Nintendo 64 & 64DD

The Reign of Cats and Dogs [N64 – Proto / Unreleased]

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The Reign of Cats and Dogs is a mysterious cancelled Nintendo 64 game that was in development by Paradox Games, that tried to show it to various publishers to pitch for a contract. There are few info on the game apart from some small screenshots remained on the website of one of its original developers:

A prototype 3D action / strategy hybrid in C + + on SGI Performer, intended to be published on the Nintendo 64. This one has not seen the light of the open market.

As we can imagine from the title, we would have probably had to fight a war between cats and dogs, in an action game with some strategy elements. The prototype did not run on the real N64 hardware, but on a PC  to test the  controls and the interactions with the scenario. The Reign Of Cats & Dogs could have been a fun concept, but unfortunately it was cancelled for the lack of a publisher interested to release the full game.

italian_flag.jpg [spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Questo misterioso gioco è stato un progetto quasi amatoriale, sviluppato da Paradox Games che sperava di convincere qualche distributore a pubblicarlo su Nintendo 64. Le notizie a riguardo sono scarse, ma fortunatamente è stato possibile trovare il sito web del Game Designer che ha lavorato su “The Reign Of Cats & Dogs”, dove è rimasta una traccia del gioco:

“A prototype 3D action/strategy hybrid in C++ on SGI Performer, intended to be published on the Nintendo 64. This one hasn’t seen the light of the open market.”

Il progetto doveva quindi essere un gioco d’azione strategica, probabilmente una lotta fra gruppi di gatti e cani, come possiamo immaginare dal titolo. Il prototipo non girava su vero hardware Nintendo, ma su di un computer in cui testare le varie possibilità di interazione e controllo. Il giocatore avrebbe preso il controllo di una delle due fazioni, combattendo contro l’altra e dando ordini ai propri compagni. Graficamente molto scarno, “The Reign Of Cats & Dogs” poteva essere un idea interessante, ma purtroppo è stato cancellato dal team di sviluppo, forse per la mancanza di un publisher che avrebbe diffuso il lavoro completo. Sarebbe stato inutile continuare i lavori sul gioco, per poi non poterlo vendere nei negozi.[/spoiler]

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Alien 64 [N64 – Cancelled]

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We don’t really have any information about it, but it is likely that Alien 64 was a remake or a sequel of Alien Trilogy, a tie-in released in 1996 for psx, saturn and pc. The game was inserted in some release lists for the Nintendo 64, but there was never an official announcement, thus even the authenticity of the screenshots in this page is debatable, because they could be just mock-ups or pics from Alien Resurrection, another playstation title. It could also be possible that some of the assets of the cancelled nintendo 64 version were later reused for Resurrection.

[English article by yota]

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Forever Dragonz [N64 – Cancelled]

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Forever Dragonz is a cancelled one-on-one fighting game that was in development by Software Creations for the Nintendo 64, produced & designed by Haydn Dalton. The game had many original ideas (at the time). Characters could be knocked through elements of the enviroment (like a stunt scene in a movie, later to be done by Dead or Alive).

Software Creations were also attempting to have larger, multi-levelled arenas rather than the small “ring” based fighters seen in the arcades and the PSX. They also wanted the ability to tailor characters and update elements of their fighting abilities, betting on fights and swapping fighter characters with friends. Technically it was a challenging title. Software Creations motion captured a set of moves and spent months just getting it to work without crazy rotations affecting the character model’s limbs, but sadly in the end  Forever Dragonz never saw the light of day.

Thanks a lot to Haydn Dalton for the great contribution!

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Jest [N64 – Cancelled]

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Jest is a cancelled 96-megabit Nintendo 64 platform / action game that was in development by Curved Logic in 1997 and it would have been published by Ocean / Infogrames. In the game we would have played as a joker named Jax, who has to work his way up to full jesterhood. There would have been many crazy levels set in the land of Humourous, from hellish underground caverns to misty docksides, with a gameplay probably similar to Mario 64 or Rayman 2. Jest had a beautiful graphic for its time and its own style, but sadly something went wrong during the development and Curved Logic had to cancel the game, before closing down and to vanish forever.

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War: Final Assault [N64 Proto / Cancelled]

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War: Final Assault is a first person shooter that was developed by Atari Games and released in 1999 for arcades. In the game the player needs to fight through 8 levels, each one with its own final boss, with a fun coop multiplayer mode up to 4 players. A Nintendo 64 port was planned to be released the same year, published by Midway, but something went wrong during the development and the project was soon cancelled. We are not sure about how much work went into the Nintendo 64 version: some screenshots from the presumed N64 port were found in an old magazine (but they could just have been from the original Arcade game). It’s a shame that this game was never released on the N64, as it could have been a fun multiplayer game to play with friends at home, between Perfect Dark and Mario Kart 64.

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