Strange things I've noticed about official promo screenshots

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:17 pm

We all know that to entice people into buying the full version of the games, there are promotional screenshots on the game page. Well, today I've noticed that some of these shots are incredibly strange!

In the first Wonderland game, let's start with the second shot:
http://www.midnightsynergy.com/wonderland/shot2l.jpg

It's world 3 level 3, "Tower Hopping" and the level looks about right... but look closely at Stinky. He is performing some waving animation that never appears in the actual game outside of the ending cutscene! I have no idea what this means. One of Stinky's hands clips into the wall slightly, which is a bit odd.

Third screenshot is from world 4 level 9, "The Corridor":
http://www.midnightsynergy.com/wonderland/shot3l.jpg

Sure, the explosion looks really cool... but Stinky and Loof are both in a different place. So what caused the explosion to happen? The only legitimate way to do something like this in-game is to get two Kaboom!s to trap each other, which is usually very hard. Somehow I doubt that MS would go to such lengths to "beautify" the picture. Adding electro-tiles and spikes won't work either, the debris from the box would've been gone (or at least spread widely apart) by the time we stop seeing an active electro-tile or a raised spike.

I'm really confused. Maybe MS did plan a third character?

Fourth screenshot is from world 9 level 4, "The Armoury":
http://www.midnightsynergy.com/wonderland/shot4l.jpg

Or is it? The level looks right, but the texture is totally different. Instead of the "Cave" texture used by the actual level, this screenshot shows the "Jade" texture.

This could mean two things. Since the cave texture was already shown in the previous shot, MS could have decided to make the last shot with a different texture to show more different game graphics on the screenshots. But the "Jade" texture is used in world 10, so why not show an actual world 10 level?

Combined with how hard this level is, especially for a non-expert player, this picture really makes me think that this level was initially supposed to be in world 10. The screenshot was taken before they decided to move the level to its current spot.

FPS means "Frames Per Second" and you can make that number show up by pressing Ctrl+F5 (and Ctrl+F6 removes it), so that's still in the game.

There is also one strange shot of RTW here:
http://www.midnightsynergy.com/returnto ... shot5l.jpg

Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but:
1) I remember the chess-like tile layout as existing in a completely different level and only in that level, actually called "The Chessboard", and
2) "Jade" texture with the "City" background? Really? Did that actually happen ANYWHERE in the game?

The Secret Worlds screenshots all look normal right now (unless I missed something) and I don't remember enough about WA to try and look for screenshot weirdness. Oh, and I haven't finished MOFI, so I'm not even trying to look at those shots.

So do you have any ideas about all this?

|Cookie| · Post by **|Cookie|** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:09 pm

I've noticed all these before, yes, these pictures are very strange??

yot yot5 · Post by **yot yot5** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:15 pm

In that explosion pic, both explosions happen on the same tile. The only way that's possible is if you use a tramp, I think.

eee226 · Post by **eee226** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:39 pm

The waving is a bit odd....

VirtLands · Post by **VirtLands** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:19 pm

{ It's world 3 level 3, "Tower Hopping" }

You're quite observant.
In Tower Hopping the waving is out of the ordinary. I think maybe MS edited the image in Paint.Net or PhotoShop.

For The Corridor, it's too obscure for me to guess what caused the explosion.

In the Armoury,

Instead of the "Cave" texture used by the actual level, this screenshot shows the "Jade" texture.

Wow, you have a great memory. I can imagine that Mr. Patrick changed
his mind as to which texture to apply.

billy bob · Post by **billy bob** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:24 pm

TOW shot 2: The only oddity here is that Stinky's "arms" are in a position that cannot be achieved in this level. I reckon that MS edited Stinky's model just to take this screenshot.
TOW shot 3: My belief is that this screenshot was taken before the level had been finished. The explosion that takes place in the screenshot cannot take place in the level as long as there are six Kaboom!s that haven't exploded (which you can clearly see in the screenshot), and another thing is that there are red pillar models in the level which you cannot see in the screenshot. And one final oddity about this screenshot is Stinky's "face". I've never seen it quite like that before.
TOW shot 4: This is almost real. The only difference is that the texture has been changed from Cave to Jade.
RTW shot 5: No, this is definitely not from the game. There is a "chessboard" in a real level in RTW titled "The Chessboard" (deluxe set world 7 level 3) which also uses the Jade texture with "B" and "C" floor tiles (in RTW level editor terms) to create a "chessboard", but almost everything else is different: Stinky, Qookie, Peegue, boulders, a prism, a keg, a ghost, fireballs, pillars, the City background, no coins, no bonus coins, no UFOs, no empty tiles, and many details.

