Melty Blood Trial Edition, from way back in 2002

[Kicksville]

I hope this is alright to ask about, since what I'm talking about here is demos. I believe these may have also been distributed on discs, so I'm unsure if one or any of these are inappropriate to bring up. Trial Edition 2 in particular seems to pop up on disc for sale a lot of places (at a high markup), but I'm unsure if that sold originally with no download option.

Way back in 2002, the first version of Melty Blood that was available (to my knowledge) was Melty Blood Trial Edition, which only had two playable characters, Arcueid and Ciel. Later, there was a Trial Edition 2 which added Akiha (if I recall correctly), and a Trial Edition 3, which I believe basically functioned as the proper demo from then along with the full release. That one only had Arcueid and Sion. There was also a Melty Blood Re:Act demo, which I think was Arcueid and Ciel again, but I'm unsure what that was called.

I have been trying to hunt down the first Trial Edition, but I haven't had any luck at all. I was hoping to get it again for nostalgia purposes - I wanted to write about my memories of the game from that time. If anyone happens to have it around still, I'd sure appreciate it.

[Petrikow]

I've seen it up on Rakuten, but it appears to be sold out. Price was 130k yen.

I tried looking around more on the net, but I genuinely could not find any more information than that. Obviously, I probably didn't do enough of a deep-dive. There are chances that some of the stores in either Akiba/Nihombashi have a copy lying around, but that is much trickier to confirm.

A person you could ask is Keripo, who has the equally rare Fragments in his possession. If there is anyone on the forum that could have it, it is him.

[Keripo]

I've seen it up on Rakuten, but it appears to be sold out. Price was 130k yen.

I tried looking around more on the net, but I genuinely could not find any more information than that. Obviously, I probably didn't do enough of a deep-dive. There are chances that some of the stores in either Akiba/Nihombashi have a copy lying around, but that is much trickier to confirm.

A person you could ask is Keripo, who has the equally rare Fragments in his possession. If there is anyone on the forum that could have it, it is him.

Looks like I have been summoned lol

I hope this is alright to ask about, since what I'm talking about here is demos. I believe these may have also been distributed on discs, so I'm unsure if one or any of these are inappropriate to bring up. Trial Edition 2 in particular seems to pop up on disc for sale a lot of places (at a high markup), but I'm unsure if that sold originally with no download option.

Way back in 2002, the first version of Melty Blood that was available (to my knowledge) was Melty Blood Trial Edition, which only had two playable characters, Arcueid and Ciel. Later, there was a Trial Edition 2 which added Akiha (if I recall correctly), and a Trial Edition 3, which I believe basically functioned as the proper demo from then along with the full release. That one only had Arcueid and Sion. There was also a Melty Blood Re:Act demo, which I think was Arcueid and Ciel again, but I'm unsure what that was called.

I have been trying to hunt down the first Trial Edition, but I haven't had any luck at all. I was hoping to get it again for nostalgia purposes - I wanted to write about my memories of the game from that time. If anyone happens to have it around still, I'd sure appreciate it.

Your memory serves correctly. Here is the list of all Melty Blood versions that ever existed to my knowledge.
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 1 (PC, 2001/08/10 via Comiket 62)
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 1.2 (PC, 2002/09/30 via Colorful Moon Tsukihime - Perfect Fan Book)
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 2 (PC, 2002/10/06 via Comic Revolution 32)
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 3 (PC, 2002 via digital)
* Melty Blood (PC, 2002/12/30 via Comiket 63)
* Melty Blood Re-ACT Plus Disc Trial Edition (PC, 2003/12/30 via Comiket 65)
* Melty Blood Re-ACT (PC, 2004/05 in-store)
* Melty Blood Re-ACT -Final Tuned- Ver. 1 (PC, 2005/07 via digital and in-store)
* Melty Blood Re-ACT -Final Tuned- Ver. 2 (PC, 2005/07 via digital and in-store)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. A (Naomi, 2005/03)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza (PS2, 2006/08/10)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B (Naomi, 2006)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B2 (Naomi, 2006)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B Regular Edition (PC, 2007/07/27)
* Melty Blood: Act Cadenza Ver. B Limited Edition (PC, 2007/07/27)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Ver. A (Naomi, 2008)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Regular Edition (PS2, 2009/08/20)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Limited First Edition (PS2, 2009/08/20)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code (Naomi, 2009)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code Ver. 1.05 (Naomi, 2009?)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code Ver. 1.07 (Naomi, 2010?)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Code Current Limited Edition (PC, 2011/12/31)
* Melty Blood: Actress Again Code Current (Steam, 2016/04/20)
* Melty Blood: Type Lumina Regular Edition (PS4, 2021/09/30)
* Melty Blood: Type Lumina Limited Edition (PS4, 2021/09/30)
* Melty Blood: Type Lumina Regular Edition (Switch, 2021/09/30)
* Melty Blood: Type Lumina Limited Edition (Switch, 2021/09/30)

