US Preview Version

This is a sub-page of Proto:ICO.

Bugs

Differences From Retail US Release#

Abduction Timer#

For nearly every map in the game, there is a specified timer that starts ticking down if Yorda is not in the same loaded area as the player. When the timer ends, she is abducted by a lone shadow creature.
This timer's length varies between the Preview and the US Release in two areas.

AI#

Shadows#

• Spider Shadows attacks aren't as impactful as they are in the final US release. Instead of knocking Ico to the ground, they push him to one side as he remains on his feet. This can actually cut his pained recovery animation short, letting him get on his feet faster than he would be able to normally.

Yorda#

• When solving the first puzzle, involving a set of rising stairs, Yorda is never compelled to run towards them, as she is in the retail releases.

Cutscenes#

• In the scene where Ico and Yorda are separated by the mainland bridge, Ico calls to Yorda by name as he attempts running to her aid. This line is not captioned.
  

Bridge Separation Cutscene Audio

Encounters#

• In darker maps like Chandelier, grey shadow nests are sometimes placed in dim areas. This can make them near invisible.

• In the US retail release, when a shadow nest can no longer be used to spawn new enemies, and the enemies that it did spawn are defeated, it vanishes, even before the encounter concludes. (Note: A nest can only vanish prematurely in this way if it is not designated as a spot for Yorda to be abducted to.)
  However, in the Preview version, enemies spawned by a nest don't have to be defeated as a prerequisite for the nest to vanish. It just has to run out of shadows to spawn. So in some cases, as soon as all the enemies emerge for a battle, the nest they came from will dissipate in a matter of seconds, leaving only the one they guide Yorda into.

Stone Pillar#

Preview Version	Retail Release

• Unique to this preview, this encounter begins when Ico lands at the lowest end of the map, rather than when he reaches the other side of Stone Pillar's large gap. In all versions, the enemies' placement is the same, only their arrival time and introductory cutscenes are altered.

• If Ico leaves these enemies be, they remain present even when returning to the room, rather than vanishing on their own.

Waterfall#

• When Yorda touches the ground in this area, a fight with several shadows is triggered. This encounter replaces one in the empty basin of Waterfall, which occurs in all later versions of the game.

Levels#

Trolley#

Preview Version	Retail Release

• The Trolley stage features a gap that Ico must jump, and then encourage Yorda to leap over from the other side. In this preview version, it does not have a flat base, nor does it have ascending bracers along the brick wall for Ico to climb his way back up and try again. Instead, the bottom of the gap is a curved crevice. It's shaped in such a way that Ico can walk back up to the ledge he jumped from. However, from his height at the top of the crevice, he can jump to the opposite end as well, reducing some of the intended challenge.

Preview Version	Retail Release

• Additionally, the area surrounding that gap has seen several adjustments to its siding and floor level.

Preview Version	Retail Release

• Slight texture adjustments were made to the bricks and broken stonework.

Drawbridge#

Preview Version	Retail Release

• A hole in the geometry exists in the lower walls of this version. Additionally, the rails that border the low-resolution model of Graveyard were shorter.

Stone Pillar#

Preview Version	Retail Release

• The area that the box can be pushed across is more expansive. This creates potential for a softlock where you can leave the box (even partially) on the moving platform, backtrack to leave, and then re-enter, the Stone Pillar map. When you return, the box will have dropped below the ledge it stood on, making the switch puzzle unsolvable.

Preview Version	Retail Release

• The wall column texture portrays intact brickwork, even as the geometry reflects a distortion/damage to the architecture.

Waterfall#

Preview Version	Retail Release

• A texture adjustment to the stonework around the elevator platform. In the preview version, the bricks are thinner.

Preview Version	Retail Release

• The model for the ladder leading up to Sluice's door is ever so slightly to the right. It was readjusted to center the characters in later versions.

Preview Version	Retail Release

• The waterfall's empty basin has an adjusted appearance.