Beetlejuice (NES)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Beetlejuice (NES).

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

A prototype of the NES Beetlejuice was released by Hidden Palace on January 1, 2025.

General#

• The Geffen credit was separated into two lines and the year was added. Rare's credit went from yellow to white.

Proto	Final

• Beetlejuice himself and the pause menu use a red color scheme instead of the final yellow.
• Every instance of Beetlejuice talking has his sprite and the text positioned slightly lower than in the final.
• Help Vouchers are called "Player Credits" at this point. Some of the shops had their color schemes altered as well.

Scares#

Two of the scares are different in this build, though they function exactly the same as their final counterparts.

• The Frankenstein scare was replaced by the Medusa Head in the final game:

Proto	Final

• The Egyptian Mummy scare was replaced by the Umbrella Head in the final game:

Proto	Final

Cut Level#

After beating the first boss, instead of being shown a brief cutscene of the Maitlands' car in the river, you are instead taken to a bonus level which was entirely cut from the final game. Cars and the bottom of the screen are lethal to the touch, as are the bikes if touched head-on. Walking into the bikes from the side grants you extra scares. The level scrolls automatically until the covered bridge is reached.

Characters & Pickups#

Proto	Final

Barbara Maitland's sprite was touched up a bit.

Proto	Final

As was Lydia Deetz's sprite.

Proto	Final

In the top-down levels, enemies sometimes drop bugs you can pick up. The prototype has three kinds, while the final only has one. The final game seems to load some of the proto bugs into memory during these levels, at least partially.

Enemies & Bosses#

• The big un-stompable bugs were some kind of spiked creature that resembles a hedgehog.

• The fly enemy used to be a bat.

• The first boss was originally some sort of toothy monster, before being replaced by Otho.

• The second boss was initially a squid monster, before being replaced by a football player. Unlike the final boss, you have to jump and hit the squid's eye to hurt it.

• The sandworm's head was redrawn.

Levels#

Town#

• Instead of picking up the Book for the Recently Deceased, you pick up the Spook Scroll which tells you a password with which to access the shops.

Proto	Final

• All of the underground areas have had their color schemes altered, including ones in later levels. For example the first three as seen here.

River#

Proto	Final

The water is green and the background appears to be a starry sky. Most notably, the covered bridge and the Maitlands' car also appear in the background at the start of the level.

Proto	Final

These green tiles were removed from the upper parts of the stage. More color changes are also apparent throughout the level (doors, grates, tentacle monsters, etc.)

House#

Proto	Final

Slight change to the text when interacting with the paper roll in the bathroom.

Graveyard#

Proto	Final

Crosses were removed from the background, likely to comply with Nintendo of America's content policies.