MUA1 Developer Build "Marvel Legends"

[BaconWizard17]

Teancum found an early build of MUA1 for the Xbox. https://mega.nz/folder/WR1yVIiB#VihjjC960t9Ep-B0_MZQkQ. It's far from complete, and a lot is different from the final game

General
- Prototype name: Marvel Legends
- Uses Alchemy 3.2, very heavily based on XML2 still
- Concept art, movies, comics, and load screens are all XML2 leftovers
- No mission briefings yet, but there is a mission computer in each hub (as well as a hero stash)
- Danger Room has already been converted to the comic book simulator
- XML2 cheat codes work
- Characters are fixed at level 40 and do not level up
- Characters only have 3 stat categories: strike, body, and focus
- Not really a usable prototype
- Character limit is 25

File structure
- Xbox only
- File structure resembles final console build
- Assetsfb is a zip file instead of a wad file
- Packages use (name)_(number)_c.fb and (name)_(number)_nc.fb packages, bypassing (name)_(number).fb packages
- Packages are very bare bones and contain the absolute minimum needed for the characters

Menus
- Many menus are left over from XML2
- Menu style is very different from the final game
- Main menu is very simple
- Debug menu from XML2 is shown rather than hidden

Visuals/Aesthetics/GUI
- Models are PS2 style, many use cel shading (though a lot of models are glitched out, either not having backface culling for the cel shading or having the normals flipped on the entire mesh)
- The in-game GUI is exactly like XML2, aside from minor retextures
- Character select screen is identical to XML2, including character select portraits
- Very similar to XML2
- Characters use 3D heads
- Many skins have cel shading
- Wolverine uses his Ultimate skin
- Captain America's Ultimate skin has wings on the helmet
- Ghost Rider's skin has an orange head
- Menu effects work. Effects are generaly more like MUA1's
- Some characters have different menu animations
- Backface culling is messed up on many skins so they show up black or inverted
- Super Soldier resembles Captain America

Playable characters
- Structure of powers is more similar to XML2 with several powers, 2 boosts, 2 Xtremes, and passives
- Used the XML2 gear system
- MUA1 double jump and ground smash was implemented
- Wolverine does have his rage meter
- Skin structure in the herostat is more similar to XML2, but the skin categories (in addition to the main skin) are skin_alternate1, skin_alternate2, skin_alternate3, and skin_classic
- Game comes with 19 playable characters (20 counting defaultman, who can be selected)
- Cetain skins are different from the final game
- Silver Surfer's only power is flight

NPCs
- Many NPCs don't have skins, and are replaced with the skrull empress skin
- Most conversations are different and/or incomplete often utilizing the phrase 'Hello Im ______ and this is a temp conversation'
- Hank Pym runs the shop in hub areas
- Talking to Vision gives access to a character bio/preview screen (incomplete)
- No voices for the most part
- Many characters had packages with a placeholder skin number. It's unclear if these characters were ever meant to be used or if the developers were just playing around with ideas
  - Blackout, Man-Spider, Screaming Mimi, Stygorr, Whirlwind
- Cut NPCs- Agent X, librarian, Frigga, Hela, Nahreees, Veritus, Tonaja, Namor (in attilan), and (possibly MJ)
- There's an NPC named "librarian" that allows you to access the cut XML2 character bio menu
 
Levels (General)
- Certain levels from the final game are missing
- Many levels don't work properly
- Links to different areas don't always work (i.e. can't get to missions from Stark tower). Have to use the debug menu

