Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards [N64 – Beta]

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards [N64 – Beta]

Kirby 64 had a long and complex developed cycle, with many delays. The project was developed by HAL and it was designed to be a real sequel for Kirby Dreamland 3 for SNES. The beta screens in the gallery below shown an early version of the game, in which it seems that other playable characters (as Dedede) could have been used in many more levels. If you have more info on the differences in this beta, please let us know!

[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Kirby 64 ha avuto uno sviluppo piuttosto complesso, subendo ritardi su ritardi, cosa del resto poco sorprendente vista la storia del Nintendo 64. Ad occuparsi del gioco fu HAL, della quale è anche una sorta di mascotte. Venne pensato fin dall’inizio per essere un vero e proprio seguito di Kirby Dreamland 3 per SNES: in breve niente salto in 3d, ma formula classica riproposta con grafica poligonale in stile Klonoa. Dalle prime immagini mostrate, fino alla versione finale, non è che cambi molto, tutte le aree che si vedono nelle foto sono state proposte anche al momento della commercializzazione, così come i personaggi giocabili, seppur per brevi periodi (ad esempio Dedede, quello celeste e obeso).

La differenza principale, oltre alle varie rifiniture ed alla maggiore pulizia grafica, sta nell’interfaccia: se le stelle sono state rimpiazzate da alcuni blocchi rappresentanti l’energia di Kirby, i semicerchi dorati, così come i tre piccoli contenitori quadrati sulla sinistra, sono scomparsi nella versione finale (anche se i semicerchi, forse, sono stati sostituiti da una semplice barra orizzontale, che quando è riempita dona una vita); per il resto il contatore delle vite (il numero a sinistra) e le abilità combinate (a destra), sono rimaste immutate nelle sostanza anche se migliorate nella forma.

Per finire vi proponiamo una foto trovata recentemente (l’ultima, in basso), che rappresenta una fase realmente presente in Kirby (dotato di spada laser di Darth Mauliana memoria), ma mostra un’interfaccia che non esiste nel gioco finale: più schematica, quasi futuristica, ma uguale nei dati segnalati.[/spoiler]

[spoiler /Cliquez pour lire la version en français/ /Click on link to read the french version of this article/]

Kirby 64 eu un cycle de développement long, coûteux, complèxe, avec beaucoup de retardement. Le projet était développé par HAL et il était conçu au départ pour être une suite au jeu Kirby Dreamland 3 de la SNES. Les captures d’écrans du stade beta qui se trouve dans la gallerie en bas de cet article, montrent une version antérieure, dans laquelle il semble possible de contrôler plusieurs autres personnages (Comme Dedede), dans plusieurs niveaux différents. Finalement, le seul personnage qui ne semble pas pouvoir être contrôlé par le joueur, c’est Adeline.
Si vous avez plus d’information sur les différences entre la version finale et la version beta, s’il-vous-plaît veuillez nous le signaler!

(Ceci est une traduction intégrale de la version de l’article en anglais plus haut)[/spoiler]

Thanks to Joe Long, FullMetalMC, Nick, ToadTReborn, Hydrozor & Ultraman82 for the contributions!

Images:

Video:


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7 thoughts on “Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards [N64 – Beta]

  1. BombChu16

    Okay, long post:

    According to Wikipedia, Kirby 64 was also going to be an N64DD game. Why would it need the Disk Drive, anyway? It’s a pretty short game.

    And, there’s some false information in the description:
    “the only characters that weren’t playable at all were Adeline”

    In the screenshots, there is an image that CLEARLY shows her to have been playable. Besides, it wouldn’t make sense for Waddle Dee and DeDeDe to be playable, and not her too.

    And something else I noticed: on the leftmost side of the beta HUD, there is a small meter with three slots.

    It may have been used to indicate when they joined up, EXCEPT.
    The screenshots show the meter to be empty while Kirby is on Rock Star and Aqua Star, at which point they already have joined the group.
    They are all shown playable on those two levels as well.

    So, what was it really used for? Just wanted to point that out.

  2. monokoma

    i tried to find the video, but i cannot fint it anymore :P I think this could still be in some old Nintendo Space World japanese website… maybe from 1998?

  3. Genevieve

    Hey! This is a very interesting article, really I adore to read some beta stuff! (Plus I really remember that game from my childhood, so sad we couldn’t play at all the others characters!)

    I also see that there is a traduction in Italian, I could traduce for the site the articles in french! :)

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