Nintendo

Gex 3 [Beta – PSX N64]

Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko is a 3D platform game that was developed by Crystal Dynamics and Gratuitous Games for the original Playstation and Nintendo 64. Steve noticed a lot of beta differences from the various Gex 3 demos that were released before the final game.

First up, a video featuring the level “Clueless In Seattle” that is in volume 4 in a series of Eidos demo discs (it seems that this demo also appears in a greatest hits version of Tomb Raider II).

There are noticeable differences here compared to the level that is in the game’s retail release:

In the retail version, bears are enemies that can be found in the hedgemaze of this level. In this demo, the bears are absent there and only appear as these statues that can hurt you if you jump into them. These statues are also present in the retail version, but will not harm you if you jump into them. Also, there is an instance in the retail version where a small scene occurs in which the statue bears – for a lack of a better term – come to life as enemies. In this demo, this scene never occurs and the statue bears never come to life: 

Monster Dunk [Cancelled – N64]

Monster Dunk is a cancelled arcade basketball game that was in development by Mindscape Inc for the Nintendo 64, as a part of Nintendo’s “dream team” of developers that were working on titles for their “Project Reality”. It seems that the game was announced at E3 1995 but the developers never shared any official screenshot, even if the project could have been at least in a concept / prototype form, maybe if we are lucky some images could resurface some day.

In the original press release we can read:

 

The game takes a unique and humorous twist on the basketball game genre, featuring famous monsters playing two-on-two basketball. “Monster Dunk” will take advantage of Nintendo Ultra 64’s unique capabilities, such as providing players with dozens of stunning special-effects moves (for example, one character becoming a cloud of smoke, morphing into a bat, flying above the basket and dropping the ball through), creating dozens of random court hazards (hands periodically reaching up from the floor and grabbing players’ legs), and including humorous game- and season-ending winning team sequences (the winning team throwing the losing team out of the stadium).

In 1996 Mindscape was in huge economic problems, with expected loss of 46 millions GBP following a loss of 6.9 millions GBP in 1995, and they decided to stop the development of Monster Dunk for the N64.

Thanks to Celine for the second scan!

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Video from E3 1995 (no footage of Monster Dunk sadly):

 

Pokemon Battle Revolution [Beta – Wii]

Pokemon Battle Revolution was first announced by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata at a Nintendo marketing event in Japan on June 2006 and it was released in 2007 after Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Below you can see the original trailer that contains a lot of beta stuff: it seems that it still used the same engine from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (GameCube) and there are some unused / early 3d models.

Video:

As you can see in the middle the HUD is the same from Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness and battles are from Pokemon Red and Green.. maybe they even planned a connection with the gameboy advance games. Rumors say that Pokemon Battle Revolution originaly was started in 2006 after Gale of Darkness was finished, but it was later postponed to be a title for the new console.

Post by Arshes91 

Dementium 2 [Tech Demo – DS]

Dementium 2 is a FPS developed by Renegade Kid and released for DS in 2010. Below we can see some screenshots and a video of a tech demo that was created before the actual development of the game started. Gregg Hargrove briefly talked about it in the Renegade Kid board:

I wanted to comment on how amazed I am that anyone was even able to find any info on the original “Village” demo that became D2. Wow!

I also wanted to give a shout out to the artist that helped me develop that demo, Erik McKenney, who sadly was not able to stay on with us past the demo. Times were crazy and we didn’t know where what was going to happen so we lost a great artist to a more stable company. D2 would have been that much better if we could have kept him on.

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Videos:
 

Dinosaur Legend (Kyouryuu Densetsu) [NES – Cancelled]

Dinosaur Legend (Kyouryuu Densetsu) is a cancelled NES / Famicom game that was in development by HAL Laboratory, a famous developer that gave Nintendo popular series as Kirby and Super Smash Bros. They created many games for the Famicom/NES, but one of them was never release: Dinosaur Legend. It was going to be a curious RPG where you travel with a dinosaur to save the world. It had a game mechanic where the dinosaur steadily evolves (could it have been a Pokemon Ante litteram?).

It is currently unknown why the game was never published but you can see a few screenshots below.

Thanks to Susumu for the translation from japanese.

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