Levels Act 1
- Helicarrier is completely different, both aesthetically and in terms of layout and play. You can't get past the second area (stuck with controls locked)
- Stark1 is a similar layout aside from NPCs. You use the elevator in the floor coming in
- Omega Base is similar to final, though it's missing some sections. The textures are more reddish. Project Labs is the most different. MODOK battle is missing. No elevator sections. Can't progress past the end of the mission.
- Stark 2 is pretty empty, but it has windows on all sides
- Atlantis is pretty similar to the final. Some funny placeholder conversations there. Slightly different way of entering atlantis (the glass bridge you walk through at the start breaks). Swimming is a bit different, as you walk faster on the floor. The throne room is most different. The puzzle to get through causes your character to be sideways for some reason. It's not possible to defeat Kraken
- Mandarin's palace is missing from the debug menu, but it's in the files. It can be enabled by adding the maps to zoneinfo.igb in permanent.fb. It's generally pretty complete, but many enemies aren't finished. Mandarin5 is missing. Mandarin3 is more expansive than the default. Some texture bugs on the map
- Some Act 2 missions are in the Act 1 folder
- Helicarrier is completely different from the final game. Different visual style and layout. There are SHIELD allies in the mission
- Stark tower starts with an elevator sequence
- Omega base is similar to the final version, but more red in color
- After getting the nanites in Atlantis, there's a bridge section that's used to actually enter Atlantis
- Atlantean throne room is much larger than the final version
- Mandarin3 has a more expansive side area with tunnels
- Reed helps the heroes in omega 3 but gets captured and needs to be saved. Couldve been a situation like Dugans

Act 1 Objectives
- An objective tells you to take Namor to Namorita after you find him. Couldve been another situation like with dugan
- An objective tells you to protect the Helicarrier's rudders.
- An objective tells you to find documents for Agent X in Mandarin's palace.
- An objective tells you to protect the Ultron plans in the Omega Base. (Couldve been protected from Mysterio)

Levels Act 2
- Missing from some files (found in others but incomplete)
- Nightcrawler and Jean were both supposed to be in Murderworld
- Luke cage was supposed to be freed in murderworld. Mightve been originally unlockable, maybe even instead of blade as blade was already unlocked from the beginning

Act 2 Objectives
- You would search for Nightcrawler and Jean as an objective in Murderworld
- Jeans mind needed to be healed for another objective in Murderworld

Levels Act 3
- Valhalla seems pretty similar to the final version (aside from incomplete NPCs)
- I only briefly played Bifrost, Asgard, and Niffleheim, but they seem to be generally similar in layout
- The Ymir battle was originally in the same map as Niffleheim2.
- There is an unused conversation with Frigga in Valhalla.
- There is an unused conversation with Hela in Valhalla. No indication for her having a boss battle.

Act 3 Objectives
- Volla's Ring is referred to as the "Ring of Three Destinies" in the files.
- There's some sort of portal in Niffleheim that could have led to another level or bonus map.
- Objective with Odin had a lost spear that needed to be located in niffleheim for him

Levels Act 4
- Galactus battle was completely unlike final version
- Multiple cut npcs in attilan

Act 4 Objectives
- "Jettison the star drive" is the name of an objective in the shiar.

Levels Act 5
- Act 5 folder has XML2 remnants
- Only Doomstark is in the files, and there's no way to access it from the game or debug menu

Act 5 Objectives
- There is an objective to find Mary Jane's diary, which could mean she was a cut NPC
- There is an objective to find Thor's tunic and bring it to Odin
- There is an objective to bring Nick Fury to Dark Captain America, indicating that Fury could have been an NPC in Castle Doom and could have been unlocked in a different way ( may deconfirm the concept that dark heroes took the place that villains couldve had as dark thor and dark cap were there while a bunch of cut villains had packages. Most likely case is that the campaign was supposed to be bigger or lots of villains were either cut or replaced as we have seen with lizard and electro)
- objective said to find thors tunic
- another objective said take the tunic to odin

Sounds
- Many are missing
- Some point to Captain Britain
- XML2 banter sounds are left over

