Game Boy Advance (GBA)

Diddy Kong Pilot [GBA – Beta / Cancelled]

Diddy Kong Pilot was a Mode-7 racer developed by Rare Ltd. and meant to be published by Nintendo. Originally announced in 2001, the game featured various characters from the Donkey Kong universe and could be controlled with a tilt sensor that was integrated into the game’s cart. In 2002, Nintendo sold their share of Rare Ltd. and opted out of their publishing contract. The game was later reskinned with Banjo characters and released as Banjo-Pilot.

Original description from Rare’s website:

Relive the classic gameplay style of Diddy Kong Racing as you take to the skies again in one of Rare’s very first titles for the Game Boy Advance! Pick out your favourite from an unlikely squadron of Kongs and Kremlings, each bringing along their own distinctive (and customizable) flying machine, then launch yourself headlong into the striking 3D courses. Within minutes you’ll be diving low over sandy beaches and climbing high above bubbling lava en route to the chequered flag and victory…

All sorts of play options are yours for the tinkering, including single-player and multiplayer tournaments, a classic time trial and detailed story modes for each character (ending in climactic one-on-one boss duels). You can even link up with three of your mates, competing for the title of squadron leader or simply blast each other out of the sky in frantic dogfights.

Other features of the game include interactive background scenery, rolling and looping manouevres, upgradable weapons and power-ups, secret features to unlock and of course the rarely-seen Tilt Technology, where, if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can set aside your D-Pad in favour of controlling the plane by actually tilting the Game Boy Advance.

Diddy Kong Pilot’s Hillbilly Kong’s name: http://www.dkvine.com/?p=1082

[Thanks to Matt Gander, Lucas Araujo & Vaettur for the contributions!

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Game Boy Music [GBA – Cancelled]

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GB Music was a music game for the Game Boy Advance, shown to the public at the Tokyo Game Show in 2001. By using the A and B buttons in combination with the D-pad players could push some serious tunage out of the GBA system. The game was to come packaged with a battery-powered Pocket Speaker and cable. To create the ultimate music, players were to be given access to as many as fifty sampled instruments. The title was eventually tabled and later brought back as Jam with the Band/Band Brothers for the Nintendo DS. – [Info from www.ign.com]

In the Iwata Ask interview, we can read more about Game Boy Music development, and they revealed that the project originally started on the Game Boy Color!

Iwata: You joined this company at the same time, didn’t you, Kyuma-san and Kitahara-san? Kitahara-san touched on a fraction of this game’s history in his previous comment, but planning for Band Brothers actually started during the Game Boy Color era. How long have you been involved with Band Brothers, Kitamura-san?

Kitamura: I started about 10 years ago, back when I was young and sprightly. (laughs) […]

Kitamura: That’s right, so I thought: “If no-one else will use her in a game, we might as well make a game ourselves”. Around that time, a new sound chip that could replicate natural instrument sounds really well had been developed, and we were asked if we would be able to make some software that utilised the chip…

Iwata: The music in the Game Boy Color era was all plinky-plonk electronic music, wasn’t it? So that was when you started developing Band Brothers’s predecessor, Game Boy Music.

Kitamura: But while we were making slow progress with that, the Game Boy Advance was developed, and we realised that it would offer us better sound quality.

Iwata: You could now produce natural sounds without having to borrow a special sound chip. However, the development of Game Boy Music had to be abandoned just before its completion.

Kitamura: We had various problems, but the main issue was the fact that for Jam Sessions (to play together in a group), every user had to buy their own copy of the software. […]

Iwata: And you weren’t the only one who felt that way. At the beginning of 2004, the year the Nintendo DS was released, I had the opportunity to meet Nintendo developers individually. I could feel how strongly all those who had worked on Game Boy Music shared the desire to release the software. Another incident that had occurred before development was cancelled also left a deep impression on me. I remember watching a video of staff members playing the game during its development. After they’d finished playing a song, they would all celebrate by high-fiving each other.

Kitahara: People don’t normally high-five each other after playing a game, do they?

Thanks to Celine for the contribution!

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Oggy and the Cockroaches [GBA – Unreleased?]

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ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)

ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)

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Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers [GBA – Cancelled] (It’s Mr. Pants [GBA – Beta])

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers was a puzzle game developed by Rare Ltd. and announced by Nintendo in 2001. The title featured both an isometric gameplay grid and Donkey Kong-themed levels and modes. In 2002, it was cancelled when Nintendo sold their share of Rare Ltd.

Original announcement from Rare:

If Diddy Kong’s heading off to make a name for himself on the Game Boy Advance, DK wants in on it too! So here he comes with his very first foray into the puzzle game world, which, like all classic puzzlers, works around one simple principle: in this case, score points by creating shapes – specifically, squares and rectangles. DK’s coconuts fall towards the game board in various formations, and fortunately for you he’s taken the time to fill them with paint…

Naturally, there’s a bit more to it than that. The paint comes in two colours, and while you can cover one colour with another, you can’t drop, say, red on red or green on green. Plus you’ve got some opposition in the form of those dastardly Kremlings, who can never keep their snouts out of business that doesn’t concern them. Even as you’re rotating and dropping the coconuts and building up your shapes, there’ll be a lone Kremling sneaking around the outer edge of the game board, rendering useless any square it crosses and giving you less and less room to work with. Fortunately for you, finishing off a shape will call in one of DK’s animal buddies to drive the scaly troublemaker back and reclaim some of that lost space.

Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers comes with a whole barrel-load of playing modes, including an addictive adventure across the crazy terrain of Kong Island, head-to-head battles with boss Kremlings and a series of challenges set by everyone’s favourite grouchy monkey, good old Cranky Kong. You can even take on your friends in a multiplayer showdown to see just who really is king of the jungle. Yep, DK really has thought of everything…

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In 2003, THQ decided to publish a reskinned version of Donkey Kong Coconut Crackers. As It’s Mr. Pants, the game featured Rare’s very own mascot. The isometric view was scrapped as it made the puzzle tiles difficult to see.

The ‘Crayon Snake’ that circles around the board in Marathon Mode eating the game pieces was originally called the ‘Pants Snake’. THQ thought that this was a bit too risqué and requested the name change.

Beta: It’s Mr Pants: 

Radium [GBA – Cancelled]

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ENG: This entry in the archive doesn’t have a description yet. If you want to add some info about the beta / cancelled stuff that you see in these images, just write a comment or send us an email! We’ll add your info in this page and your name in the contributors list. Thanks a lot for your help! :)

ITA: Questa pagina dell’archivio non ha ancora una descrizione. Se vuoi aggiungere delle informazioni riguardo le differenze della beta o la descrizione di un gioco cancellato, lasciaci un commento o mandaci una email! Inseriremo le tue informazioni nella pagina ed il tuo nome nella lista dei collaboratori. Grazie per il tuo aiuto! :)

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