Here's pictures of what I have in my (incomplete) personal collection. It sadly does NOT include the Melty Blood Trial Edition 1, which has the same disc artwork as Trial Edition 2 but is full colored


Notes:
* I sadly do not have a copy of Trial Edition 1 and the only info I can find about it comes from this link: https://item.fril.jp/62ef638c6a699975f79ed6074c87fa45
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 1.2 was in the B disk of the "Colorful Moon Tsukihime - Perfect Fan Book" book
* Melty Blood Trial Edition 3 was online-only as you mentioned.
* There might be a second physical release of Melty Blood with a different CD case that was released at a later date, but I don't own it, don't have enough info on it, and I believe the content are identical.
* Re-ACT Final Tuned V1 and V2 were both released digitally as well as in physical form but I don't know through what distribution method for physical.
* My Act Cadenza NAOMI disc is Ver. B. I don't have A or B2 (they are incredibly hard to get a hold of) but I don't care enough to go out of my way to obtain it
* Actress Again's arcade discs are just as equally hard to get ahold of and you actually need the full board, not just the GD-ROM disc, cause they upgraded machinese. Not too familiar with this cause I'm not really an arcade guy but you can see what it looks like here: https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/180050188 for AA and https://www.suruga-ya.jp/product/detail/180902318 for AA:CC
* Also don't have PC Act Cadenza Ver B's regular version, but content-wise its the same as the Limited Edition version (i.e. its a PC port of the Naomi Ver B2)
* The PS2 Act Cadenza surprisingly didn't have a Limited Edition version, no idea why. Its based on the arcade Ver A.
* The PS2 version of Actress Again is based on the arcade Ver A. I only have the limited edition, didnt bother getting the regular edition
* The PC version of Actress Again Code Current is based on the arcade Ver. 1.07. There is no regular edition for it because it came bundled with the Carnival Phantasm Season 3 BD set. I believe the online-download Steam version is 1.07 with netplay patches
* I don't believe there's any arcade version of Type Lumina yet. Not surprising given how all the SEGA/Taito/etc arcades in Japan are slowly
* I may have missed some arcade versions in the above list. Not an arcade guy and collecting illegally sold arcade discs/boards isn't really something that interests me xD
* I don't have all the exact dates of releases for some stuff that weren't released at conventions. Would love to know them if you find them.

That's all the knowledge dump I have to offer for now. In terms of buying, all you can do is hound Suruga-ya, Mandarake, and Yahoo Auctions Japan and pray you find it. Melty Blood Trial Edition 1 is incredibly rare so getting your hands on it would be a miracle (if you do see one for sale though and aren't going to buy it yourself, please please let me know). In terms of just obtaining a digital copy of the game for... educational purposes... you may or may not find ISO dumps that may or may not have been ripped from my personal collection from a little known site found at [LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN]. These dumps have not all been tested so no guarantees on whether or not they work.

Hope this helps!

~Keripo

[Ideofago]

This is why I love Beast's Lair.

