Over 700 PS2 prototypes and demos released by game preservation group
Crash Bandicoot! Shadow of the Colossus! More!
A video game preservation group has released over 700 PlayStation 2 prototypes and demos.
As reported by VGC, Project Deluge includes 752 PS2 prototypes or demos made for Sony's console but never officially released.
The Hidden Palace and the Internet Archive worked together to catalogue and upload all the files, which amounted to a whopping 860GB of data.
The files were given to The Hidden Palace by just one person, an anonymous donor who "not only took on the task of backing up everything in their possession single-handedly, but was so overwhelmingly kind enough to let us look at and preserve each item in his collection with no strings attached".
Not only does the code release mean anyone can download and play these prototypes and demos, but video game history is preserved. The majority of the items featured are mastered on recordable media such as CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, which are prone to deterioration with time. They come from previews, reviews, localisation prototypes, tech demos, and debug builds.
Highlights include an E3 prototype of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex, an E3 prototype of Shadow of the Colossus, prototypes for God Hand and Dino Stalker, and builds of Dragon's Lair 3D, Final Fantasy 10-2, and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2.
The Hidden Palace showcased some of the builds in a six-hour livestream on Twitch, below:
There's more to come, too, according to The Hidden Palace. What will be unearthed next?