The Japanese video game company Hamster showed off something truly remarkable yesterday on its weekly livestream.
While advertising its recent emulation-based reissue of Namco's 1988 arcade game Märchen Maze for PS4 and Nintendo Switch, it published some incredible never-before-seen footage of an early prototype of the isometric platformer that seems to be exceptionally different from the version that ended up releasing.
The footage is a recording of a monitor, as opposed to a direct capture from an actual machine, and shows a version of the game that appears to date back to 1987 (judging by the copyright year provided). It features a completely different starting screen, which refers to the game under the working title "Alice", as well as a slightly more realistic design for the main character that was later changed to a more cutesy anime aesthetic.
Those aren't the only differences that are present either, with the video also displaying various unused enemy designs (like chickens, clowns, pigs, and bees), as well as a small number of scrapped power-ups and items (helpers, keys, and drinks that can make the player smaller), and a significantly wider set of stages that seem to allow you to fall from one level to the next.
If you want to take a closer look at the footage, the section starts at 1:10:19. Bear in mind, though, the quality of the footage isn't exactly great.