[Leftovers]

What's not okay
- Asking where to download games, anime, CGs or music in bulks. Posting a link to it, is of course, prohibited as well. Sample fansubs/Scans of unlicensed materials, freely distributed games, and demos are okay.

Kind of iffy to share something like that directly. It would be better if you linked your site and let people figure it out from there.

[Kicksville]

Thank you for that information and everything, it's good to have. And great to see someone is taking such pains to catalog these things. What got me thinking about it again is, well, not long ago I suffered some health issues...not COVID related and I wasn't dying or anything, but it made me think about how much info about the days of various fandoms I grew up with are just completely forgotten now, and could go away forever pretty easily. Just like this once common demo which is now impossible to find!

I've got a thing I feel I should share at this point - this is something I saved many years ago and was preserved thanks to an old Photobucket account still working. This is allegedly the cover (or at least A cover) of Melty Blood Trial Edition, or some version of it.



I didn't see this in your records, nor could I find it anywhere else, so I don't know if maybe it's a rare image. It looks like a scan, but it might've just been a promotional image online, I suppose.

I first found out about this the day it was posted on the Madman's Cafe (dated August 15 2002):
https://web.archive.org/web/20021220..._08-15-02.html

Japanese doujin PC software producer Watanabe Seisakujo has released the first demo and trailer of their upcoming 2D fighting game "Melty Blood", based on the doujin novel game "Tsuki-hime" by Type Moon.

While the demo- released in the summer "Comic Market", are approved for free distribution by Watanabe Seisakujo, the official site is not currently distributing on its own via the Internet. For sites distributing the Demo, check Multi Oukoku or other third parties. Please also note that the demo is still in an early stage of development, and may be different from the final product.

(Comiket 62 was 2002, so I assume that's a typo on the list)

I vaguely remember hearing about 1.2 existing, but I don't recall anything specific about it. I think it probably was just a website patch (especially given the time table between the first and second Trial Edition)

Wasn't expecting the site mentioned there to have it anymore, but they DO have some very early footage of a non-distributed version of Melty Blood, which I think is using UI assets based on or borrowed from Queen of Heart. (The February 2002 links work, but the May ones seem to be broken)
http://multi.nadenade.com/shinichi/mb.html

[Ideofago]

Were those poses not consistent with other MB material, I'd almost assume they're the actual fake poster Watanabe prod. put up before actually making MB.

[Keripo]

Kind of iffy to share something like that directly. It would be better if you linked your site and let people figure it out from there.

Got it, my bad, and thanks for editing it for me

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you for that information and everything, it's good to have. And great to see someone is taking such pains to catalog these things. What got me thinking about it again is, well, not long ago I suffered some health issues...not COVID related and I wasn't dying or anything, but it made me think about how much info about the days of various fandoms I grew up with are just completely forgotten now, and could go away forever pretty easily. Just like this once common demo which is now impossible to find!

I've got a thing I feel I should share at this point - this is something I saved many years ago and was preserved thanks to an old Photobucket account still working. This is allegedly the cover (or at least A cover) of Melty Blood Trial Edition, or some version of it.



I didn't see this in your records, nor could I find it anywhere else, so I don't know if maybe it's a rare image. It looks like a scan, but it might've just been a promotional image online, I suppose.

I first found out about this the day it was posted on the Madman's Cafe (dated August 15 2002):
https://web.archive.org/web/20021220..._08-15-02.html



(Comiket 62 was 2002, so I assume that's a typo on the list)

I vaguely remember hearing about 1.2 existing, but I don't recall anything specific about it. I think it probably was just a website patch (especially given the time table between the first and second Trial Edition)

Wasn't expecting the site mentioned there to have it anymore, but they DO have some very early footage of a non-distributed version of Melty Blood, which I think is using UI assets based on or borrowed from Queen of Heart. (The February 2002 links work, but the May ones seem to be broken)
http://multi.nadenade.com/shinichi/mb.html

All the English text makes me suspicious that the image is either fan made or, more likely, an edit of an actual promotional image either from online or from the disc itself. Until the day one of us obtain a physical copy of the disc and dump and inspect it though, we might never know ..

