Although the dialogue is very similar to the final for the most part, there are still some very interesting differences. The early dialogue, in turn, gives some hints about where the game's localization was in development at this point.
Some text that can not be accessed in the demo, such as Trouble Center sidequests or end of chapter dialogue, has been translated. Despite this, the files still contain lines upon lines of untranslated Japanese text.
Goombella's hero is Goomelda,
wisest of female Goombas.
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Press to ask her about
where you are or about
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enemies you meet in battle.
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Goombella is a smart, if
sassy, Goomba girl. She hopes
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to be an archaeologist one
day. Press to ask her about
msg_menu_party_kuri
where you are or about
enemies you meet in battle.
Goombella's demo description mentions a character not in the final version.
Demo
Final
msg_menu_party_noko
Koops wants to be tougher
for his girlfriend, Koopie Koo.
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Press to shoot out his shell
and retrieve distant items.
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After shooting out his shell
you can also hold to hold
msg_menu_party_noko
the shell in place!
msg_menu_party_noko
Koops is a timid Koopa who
wants to be tougher for his
msg_menu_party_noko
girlfriend, Koopie Koo.
Press to shoot out his
msg_menu_party_noko
shell and retrieve distant
items. After shooting out his
msg_menu_party_noko
shell, you can also hold to
hold the shell in place.
Koops had his description patched up for the final release.
Demo
Final
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What a breath of fresh air!
Flurrie has gale-force power.
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Press to blast out mighty
winds and hold to blow
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continuous blasts of air.
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Flurrie is a cloud spirit who
can control the wind. Press
msg_menu_party_cloud
and hold to blast out
mighty winds and blow things
msg_menu_party_cloud
away. Blow blasts at enemies
to make their heads spin.
Like Koops, Flurrie also had her description fixed up. After Flurrie, none of the other partner descriptions are translated as they aren't playable in the demo.
The Magical Map is rather generically known as the "Treasure Map".
"Thunder Bolt" is one word, without the space. Changed for consistency with the first game.
The Repel Cape and Fright Mask use their localized names from the first game. These were likely changed to accommodate their icons not resembling a tube of gel or a jar in this game. This is because their Japanese names, unlike the English ones, don't explicitly indicate what kind of object they are.
Ruin Powder is known as "Subversion Syrup". While "Subversion" is a slightly more accurate translation of madowase (confusion/leading astray), kona doesn't mean anything except "powder".
Courage Shell is called "Courage Cola". This is a mistranslation: Someone mistook コウラ (koura, "shell") for コーラ (kōra, "cola"), and translated it as such.
The unused item "Trade Off" is bizarrely known as "Quick Thick". Neither of these match the Japanese name (テキツヨクスルン, Teki Tsuyoku Surun) or the internal one (Teki Kyouka), both of which roughly translate to "strengthen enemies".
Slow Shroom's name is "Gradual Shroom", to match the Gradual Syrup.
The Inn Coupon has three English names across two languages. Impressive.
Tornado Jump (たつまきジャンプ, Tatsumaki Jump) was mistranslated as "Hurricane Jump". Interestingly, tatsumaki is misspelled in the internal name-- for the record, tamatsuki means "billiards".
"Fire Blast" was likely changed because it sounds more like a projectile move than a melee one.