In this video, I play through the OPM #16 demo disc and discuss the differences between that, the final versions, and earlier known versions of the game. The video shows some things like changed storefronts and items, "Buffalo Police" on the police cars, etc.
The altar in early versions had the painting draped with a red cloth with the seal of metatron.
Hand Drawn Ales became Horned Moon Dance in later versions.There is also a Moondance disco in Central Silent Hill.
The Boston Market became Poston Market, obviously just to change the name of the real life store slightly! Poston Market also appeared in SHSM and SH 0rigins.
The Emblem of Caduceus became the Crest of Mercury. The caduceus, from Latin: cādūceus, from Greek: κηρύκειον kērū́keion "herald's wand, or staff," is the symbol of a staff with wings, surrounded by two serpents. Ancient Romans associated this with Mercury, who often was depicted carrying it. In Greek mythology, Hermes carried the staff, but it's also sometimes traced back to the Sumerian god Ningishzida, dating back to 4000-3000 BC. The symbol represents painless death or return to life from the dead, and is associated with the planet Mercury.
In medicine, the Rod of Asclepius (Greek god of healing and medicine) is similar but not the same, and is often used in medical symbolism. It is only one snake around a staff, with no wings.
Thus, the name change here still refers to the same symbol, so it's safe to assume it refers to the same item.
The Dagger of Magi became the Dagger of Melchior. Orginally from Persian "maguš" by way of Greek and Latin "magus," with "magi" just being the plural of "magus" in Latin: wise man, magician, astrologer (also why the Christian idea of Jesus being visited by "three wise men" can have different interpretations. Were they magicians or simply wise men?) Likewise Saint Melchior was supposed to be one of these Biblical magi, along with Caspar and Balthazar. In the game, they simply went from "dagger of [multiple (3?)] magi" to "dagger of [one] magus," namely Melchior.
The Meteoric Iron Ring became the Ring of Contract. Interesting that it went from knowing specifically what it was made from to "unknown material!"
The Tablet of Ouroboros became the Disc of Ouroboros. I'm not sure if the shape was different, if the Japanese word had different interpretations, or it's just a change they thought sounded better.
The gum ball became the Pink ball, probably.
Keys
The Emerald Leo key became the Green Lion Antiques key.
Again, still refers to the color green and lions, but they must have thought it sounded better that way. A green lion consuming a sun can be seen on the sign, which is an alchemical image representing the aqua regia consuming matter (the sun); gold.
Likewise, the keys in Nowhere all had different names:
I haven't looked these ones up yet, so I'm not sure if one corresponds to the later key names like Phaleg, or not.
Other
Just better renders on these, nothing too exciting!
The police cars used to say Buffalo Police.
Neighborhood map became Residential Area Map. Stanley St. became Finney St., Pullman St. became Bachmann rd. Wrightwood became Old Silent Hill.
Minor script changes.
The poles were less grimy, more shiny silver.
Chairs were lighter, translation adjustments.
Camera adjustments.
You can see the blue logo in a 1998 video about E3 of that year and in the first known game trailer shown there. The green one was also later used for the Play Novel.
Changed Item Names
BETA NAME
NEW NAME
Meteoric iron ring
Ring of Contract
Tablet of Ouroboros
Disk of Ouroboros
Emblem of Caduceus
Crest of Mercury
Dagger of Magi
Dagger of Melchior
Emblem of Caduceus
Crest of Mercury
Torch
Flashlight
Plastic Card
Key Card
Oil lighter
Lighter
Medicinal alcohol
Alcohol
Liquid (unidentifiable)
Red liquid
Talisman
Channeling stone(?)
Gumball
Pink rubber ball
Key of “Emerald leo”?
Antique Shop Key
Key of “Garuda”
Key of “Bahamut”
Key of “Sphinx”
Key of “Ifrit”
Key of “Quetzelcoatl”
Stack room's key/Lobby Key
Library Reserve Key
Drainage's Key
Classroom key
Consultation Room's key
Examination room key
Warehouse's key
Basement storeroom key?
Petty knfe
Kitchen knife
Bat
Nightstick
Hand axe
Axe
For more sources and modded version info, go to the SH1 Beta Page 2!
