Hey! Here's something that I thought I would share. It's a bunch of screenshots from various sources (I'll point out which ones are "mine") of the prototype/ pre-release versions of Koushinkyoku and Nekketsu Monogatari.
This screenshot is one of the earliest images of Nekketsu Monogatari known on Earth. This was after the initial revision where the game was more of a direct sequel to Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun (albeit, using the 2.5 head height/ Nekketsu Kou Kou Dodgeball Bu designs). At this (the image's) point in time, the game was starting to look and feel more like the Nekketsu Monogatari we all know and love today!
Yes, bosses were supposed to have their health displayed as well (a feature that wouldn't be in another Technos beat'em up until Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio kun)!
Hanazono 3rd Park looks very different with this pool here. You probably might have been able to fight in the water much like Jidaigeki!
This was slightly later in development and as you can see the name entry screen had a few more characters (heart and numbers). I miss Technos Japan...
At this stage in development, you were able to decide what stats you wanted at the start of the game rather than with every stat being at 15 and health being at 63.
Originally all the store clerks were going to have portraits! Not only that but also the fact that enemies were (possibly) supposed to appear in shopping districts, another feature from this game that was eventually added to Jidaigeki (funnily enough, there is a game genie code for River City Ransom to enable enemies to appear in the shopping districts!). Last things to note, it seems that you were going to fight Nishimura at Hanazono West 2 (Ni) Choume rather than Sawaguchi and you threw tires horizontally instead of throwing them vertically (perhaps the tires weren't meant to roll initially).
It's wild just thinking about the number of features this game was going to have that were eventually inserted into other Kunio kun games (especially Shodai, Nekketsu Monogatari EX and Jidaigeki). This is also the last image from my personal collection, all the images were from a special DVD from Tokuma Shoten Intermedia's special issue of Famicom magazine covering the Famicom Mini (2017). I just cropped the images in MS Paint and edited out the text from the magazine to give some clear screenshots (well, as clear as photos from 1988 could be).
I don't remember the source of this image, but the moment I refind the source I will credit it. Anyway, this image shows Kunio being awkward around cute girls (a setting which wouldn't be seen again until the ARC System Works era). Not only that, but the game seems to of had more cut scenes (I'm pretty sure that's Mami and Hasebe in the image, so perhaps Mami wasn't immediately kidnapped)! Another cutscene was the iconic intro played out in real time rather than as text (however there were some let's just say... slight differences), unfortunately, I don't have that image on hand but just look for the original flyer it's on there.
Much like the image above, I don't remember the source but if I refind it, I'll credit it. Oh look, enemies going into a rolling state after a powerful attack just like Jidaigeki and also, there were going to be multiple coins after an enemy was defeated, this feature would also be inserted into Jidaigeki (except in that game it was reserved for when bosses were defeated). Kunio and Riki were also going to have portraits as well (as seen in this screenshot of the status screen). These portraits however, did not go entirely unused, they were eventually used as an easter egg in River City Ransom (if you try it in Street Gangs however... the portraits will not be displayed correctly as these graphics were written over with the new title screen graphics)!
And that's all for Nekketsu Monogatari's prototype/ pre-release screenshots. So, as you could tell from the screenshots, a lot had changed from this version seen in late '88 to the final version but why? Now this is speculation on my half, but it seems that Sekimoto and Yoshida wanted the game to be more accessible to a wider audience and so opted out of the more complicated mechanics and with the story being more finalized, maybe there was less of a reason to include the cutscenes? Also perhaps, code optimization (i.e performance, slowdown etc.) was another issue and the more complex interactions, versions of areas and damage values being displayed was all too much for the hardware at the time? I'm not too entirely sure, but, what I am sure of is that the game we got, in the end, was absolutely a masterpiece! And a great start to the Downtown series.
Here's a fun fact: Did you know that during development, the bosses were going to have win quotes when they beat you? From trash-talking to thinking about siblings every boss had something unique to say and that gave the players the opportunity to see more of these characters such as Gouda's reason for protecting the gates of Reiho Academy (which was left as a mystery in the final game).
Just as an extra, here are some pages of the Sharp X68000 version's manual
Here's some very early artwork of Hattori Ryuichi doing Ryuubi Ranpuukyaku (although at the time it was just called Senpuukyaku as the name wasn't coined until the Famicom release of Double Dragon 2 The Revenge).
This Mami art is also featured on the spine of the Sharp X68000 version's case/ box. It was also used as a sticker! The full-colour version has her wear Reiho's uniform just like the box art. These were from the internet archive. Here's a link: https://archive.org/details/rivercityransom/mode/2up
Next up, we have Nekketsu Monogatari's sequel! Koushinkyoku!
This one will be a lot shorter
No major differences so far, just Todo's dialogue is different and a lot more shorter. It also helps that the settings of the Downtown series were already in place, so now the direction is a lot more straightforward.
Here's the program/ event select screen... wait! What!? Hasebe was pulling double duty? (Koushinkyoku AS would do this too) Also, Tama wari Game is just called Tama wari (or Ball break). Lastly, just some more dialogue differences.
Aside from the dialogue differences and the coloured text, the biggest change here is that you didn't get fixed points based on your position when you crossed the finish line (speculation).
Whoa, hold up! The HUD is looking a bit different, I think that was there to show which team was on which player slot/ controller port (it could also be an early version of the points display). That and the fact that the uniform pallets haven't quite been finalized...
Another thing to note, is that the health bars were slightly more thicker in comparison to the final version.
More of the previous screen is shown on this screen, also (speculation), Cross country might have had screens that scrolled more than being broken up into segments.
All of the gulping air face sprites have not been implemented yet (hence why Ryuichi is using Kunio's face as a placeholder) and the characters would have had an underwater pallet.
Oh, they're in their correct uniform colours (this was taken from the same source).
Now, these screenshots are very different! Firstly, Tama wari's background is a lot more complex and it even has a hit counter! This background reminds me of a background from Bikkuri. And there are those background girls that you can't see in the final on the Battle Royalle event. Now to address the biggest change, yes the characters are wearing coloured vests rather than black ones. This actually matches up with the artwork and CM, but I can understand the change as it keeps visual consistency between all the events.
And that's it for Koushinkyoku, other than character dialogue, visual consistency, some background changes and certain rule changes, Koushinkyoku's design was very consistent during development!
All of the Koushinkyoku images were from the same source as the Nekketsu Monogatari prototype/ pre-release screenshots (that I "have") with my editing to crop out any of the magazine blurbs to get a clearer screenshot.
Hey, I guess you guys could use these for the games pages on this wiki!
So, bye for now!