Destruction Derby 2 (PlayStation)

This page details one or more prototype versions of Destruction Derby 2 (PlayStation).

The Autumn-Christmas Releases '96 edition of Demo 1, as well as the Official UK PlayStation Magazine - Demo Disc 13 Vol. 1, contain a rolling demo of Destruction Derby 2 which is based on a relatively early build of the game. Its executable is dated July 14th, 1996 – 2 months and 12 days before the North American retail version.

The following GameShark code may be used to enable player controls:

3006EC64 00FF
E006EFC8 0001
3006EFC8 0000

Gameplay Differences#

Considering the unpolished nature of this build, some gameplay aspects differ from those in the released product. The most notable differences are: Watch on YouTube

• Car 01 is followed by cinematic cameras during replays, similarly to many other racing games. In the final game, this feature was changed so only the regular chase camera is used during race replays, while different view angles appear strictly after Destruction Derby (bowl) events.
• Pit stops are not implemented yet – going through the pit lane has no effect whatsoever.
• The player's car is not reset after a rollover.
• Completing all laps or wrecking the car does not end the race.
• Opponent personalities do not appear to be implemented yet – traditionally inept opponents like Learner Driver are about as competitive as the best in class.
• Many of the narrator's lines are either assigned differently or absent. Clips for quotes such as "You've lost your hood!" and "You've lost your trunk!" are present, but appear to be played about half of the time as other lines are also set to appear in those scenarios. Other quotes such as "Roadkill!" – played after a rollover – and "Wow! What a jump!" are completely absent at this point.

Audio Differences#

The audio quality of many of the samples in this build is lower than those featured in the final game, as if spoken through a team radio. On top of this, a few of the narrator's lines use earlier takes, highlighted below:

In addition to the different takes, some samples contained in this build are not featured in the final game at all. It's unknown whether they're earlier versions of clips present in the game or not.

Course Differences#

In addition to the normally used Pine Hills Raceway, this demo contains data for four extra tracks, all in varying states of completion.

After enabling player controls with the code above, use the following code to load a different course:

E006EC70 0001
3006EC70 00XX

• 02 – Chalk Canyon
• 03 – Black Sail Valley
• 04 – Ultimate Destruction
• 05 – Caprio County Raceway

Pine Hills Raceway#

Prototype	Final

This course is, for the most part, identical to the finished product. Aside from brighter lighting on cars, the only real difference is some of the sponsor signage.

Chalk Canyon#

In terms of structure, Chalk Canyon looks close to completion, with the most noticeable difference being the surface covered almost entirely by tarmac. The ramp leading to the construction site is also not big enough for cars to clear the gap at full speed.

Aesthetically speaking, the track is full of small differences. These include different road textures, a unique skybox, higher resolution advertisement banners and minor mapping differences.

Black Sail Valley#

This course's structure is mostly the same as its finished version, with the only difference being the presence of a bump towards the end of the main straight. Areas covered by grass in the final game are also treated like tarmac here.

As for cosmetics, some advert banners promote Sony hardware, the track's surface is mostly untextured and all cars use The Bouncer's palettes and door textures.

Ultimate Destruction#

Structure-wise, Ultimate Destruction is mostly finished, with the only differing feature being the alternate route towards the end of the course – it contains a ramp that makes it much harder to safely clear the gap than the gentle elevation found in the final iteration.

Similarly to Black Sail Valley, this track's road surface is entirely untextured, and so are certain props. A small area around turn 1 is textured like rocks instead of grass, and the placement of sheep sprites differs to an extent.

Caprio County Raceway#

Like Pine Hills Raceway, CCR is very close to final. The only differences, aside from some Sony advertisement, are static brown flags instead of animated red flags at the main straight and grass that still behaves like tarmac.

Inaccessible Frontends#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Would it be possible to force the game to load these somehow?

While the demo is coded to boot straight into a special loading screen and immediately start a replay, data for two different frontends is present in its executable and DIRINFO.

Playable Demo#

Assets	Use

Found on the root of DIRINFO is the background image and font sheet originally used in the playable demo build available at E3 1996. These assets are still found in the final game, completely unused.

RMPERESP
RMPELINK
Link timeout 1!
Link timeout 2!
Waiting for other machine..
FONT.BNK
DD2REN.RAW
         -PLAYABLE DEMO-
   DESTRUCTION DERBY 2
Press O for a linked game.
Press X for a normal game,
Use Dpad to change level
Connecting...
Connected! Loading...
Loading...
           -RACE RESULTS-
PLAYER 1 SCORED %V0
PLAYER 2 SCORED %V1

Found at 0xF20 in MAIN.EXE are the text strings associated with the same frontend, as well as the results shown after a race in that demo.

Full Menu#

The LEV0 directory contains all assets related to a work-in-progress version of the full game's frontend. These are referenced by MAIN.EXE at 0x1144.

While a method of accessing it is not available, FRONTEND.BIN defines its structure and reveals a number of differences from the finished product:

Fastest Laps, Controller (regular and NeGcon), Audio Volume and Centre Screen are implemented but do not contain noticeable differences. Statistics doesn't seem to be defined, but graphical assets exist for it in LEVEL.TX1 and do not differ from the final game.