Cut Content

In the process of developing a video game, many ideas are discarded as unworkable for one reason or another. However, if the idea makes it far enough into the development process, aspects of it can still be found within the code of the released games, or it may show up in trailers or interviews with the developers.

The following list covers much of this removed content. It is not comprehensive, and focuses on the more interesting elements.

Koudelka[]

Early Screenshot differences[]

Numerous early screenshots exist showing various in-progress builds of the game, highlighting some changes to the final game.

Herb Garden[]

Koudelka and Edward are shown standing together in the Herb Garden from two different angles.

The first is the standard background screen for the Herb Garden, and the other is used only when meeting James in a cutscene for the first time. James himself is nowhere to be seen, either as an unconscious background element (as when the party first enter tne Herb Garden), or as a model on the field.

The stiff poses of the models suggest it's purely for demonstration purposes rather than an unused or reworked cutscene.

The backgrounds also lack the dark blue filter of the final game, almost appearing as if in daylight.

Caretaker's Quarters[]

In an interview given during Koudelka's development, a background from the kitchen area is shown from a much lower angle than the one that ended up in the final release.

Patrick's Quarters[]

From the same interview Patrick's lab can be seen in full, from a position that does not appear in the final game, showing the opposite wall that goes unseen in the final release. This made its way to early promotional images.

There is an additional doorway present, and the furniture layout is also somewhat changed.

Targeting Reticule and Menu[]

In an early build of the game, the currently selected character is highlighted by a yellow circular grid. Another early screenshot shows an orange square. This is replaced by a simple broken square in the final version.

The early builds also used the Japanese layout for the battle menu, with the "Move" option before the "Action" option. This is reversed in the final international versions of the game.

The Battle Formation screen is also altered slightly, showing the edge of the chessboard. In the final game, the edge of board simply stretches into darkness.

The arrow has also been enlarged in the final version, and the "Front" text has been moved higher up.

Unused Restorative Item[]

From an early SNK promotional pamphlet for the game there is an image of an unknown food item alongside the other food items (Bread, Cheese, Dried Fish) that is entirely unused in the game.

It appears to be some kind of dried beef, or perhaps salted pork.

Cut Enemies[]

From the same pamphlet, there are also two unused enemies that don't appear in the final release.

One seems to be some kind of blood-stained worm, or maggot/caterpiller-like creature, with what appears to be a pale beaked face.

The other is insectoid, heavily resembling a fly, with a tiny purple head, green wings, a swollen abdomen, and three long limbs hanging down (although it's unclear if the angle is obscuring a fourth limb).

Patrick's Model[]

While never seen at all in-game, only FMVs, there exists two models of Patrick Heyworth - with only slight differences between the hair styles. They have only ever been seen in promotional materials and reference guides.

His dessicated corpse does appear ingame as an unique enemy, but it uses an entirely different model.

Elaine's CGI model[]

The CGI model used for the reveal of monster Elaine underwent some changes during development.

Her face was originally thinner, and her hair was both more blonde, and differently textured from the final model. In addition, this early version lacks the particle effect of her breath attack.

Reworked Cutscene[]

There is a small fragment of the intro cutscene when Koudelka first encounters Edward that is from an entirely unseen angle showing the opposite wall of the Grain Storage.

Koudelka's Missing Line[]

Due to an apparent mistake in level mixing, during the FMV where the party discover Roger Bacon's coffin, immediately after's Edward's line, Koudelka's lips can be seen mouthing a reply, and a faint whispering can be heard, barely audible above the soundtrack. The line appears to be either: "Seems outta place, a bit." or "Seems there's a pressure within it."

Due to the error, the line also isn't subtitled in the Japanese version, which uses the English dub. Non-English voiced dubs (German, French, Spanish, Italian et al.) correctly level the dialogue.

Japanese Censorship[]

In all NTSC-J versions the word "Gypsy" is muted whenever spoken, and direct references to Koudelka being either a Gypsy or Roma are altered in the script to be non-specific, or the dialogue modified slightly.

This only really affects the scene in which Koudelka and Edward drink while waiting for James to finish creating nitroglycerin.

It may have been censored to avoid any possible conflation with the Burakumin - a persecuted Japanese people who face similar discrimination to Roma.

