User:Schiffy/Beta

The Katawa Shoujo Beta is the name given to the scripts that never made it into the final Katawa Shoujo game. There are a number of things found in the Beta that were absent from the final product, as well as many things in the final product that were never in the Beta. Since the files (both compiled and uncompiled) were leaked, some fan-groups have taken it upon themselves to turn them into a playable Visual Novel, with the same interface as the final game itself. One group in particular, calling themselves the "Prealpha" on the Steam Community, has dedicated their time to adding sprites, backgrounds, and the final game's music tracks to the beta files.

Differences between the Beta and the final game

Act 1

Act 1 - Life Expectancy contains no plot-related differences from the final Katawa Shoujo game. The content of Act 1 in the Beta later became the Act 1 Release that is still available or download in multiple languages on Four Leaf Studios' website. The only present differences are:

• Some of the music from the Beta was different than the final game. This was changed to the final music in the Prealpha release.
• Sprites for Emi Ibarazaki and Yuuko Shirakawa are different and less detailed. Like the music, the Prealpha release replaced them with the final game's sprites.
• The Class 3-3 CG image, much like the Act 1 release, has Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass in the second row as one of many cameo appearances. He would not be replaced by an unnamed student until the release of the final game.

Hanako's route

Hanako's route underwent a significant number of changes before the final game's release, with the Beta route and the final route having very little in common. In the Beta, Hanako's route was the only route that had no good ending. Instead, it has three bad endings, each resulting in either Hanako or Hisao dying in some manner. Hanako's "good ending" was instead intended to be a branch off of Lilly's Route, though how the routes connected was never made clear, and was never successfully figured out by the Prealpha group's editor.

Lilly's route

Although the exact connections between the routes were never made clear, the Prealpha group's editor discovered and noted in the Prealpha release Hanako's good ending was actually intended to be a branch off of Lilly's route, rather than her own. The editor also noted that it seems one would have to see at least one of Hanako's three bad endings before the option to reach her good ending through Lilly's route would be made available.