August 27 2009 Alpha

This is a sub-page of Proto:ModNation Racers (PlayStation 3).

This page is rather stubbly and could use some expansion. Are you a bad enough dude to rescue this article?

To do: Document all cut songs from this build. Try to load the Career Mode.

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

An alpha version of ModNation Racers, dated August 27 of 2009 (mistakenly labeled as September 2009 in the disc), intended for internal testing of the game. This is the earliest known build of the game, predating the retail build by 8 months. The title ID for the prototype (NPWR00300) would later become the trophy ID for the retail build of ModNation Racers.

General Differences#

• The Creation Station from the alpha build is significantly different to the one that can be found in the retail build of ModNation Racers. The most notable difference is that the Creation Station from the alpha has a closer resemblance to a warehouse rather than a studio. Another noticeable difference is the lack of a section in the studio for the Track Editor, as this one is separated from the other editors.

Alpha Creation Station	Retail Creation Station

• This build has early designs of some of the characters from the game, including the second design stage of Chase (Tag). Some of the designs are closer to their retail counterpart, while some others are noticeably more different from their retail counterparts.

Chase (Alpha Tag)	Tag

Alpha Skidplate	Retail Skidplate

Alpha Shadow	Retail Shadow

Alpha Wildcard	Retail Wildcard

Alpha Scout	Retail Scout

• Gameplay is similar to other prototype builds of ModNation Racers prior to the retail build. In this build, it is still required to really adjust your drifting.
• The ModSpot has more significant differences compared to the beta and retail versions.

Alpha ModSpot	Retail ModSpot

• The UI from the game is different, being closer to a mix between the PSP UI and the Alpha UI. Additionally, this build makes use of sounds that never made it to later builds of the game and are exclusive to this build.
• The soundtrack for the alpha is different from the retail. The Creation Station songs are the same ones as in the beta and PSP version of the game, however the ModSpot song and "Make The Bass Go Boom" are entirely different.

Cut content#

• There are two cut kart bodies that never made it into the game. One of them is an early design of an already existing kart body, meanwhile the second kart body went completely unused from the game and can only be found in this build. The latter appears to be inspired by a mix between the Honda/Acura NSX and a modified Toyota Supra MK4.

• There is a whole selection of facial pieces that either are unfinished versions of already existing ones, or directly never made it to the final game. Inside of the game, these are labeled as "These don't animate :(".

• There is a bunch of stickers that didn't make it to the final game or were early designs of later stickers.

Unused content#

• This build has a lot of unused .bik files which contain nothing but text information about the unfinished cutscene. Exceptions are made with E3_Backup.bik, test.bik, NIS_Scene06_FMV1.bik, NIS_Scene06_FMV2.bik, test2.bik, CologneVideo.bik, Attract.bik, E3_Intro.bik and Logo.bik.
  • Both E3_Backup.bik and test.bik contain a video, possibly from a UFG developer, of various children playing around inside of an inflatable castle. It is unknown as to why these files made it to the game or who those children are.
  • NIS_Scene06_FMV1 and NIS_Scene06_FMV2 contain an early version of a cutscene from the game, featuring some rather unpolished and slightly weird early versions of Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons.
  • CologneVideo.bik is a video which shows a bunch of promotional pictures of the game itself, as well as showcasing some more images of the inspirations and the things the game can do in terms of customization. It can be enabled by going to the Creation Station and going to "Cologne Video."
  • Attract.bik is a silent, low quality version of a ModNation Racers trailer.
  • E3_Intro.bik is, as its name suggests, the introduction used for the presentation of ModNation Racers at E3 2009.
  • Both test2.bik and Logo.bik showcase an early version of the introduction for the logos of the studios. These .bik files use the old logo for San Diego Studio instead of the new one, however they make use of the same United Front Games intro sequence, just with funky music which was later replaced by the sounds of engines.
• In DATA/ROM/CHARACTER, Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons appear as unused characters. Upon loading them in the game, they will both feature no shirts. Tag's Number 1 fan is also an unused character. They all can be enabled in CHARACTERPREMADES.XML.
• Most of the standalone tracks from ModNation Racers do exist in the alpha build, but these go unused due to them being unfinished. Only Mod Circuit, Alpine Jump and Market Run seem to be the only polished enough tracks, but differ a lot from their retail counterparts.
• This build has a very bare-bone career mode which can be enabled by setting "EnableCologneDemo" to false in UserOptions.XML to put the build into Retail mode.
• This build contains very early Crew Chief voice lines that differ very much from the voice lines of the retail build. Unlike the very early versions of other voice acted characters, the Crew Chief appears to have been voiced by Michael McConnohie since the very beginning.