Powers/Combat/Characters/Gameplay/Other
- Cut combat move: air kick (very likely that this was going to be used for the well known useless acrobatics talent (ronin has this on psp). Reasoning for this was that in XML1 acrobatics was an ability given to some characters that was upgradable that gave access to a flip kick in the air which utilizes the same kick animation in marvel legends excluding the flip. Mightve been a cut move due to memory limts)
- Characters use 2 animation sets
- Stats only have 3 categories: focus, strike, and body (no speed meaning agility is no longer included)
- Gear uses XML2 system
- Most characters just have 1 outfit (except XML2 remnants)
- Some characters have different menu animations, some lack certain menu animations
- Characters use XML2 power system mostly, including passives and the ability to upgrade skill points
- Some powers might be different (I didn't check everyone), and everyone has 2 boosts and 2 extreme attacks (plus several passives)
- Control scheme is more like XML2, except that left trigger does a block or dive roll (no team commands it seems)
- Only 18 characters (missing Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Luke Cage, Nick Fury, and Spider-Woman (Luke, reed, and nick were likely planned unlockables due to the cut special missions they had)
- Air combos are different. Jump+B is the normal jump smash, jump+A is a quick kick smash (like XML1/XML2 Nightcrawler), and there's no double jump
- A fully-charged Jump Smash creates a 1966 Batman-type "SMASH" text effect
- Melee combat is more similar to MUA1, with the press-and-hold B smash
- Grab smashes are more similar to MUA1
- Lots of placeholders for things while they primarily come from XML2
- Most things in the review menu are XML2 remnants
- The team feature from the final game was already implemented
- Many sounds are missing
- Competitive mode was implemented
- Has the XML2 hero stash feature
- Certain melee combos will trigger a comic book like word bubble
- Has MUA1 block/evade and air combos, wield weapons
- A team function is built into the character select screen, which is likely a rudimentary version of the team function found in the final build of MUA1
- XML2 Cheats can be used
- Some levels have music, but it's not the final version. Others have no music

[UltraMegaMagnus]

Extracted content, minus map :
https://www.mediafire.com/file/kxpgtxz1p36ebnl/Marvel_Legends.7z/file

[Teancum]

Act 2 exists, it's just that all the files are in the /Act1/ folder.

[BaconWizard17]

Act 2 exists, it's just that all the files are in the /Act1/ folder.

I'm not seeing them. My Act1 folder only has Atlantis, Heli, Mandarin, Omega, and Stark

[Teancum]

I stand corrected. Sorry for the confusion. Luckily we can steal them from the PS2 if we wanted to use this build.

[powpowpower]

wow after all these years.....I could go for a xml2 styled MUA game.

import marvel legends melee and dodge block into xml2?

[BaconWizard17]

wow after all these years.....I could go for a xml2 styled MUA game.

import marvel legends melee and dodge block into xml2?

I'm not sure. I don't know if it's hard-coded or if it's defined in a data file somewhere

[VsaintJ]

This is very exciting!

[BaconWizard17]

This is very exciting!

Sadly, it's not as exciting as it could be. It lacks a lot of capabilities, including gaining experience and leveling up. Aside from a few unique animations, and just knowing how things originally were, it doesn't get us a whole lot of new stuff

[BaconWizard17]

I went through the Discord chats related to this prototype to make sure I collected all the missing information before deleting the channel related to it. Here's everything (including some redundant info). If someone wants to sort this information into something that can fit into a single post, feel free, but I'm leaving this like so

Marvel Legends Research

General
- XML2 cheat codes work
- Characters are fixed at level 40 and do not level up
- Characters only have 3 stat categories: strike, body, and focus
- Not really a usable prototype
- Character limit is 25

File structure
- Xbox only
- File structure resembles final console build
- Assetsfb is a zip file instead of a wad file
- Packages use (name)_(number)_c.fb and (name)_(number)_nc.fb packages, bypassing (name)_(number).fb packages
- Packages are very bare bones and contain the absolute minimum needed for the characters

Menus
- Many menus are left over from XML2
- Menu style is very different from the final game
- Main menu is very simple

Visuals
- Very similar to XML2
- Characters use 3D heads
- Many skins have cel shading
- Wolverine uses his Ultimate skin
- Captain America's Ultimate skin has wings on the helmet
- Ghost Rider's skin has an orange head
- Menu effects work. Effects are generaly more like MUA1's
- Some characters have different menu animations
- Backface culling is messed up on many skins so they show up black or inverted
- Super Soldier resembles Captain America

