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| [[File:Beta Wendys Castle Room.png|thumb|A room in an early version of [[6 Wendy's Castle|#6 Wendy's Castle]] from ''[[Super Mario World]]'' (top), and the room that appears in the final game (bottom)]] | | [[Image:Beta Wendys Castle Room.png|thumb|A room in an early version of ''[[Super Mario World]]''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> [[Wendy]]'s castle (top), and the same room as it appears in the final game (bottom).]]'''Beta elements''' are components of a video game that, for whatever reason, are removed or altered before that game is released. Known info about beta elements usually comes from one of two sources. The first is information released about a game by its creators before the game is complete. The second is data found within the coding of a game that serves no purpose but could have been implemented into the game at one point. |
| '''Pre-release and unused content''' are components of a video game that, for whatever reason, are removed or altered before the game is released. Knowledge about pre-release elements usually comes from information released about a game by its creators before the game is complete or from data found within a game that is not used in the final product but may have been intended to be used at some point during development. | |
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| Pre-release and unused content definitions:
| | Beta elements get their name from the period at the end of a game's development known as ''Beta Testing,'' when the nearly complete build of the game is debugged and playtested by a small group of people. Despite this, games are complete or nearly complete when beta testing takes place, hence most beta elements are scrapped long before this period. However, in case the beta elements are still there, these get changed based on the testers' experience. The best change remains in the final game. |
| * '''Prototype (version) / early version / Pre(-)release (version)''' = A non-final version of a game or part of a game. Pre(-)release (version) is sometimes used to specifically mean an early version that is seen in pre-release materials.
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| * '''Pre(-)release material''' = Screenshots, videos, interviews, etc. depicting or describing a prototype version of the game or the game's development history.
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| * '''Unused''' = Describes content that is in the game data, but not used.
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| * '''Cut/scrapped''' = Describes content that was in a prototype version, but is absent in later builds. Also describes content that was planned to be or suggested to be in the game, but was never actually implemented.
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| * '''Beta''' = A near-final version of a game or other software that is used to test for bugs before the final release.
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| Pre-release elements should not be confused with [[List of unreleased media|unreleased media]], entire games which never see release.
| | Beta elements should not be confused with [[List of cancelled games and vaporware|vaporware]], entire games which never see release. |
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| To some extent, this can apply to television shows and movies. For example, there were some [[List of Super Mario Bros. (film) deleted scenes|early depictions of characters and deleted scenes]] found for the [[Super Mario Bros. (film)|''Super Mario Bros.'' film]], which can be often found in the special features section of DVD and Blu-ray releases.
| | The full list of beta elements can be found [[:Category:Beta elements|here]]. |
| | | {{BetaElements}} |
| The full list of pre-release and unused content can be found [[:Category:Pre-release and unused content|here]]. | | [[Category:Beta elements|*]] |
| {{Pre-release and unused content}} | |
| [[Category:Pre-release and unused content|*]] | |