	English Audio	Japanese Script	Translation
	I was born in a small town in Wales right off the banks of the Taliesin river. There was a small gypsy town.	あたしが生まれたメよタリエシンっていう河水まとリちっほけな村だった...	I was born in a small town in Wales right off the banks of the Taliesin river.
	Gypsy?	楽しい思い出な?	Do you have nice memories of it?
	That's right, "gypsy". Though we didn't call ourselves gypsy. We called ourselves "Rom". See, a true gypsy is born under the blue sky. And is destined to die under the same blue sky. It's gypsy law.	あまりおほえていないわ...あたしたちは青空の下で生まれ青空の下で死なの.それがあたしたちのおきて...	I'm not gonna be shedding any tears over it. We're born under the blue sky, and we die under the same blue sky. That's our law.
	So then I guess, you plan on dying underneath the blue skies?	じゃあ君も青空の下で死なのか?	So then I guess, you plan on dying underneath the blue skies?
	Every gypsy is given a name at birth. My given name was "Zlato".	あたしたちは生まれたときにあだ名をもらうのよあたしの名前は"スラトー".	We're all given a name at birth. My given name was "Zlato".
[...]
	You know ever since I met you...enigmatic mysterious glint in your eyes. It must be the gypsy in you.	初めて見たときから君の瞳にはなにか謎めいたものを感じた.それは君班虫だったからなのかな.	You know ever since I met you...enigmatic mysterious glint in your eyes.
[...]
	Koudelka, I envy you. Psychic powers that few are blessed with. And being born a gypsy, you can choose to live how you wish.	クーデルカ...君がうらやましい...他人にない霊能力を持って.自由気ままに其らせる君が...	Koudelka, I envy you. Psychic powers that few are blessed with. You're free to choose how you want to live.
[...]
	[...] The gypsy elders got together and decided to excommunicate me.	[...] あたしは長老会の我定で村を追放になった.	[...] The Elders got together and decided to excommunicate me.
[...]
	I am a poor... dirty... ignorant woman who threw her gypsy pride to the dogs, in order to live!	無知で負しくてうすぎたない女だわ. 食うたゆに自分の誇りさえ捨てるような!	I am a poor... dirty... ignorant woman who threw her away her pride to be able to eat!

Daniel's Cross[]

While present in the NTSC-JP and PAL versions of the game, Daniel's Cross - a club-type weapon, was removed from the NTSC-US version of the game, for reasons unknown.

Unused Icons[]

From the Koudelka Ultimate Book Reservation guide, there is a section showing images and descriptions of items, that are not used in the final game.

The first three are for documents which only appear as text.

Two of the items are completely unused in the final game; the Teddy Bear appears as a model - picking it up instead gives only the Old Letter. Curiously, an early screenshot shows it as an obtainable item, with a unique description than what appears in the game guide.

It was possibly removed to streamline getting the old letter.

Through dataming, the icon still exists within the US version, although it lacks any description tied to it.

The other is the Émigré Document, which is only mentioned, never-seen in the game.

Hidden away within the game data, there are also four other un-used key items.

One is an icon of the full version of the Nemeton Monastary map - in regular gameplay, after using the Stone Tablet in the archives, the map in the menu is simply expanded to include the new areas.

It may appear that, as with the Teddy Bear, it's removal as a separate item was to streamline the game.

The remaining items are three books (one of which appears to be a bible) lacking any name or description. Their purpose is unclear.

In addition, there are some menu mini-icons for the Roman Nuts, Antidote and High Listel that go unused, as well as icons for documents, and documents with multiple pages.

And a curious cross-shaped set of sprites, that vaguely resemble Koudelka's Pendant, and indicating a swinging animation.

Shadow Hearts[]

Early Screenshot Differences[]

Inverted Judgement Ring Colours[]

In early screenshots, items and special moves use an inverted colour scheme for the hit and strike areas on the Judgement Ring; red for the hit area, orange for the strike area.

In the final game, when using items the hit area is blue, with the strike area being the standard red, while special moves have a green hit area.

Battle UI Font[]

The font used in the early screenshots for the Battle UI is much thinner and stylised than the thicker, final version. It's possible this change was to improve the legibility of the text.

