The original Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 was loved by many because of it’s action and stealth. It was also one of the few First Person Shooters for the N64. Development of Perfect Dark Zero, the sequel of Perfect Dark, began on the Nintendo Gamecube but as it was almost completed, RARE was bought by Microsoft so all development had to be ported to the original Xbox. Around the same time, RARE released some screen shots that revealed a “cartoony” or cel-shaded Joanna Dark.
A couple of years later and then another console switch occurred… this time to the Xbox 360. The Xbox version was about 12 months away from shipping before the switch and this caused many problems as to updating the engine, graphics, etc. The scenes and characters that you can see in the screenshots below (as those soldiers), were not used in the final game. Joanna Dark’s design was changed many times before the final one.
Finally, after many ports and switches, Perfect Dark Zero was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360 by December 2, 2005. If you notice some interesting differences in the concept arts from the videos below, please let us know!
Also, as wrote on Wikipedia, Rare had announced plans to make the multiplayer feature matches of up to 50 people, an upgrade from the current 32 player limit. As of March 2010, this update has not been released and Rare has stated that they will not be releasing any more downloadable content. A new Counter-Operative mode, much like the one found in the original Perfect Dark, was also promised to eventually become available as a new game mode for Perfect Dark Zero. However, this update is not available and Rare has no intention on bringing it out. Counter-Operative is a mode where one player plays as Joanna whilst the other player takes on the role of Joanna’s enemies, in the original title this took place in the same setting as the Single Player Levels.
Thanks to DCodes7 for the contribution!
Images:
Related games in the Unseen Archive:
- Perfect Dark [N64 – Beta]
- Perfect Dark Zero [GC – Tech Demo]
- Perfect Dark Zero [XBOX – Proto / Cancelled]
Related Videos:
Concept Art Videos from the Perfect Dark Zero collectors edition DVD:
Previsualization:
