Hidden Palace, a website dedicated to video game preservation, has released a second wave of prototypes archived via Project Deluge. Consisting of nearly 500 prototypes, these early development builds and unreleased games cover titles from the PlayStation, CD-i, and Sega Saturn.
Starting late last month, Project Deluge is an effort to assess and archive a massive collection of video game material which was gathered and dumped by one dedicated individual. Every item is being inspected by a team of assessors who test them on playability and integrity on both original hardware and emulation. When the project was first announced, they released over 800 unique prototypes for the PlayStation 2. As of their latest update, they still have over 3,000 discs to look over.
Another wave has landed! Presenting, 372 unique PS1 builds, 84 Saturn builds, and (surprise!) 25 CD-i builds. Unreleased games, ports, early prototypes, tech demos, localization prototypes, it's all here. Some of these long overdue! Check it out and enjoy! https://t.co/0r1yNxi9ay pic.twitter.com/X0oTrKFQHg
— The Hidden Palace (@HiddenPalaceOrg) April 17, 2021
Round 2 of Project Deluge is focused on early video games based on optical discs, almost all of which are over 20 years old. Clocking in at nearly 400 prototypes, the PlayStation 1 part of the release has a bit of everything: unreleased games, tech demos, early prototypes, and more, such as the unreleased and unknown flight combat simulator Aftershock. This game was reportedly shown off before the US release of the PlayStation.
Meanwhile, the Sega Saturn features a variety of interesting prototypes, including some for games that Working Design, creators of the Lunar series, made. Finally for the Philips CD-i, there are also some prototypes, but it's worth noting that "some of these games may be final or very close to, but given the current state of documentation for the Philips CD-i’s software lineup (especially considering its life outside of the United States), it’s difficult to determine if some of these are potentially a match for the final equivalent."
You can find the big news post for this update, along with links to the archived content, here.