Character Portraits[]

The character portraits for Alice and Margarete were radically redrawn for the final version.

Early Fog[]

The colour of the fog in Zhaoyang Village is white, rather than the Malice red of the final game. This white fog is used in Dalian and on the Smuggler's Boat, but not in Zhaoyang Village.

Early Cat Demon Models[]

The human forms of the Hell Cat demons, (named simply "Red-eyed Child" and "Yellow-eyed Child" respectively) lack their unique coloured models and share the same generic "Asian Boy" model.

Early Trailer Differences[]

Although screenshots from the earlier build would still be used in Japanese media coverage up until the game's release, an early trailer showed off a build that was much later in development, but with some minor differences from the final game build.

Alice still retains her beta portrait, but the Judgement Ring colours have been fixed to what they would remain in the final game. The Hell Cat demons are briefly seen and now have their uniquely coloured models, although the fog in Zhaoyang Village is still white and has not yet been changed to red.

Battle UI Font[]

While different from the early screenshots, the Battle UI font is once more slightly different from, but much closer to, the final version, being slightly thicker and more legible than the previous font. However, while the final font is in a bold san-serif font, the font in this build is a serif font.

Censored dismemberment[]

This early trailer featured an uncensored scene of Yuri's arm being dismembered by Albert's Wind Shear.

In the final release for all versions, this action is obscured by a white flash and an extreme close-up on the scene showing only Yuri's face, and the Wind Shear flying around him.

Whether this was altered for rating reasons, or for artistic choice is not known.

Early Li Li model[]

From the same trailer, and also appearing in a few early screenshots, Li Li is shown to be using the generic adult Asian woman model with the bun hairstyle, rather than her own unique look with free-hanging hair.

However, she is featured in Sea Mother's story cutscene with a hairbun, so this may be a holdover from that, or simply to make her model less generic.

Early Scapegoat Model[]

An early model of the Scapegoat boss can briefly be seen in the trailer, showing it to have different colours and textures from the final version, with more earthy tones, and the "faces" at the end of the appendages barely distinguishable.

Sword of the Berserker[]

While appearing in the NTSC-JP version of the game, Keith's sword, the Sword of the Berserker, is not available in the normal gameplay of the PAL and NTSC-US regions, and can only be accessed by cheats or hacking.

Despite this, the sword description is fully translated, and it functions normally when equipped.

In the Japanese version, it is only available for purchase from the Silent Peddler in London. In all other regions this has been replaced by the Silver Crescent Sword.

The reason for its removal, accidental or otherwise, is unclear.

Playable Kawashima[]

First discovered in the HEX Files as Yoshiko Kawashima's name data appears with Colonel Hygua in the temporary playable character list, Kawashima was planned to be temporarily playable during the events of Shadow Hearts development, although this was changed as her relationship with Yuri was reconsidered.^[1]

With this change happening at a fairly late stage in development, a mostly-complete playable version of her still exists within the game files. She has a complete set of animations for battle intros, attacking, taking damage, fainting, and a victory pose - excepting a proper looping animation for her victory pose, causing her model to glitch, although the game itself is unaffected.

There are also no associated inbattle sounds with her; she makes no noises when attacking, being hit, or using items.

She attacks with a gun, and shares an identical Judgement Ring with Margarete, but shoots with a one-hand grip, and has no special abilities. She has no menu icon, just a glitched mess, and also can't be viewed from the playable character viewer.

Unused Stores[]

Hidden in the HEX files, there are two names for stores that go unused in the final game

Adult Toy Shop
Money Mad

Although there doesn't appear to be any items tied to them.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant[]

Early Trailer[]

The early release trailer contains many differences from the final game:

Nicolai is deceptively portrayed as the main character, exploring late-game dungeons, and battling alongside the other main party members against later-game foes. His voice actor is also different, most likely being a placeholder.

Karin is shown exclusively wearing her officers uniform, and exploring locations as the party leader - which in the normal game is almost always Yuri. Her voice actor is also different.

The battle HUD appears differently - character/enemy names, HP, and MP, appear in a small box on the lower right side of the screen. Another change, is that the number indicating damage dealt physically slides to a total damage tally to the left of the screen, whereas in the final game, the number appears, and then vanishes immediately increasing the tally.

