Trivia / Rock Raiders

• Christmas Rushed: the NTSC version of the Playstation game was slapped together in just six months. The PAL version on the other hand was given a few more months of polishing time, but only after Sony Europe initially rejecting it..
• Deleted Scene: An extended intro is included as bonus content on the disc of LEGO Island. It includes about two extra minutes, most of which is just extra Establishing Shots. Strangely, the background music and Simlish Speak have been removed, making the whole clip rather quiet.
• Dummied Out: Hoo boy. Where to begin? A little community dedicated to this game found massive amounts of unused data (and re-activated some), including but not limited to:
  • Giant spiders that spit webs, scorpions and snakes (all were able to be re-activated).
  • Leftover code for a mobile Teleport Pad and a canteen.
  • Various animations for the Rock Raiders (including saxophone playing), and a different face resembling Sparks.
  • Different animations for the Rock Monster, such as running in fear, a different eating animation, and... a cross between a Rock Monster and an Ice Monster farting and giggling.
  • Icons for various unmade vehicles, buildings and animations, such as a tool store resembling that from the 4910 Hover Scout, buildings resembling those from the 4990 Rock Raiders HQ, a Power Station resembling the Docks, blue Energy Crystals, etc.
  • The Tunnel Transport. It appeared as an object in Frozen Frenzy, yes, but code to make it into a proper, fully-functioning playable vehicle was found and reimplemented.
  • Unused test levels and an unused wall type.
  • Some unused sounds and voices that are rather curious.
  • An In-Game Level Editor.
  • And too many other things to list.
  • Early concepts for mission objectives referred to things from previous levels.
• Fan Remake: Manic Miners, a comprehensive remake with updated graphics, various quality of life improvements (such as being able to set how severe certain hazards are, including turning them off or even making them worse), Dummied Out content such as the level creator restored, free camera view and first person modes, Character Customisation for the Rock Raiders, the ability to play the original levels, improved versions, or completely remade versions, and for good measure, the campaign of Baz’s Mod is also remade as well. A trailer can be seen here.
• One-Hit Wonder: Subverted, as the developer is known for other games they have made, but as far as the right reasons go, the PC game often ends up being known as "that one game Data Design made that's actually good." Just as well, the product was commercially successful and despite its mixed reviews on release, it gained a cult following and when people summarize DDI's track record, this is the one game they will go out of their way to describe as a diamond in the rough.
• Urban Legend of Zelda: Three alleged cheat codes (lrrwarp for all levels, lrrmonty to turn Rock Raiders into Rock Monsters, lrrve to unlock all vehicles) have been spread around the internet and it's rare to find a game hints site which doesn't mention them, even though they are completely false and do nothing.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Modding .wad files reveals that an in-game editor was planned, but sadly not implemented. It has also revealed several monsters, buildings, and numerous other ideas that were scrapped. See Dummied Out above.
  • Included in the The Ultimate Lego Book is a piece of concept art◊ that shows some significant differences from the sets we got:
    • Different non-distinct outfits for the raiders .
    • Aliens that's seemingly helping them.
    • Larger and more lizard like rock monsters.
    • A six-wheeled vehicle with claws and what seems to be an armored version of the tunnel scout.
    • A mobile threaded HQ with giant arms.
    • A Chrome crusher with two drills (not unlike the the upgrade found in the PC game) and a Loader-Dozer with a drill and laser.
  • Also in the book are pictures of several toy prototypes that never got released. Including a flying transport truck, an ice themed Loader-Dozer/monster◊, a much sleeker version of the Granite Grinder◊ (including a version with two drills as seen in the PC game) and a version of the Chrome crusher with a scorpion-like tail◊.