Beta + Cancelled Nintendo DS Video Games - Page 10 of 21

Elevator Action, produced by Taito, was an arcade game from the 1980s. While never becoming as famous as other games of the time, such as Pac-Man, Galaga or Space Invaders, it became a cult classic, often remembered for its espionage themes. Unfortunately, the franchise never really went anywhere. In 1994, an arcade sequel, Elevator Action II, was only ever released in Japan on the Sega Saturn, and in the US as a Dexter’s Laboratory game.

In 2008, however, Taito planned to revive the series by bringing out a new game on the Nintendo DS, which would have played more or less the same as the first two instalments. The original illustrator, James Harvey, was set to design all-new characters for the game, while ensuring that the classic feel of the original was upheld. Harvey says that he was asked to redesign the principal characters (three anti-terrorists), but to “keep one eye on the present and one eye on the past”. Soon after he submitted his designs, however, the game was scrapped for an unknown reason. Harvey’s characters have now appeared on the Internet, and an overview is provided below:

Kim Min Ji, a North Korean, is the first member of the team. She is armed with a laser pistol, which is charged from a tea kettle full of battery acid, which she can also hit people with. She wears a North Korean military uniform.
Brussels Tibia, the second member of the group, wears a black outfit, with a human skeleton drawn all over it. Harvey describes him as a “crazy white kid in a Halloween suit”. His special power would have been his lethal flying kick.
And, finally, Rakim Al Taff (whose name is a play on the original Elevator Action II character Jad the Taff) is a tough Muslim radical who dons a pink cap and pants, and would have had a running clothesline special move.

It is very unfortunate that this very promising revival never saw the light of day. We can only hope that Taito will one day re-open the file, and consider bringing this game to the public.

Information, and pictures of characters, were shared on Boing Boing.

Article by Franklint, thanks to Robert Seddon for the contribution!

Images:

Video (from the original 1983 Elevator Action):

Nintendo, Nintendo DS

Reel Fishing: Life & Nature [DS – Cancelled]

yota

01-06-2010

4 Comments

Reel Fishing: Life & Nature is a cancelled fishing simulation that was developed by Marvelous for the DS. Controls aside, the game was probably going to be identical to the released PSP version. Here is the official fact sheet of RF:

Reel Fishing: Life and Nature is a return to nature fishing! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or have yet to cast your first line, Reel Fishing: Life and Nature will make it possible to experience fishing as it was meant to be…as it should be…in mother nature. Learn basic and advance fishing techniques from the Fishing Master. Experience a magnificent 3-Dimensional fishing adventure with beautiful environments, life-like fish and soothing environmental sounds!

A wide range of fishing locales from wide-open lakes to dense, lush green forest!
Fish in real time with varying weather conditions and daylight patterns.
25 fresh water fish in detailed 3D!
Over 100 different pieces of tackle!
A one-of-a-kind fishing simulation, unparalleled to any other!
Multi-player Ad Hoc Mode with customizable settings!

Pics:

Leaked, Nintendo, Nintendo DS

Mario vs Donkey Kong 2 [DS – Beta]

monokoma

24-03-2010

1 Comment

Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis is a Puzzle Game developed by NST as a sequel to the GBA MvsDK, a follow up to the Game Boy Donkey Kong game. A playable beta demo of MvsDk2 was available at various gaming conventions, from where it was saved on the DS and then shared online.

Upaluppa noticed many differences in this beta demo, as wrote in his videos on Youtube:

– The music sounds quite different
– There are hearts instead of big coins
– The small coins are rotating
– Mushroom Mayhem is called Mushroom Kingdom
– The status screen is completely different
– There’s a level map available by pressing Select
– The map looks VERY incomplete…
– The first level is completely different
– Later levels have some minor differences
– Some sound effects are different
– There is no time limit

Thanks to Hiccup for the contribution!

Videos:

Leaked, Nintendo, Nintendo DS

Sonic Rush [DS – Beta / Unused Stuff]

U64 Staff & Contributors

27-01-2010

1 Comment

Sonic Rush is a platform game developed by Sonic Team and Dimps, published in 2005 for the Nintendo DS. Various screenshots from pre-release versions of the game show slightly different areas, different HUD, slightly different gameplay and the first screenshot of Blaze the Cat shows a Sonic life icon while, in the final version, Blaze has her own life icon. We can also notice a different main menu screen.