The character portrait for Janus used in the turn-order indicator, simply reads "BOSS"; Boss enemies gain a unique portrait in the final version.

Nicholai is shown fusing into Orexis. It also retains his portrait in the turn-order indicator, rather than Orexis' - as fusions also gain their own unique portrait.

Several FMVs are shown, that don't appear in the Covenant; mostly of Nicholai and Karin interacting.

Rasputin is shown walking towards the camera, Kato spins to glare at the camera as it flies past him (similar to one in Covenant, though in a different location). Karin looks towards the night sky and a shooting star, Amon sits in profile against the evening sky, and is later seen fading back into Yuri, who walks away.

Unused dialogue, voiced in English by placeholder actors, is also spoken throughout the trailer. The diction is clusmy and awkward, suggesting a very early draft in the translation stage.

Early Trailer Transcript[]

(Unknown)*	That devil, using a church as its headquarters, in 1915; the scientific age.
	The devil, in a church?
	[Montage of cutscenes]
	1915: The Age of Turbulence. Once more, admist the darkness of history, war has begun.
	[Gameplay Montage]
	Battlefield: Earth. Europe, and then the Far East.
	[Gameplay Montage]
	The trump card in the devil's conquest... Holy Mistletoe. Its curse rots the heart, And devours the soul.
	[Unused cinematic of Karin talking to Nicolai.]
	I need you. Please lend me your strength.
	Gasps Me?
	So I can get to that village once more.
	[Fade Out]
	The strongest demon opposing God. To fight, is it our will, or merely our fate?
	[Gameplay Montage]
	Who is the real enemy?
	[Visual of Amon appears.]
	The man who would conquer the world...?
	[Visual of Rasputin appears.]
	The man who would save the future...?
	[Visual of Kato appears.]
	The time has come...
	[Visual of Karin appears.]
	For the destruction to begin...

Early Demo[]

Main article: Shadow Hearts: Covenant Trial Version

Despite being fairly close to how it ended up in the final game there are a few differences of mechanic tweaks and presentation.

And while the demo uses enviroments and enemies from the final release, the narrative is entirely created for the demo.

Mechanical Gameplay Differences[]

As is typical of most demos, player actions and abilities are restricted, and preset for the scenarios.
Enemies do not drop either EXP or souls.
Certain special abilities will have the character run to the enemy to perform an attack - Joachim's Grand Slam, or Karin's Geuschbenst - whereas in the final release they are simply teleported where they need to be as the animation starts. The camera will also linger far longer on the final hit of Joachim's Grand Slam than in the final release.

Presentation Differences[]

Far more extensive are the presentation differences, which can offer a small insight into the development of the game and some of its assets as they changed for the final release.

Karin and Yuri had their character portraits entirely redrawn for the final release.

The Library Function includes Key Items, as a category - in the final release this these are viewable instead from the Inventory option.

The "New" icon in the Help section is coloured purple rather than orange.

The Command Menu has no indicator of who is in the current party. In the final game this is represented by a small golden arrow. However, on the Battle Results screen, active party members are shown with a golden diagonal band. Again, in the final game, this is simply represented with a small arrow.

Cornelia's dresses are selected from a simple menu, rather than the more elaborate Magimell stageshow type menu.

The Hit Class icons are different from the final versions; they are shown as fully coloured indicators, which is not used outside of elemental edge attacks - and never seen as white.

The status effects are shown with slightly different graphics, and without a box surrounding them.

Failing a combo results in text reading "Combo Miss!!" rather than "Combo Break!".

Both Nicolai and Karin are shown wielding the Officer's Saber sword model - even though Nicolai's equip text says he is holding his regular sword, and the fact that Karin loses the sword when she joins Yuri's party.

The map icon for St Marguerite is entirely different and uses a render of Veronica's torture chamber, rather than the cliffside prison used in the full release.

Debug Island[]

Main Article: Debug Island

Hidden away in the game, the Debug Mode can be accessed by hacking, or through a cheat device. It grants access to modify party members, battle locations, and add items and valuables to inventory.

Lenny and Veronica[]

Relatedly, it's possible to hack Lenny Curtis and Veronica Vera into the party as playable characters, as they are in the Director's Cut version of the game. However, in non-Japanese versions, they do not have a complete set of sound files, and some of their skill names are incorrect or cut. Lenny is also incorrectly named "Rene".

