Griffin

Griffin (グリフィン Gurifin) is one of the unused colossi that, for one reason or another, did not make it into the final released game. Its name is a reference to Greek mythology.

Appearance

Griffin is a small to medium sized colossus, being depicted as 9 meters high in the sketch with the comparison between the player, horse and colossus. Its appearance is made to resemble its namesake, although the model shown in the artbook (Griffin A) is quite early in development and very unfinished.

Its body is mostly covered by an armor resembling wood with a fully exposed back, where its weak point most likely lies. Unique red markings similar to the ones from one of the early designs of the 13th colossus can be seen on its face and parts of its armor. It has bone-like wings, which are only there for decoration.

Its later design (Griffin B) is not seen in the artbook screenshots. Its textures, however, are listed in the PS3 Data Sheets. Save for the eyes and skin, most of the textures are the same as the ones from the 11th colossus, meaning it likely had armor similar to it, before being reused for the 11th.

Strategy

The artbook gives a relatively large amount of information on Griffin, such as, "You could defeat it by making use of its weakness, fire. You were meant to fight it by riding Agro, as with Colossus 10, but it took a long time to retry, so it was a colossus that was rejected."

This means that the player would have to light a torch on fire and use it to intimidate the colossus, like the fight against the 11th, and it was swift like the 10th. The sheet known as "scr_param", which lists various mechanics of the game, has a line named "griffinTorchLimit" in it. This proves it would be used in Griffin's battle, further elaborating into what was said in its concept art. The sheets suggest Griffin's torch would be on fire for 27 seconds before being extinguised. This is unlike the 11th colossus' torch which is lit for a much longer time of 45 seconds.

Location

Griffin lived in the unused 'Valley' arena, due to the fact that Valley and Stage 7, which was Griffin's test stage, share the same textures listed in the same exact order in the game's data sheets. Its location on the map, however, is unknown. Since it has a stage segment, it means that the arena was placed at the map at some point, but it likely didn't last very long.

Development History

This colossus was created at the start of the game's development in early 2003, and it used to be tested in Stage 7.

Griffin A

Griffin had various designs made for it seen as sketches. The model of Griffin seen in the artbook screenshots was 'Griffin A' according to the PS3 Data Sheets. While not fully matching the sketches, it mostly resembles the one with Wander and Agro in it, indicating that was one of its earliest designs. Many of its textures appear to have been repurpused for Cerberus (the 14th colossus), but were recolored.

Griffin A had a unique HUD icon, which was an icon in the shape of the colossus that used to show the weakpoint locations in early builds, introduced sometime near the end of 2003.

Griffin B

Griffin had another model (named 'Griffin B' in the data sheets) that wasn't shown in the artbook screenshots. Its armor textures are the same from Leo (the 11th colossus), indicating that it may have been similar to it, other than the size and head designs. There were a few sketches of Griffin with heavier armor and with no wings, and it's possible those were later designs before arriving at this unseen model.

Griffin was cut from the game very early in development, lasting at most until the first months of 2004. Its arena had a seamless model, indicating it was placed in the first world map, which was entirely flat except for the cliffs made from the 'parts library'. The sheet data also reveals that Griffin and Saru did not have idol statues; nor their own entries in the sound effects parameters (sePARAM) like the other unused colossi.

Certain control sheets for colossi such as Leo and Cerberus in the E3 Demo had some functions which were taken from the sheet named 'ControlDefGRIFFIN_CONTROL', such as the ones for braking and slowing down. Inside their sheets however, the functions had the name "グリフィンB" (Griffin B in japanese), more than likely proving that Griffin A and B were the same colossus. Below is a list of all functions:

• Griffin B Dash Condition - Condition for the colossus to dash.
• Griffin B Brake Condition - Condition for the colossus to brake.
• Griffin B Shift Down Condition - Condition for the colossus to slow down.
• Griffin B Shift Up Condition - Condition for the colossus to speed up.

Trivia

• One of the 11th colossus' battle sketches refers to it as "Griffin custom", implying that it was a byproduct of Griffin, being the same type of colossus.
• Some separate objects related to Valley exist, they are named as "valley_bush" and they go from A to C, with grass and tree textures listed.
  • The fact that these objects are listed as separate models from the actual stage means they would have been affected, destroyed, or tampered with in some way during the battle, just like the pillars in the 14th colossus' arena, which are listed as separate objects for this very reason.
• In the ScriptCtrlDefDEFAULT in the E3 Demo, the Griffin functions 'SCRGriffinRush' and 'SCRGriffinRumble' were listed, and they are used by Leo and Cerberus in that version. They made the camera shake as the colossi were running.

Gallery

	Walkthrough
Characters	Wander  · Mono  · Agro  · Dormin  · Lord Emon  · Guards  · Shadows
Colossi	I  · II  · III  · IV  · V · VI  · VII  · VIII  · IX  · X  · XI  · XII  · XIII  · XIV  · XV  · XVI
Locations	The Forbidden Lands  · Shrine of Worship  · Colossus Arenas
Main Items	Power-ups (Lizards · Fruit) · Weapons (Ancient Sword · Sword of the Sun · Queen’s Sword · Sword of Dormin · Bow & Arrow · Ancient Bow · Harpoon of Thunder · Life Sword) · Collectibles (Relics)
Gameplay	Hard Mode  · Save shrines  · Time Attack  · Reminiscence Mode  · Watermelon  · Barrel
Media	Roar of the Earth (OST)  · Official Art and Guide Book  · Nico Bonus DVD  · Film  · Interview Archive
Releases	OPM Demo  · PS2 original  · PS3 remaster  · PS4 remake  · Credits
Early Builds	Preview version  · PSU Preview version  · E3 Demo
Unused Content	Unused Colossi  · Colossus Test Stages  · Unused Locations  · Beta Mountains  · Development Timeline of Shadow of the Colossus