[Riesbyhfen1001]

Thank you for that information and everything, it's good to have. And great to see someone is taking such pains to catalog these things. What got me thinking about it again is, well, not long ago I suffered some health issues...not COVID related and I wasn't dying or anything, but it made me think about how much info about the days of various fandoms I grew up with are just completely forgotten now, and could go away forever pretty easily. Just like this once common demo which is now impossible to find!

I've got a thing I feel I should share at this point - this is something I saved many years ago and was preserved thanks to an old Photobucket account still working. This is allegedly the cover (or at least A cover) of Melty Blood Trial Edition, or some version of it.



I didn't see this in your records, nor could I find it anywhere else, so I don't know if maybe it's a rare image. It looks like a scan, but it might've just been a promotional image online, I suppose.

I first found out about this the day it was posted on the Madman's Cafe (dated August 15 2002):
https://web.archive.org/web/20021220..._08-15-02.html



(Comiket 62 was 2002, so I assume that's a typo on the list)

I vaguely remember hearing about 1.2 existing, but I don't recall anything specific about it. I think it probably was just a website patch (especially given the time table between the first and second Trial Edition)

Wasn't expecting the site mentioned there to have it anymore, but they DO have some very early footage of a non-distributed version of Melty Blood, which I think is using UI assets based on or borrowed from Queen of Heart. (The February 2002 links work, but the May ones seem to be broken)
http://multi.nadenade.com/shinichi/mb.html

I was searching for an image like it and I found this scan with a description about it. Apologies in advance if I came in super late.

[Kicksville]

Yes, I already found that. I have been meaning to post about it for a while, admittedly, but I guess I've been distracted.

That page is from Tsukihime Dokuhon Plus Period, which also has other covers from the time with the logo text removed. The writing says the art style was influenced by Tower of Druaga advertisements, which also used an American comic book style. It specifies that only 100 copies of this Trial Edition version were made. Of course, the only auction listings it seems anyone has ever seen don't have the cover, but definitely have a disc labeled Trial Edition 1. That last Rakuten listing linked before does claim it's from Comiket 62 (August 10th, 2002). I suppose it is possible that if that's the only listing anyone has seen, it just happens to be one missing the cover.

Another fan by the name of MEK helped point out that the cover also appears in Colorful Moon Tsukihime - Perfect Fan Book. It has the full logo text. It is slightly obscured by other products being represented, so the version of the cover I posted before must have been from another source. I'd post the scan from that book, but I don't know if that's allowed given this forum's rules. The text with it says the trial depicted was released in summer 2002, and that the full release was coming that fall (ultimately, it came out in December).

That book also includes two discs, and one of them contains Melty Blood Trial 1.2 - so it does indeed exist. It's not quite the one I was looking for, but it is close, since it only has Arcueid and Ciel. It's possible the only differences are bug fixes or something. That file was also provided to me, but again, I don't know if I'd be allowed to post that here, even if it is an ancient demo. The main file is mbtrial0823.exe, which is for the date (08/23/2002).

This does all make me wonder if the demo I played was 1.0 or 1.1. Although it could just as well be that there is no actual 1.1 that was distributed (or 1.0, even).

[Byegod]

Does this count as lost media?

[Riesbyhfen1001]

Depends, from what I have gathered. The Trial-Edition download that was hosted near the end of C62 on a couple of mirror sites and sourced on the old Watanabe Production site is most certainly lost. However, the disc, while limited in quantity, exists and is unarchived.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, I already found that. I have been meaning to post about it for a while, admittedly, but I guess I've been distracted.

That page is from Tsukihime Dokuhon Plus Period, which also has other covers from the time with the logo text removed. The writing says the art style was influenced by Tower of Druaga advertisements, which also used an American comic book style. It specifies that only 100 copies of this Trial Edition version were made. Of course, the only auction listings it seems anyone has ever seen don't have the cover, but definitely have a disc labeled Trial Edition 1. That last Rakuten listing linked before does claim it's from Comiket 62 (August 10th, 2002). I suppose it is possible that if that's the only listing anyone has seen, it just happens to be one missing the cover.