Unused Battle Screen[]

While it appears that it should be used, there is an unused battle arena for Apoina Tower.

Unused Warp Map[]

Also present and seeming like it should be used is a world map warp to the Gallery of the Dead, but it's not accessible ingame, without setting a flag in the debug menu.

It was presumably cut due to redundancy, as the dungeon entrance is close to the starting area in Petrograd.

Unused Items[]

Hacking to gain all items reveals several interesting removed objects. There exists a descriptionless key item, the Azure Orb, which goes unused during the main game, and has no description, but does have a picture.

It however, is used in Director's Cut, to gain passage way through the Sea of Woods area.

Another unused key item is Alice's Brooch (listed as "アリスのプローチ"), with a description of "Pending/undecided" (未定). Found in both the NTSC-US and PAL versions, its purpose, and how it would have been acquired is not known.

And yet another unused key item appears in the Director's Cut debug, the Smuggler's Soul (薐賊の魂) along with a description.

From it's location in the game data, it appears to be a scrapped part of the item trading sidequest.

Unnamed in the PAL version, there is an unused earring accessory. It can be equipped as normal, and has unique artwork, but lacks any description.

However, in the Director's Cut edition, it gains a name, Yamabushi Earrings (山伏の耳輸) a full description, and a note.

It increases the amount of souls gained at the end of battle.

It appears as a normal equippable item in Shadow Hearts: From the New World, under the name "Ascetic's Earrings", where, like the description in Covenant's files, it increases souls gained by 20% at the end of battle.

There are also several other accessories labelled Unknown. They have no item descriptions, don't affect stats, and have placeholder images, with Japanese text. The text reading 怪しい小ビン (Strange Small Bottle) shares a Japanese name with an item present in the first Shadow Hearts, localised in English as Weird Bottle, suggesting it may have been considered as a potential accessory.

In the Director's Cut version, the names are identical to what appears in the item image, but they still lack images and descriptions.

Similarly unused is an add-on effect for the Judgement Ring, with the sole description, "û". Like all other add-on effects, it has four different versions - related to chance of activating it. In battle, it lowers an enemy's agility by 30% (at the highest chance). Fittingly, the art is that of a snail-like creature.

In the Director's Cut it, again, goes unused, but is named as Agility Down (敏捷性減) and gains a description, which is indentical for all the levels, save the mention of its effectiveness.

"Embodies the laziness of the Giant Snail, which will only have moved mere centimeters before its death*"

The player also gets a consumable simply titled Unknown. It has no item description, and a placeholder image which identifies it as "コンボアイテム", ("Combo Item"). It is useable in battle - it only targets a single ally, has no strike points, and will fail instantly on use. It also causes a massive delay for the character, causing them to be unable to act for some time, unless they are part of a combo. It gives an in-battle description of, "(-01)".

Shadow Hearts: From the New World[]

Early Trailer 1[]

An early release trailer featured numerous differences from the final version of the game, and appears to be from quite an early build.

SHadow_Hearts-_From_the_New_World_Beta_Trailer

The game lacks the "From the New World" tagline, and teases itself simply as "Shadow Hearts III".

Only Shania and Johnny are shown in battle and on the field, and they Yuri and Karin's battle icons are used for placeholders, which can be seen when Johnny and Shania take damage.

There are also numerous locations that don't appear in the final game:

Shania stands on a street corner infront of Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn exists in the final game, but only an underpass beneath the bridge can be visited.
Johnny runs through an area with fans and steam pistons. No counterpart exists in the final version.
Shania visits a loft apartment of what seems to be an artist.
An unknown blue temple, with walls studded with large blue gems. Shania later runs through a corridor with similar architecture, but brown.
The exterior of Chichen Itza is shown in normal daylight - normally it is lit in a pinkish dusk. The same is true of the brief battle segment shown of the Guiana Highlands.
Johnny runs through a bio-organic looking corridor, flanked with two face-like near a glowing green exit.
Shania also visits a beach area, which has several NPCs, a small hut, and apparently a battle map.
Alcatraz is seen, but appears to be an early build, appearing much more fanciful than the more realistic depiction in the final game.

