Thanks to Grzegorz Antosiewicz, we present a series of earlier screens from Arabian Nights on the Amiga, showing various differences from the final game. I will hand over to Grzegorz to explain what he’s found:
Today I would like to share a page from old magazine “Joystick” from November 1992. There is a preview of Krisalis’ Amiga platform game “Arabian Nights” (released in 1993).”
In the preview, you can see how different the main protagonist looks. His red fez in the early version has some white material, plus his face was more chubby. All pictures from preview show different parts of the first level, and layout was not changed in released version.
I also took images from Amiga Power cover disk demo:
While the main hero sprite was changed into his final version, sprites of other characters still have that early look. For example, there is a room with a fat snake charmer, and in preview dialogue box, there is no face image:
In the demo, there is one and in final version he was replaced by a thin levitating guy:
Other changed characters are guards – your first enemy. In the demo they are bald with a moustache and he does a quick stabbing animation.
Whilst in the finished version, they were drastically changed, with new face and new pose. When the guard attack animation plays, his face turns more aggressive so you can react and move away from his sword swing.
Also in the preview and demo, all text boxes have transparent background – whilst in the finished game there is solid colour for better visibility. Demo also lacks two hands icons on upper HUD for items you hold in your hands.
Lastly, here are three images for the load screen:
Each time you finish a level, you see an animation with Sinbad Jr running to a desk and a clerk counts his score. In the demo, there is no animation, no clerk and hero character, whilst in an early preview the room looks different, but both characters are present.
I wonder if there were plans for different levels or any cut content – especially since the early preview shows only the first level.
