Secrets
Attract Mode Video Comparison
The footage shown during the second attract mode is from CarnEvil's beta. We shall be comparing some shots from it with shots from the final game to see what changed.
In these images the game is considerably darker than the final version. It is possible the video quality is making it appear this way, or that the lighting system was changed later on. First up however, is the fact that the developers were using more than the maximum amount of bullets while recording this, at least during some segments. |
Next, we'll compare the encounter with Hambone. As you can see, his name is above his health bar. Boss names appearing above their health bars is not uncommon, and is seen in many pieces of promotional art, so must have been changed late in development.
The walls of the Haunted House are less crooked, and the other parts of the carnival cannot be seen behind him. |
In this shot of the Haunted House, there appears to be a large hill in the background that is not present in the final version. The fence showing the barrier of the Haunted House is also very different.
For some reason the color of the lock on the door changed between versions, but the doorknob did not. |
Next is a shot of shooting Flap-Jack with over 60 bullets (featured above) in the Museum of the Slightly Curious.
The Horse With No Mane is next to the 80Ib Flea, rather than against the back wall (the Mechanical Killer Rabbit is there instead). Trog is absent, and the sarcophagus design is different. The glass on Salty Jack is also missing its gemstone reflection, suggesting they had not added reflections yet, or the gemstones were not yet there. |
On this shot of Carnie there is not much different, apart from lack of the Big Top in the background, as well as a much darker sky.
The image is also too dark to see if the seats were present in the Dino-Rama egg (most likely yes, since the heart powerup is already in place where the seat would be). |
Likewise Evil Marie's boss fight is very similar. Her name is again above her health bar.
The clipping issue on her dress when she gets too close to the camera is still present, and occurs in the same place. The Haunted House fence in the background seems to be different, as does the sky. |
Outside of the Fly Trap in the Freak Show, the posters advertising it are absent, as is a large vine on the right.
Chunks of flesh can be seen coming from Flap-Jack's body as he was shot. This occurs on nearly all enemies but is not present in earlier versions of MAME, so is sometimes not known to be a feature in the actual game. |
Finally, when shooting the Acid Bath at Smilin' Bob in front of the Big Bunyan Ride, the wood that makes up the Slay Ride is noticeably lighter than that making up the Big Bunyan Ride.
There seem to be far fewer Christmas lights on the Slay Ride as well. |
Party Hat Mode
During Umlaut's rhyme for the Haunted House, press reload five times. Then the Zombies there will wear a variety of hats. You have to press reload as Player 1 for this to work, even if Player 1 isn't playing.
Haunted House Paintings
The first painting seen in the Haunted House is of a couple kissing. It is unknown if the woman in this painting is meant to represent Evil Marie, as she appears in other edited paintings. The painting is based on an image from Max Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonté. The image is in different aspect ratio to the original, and there may be other changes.
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This painting to the right of the first one in the parlor shows a young girl holding a blood stained axe. In the context of the Haunted House as an actual dark ride it is likely meant to represent Evil Marie as a child. This painting is a cropped and edited version of The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit. |
In the room upstairs with the Giant Spiders, the painting Ariadne asleep on the island of Naxos quickly passes by. It seems to be unchanged, though the colors are a lot duller. The red cloth Ariadne is laying on can hardly be seen. |
In the same room we see the final painting in the Haunted House. It is of Evil Marie playing a harp, and an edited version of the painting Lady with a harp.
The edit in question closely resembles Evil Marie's concept art, implying that at one point the concept art might have been the whole painting, and was only edited later. |
There are several other paintings in the Haunted House, but as we do not know their real world equivalents (if they have them) we have not featured them in the main section. They are here instead.
If you know what paintings these are based off, please let us know. |
The Museum of the Slightly Curious
The first attraction in the museum is the Thing in a Bottle(?), which is just a giant eye in a bottle. In the middle of the museum there is a three tier display showcasing many glowing gemstones. They do not have a name card. Behind the eye are two attractions, Salty Jack and a sarcophagus. Salty Jack is a coin operated puppet or animatronic wearing a sailor suit that costs 25c to use and presumably laughs when working. The character of Salty Jack is a parody of the Cracker Jack mascot. |
To the right of the skull is just a table full of unknown objects and a tooth. There's a globe on the lower shelf. Some of these items are also present in the Haunted House recolored.
Next to the table is an empty cage, and next to that there is a pile of dinosaur bones. Nik-Nak appears here, but does not attack. Maybe he was inside the cage and has escaped. |
Near the end of the museum there is a giant, many-legged creature hanging from the ceiling. It doesn’t have a name describing it.
Finally, there is the 80lb Flea, the Mechanical Killer Rabbit, Frozen In Time, and the Horse with No Mane. The caveman in the ice block is actually the titular caveman from Trog. Trog was created by Jack E. Haeger, who also created CarnEvil. |
Big Top Poster
In the Big Top, just past the ‘Mimefield’ there's a poster that cannot be read, as it has been flipped. Upon being flipped back we can see that it says:
Professor
Tökkentäkker Presents The Big Top * Starring * Muertito Smeak The Clown · Boffo · The Mames The Broodles |
The poster shows early names for some enemies, such as Smeek once being spelt as Smeak, and Mr. Ozob being named Boffo. This can also be seen during the game’s intro.
It is unknown why the poster was turned backwards, rather than being removed if the developers did not want it to be read. It may be just a mistake that was left in as an easter egg. |
Trademarks and Unused Enemies
Here are the trademarks that Midway registered for CarnEvil between May and July 1998. The trademark 'CarnEvil' itself was registered in both 1996 and 1998.
Two additional trademarks are missing from this list, Flem the Fly and Mike the Maggot. Flem was registered July 14 and Mike on June 12. Assuming Pester the Jester became Umlaut and The Human Fly became Flem the Fly, this leaves Napoleon Blown-Apart and Cap'n Chunder without likely equivalents, as nothing is known about them. Who knows what they were planned to be. |
As for characters that have art for them, here in the Freak Show there are posters advertising Executioner, Bat Boys, and Minotaur. Given the nature of the Chamber of Horrors, perhaps the Executioner was going to show up alongside Tort and Rodz, or was simply replaced by them.
It is likely that the Bat Boys were reworked into Muertito, due to their wings and the fact that the poster shows them wielding pitchforks, which Muertito can use. |
The Minotaur's banner is very difficult to even see during gameplay, so details cannot be made out. We apologize for the terrible images of the poster. In the game's files the name 'taur' shows up several times, but the files associated with it seem to be describing Eyeclops. For example, 'taurswrd', 'taurboot', 'taureye3', etc. It's possible that Minotaur was scrapped in favor of Eyeclops as a mid-boss but the files were still named Taur regardless.
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If there's any other interesting info you think we should mention, feel free to get in contact and suggest it.