Nintendo

Kid Icarus Uprising [Beta – 3DS]

Kid Icarus Uprising is an action game developed by Project Sora and published by Nintendo on its 3DS system in 2012. It marked the first entry in the Kid Icarus series in over 20 years; with the last being Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters on the Game Boy.

In the great gulf of time between Uprising & its portable predecessor, the rumour mill was rife with talk of more possible installments. Take, for example, this scan from a 90’s video game magazine, which suggested an SNES game was in the works:

kid icarus snes

In 2008, Factor 5, Inc. developed a prototype for a new Wii Kid Icarus, as per Nintendo’s request. Ultimately, however, their dreams of developing a full title were shot down when the publisher chose not to proceed, before the studio later went out of business in December that year.

As Factor 5 fell, Kid Icarus: Uprising began to take shape at Nintendo’s Kyoto HQ in late 2008. An early prototype was devised by Masahiro Sakurai and a small team of handpicked for the task. Originally, Sakurai had set out to create a Star Fox game for Wii, but ran into issues with the limited manuverability of controlling vehicles, which was preventing him from moulding the experience he had envisioned. He was aspiring to develop a gameplay system in which the player could turn instantly on a dime to return fire, or dodge projectiles. By turning his creation into a Kid Icarus game, the director overcame these difficulties, as he explained to Official Nintendo Magazine in June 2010:

“…the problem with Starfox was that-and you’ll see this when you see the trailer for Kid Icarus – is that the game design incorporates a lot of different views. For example, flying and shooting sideways or turning around and shooting behind and I felt that there were some restrictions with Starfox in this regard. With Pit, there is a certain amount of flexibility that is allowed and makes a better fit for this gameplay.”

As Sakurai elaborated on in his Iwata Asks interview on the subject of Uprising, when development began, it was being prototyped and demoed on PC; as well as Wii at one stage:

Iwata:

Yes. Development did last a long time.
Sakurai:

At first we didn’t have the Nintendo 3DS development kit, so we started making it on a PC. Oh, and for a while we were using a Wii to make it! (laughs)

The interview also disclosed two previously unseen prototypes from early in the game’s life cycle:

At E3 2010, Kid Icarus: Uprising had its premiere, debuting as the first ever Nintendo 3DS game to be shown to the world. Upon analysis, we can observe a number of differences between it and the final build:

The above video documents the title in an evidently early state with incomplete, lower quality graphics than the released game. At the time the trailer was created, Troy Lund was originally slated to portray the protagonist, Pit, in the English language dub. Eventually, he was replaced by Anthony Del Rio, who plays the character in the English voiceover of the final game. This trailer demonstrates Lund’s version of the character, prior to his recasting.

We can glean also that this build contained a different aiming reticule. Whereas the release build adopted a circular design, which changes based upon the power of your shot, the one seen here is more static and simplistic.

kid icarus urpsing beta

Beta

kid icarus uprising final

Final 

Prototype/beta Images:

  

Cosmic Walker [Wii – Cancelled]

Cosmic Walker is a cancelled adventure / action game that was in development for the Wii. At Nintendo Fall Conference 2008 the manufacturer shared a movie reel full of upcoming Wii games that were in development, like Punch Out Wii, Sin & Punishment 2 and Another Code R. Another game shown for the first time was a curious space simulation developed by Gaia, the studio created by former Atlus employee Kouji Okada, but no info was shared about it.

In the Supplementary Information documents released by Nintendo from January 2010 onward the title disappeared from the list of the upcoming games aimed for the japanese market and in October 2010 a news spread that Gaia official site ceased activity thus we can conclude that the project was likely quietly terminated by the publisher.

Video:
 

Marionette [GameCube – Cancelled]

Marionette is a mysterious cancelled project that was in development for the Gamecube. At E3 2001, Nintendo accidentaly announced on its online release list three mysterious titles: Super Mario Sunshine, Mario 128, and Marionette. This list was pulled shortly after it was published, but the curiosity of gamers piqued.

Later, during an interview with IGN, Shigeru Miyamoto spoke out on these games in a roundtable (August, 2001)

“And as for Marionette, it is still under development. It is not a Mario game, but an actual Marionette game utilizing a puppet. I am hoping to make something both complicated and simple at the same time [with this game], which is kind of a contradiction. But already we are experimenting. And once again, sometime in the future we may be able to show you something on it.”