Playable characters
- Structure of powers is more similar to XML2 with several powers, 2 boosts, 2 Xtremes, and passives
- Used the XML2 gear system
- MUA1 double jump and ground smash was implemented
- Wolverine does have his rage meter
- Skin structure in the herostat is more similar to XML2, but the skin categories (in addition to the main skin) are skin_alternate1, skin_alternate2, skin_alternate3, and skin_classic
- Game comes with 19 playable characters (20 counting defaultman, who can be selected)
- Cetain skins are different from the final game
- Silver Surfer's only power is flight

NPCs
- Many characters had packages with a placeholder skin number. It's unclear if these characters were ever meant to be used or if the developers were just playing around with ideas
  - Blackout, Man-Spider, Nahrees, Screaming Mimi, Stygorr, Tonaja, Whirlwind
- There's an NPC named "librarian" that allows you to access the cut XML2 character bio menu
 
Levels (General)
- Certain levels from the final game are missing
- Many levels don't work properly

Levels (Act 1)
- Some Act 2 missions are in the Act 1 folder
- Helicarrier is completely different from the final game. Different visual style and layout. There are SHIELD allies in the mission
- Stark tower starts with an elevator sequence
- Omega base is similar to the final version, but more red in color
- After getting the nanites in Atlantis, there's a bridge section that's used to actually enter Atlantis
- Atlantean throne room is much larger than the final version
- Mandarin3 has a more expansive side area with tunnels

Levels (Act 5)
- Act 5 folder has XML2 remnants

Sounds
- Many are missing
- Some point to Captain Britain
- XML2 banter sounds are left over

Other
- Most things in the review menu are XML2 remnants
- The team feature from the final game was already implemented
- Many sounds are missing
- Competitive mode was implemented
- Has the XML2 hero stash feature
- Certain melee combos will trigger a comic book like word bubble
- Has MUA1 block/evade and air combos, wield weapons

[Nightcrawler171711]

More cut content found in the maps engb and fb files

Found an objective in MUA prototype that says objective locate MJ's diary in act5doom.engb so she was likely a cut npc in doomstark.

A second objective said to find thors tunic. Then a third objective said take the tunic to odin.

Found another cut level aspect
A fourth objective said take nick fury to dark cap so that level may have originally been planned to be like the one in the omega with dugan but with fury. Also gives the idea that nick was supposed to originally help at castle doom so he may have been unlockable in a different way rather than game completion. But it would be so late in the game as an unlock that thats probably why they cut it

this may deconfirm the concept that dark heroes took the place that villains couldve had as dark thor and dark cap were there while a bunch of cut villains had packages. Most likely case is that the campaign was supposed to be bigger or lots of villains were either cut or replaced as we have seen with lizard and electro

Another cut level aspect
Namor was to be found then taken to namorita (probably like dugan again)

Another cut level aspect. You were supposed to protect 'rudders' in the helicarrier

Agent X was cut (probably as an npc in stark tower) you were supposed to find documents for him in mandarins palace as an objective

Ultron plans were supposed to be protected in the omega (chance that the plans were gonna be destroyed by mysterio if not protected. This mission was probably going to be just like wolverines simulator mission)

The ring volla has is called "the ring of 3 destinies in the files"

Niffleheim 3 had a cut 'portal'. Probably lead to another level (Bonus one probably)

Odin had a lost spear that needed to be located in niffleheim

"Jettison the star drive" is the name of an objective in the shiar.

Nightcrawler was originally in murderworld like jean where youd have to searth for them both.
Jeans mind needed to be healed for another objective.

Luke cage was supposed to be freed in murderworld. Couldve been originally unlockable, maybe even instead of blade

The level with ymir was originally combined with niffleheim 2 but it was seperated probably to stretch out the levels

Frigga was a cut npc. Found a temporary convo for her in valhalla.
Also hela was a cut npc in valhalla too. So turns out there is no evidence proving that she wouldve had a boss battle

Cut level aspect
Reed helps the heroes in omega 3 but gets captured and needs to be saved. (Probably like dugan again)

Nick fury, luke cage, spider woman, invisible woman, and mr. Fantastic arent playable and luke, reed, and nick were likely planned unlockables due to the cut special missions they had