I've had a brief search through the other screenshots and though the parts of the games where the screenshots have supposedly been taken and I can't detect any more oddities.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:45 pm

billy bob wrote:TOW shot 2: The only oddity here is that Stinky's "arms" are in a position that cannot be achieved in this level. I reckon that MS edited Stinky's model just to take this screenshot.

But for what reason? This is still strange. Besides, where CAN this position be achieved? It's not a pushing animation, that would involve both arms. He seems to be waving, like in that final cutscene...

TOW shot 3: My belief is that this screenshot was taken before the level had been finished. The explosion that takes place in the screenshot cannot take place in the level as long as there are six Kaboom!s that haven't exploded (which you can clearly see in the screenshot), and another thing is that there are red pillar models in the level which you cannot see in the screenshot. And one final oddity about this screenshot is Stinky's "face". I've never seen it quite like that before.

LOL, six Kaboom!s, yeah, I'm not as observant as I thought. Nice catch with the pillar models. The face looks familiar, but I have never seen it in TOW. Maybe in WSW?

TOW shot 4: This is almost real. The only difference is that the texture has been changed from Cave to Jade.

Exactly! But was it just for the shot or did they really want to put this in world 10? We may never know.

RTW shot 5: No, this is definitely not from the game. There is a "chessboard" in a real level in RTW titled "The Chessboard" (deluxe set world 7 level 3) which also uses the Jade texture with "B" and "C" floor tiles (in RTW level editor terms) to create a "chessboard", but almost everything else is different: Stinky, Qookie, Peegue, boulders, a prism, a keg, a ghost, fireballs, pillars, the City background, no coins, no bonus coins, no UFOs, no empty tiles, and many details.

Well, it *could* have been a custom level... but still.

I've had a brief search through the other screenshots and though the parts of the games where the screenshots have supposedly been taken and I can't detect any more oddities.

Comments in bold.

billy bob · Post by **billy bob** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:07 pm

Muzozavr wrote:
billy bob wrote:TOW shot 2: The only oddity here is that Stinky's "arms" are in a position that cannot be achieved in this level. I reckon that MS edited Stinky's model just to take this screenshot.
But for what reason? This is still strange. Besides, where CAN this position be achieved? It's not a pushing animation, that would involve both arms. He seems to be waving, like in that final cutscene...

This screenshot is not taken from the final edition of TOW. What I am reckoning is that just for this screenshot MS edited Stinky's average appearance to make it seem like he/she/??? is waving.

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:16 pm

You know, I think Stinky stole Peegue's face for the camera in one shot.

billy bob · Post by **billy bob** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:51 pm

Nobody wrote:You know, I think Stinky stole Peegue's face for the camera in one shot.

You mean TOW shot 3? Yes, you don't see Stinky pull that face in any games of the series. Although, I believe you are correct; it is Peegue who pulls that face sometimes.

Muzozavr · Post by **Muzozavr** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:56 pm

I knew it, the face was so familiar that I knew it had to exist, I just forgot it wasn't Stinky... yeah, taking another look at it makes me think it's Peegue's face on that shot.

StinkerSquad01 · Post by **StinkerSquad01** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:24 pm

They're probably different because Patrick might have made some quick changes before releasing, or they were edited to look a bit nicer.

llarson · Post by **llarson** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:43 pm

The waving one looked a little....scary

Here's my assumptions:

#1: Original waiting screen ? (Before the foot tapping one in the explosion pic)

#2: I've never actually played the level but is it just me or is stinky's mouth lower ?

#3: I forget but I think that's the only difference

#4: Custom level to test out the editor

Those are my assumptions

EDIT: BTW when I looked in WA's old teaser I actually saw the spikeyballs from an arcade level in it . They looked like they had a different appearence . Like a red ball with green spikes and was a bit fatter (It was going so fast and it was a while ago) like something a bit more cartoony than lethal.