Beta + Cancelled Nintendo Video Games - Page 72 of 207

Metroid: Other M is an action-adventure developed by a team consisting of staff members from Nintendo, Team Ninja, and D-Rockets. Metroid Other M did something that no Metroid game before it even attempted. It gave samus a human side. Known as being the cold bounty hunter, Samus was given a softer yet unrefined image. Other aspects of the game rocked the boat to a degree, but overall, it still has that metroid gameplay that true fans of the series have come to love.

Production had a really large scale, with over 300 storyboards which took six months to be completed, and ten teams being employed to develop cutscenes. To make a game though, you have to decide what to put in, and what to leave out. Thanks to the unlockable art gallery, we can see some of what was left out of the game, over it’s 3 year development period.

Thanks goes to Proto1 for pointing out these differences and to Metroid Database for sharing the artworks!

In the beta gallery below you can see:

Samus’ beauty mark was not part of her conceptual design, likely added towards end of development.
Unused GFtrooper armor.
A conceptual, streamlined powersuit. Not in game.
A shot of an unused Lyle character model that depicts him unarmored (no helmet, w/undershirt). Not in the game at all.
Alternate, unused designs of MBs hair piece.
Concept art depicts Waver once had the ability to infect other enemies. Further, art shows them recoiling off of walls. Not in game.
Grippers might have at one point been able to fly.
An unused baby Dragotix.
Alternate design for Biosphere terminal.
Unused Ian and Samus photographs
Teenage Samus w/different hairstyle.
Unused Samus civilian clothes, purple shirt.
Unused Phantoon design

Also, FacePunch are currently hacking apart Other M, and have found some interesting unused assets:

Unused Power Suit, likely beta. It’s missing several creases along the shoulder pads, arms, legs and has a different colored arm canon.

Here’s a list of several unused character models that have yet to be ripped:

249-zss body HQ
250-young samus (from prerendered cutscenes)
251-adam in uniform (from prerendered cutscenes)
252-255 hq samus powersuit
257/260- metroid

Another member found test rooms and unused clothing:

“There are some development left over files for sure. So far i found the old suit model i posted earlier, a few characters/outfits which are only appearing in pre-rendered sequences and some test rooms from a very early stage of development.”

Thanks to Zero7 for the contribution!

Images:

Nintendo, Wii

Contra Rebirth [Wii – Beta / Debug]

U64 Staff & Contributors

21-09-2010

No Comments

Contra Rebirth, a run ‘n’ gun downloadable game from Nintendo’s Wiiware service, released in Europe on September 9th of ’09, and America only 3 short days later, with one big difference. The European version has a code to access the games debug mode, allowing you to modify what weapons you have, give you invincibility, and access the game’s only remaining test level, which oddly enough, strongly resembles a level from Super Mario Bros. Unfortunatley, in just those short 3 days before the US version’s release, the debug mode was removed from the US version, while the European version kept it. Also odd, is that the Japanese version released first (05/12/09) and yet the European version is the only one to have the debug mode.

Images:

Videos:

Nintendo, SNES + Super Famicom

Ardy Lightfoot [SNES – Beta]

monokoma

21-09-2010

2 Comments

Ardy Lightfoot is a platform game developed by ASCII that was released in 1993 for the Super Famicom (Japan) and in 1996 for the Super Nintendo (USA and Europe). It seems that a beta version of the game was somehow leaked online, as we can see many videos from this early version on Youtube. More info on the differences in this beta are available at Flying Omelette!

Ardy’s speech bubbles are differently coloured, and Nina looks different.
The prologue stage is completely empty of stars
The push block gets a new graphic in the final, presumably to indicate it can be pushed and isn’t just scenery.
The beta presents a chest with a bomb, while the final does merely places it next to the wall and requires being moved closer.
The tunnel you fall into requires awkward walking to venture through, while the final makes a little more sense by having you slide through it.
The beta version of Scene 2 is very unfinished and different
Catry has all new sprites, but they’re pretty bad in comparison to the final ones

Images:

Videos (Scene 2 beta):

Videos (Scene 2 Final):

Videos (more beta):

Game Boy (+ Color), Leaked, Nintendo

Roadsters 98 [GBC – Proto / Cancelled]

monokoma

20-09-2010

4 Comments

Roadsters 98 is a prototype racing game by Genetic Fantasia, with a gameplay similar to Micro Machines, that seems to have been cancelled in early development. A playable demo exists, thanks to a scene leaked ROM from the old GameBoy Color days. While there is a game called Roadsters released in Europe and USA in 2000, it is completely different from Roadster 98. The release group got access to some beta software which is normal but in this case they probably thought they’d do a nice pre-store but the final game never appeared – unless this is an insanely rare special release no one knows about.

We can speculate that Genetic Fantasia worked on Roadsters GameBoy Color for Titus, but something went wrong and the publisher decided to release a different game.

Thanks a lot to BigFred for the contribution!

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Videos:

Nintendo, Nintendo 64 & 64DD

Banjo Tooie [N64 – Beta / Unused Stuff]

U64 Staff & Contributors

19-09-2010

1 Comment

Banjo-Tooie, for Nintendo 64, is a game that really needs no introduction. The sequel to the landmark platformer Banjo-Kazooie, Tooie achieved huge popularity in its own right for its immersive gameplay, huge worlds and charming characters. The game, set two years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie, didn’t receive the same amount of media interest as its predecessor because, as a sequel, it was not seen as being as revolutionary or new as Kazooie. From what we can tell (from the limited screenshots made available), a few cosmetic changes were present in the game before publication:

1) the warp pads, instead of spirals, were adorned with large “B-T” logos

2) Humba Wumba used Mumbo tokens instead of Glowbos

3) her talking head sprite wore a mask of some kind under her eyes

4) she wore a red dress

5) the large bottle of “Jolly’s Juice” was once titled “Dud Beer”

As far as the press is concerned, these are the only BETA clues available.

However, Banjo-Tooie also contains perhaps the most infamous hidden development content of any video game: Bottles’ Revenge. This was planned to be a multiplayer component of the game, in which the second player used “Devil Bottles” to take control of enemies and attempt to hurt and/or kill player one (who controlled Banjo and Kazooie as usual).

However, Rare states that it ran out of time to debug the mode, and it now remains accessible only by using a cheating device such as a GameShark. Although Devil Bottles was originally planned to be capable of possessing bosses, Rare has said that only Old King Coal was programmed for this when Bottles’ Revenge was dropped, and Old King Coal is not controllable in the version that is present in the retail game.

Further delving into the game’s code has discovered a few other sections of the game that were abandoned, but remain in the cartridge and accessible, again, through the use of a cheating device. The first of these is a large ceiling object, and the second consists of three doorways which, based on their position in Banjo-Kazooie’s memory, were probably intended to form part of Witchy World. There is one other unused area, but it is very small and contains no visible object. The first two rooms are viewable in the video below (from Runehero124’s YT Channel):

There is more information on the unused rooms at Rare Witch Project Forum!