When rummaging around online for screenshots of WayForward’s Adventure Time: The Secret of the Nameless Kingdom to accompany our review, we were quick to spot a few less than subtle differences between pre-release screenshots and the final version.
It’s not uncommon for a game’s visuals to change slightly during development, but here the differences are actually quite jarring. In some instances the pre-release version even looks a little fancier.
Starting with the first dungeon, the finished version has no tubas in the doorway. We assume this was simply to make it appear less cluttered.
The same dungeon features a decorated bridge in the pre-release shots, but a plain wooden walkway in the finished version. This is the best example of the pre-release version being a little prettier.
The centrepiece puzzle for the first dungeon entails playing musical instruments in a certain order. In the pre-release version this was seemingly achieved by hitting green crystals but in the final version they’re signs that can only be whacked using Jake’s slap attack. Instruments in the final version are drawn differently and are altogether brighter too.
Then we have a cemetery with coloured graves in the pre-release version and grey graves in the final version. A smart alternation – cemeteries aren’t known for being colourful, after all.
There are differences in other pre-release screenshots – as well as in the teaser trailer – but they’re nothing major. Different floor textures and whatnot.
Apologies for the poor quality of some of the shots. Being the lumbering dinosaurs that we are, capture cards are beyond our field of expertise.