Rez Dreamcast prototypes release
United Game Artists' psychedelic, experimental musical rail shooter is a well-known UFO among Dreamcast enthusiasts.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Rez 's project manager, had previously worked on bizarre Sega's latest console titles like Space Channel 5. It offered in this year 2001 a title which, 20 years later, still has no equivalent.
The player who tries Rez falls under his spell ou remains completely impervious to his atypical world. It won't please everyone. We are in it right away, or never. It can also be delayed.
The graphics are minimalist, wire-frame decorations. The soundtrack composed of techno sounds plunges the receptive player into a cybernetic world to thwart the plans of an artificial intelligence, Eden, questioning its own existence and threatening humanity. The four stages (plus a hidden one) each offer a special visual and sound atmosphere ending with the confrontation of spectacular bosses.
Rez is a unique experience. The great originality of the title comes from the integration of music at the very heart of the gameplay. When you shoot or when you hit an enemy, it makes a note. By successful combos, it makes a succession of notes.
With its innovative artistic direction and its atypical musical side, Rez is a game you absolutely have to try.
The specifics of the build:
This prototype is one of the first that I was able to acquire in 2016. It allowed me, finally, to try this game that I only had in blister pack. I fell in love with it and regretted not having discovered it sooner.
Reviewing my old releases to see if I hadn't forgotten anything, this Rez beta had a hidden, inactive Debug Menu. VincentNL was able to make it accessible thanks to a cheat to be used on the Flycast emulator.
This build dates July 30, 2001, about 2 months before the final version, the beta is dated in the title menu (only with the CHEAT of the Debug Menu).
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Digging through the game files after it was extracted, one of them is only found in the prototype versions, it is TEST.STM, a brief overview:
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The warning message on the risks of epileptic seizures is less complete than in the final version. The Audio part is missing.
prototype
Final
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The "Presented By Sega" logo is bigger than usual. The text is in bold. This difference is also visible for the studio logo "Created By" whose text this time is orange and not white.
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When arriving at the main menu, it lacks 2 options "Travelling" and "How to Play". These 2 options are however accessible from the Debug Menu (read below).
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The display of percentages, in numbers, at the level selection window is smaller for "Shot Down" and "Support Item". The "Artist" and "Track" annotations are centered on the prototype, they should be aligned to the right. The name of the artist and the song seems to be tentative (to be confirmed).
STAGE 23 (niveau teste ?)
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Stage 1 has no relief in the middle of the map.
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The "Vibration" option is missing in the pause menu. The values of the default settings of the "BGM Vol." and "Sound Effect Vol." options are not the same between the prototype and the final version.
Attention, Rez will work differently if you activate the CHEAT of the Debug Menu with the Flycast emulator, for example, it will be written PS2 Start on the right of the title screen.
The Debug Menu:
Play on the Dreamcast keyboard with its associated keys:
By plugging a Dreamcast keyboard into the D controller port, the player can trigger options from the Debug Menu.
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F1 : Performance Menu
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F2 : Memory menu
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F3 : MainFlow menu (only during a game)
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F4 : Game Info Menu
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F5 : Camera Menu
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F6 : Frame Stabilizer On/Off
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F7 : Variable Editor Menu
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F8 : Free Camera (only during a game, see use below.)
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F9 : System Menu
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F11 : Restart the game (only during a game)
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§ : Console menu
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P : Unlock all levels (only on the level selection screen)
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Insert: Memory OverRun Check End On/Off
The Free Camera option
It will be necessary to activate the Free Camera option from the Debug Menu 1 or with the F8 key of the Keyboard. The controller plugged into port A of the Dreamcast allows you to use the Free Camera.
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Right and left trigger: Turn your head right or left
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Y and B : Look up or down.
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Right or left joystick : Rotate the map to the right or left
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A and X : Forward and backward
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Directional cross : Forward, backward, move left and right
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Press the left and right trigger at the same time : choose the speed of movement to move on the map (3 possible?).
F1 : Performance
F3 : MainFlow
Free Camera
By plugging a controller into port B of the Dreamcast , it will be possible to access 2 Debug Menu. You must press the A or B key. With the cursor, you can navigate through the different options of the Debug Menus such as STAGE , MODULE or SEQUENCE which allow you to choose the menu of the game of your choice or to play the desired level.
Debug Menu 1 (key A)
Debug Menu 2 (key B)
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You can download the Rez Dreamcast build below
You can download Flycast CHEAT for Rez Dreamcast Debug Menu below
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Home page of about 200 prototypes for download: List of prototypes to download