>>43095853>>43100145>>43100681There is most likely not a beta. There were assets left on some server and that was it. We already know that the front sprite data is lost to time and only really exists in that Capsule Monsters document. But there aren't like hundreds of different builds of Red and Green from all throughout production. Game Freak was notorious for hardware failure and not focusing on preservation. They just wanted to get a game out. Both Masuda and Sugimori have said that not much from development still exists.
I also think that people seem to have some misgivings about what a "beta" is. A beta isn't complete. It's not just some game you boot up and it's missing some stuff but is otherwise fully playable. Look at the Spaceworld demo. It's missing a huge amount of content and everyone was begging for it to be completed. You can't "complete" it anymore than you can complete a painting by Da Vinci that's missing the face and arms. You'll only wind up with some pale imitation. After all, the fascinating thing about all these old Pokémon is that they were OFFICIAL. It loses all oomph when someone tries to imagine their own stuff because that's just fan content and you might as well play a ROM hack.
And when you look at Red and Green specifically, an incomplete game is an incomplete engine. SW97 GS was based on the complete engine, but a beta build for RG would be even less playable. No one is holding any "game" hostage. Only assets and source code exists (and that has yet to be released for legal reasons).
