Cool, I remember there was some footage with an old style arrow above the sim's head in the original intro video. There seem to be a few visual quirks, such as the child using the sink standing on nothing instead of a stool. The old neighborhood is completely hilarious.
Wow. I was always wondering how the sims looked in beta form. It doesn't look too different but I wish I could have that TV plus the fencing But we got a great game!
I had a look in the Game's files, the UIGraphics.far file with FarExtract, and I found quite a few elements from the beta. tcrf.net/The_Sims_(Windows) If you had a look at the Sim's icons, one of them is a lady, and that graphic is still in the 2000 release of the game.