Another fan by the name of MEK helped point out that the cover also appears in Colorful Moon Tsukihime - Perfect Fan Book. It has the full logo text. It is slightly obscured by other products being represented, so the version of the cover I posted before must have been from another source. I'd post the scan from that book, but I don't know if that's allowed given this forum's rules. The text with it says the trial depicted was released in summer 2002, and that the full release was coming that fall (ultimately, it came out in December).

That book also includes two discs, and one of them contains Melty Blood Trial 1.2 - so it does indeed exist. It's not quite the one I was looking for, but it is close, since it only has Arcueid and Ciel. It's possible the only differences are bug fixes or something. That file was also provided to me, but again, I don't know if I'd be allowed to post that here, even if it is an ancient demo. The main file is mbtrial0823.exe, which is for the date (08/23/2002).

This does all make me wonder if the demo I played was 1.0 or 1.1. Although it could just as well be that there is no actual 1.1 that was distributed (or 1.0, even).

And I am willing to believe that the CD on Rakutan is the same one that appeared on Mandarake and is the only copy to break free from the limited few who have it. It will be a long while until we can see the CD on sale again I can imagine, or, out in the wild.

[Byegod]

I would count it as lost media then.

If its unarchived with few copies with little documentation of its existence then it sounds like lost media. Is there any knowledge of any major differences?

And since web archive has been mentioned. Any other archive websites been checked?

[Riesbyhfen1001]

I have been digging for a week or two on Archive.org for Trial-Edition 1 in a.lzh file because that was a popular compression extension at the time. Sometimes I feel like I finally made it and then get my hopes dashed away like the wind. I do know this, though. From looking at archived sites that hosted mirrors of the Melty Blood demos like ancient blogs, download sites, and on the old Watanabe site, I found that Melty Blood Trial-Edition also went by mbtrial0811.lzh on sites where the page was archived but not the link to download the file, and that alongside it, a promo movie could also be downloaded at the time. I also know that the download lasted until between August eleventh and September sixth or tenth, which makes it have an incredibly small timeframe window for it to be archived. I have hope of finding it, even if it is slim. Some examples where I looked are the archive sites of Watanabe Productions, Fuzzy2, and Multi Sacred Kingdom and a ton more I cannot name from the top of my head. They have everything but mbtrial0811.

I hope by the end of this that this gets enough interest for the demos of Melty Blood to be properly preserved and documented.

Also for any major changes, well, judging from my experience by playing the Trial Edition 1.2. I can imagine it wouldn't be to far off from how that one plays.

[Byegod]

Could you rip the entire webpage? sometimes the files may still be there but not accessible?

[Riesbyhfen1001]

Unfortunately, from the sites I have gathered, no.

Though, it was mentioned that this was once common. I am thinking that a site might have existed then to be archived and miraculously had the download caught on Wayback machine that I am just not finding. But, that is just hope though.

[Byegod]

Probably check any major places where people shared roms in japan back then? but you seem to be doing that.

Also did you check for the non compressed version? a .exe or whatever?

Reason why i suggested you rip the entire page is that in the past there has been like say flash games that got archived but the archival broke them or just a little bit of data wasnt properly archived so it wasn't easily accessible

[Riesbyhfen1001]

Thank you for the suggestions. I do recall one link having its file called "MBtrial0811.exe.lzh" during my search and it could be possible that a website provided an installation than a compressed file to download off their site.

While a rom site could be possible to find it at, it seems to be likely that if the demo was provided for download it would be distributed with news about it from a fan site or someone's blog posting about the demo and providing a link to download it. Though, I will still give rom sites a look.

Also, speaking of which, I emailed some of these people who provided the demo in the past. I got one person to contact me back however. Unfortunately, that they checked their backups and no longer has the demo saved though, The information could have possibly made me more determined to have this demo getting found.

I also believe that most of these emails are dead and no longer in use but it is still worth to try and contact them once anyway and wait for a response.