Beta + Cancelled Nintendo Video Games - Page 54 of 207

At E3 2002 Sega , in conjunction with Nintendo, showed a new exclusive Phantasy Star Online game which had a focus on card based battles, named PSO Card Battle. In the end the game evolved and was released as Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution for Gamecube. However what is little known is that when unveiled for the first time at that trade show, the game was a premiere title for a new Nintendo pheriperal: a small LCD screen attached to the system.

At its developer roundtable that year Nintendo revealed Sega new project with a brief trailer and Yuji Naka explained how the idea for the game sprung from Nintendo’s idea to develop a portable screen for the GameCube and create the ability to link four GameCubes together for portable multiplayer gameplay. GameCube linkup feature and portability weren’t the only reasons to use the quirky device in fact Nintendo kept secret the most amusing feature behind the screen that is the ability to display stereoscopic images without requiring special glasses.

Only many years later, when the company was ready to launch its new autostereoscopic handheld system, Iwata confirmed the true nature of the the portable screen showed at E3 2002. So it’s more than likely that PSO Card Battle was one of the first 3D games for Gamecube, the genre is ideal to show off popup graphics, along with Luigi’s Mansion and probably Metroid Prime ( another game displayed on the little LCD screen in that faithful event ).

Thanks to Grooveraider for the brief clip.

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Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Tales of Phantasia [Beta – SNES]

yota

26-02-2012

No Comments

Tales of Phantasia is a Jrpg developed by Wolfteam and published, only in Japan, by Namco for SNES in 1995. The game was originally based on an unpublished novel, Tale Fantasia, but, as we can read from Aselia wikia, the programming team encountered many difficulties in dealing with the publisher:

Several changes exist between the initial concept of Tale Phantasia and the published game, due to Namco’s interference with Wolfteam’s efforts, eventually cutting them out of the process and removing them from the credits towards the end of development. This includes changing the character artist from Yoshiaki Inagaki to the now-familiar Kousuke Fujishima, resulting in entirely redesigned and renamed characters with in-game sprites that are based on original artwork and not Fujishima’s revisions, which are shown in the status art, along with several alterations to key chars and plot points. A grand majority of the story was cut from the game, and no attempt was made to close the plot holes that were created by Namco’s actions.

In the beta pics below we can see the original character design of Inagaki and a scan of a pre-release version of Tales of Phantasia. I played the game ten years ago, so i don’t remember it too well, and the scan is low quality, but i don’t see any major changes. If you have more informations please make a comment and we’ll update the post.

Thanks to Youloute of the Assembler forum for the scan.

Below is a few sprites that are ripped from the final version of Tales of Phantasia, but these sprites go completely unused. They’re ‘angel’ sprites for when Raise Dead is used. Some of them are completely unknown, but clearly Brambert, Rhea and Morrison are in the list. Brambert was in the beta of Tales of Phantasia, as seen in the image below. Not much is known about Rhea but it appears NPC’s may have been usable in battle. There’s also a ‘Tactics’ icon for both Brambart and Rhea as well. Not too mention both of their names are stored in the same area as Cress and Co.’s.

Thanks to Justin3009 for the contribution!

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Nintendo, Nintendo 64 & 64DD

Tamiya Racing [Cancelled – N64]

U64 Staff & Contributors

23-02-2012

6 Comments

Tamiya Racing is a cancelled racing game that was in development for the Nintendo 64. As far as I can tell, there is absolutely ZERO information on the game out there anywhere. According to an auction for the prototype, the game is from Intermetrics, associated with Looking Glass Studios. The label has No Gamma written on on. The seller also thinks it is very similar to the unreleased Mini Racers.

This is from the same seller who sold the also unreleased N64 Wildwaters Extreme Kayak recently for $1,600.00. From what I understand they also have a third such proto, so we may see that at some point too. The auction finished at $1,358.33 and we hope that the winner could be able to share more videos or screens from this lost game!

Original Auction page on Ebay

Post by Arshes91

Original source: www.gamesniped.com

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Nes / Famicom, Nintendo

Rygar [Beta – NES]

U64 Staff & Contributors

13-02-2012

No Comments

Rygar is a 2D side scrolling action game created by Tecmo in 1986 and originally released for arcades in Japan as Argus no Senshi. An home-version for Nintendo was released on April 1987 in Japan for the Famicom as Argos no Senshi and later that year in the United States for the NES. A European release came in 1990.

Yes, a beta version of this horribly under rated classic exists somewhere out there in the world. However all we have to acknowledge its existence with are screenshots. The following screen shots were scanned from the back of the American, European and Japanese boxes as well as a Japanese magazine ad for the game.

The quality is not that great but these were not photoshopped at all.

This was taken from the back of the Japanese box. It shows the first stage. Notice the mountains are not purple and the trees have branches.

Here we see Garloz. Notice the shrine on the right not present in the final version of the game?

Here we see the very top of the Gran Mountain. Just before you travel to the Tower of Garba. Notice that the tree stumps that you use the cross bow on are thinner than they appear in the final version of the game? Also notice that the ropes are attached to different platforms than shown in the actual release?

Last but not least, the Japanese advertisement shown in magazines back in the day. MANY screenshots of an obvious beta are shown. Notice the Hermit’s room has no platform to the left or door to exit? Notice that the boss of the Tower of Garba is being fought on the first floor? Also notice that the world of Lapis is shown with Rygar crossing a rope on cliffs not seen in the actual game?

December 14th, 2012, another screenshot from the beta has been found. This time, a moon seems to have been removed from the background of the Gran Mountain stage. It seems that there was supposed to be some transitioning from day to night in this game that was scrapped.

A beta must exist somewhere and hopefully some day, someone will find it.

Post by Casey Strain

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Nintendo, Nintendo 3DS

My Garden [Nintendo 3DS – Cancelled]

monokoma

12-02-2012

2 Comments

My Garden is a cancelled “garden simulator” that was in development by EA Salt Lake in late 2009, for the Nintendo 3DS. The game was nearly complete graphically, but it seems that the gameplay was not very good and it wasn’t very intuitive at all. The gameplay involved a mascot named Tanooki watching over you as you plant different color seeds that did different things. You could also spruce up your garden with objects like pinwheels. The My Garden beta had still no music, only sound fx. Some parts of the in-game text had dialogue dubbed, but only a few screens had spoken dialogue.

Some more info from IGN:

Players will be given six unique gardens to play, grow, and nurture. In order to advance, you must collect 300 unqiue plants with the help of the game’s guide and aid, Tanuki.
Tanuki will help you grow your plants by unlocking different suits that can attract certain animals to your garden. Shaking the 3DS will cause animals to leave while whistling can attract them.
There are also photo challenges in My Garden that players will need to complete to progress. Photos can be saved and shared with friends.

Thanks a lot to Gary for the contribution!

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