In addition, concept art of a Byarki and two unknown monsters are shown. A green-blue insectoid creature, and something that heavily resembles Malice Killer - suggesting an early scrapped design.

Finally, the game logo is completely different from the final version, with a circular design, darker patches on its surface, with an S-shaped spike emnating from it - causing it to somewhat resemble the Malice Unbral.

Early Trailer 2[]

A later trailer shows a build that appears closer to release than the previous one.

One notable difference, is Shania is shown with both red eyes, and the sun crest visible (with the other Spirit contract marks) - the red eyes are not present in the final game, and acquiring Tirawa clears Shania's body of all her tattoos, with the sun crest going unseen unless fusing to Tirawa in battle.

Cheater's Token[]

Hacking all items will place a consumable into the inventory - it shares the same artwork as Fruity Fiber , and is simply titled Cheater's Token. However, it cannot be used in battle, and doesn't appear in the inbattle menu.

Black and White Undergarments[]

Usually a staple of the series, both are curiously absent from all copies of the game, and are only accessable through hacking. Though named correctly, they both given an item description of "Non", and have no toolbar description.

However, equipping them will provide a stat boost as in previous games.

Roger's House[]

Roger was originally going to own a visitable house, though this was cut at a very early stage in development.

Unused Enemies[]

Cut at an early stage in development, there were several designs for enemies that went unused - some of them unique, others planned retextures of existing enemies.

Shadow Hearts III (Unproduced)[]

In an interview with Geek Gamer website, series creators Matsuzo Machida and Miyako Kato revealed their plans for an unproduced entry.

Under the title Shadow Hearts III, it was to have been a prequel to the original Shadow Hearts, featuring Yuri's father, Jinpachiro Hyuga, and Kurando's father, the previously-unnamed, "Kiheita Inugami."

Further elaboration came during a podcast discussing the road to the Penny Blood kickstarter project, where Machida had said that he had been approached by Aruze on three separate occasions to produce Shadow Hearts III, but the project ended up getting cancelled every time due to the company’s circumstances.

The final cancellation had been particularly difficult for Machida as he had contacted eager previous staff members and convinced them that everything was looking good, before the project was cancelled again.

References[]

↑ @MachidaMatsuzo - Yoshiko Kawashima originally had the idea of wanting to be a play character that can be manipulated, but changed it into a way of drawing to reconsider the life involved with the main character.
↑ Taken from video by Dengarde on Youtube

[Twitter,-1] @MachidaMatsuzo - Yoshiko Kawashima originally had the idea of wanting to be a play character that can be manipulated, but changed it into a way of drawing to reconsider the life involved with the main character.

[Dengarde_YT,-2] Taken from video by Dengarde on Youtube

[1]

[2]

Cut Content

Koudelka[]

Early Screenshot differences[]

Herb Garden[]

Caretaker's Quarters[]

Patrick's Quarters[]

Targeting Reticule and Menu[]

Unused Restorative Item[]

Cut Enemies[]

Patrick's Model[]

Elaine's CGI model[]

Reworked Cutscene[]

Koudelka's Missing Line[]

Japanese Censorship[]

Daniel's Cross[]

Unused Icons[]

Shadow Hearts[]

Early Screenshot Differences[]

Inverted Judgement Ring Colours[]

Battle UI Font[]

Character Portraits[]

Early Fog[]

Early Cat Demon Models[]

Early Trailer Differences[]

Battle UI Font[]

Censored dismemberment[]

Early Li Li model[]

Early Scapegoat Model[]

Sword of the Berserker[]

Playable Kawashima[]

Unused Stores[]

Shadow Hearts: Covenant[]

Early Trailer[]

Early Trailer Transcript[]

Early Demo[]

Mechanical Gameplay Differences[]

Presentation Differences[]

Debug Island[]

Lenny and Veronica[]

Unused Battle Screen[]

Unused Warp Map[]

Unused Items[]

Shadow Hearts: From the New World[]

Early Trailer 1[]

Early Trailer 2[]

Cheater's Token[]

Black and White Undergarments[]

Roger's House[]

Unused Enemies[]

Shadow Hearts III (Unproduced)[]

References[]

Fan Feed