The Beta version had a totally different soundtrack for the main menu, for the Leaf Forest, for the boss stages and the end of an act. Also, some FX sounds are different from the final version (Sonic’s voice is different too).

In January 2007 DRX from the Hidden Palace released a prototype version of the game, that was shown at E3 2005. In the E3 version you were meant to play only one level, but Tanks from Sonic Retro has found out that there are 7 zones listed in the proto, and 3 are playable via hacking. He also found an unused set of sprites from Sonic Advance 3, but we don’t know how they were used in the development of Sonic Rush.

More info can be found at Sonic Retro and Sonic Retro Forum (this and this topics)

Thanks to Hiccup and YamiHoshi for the contributions!

Images:

Videos:

Nintendo, Nintendo DS

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks [DS – Beta / Unused Stuff]

monokoma

12-01-2010

2 Comments

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is the second Zelda game for the DS, developed by Nintendo EAD and published in december 2009. The game was originally announced at the GDC in March 2009, so in the first screens and video released there are not too many differences, but Kirby64 was able to notice some interesting beta-changes:

These trees were moved and used in the snow realm

The floor blocks (swirl circle and the square) are changed in the final game

The purple thing (I think it’s a whistle?) was to call over the phantom,but in the final game it was changed to “Call” and the circle was blue not yellow. the phantom icon was changed to a pinkish color and it had pink eyes.The circle swirl on the phantom when it moves the color was green in the beta game but pink in the final game.

This picture here is going through the forest

the pole color was changed to a green color

this bullseye was changed to a x in the final game

this whip was remove and replace with a snake whip. I was reading a forum that the snake whip came from earthbound (note by Bill: the rope snake is from Mother 3)

this tunnel was remove from the forest realm and move to the snow realm

This was the cave going to the snow sanctuary and in the cave you found the monster that the anouki villagers were talking about,in the beta game I think this cave was going to the forest sanctuary and you had to defeat the moster.

Some more differences were noticed by Bill: in the first video you can see the train tracks on the DS differ from the tracks in the final game, and some land was changed into sea at the bottom left corner of the forest realm. Also, some town locations were switched around judging from the map. There are more few small changes in the trailers as the wooden shields used by those Zora Warriors were made into steel and some guards that are missing in the cut scene where Zelda gives Link his certificate.

Also, Gabrielwoj found some interesting things inside the ROM directory, let’s take an look;:

On the sound files of the ROM, there is an unused track. It’s the overworld of Phantom Hourglass. Maybe, doing the early development of this game, the team just was testing the music with this overworld for the new zelda, Spirit Tracks. The song was never used, and it’s on the ROM file. Maybe this song was to be overworld theme of the spirit tracks (yeah, the train navigation), but they decided to make an another, not just like from Phantom Hourglass

Interesting tough, it’s the boss battle music of Phantom Hourglass, again, the same copy and paste from the Zelda game to the another, I really don’t know why, but the music don’t makes any sense with the game, I mean, most of everything is by Pan Flute

At the Spirit Tracks rom, at the path data/MapObj/, there is a file called “DNGN.narc”, extracting this file, will have an “NSMBD” file, it’s the 3d modeling for DS games, this model is the Temple of the Ocean King of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, it’s the same exactly model and textures, an result of copy an paste (NOTE: DNGN file looks DUNGEON with 4 letters, at Phantom Hourglass rom, it’s called “temple_main.narc”, extracting it will have the same dungeon, MAIN means: The principal temple, if you remember, it’s the first Dungeon you enter in the game and the principal of the Story)

Inside the ROM, there is an Dbgfont, maybe, for Debugging:

First of all, for this image which will come, I have never heard that the Spirit Tracks was on an E3 (It was only announced, but not been played, as I know), as been said at the image, it was on E3 2009, some leftover images (already organized for better look) [Second image may look with E3, at the file name, it was E3x, and the palette don’t looks right]:

E3 Image Screen 1(CLICK for view)
and

E3 Image Screen 2(CLICK for view)

Thanks to Kirby 64, Bill and Gabrielwoj for the contributions!

You can find more info about Zelda: Spirit Tracks in the Zelda Wiki!

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