The game was toyed around with in concept stages (on both N64 and GameCube), but it was never actually developed in full form. As we can read in another IGN article:

“Marionette is probably more suited for something like the Wii,” said Miyamoto. “However, that type of game is difficult. Just looking at it, it seems to be fun, but then you get the feeling of, ‘Well, what do I do now?’.” Miyamoto feels that in order to make such a game last, you have to give it, among other things, a strong story.

Nintendo Dream noted that the title would be perfect for the Wii, as manipulating a marionette would be enjoyable with the Wii remote. The magazine also pointed out that the Japanese spelling of the name breaks down perfectly to “Mario” and “Net,” suggesting network features. Still, Miyamoto had some partially disappointing news. “We’re not working on it any more. However, we’d like to release something like it with the right timing, so we’re preserving it in the form of its story elements. When Marionette was being planned, we were trying to use the N64 controller in interesting ways. However, if we now use the Wii remote controller, it seems that those types of interesting elements would appear more naturally.”

Sadly, Nintendo never released any images or other media from this cancelled project.

Thanks to Mr. Game for the contribution! 

Super Mario 64 2 [N64 – Cancelled]

As we can read on Super Mario Wiki, Super Mario 64 2 is a cancelled sequel to Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, that was planned for the 64 DD expansion by Nintendo but never finished. The game was talked many times in interviews with Miyamoto but it seems that only a early prototype (with a multiplayer mode starring Luigi) was created before they decided to stop the development and just start a new Mario for the GameCube.

It is possible that some concepts of this game were later included in Super Mario 64 DS, Super Mario Sunshine or Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo never shown any screens from the Mario 64 2 prototype, but we can still hope that they could release some images in one of the “Iwata Talks” articles in the future.

Some old interviews with Miyamoto that talks about Mario 64 2:

We’re in the middle of preparing Mario 64-2 for release on the 64DD. I’d like to take advantage of the 64DD’s ability to store information. As of now, Luigi’s also a full part of the game, but we haven’t started thinking about 2-player gameplay with Mario and Luigi yet. We’ll tackle that once we’ve got the system ironed out—we’ve figured out the processing power issues, so we could do it if we tried. How many Luigi fans do you suppose there are? (Editing department replies: “Quite a lot.”) If Luigi’s really that popular, maybe I’ll made a green box for Mario 64-2. (laughs)

Thanks to Parker for the contribution!

Videos:
 

Kirby Air Ride [GC – Beta / Unused / Debug]

Kirby Air Ride is an Spin-off Kirby game developed by HAL laboratory for the Nintendo GameCube, which has been featured as the first racing game starring the pink-character that has been released. Kirby Air Ride was originally developed for the Nintendo64, but the Nintendo 64-bit version was postponed many times and then cancelled. The project seemed doomed, but Nintendo somehow resurrected it for the GameCube in 2003.

However, some Beta elements remains in some of the E3 Trailers, let see them below:

  • 0:14 ~ By a quickly look, you can see the arrow as RED color, but the Kirby is Pink;
  • 0:23 ~ In Checker Knights the graphics are little “non-detailed”;
  • 0:27 ~ When showing the HUD, it’s possible to see the map as 3D, on the final product, the map have been changed to 2D, such as a Sprite;
  • 0:27 ~ Plasma ability had an another icon (on the final version is different and it’s green) and his charge wasn’t tilt the control, it seems you would recharge such you recharge the machine, holding A;
  • 0;32 ~ Frozen Hillside was really different during the Beta;
  • 0:34 ~ The “Laps” was very bad specific, the lap counter was only a number at the top of the screen, it have been changed lately;
  • 0:34 ~ All the icons “1P-2P-3P-4P-CPU” was totally different, you can see them many on the videos, but you might only see the 2P on 0:34;
  • 0:42 ~ Inside the house on City Trial was totally pink, it was changed with more colors and objects in that house;
  • 0:44 ~ Rocket Star recharged much more faster in the Beta, in the Final version, it takes about 10 Seconds to recharged totally;
  • 0:49 ~ The volcano was totally solid with only one color, it was more detailed lately;
  • 0:49 ~ The Jumper platform was changed;
  • 0:59 ~ A lot of enemies doesn’t have shadow during the beta;
  • 1:05 ~ There is a mysterious flower in Checker Knights;
  • 1:09 ~ The Signs were removed;
  • 1:25 ~ Mike Ability seems to be uncompleted on the Beta Section;
  • Most of the stages have a minor differences: in Checker Knights, there wasn’t buttons at the end and some other stuff (such as other ways); at the desert, there wasn’t any slopes; and on other stages there was other minor differences too.
  • And here, an another trailer showing even more beta stuff:

  • 0:03 ~ The Start flag is really different;
  • 0:03 ~ The Red arrow have returned;
  • 0:17 ~ The 3D map again;
  • 0:25 ~ Look how different was the sign;
  • 0:27 ~ And look again, how different was the boost pad, there was a square with arrows, in the final version, it was much more detailed, there wasn’t a floor (square), and have more shading and etc;
  • 0:53 ~ Wheelie ability is slightly different;
  • 0:56 ~ Beta Plasma Ability as already show in the other trailer;
  • 1:02 ~ Enemies didn’t turned into dust in the Beta version, they just were fly up away;
  • 1:05 ~ In this part of the video, it’s possible to see again the uncompleted Mike ability;
  • 1:06 ~ The Spike ability had much more range;
  • 1:17 ~ This time, everyone have got Red arrows;
  • Some of the stages have little differences.
  • Hidden in the game’s code of Kirby Air Ride, there is a Debug Menu screen, which is really similar to the one in Super Smash Bros. Melee, with many features on it, such as:

  • Camera Debug
  • Item Spawner
  • Enemy Spawner
  • Game Modification
  • Effects Viewer
  • Debugging tools
  • and such others
  • I want to thanks Mack for discovering these!

    On the debug menu, we can see much unused stages and unused vehicles.

    Stages

  • TEST: It just Crashes. Update:ConkerGuru discovered a way to access this stage by just disabling an option on the Debug Menu. Let’s watch the video below!
  • TEST6: Finishing Test (just a really long line)
  • TEST7: Gliding Test
  • SIMPLE: It just Crashes
  • SIMPLE2: General Arena testing, contains some unused stuff:
  • Health Bar on Air-ride mode
  • There is a flying block enemy, which probably was to be replaced
  • Other stuff
  • DUMMY: Just nothing [It’s just like Super Smash Bros. Melee)
  • Vehicles

  • WHEEL_NORMAL: A very old model of a wheelie vehicle
  • STAR_HANDLE: Used on Top-ride, but not on City Trial/Air-ride
  • STAR_FREE: Used on Top-ride, but not on City Trial/Air-ride
  • Another informations by Mack:

    RACE3DMODEGoes into the 3d mode debug options (Stadium, City Trail and Air Ride)
    RACE3DMODEGoes into Top Ride debug menu (insanely complicated menu in Japanese);
    OPTION MODESome options such as sound option;
    PAL MODESets the language (PAL ONLY) to Europe ;
    CLEARCHECKIf enabled, all the check lists will be completed 100%;
    SOUND TESTA menu will pop which will be sound test. You can listen to both music and SFX;
    RUMBLE TESTTests the rumble feature;
    MOVIE TESTDisplays a list of all the tutorials and “movies” in the game that can be watched. Altough CPU gameplays are not present.(also know as demo movies);
    MEMCARD TEST: A bunch of complicated options related to the memory card.;
    ENDING TESTShow the 3 endings.;
    LAN EMULATELan testing feature.;
    LAN MENU TESTDisplays the lan menu.;
    SYNC TEST???? Possibly a test for sync;

    There is a Topride debug menu, which seems to edit the whole game. It’s possible to change attributes, change gravity, change items, change the track collisions, change in general, and even saves. But for now, it’s a very complicated debug menu, and will be more researches about it later.

    The Sync test, as said in Mack’s commentary, is the same box as Sound Checker, but it’s unknown about it

    There is also a vehicle called “VS_DEDEDE” which means “Dedede Stadium Arena” is the same as “DEDEDE_BIKE” the bike that you use when you choose Dedede on a Match. But this Stadium Arena version is kinda different, with worst Max Speed and better Charge Speed.

    There is a effect menu that can be accessed on gameplay (of course with the Debug Menu). There is lots of effects on the vehicles, on the levels and even, on the Menu (don’t know how view them).

    Thanks to Mack, Gabrielwoj and ConkerGuru for the contributors!

    Videos

    Unused Vehicles and Stages:

    TEST stage:

    General Debug Functions:

    Note: Mack asked me about upload the video on my profile, I gave all the credits to him, for make the video

    Enemy spawning: (all informations on the video)
    ?

    More Enemy Spawning:

    Tac and Meteo enemy usage:

    Effects Viewer:

    SYNC_TEST

    TopRide Debug Mode:

    VS_Dedede vehicle:

    Also not forgetting that the TopRide Debug Menu is very complex, this menu even was need a Save File for Debug into the game: