a playable version in fact existed, per the video and Eno saying the game was 50% complete at the time of it's cancellation
Less fun things :
Eno himself stated that even he no longer had any of the files associated with D2 for M2, so it's very safe to assume that unfortunately what exists online today is in fact the sum total of all D2 for M2 content
Interesting Questions:
Where did the gameplay video originally come from? I cannot track down where this footage was originally found. Any help would be greatly appreciated
The original 4:30 minute video of Vlad Tepes in Transylvania was unlocked by having a save game from the D2 Shock Demo for Dreamcast (packaged with Real Sound : Kaze No Regret) and then using the retail JPN D2 game, and the D2 Shock Demo save, to unlock the D2 for M2 video. I do not, however, know where the second portion (Laura on plane) came from, as it is not on my Dreamcast disc combos
So, was there another source for this footage? Some tape / trade show / preview source? I have zero idea...that's why I am asking
The magazine scans:
This is what I have found so far : Next Generation : 1/97. Originally posted by me
I am not aware of any other mag scans : if you have them / know of them, please let me know
Fun little tidbits
There seem to be two distinct sources for the Vlad Tepes / Transylvania portion of the D2 for M2 trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHD6vY9_0I#t=47
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nmy6XQSDr0#t=42
Not only do the sizes / colors of the video not match (and even with the source involved, or video coded used to compress, there would not be such a divergence of colors across two separate uploads...trust me, filmmaker for a living) but the audio does not sync together even if you sync both videos to the same frame and play simultaneously
So that's what I have kids. Hope you like it
NOTE : If anyone knows Japanese, or knows someone who KNOWS Japanese, I'd really love to have the text translated into English. I am sure someone out there can help with this
If anyone has any more info on D2 for M2, post it up. I'd love to hear more
and for a huge (M2 huge...considering there is such a lack of solid info) dump of D2 for M2 screenshots, go here
http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/07/d2-m2-cancelled/
so lets get on with it then
D2 for M2 - all the information I can find
So obviously D2 was slated for the ill-fated 3DO / Matsushita M2 hardware platform; we all know how well that went. Considering it was the first game announced for the platform, (if rumors online are to believed) it clearly had some lead time for development before the M2 project was scrapped altogether. Unfortunately, as we all are unfortunately well aware of, almost nothing of D2 remains. So I have compiled everything I can personally find / information I know into this one resource
Backstory : having owned the 3DO when it first came out, and having loved D, I as a kid could not wait for this game, and by extension the M2 to come out. It's my holy grail of lost video gaming
Story : Well this is an extremely loose interpritation, but going on the video posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHD6vY9_0I, I figure the following
Transylvania; at some point during the rule of Vlad Tepes (1431–1476/77. Considering he appears in his middle age in the trailer, lets say)...Transylvania; 1460. Vlad Tepes, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler, loses the one thing he holds dearest to him...his wife. Distraught at the loss, he spirals out of control, aching to fill the hole left in her absence. Through the use of some hidden knowledge from the pages of rare manuscripts, Vlad makes a deal with the other world: bring him a son and heir so that if he may not have a wife, he may at least have his lineage continued
Further conjecture : perhaps Vlad, as seen in the Warp trailer, loses his wife while she is pregnant, and now mourns the dual loss of his wife and unborn child. Through the use of magic he transports the unborn son of one of the members of his own family line (Laura, as seen on the plane in both the M2 and Dreamcast versions of D2, obviously with major storyline differences) back in time to heal his own pain
Ok, so for the details
(the man seen in the D2 trailer)
v.
Minus Vlad's stylish use of a full beard in the D2 trailer, it's pretty obvious Kenji Eno and Warp were using Vlad Tepes as the inspiration for this character, if not making the character Vlad Tepes entirely. In conjunction, if you tie the original D and it's Japanese title (D's Dinner Table) and the fact that D's storyline directly references the bloodline and history of Dracula, it's quite easy to say Eno was fascinated with the entire Dracula mythos, and had continued to use this historical character for his original version of D2
Additionally
Within the trailer for D2, we are shown a scene of multiple bodies impaled on stakes (I'll leave out the historical / art historical bit about where the pike entered/exited the body haha) in the exact same manner that Vlad Tepes (also known as Vlad the Impaler, important point here) executed his enemies
Add that all up : pretty safe bet that the character from Transylvania seen in the D2 / M2 trailer was in fact Vlad Tepes, and that he would be the central antagonist for the storyline of D2
NOTE : I do not speak / read a word of Japanese. In all my looking, I do not see a single instance of the kanji in this trailer having been translated to English. If we get this done, we could completely verify / refute my theory and/or learn what the text actually tells us about the game
More fun things :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmesm0azh8M
Actual gameplay and underlying engine code being spit out onto the screen. As far as I can tell, this is absolutely the only video of the game being playable (minus one very short clip showing Laura's son, now grown, jumping, at some game expo. I have seen it, can't find the link currently)
So we can at least say a playable version in fact existed, per the video and Eno saying the game was 50% complete at the time of it's cancellation
Less fun things :
Eno himself stated that even he no longer had any of the files associated with D2 for M2, so it's very safe to assume that unfortunately what exists online today is in fact the sum total of all D2 for M2 content
Interesting Questions:
Where did the gameplay video originally come from? I cannot track down where this footage was originally found. Any help would be greatly appreciated
The original 4:30 minute video of Vlad Tepes in Transylvania was unlocked by having a save game from the D2 Shock Demo for Dreamcast (packaged with Real Sound : Kaze No Regret) and then using the retail JPN D2 game, and the D2 Shock Demo save, to unlock the D2 for M2 video. I do not, however, know where the second portion (Laura on plane) came from, as it is not on my Dreamcast disc combos
So, was there another source for this footage? Some tape / trade show / preview source? I have zero idea...that's why I am asking
The magazine scans:
This is what I have found so far : Next Generation : 1/97. Originally posted by me
I am not aware of any other mag scans : if you have them / know of them, please let me know
Fun little tidbits
There seem to be two distinct sources for the Vlad Tepes / Transylvania portion of the D2 for M2 trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XHD6vY9_0I#t=47
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Nmy6XQSDr0#t=42
Not only do the sizes / colors of the video not match (and even with the source involved, or video coded used to compress, there would not be such a divergence of colors across two separate uploads...trust me, filmmaker for a living) but the audio does not sync together even if you sync both videos to the same frame and play simultaneously
So that's what I have kids. Hope you like it
NOTE : If anyone knows Japanese, or knows someone who KNOWS Japanese, I'd really love to have the text translated into English. I am sure someone out there can help with this
If anyone has any more info on D2 for M2, post it up. I'd love to hear more
and for a huge (M2 huge...considering there is such a lack of solid info) dump of D2 for M2 screenshots, go here
http://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/07/d2-m2-cancelled/