This is one of the largest-ever drops of video game prototypes
Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to preserving video games, has released a new initiative called ‘Project Deluge’ that includes 752 unique PlayStation 2 game prototype builds spanning a period of several years.
Content includes tech demos, press previews, localization prototypes and more. There are even E3 prototype previews of Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex and Shadow of the Colossus.
Hidden Palace says that this is the biggest project it has released so far. The closest comparison is the 2008 release of 1,000 prototype Sega games across various consoles like the Genesis and 32X.
a thread of good discs from the big ps2 prototype release earlier today pic.twitter.com/jl4R0WlyvJ
— Super Washington Treaty (@sebmal) March 21, 2021
Some Prototype comparasions of Okami (PS2) in this thread. pic.twitter.com/Fb9RfjB04U
— Joseph Martin (@HeadstrongWolf) March 21, 2021
Thanks to the efforts of @HiddenPalaceOrg, a few Crash Bandicoot PS2 prototypes have been found and dumped! Check it all out: https://t.co/m4KeL8Ci7v pic.twitter.com/ENQrVYt6z9
— Crash Bandicoot Archive #CB25 (@CrashArchive) March 21, 2021
Hidden Palace says it contacted the unnamed owner of the massive PlayStation 2 collection midway through 2020 under the impression that the number of games they had in their possession was much smaller. The unnamed uploader not only backed up the massive collection, but was also willing to share it with Hidden Palace.
Hidden Palace says that the package’s contents come from “various defunct media outlets, developers, and odds and ends from various collectors over a period of time.” Most of the prototype titles are playable through Windows-based PS2 emulators on PC. Project Deluge comes in at a compressed size of 860GB.
You can read the entire story behind Project Deluge’s release here. There’s also a full list of all of the prototypes. Hidden Palace also played through several of the games included in the package over the weekend on its Twitch channel.
Source: Hidden Palace Via: VGC