Thanks to a post in our forum, Granville has made us notice about a couple of interesting differences between an early build of Kirby Super Star Ultra and the final version of the game. In the first comparison, the ground is a lot different. It’s blue and very rocky-looking in the early footage, but grassy in the final build.
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Thanks to Granville for the contribution!
You can find more about the Kirby series in the WiKirby!
Kirby Adventure is a cancelled platform game that was announced for the Nintendo GameCube at E3 2005, but only little information were revealed since then and it was absent from the show floor at E³ 2006. The levels were rendered in 3D, but the game play was still a side-scroller, much like in Kirby 64. Kirby was able to ride on the backs of up to three other characters. Those characters could have been played by other humans in a 4 players multiplayer coop mode. Kirby was also able to get abilities from partners or enemies, like in Kirby Super Star.
On May 26, 2006 IGN released an article which states that a number of games, including a “generically labeled Kirby game” would have been released for the Wii console. The article also states that this information was gathered from the Japanese release list found on the corporate site of the Japanese Nintendo webpage.
As of September 14, 2006, a list of upcoming games in Japan for Wii has including the title (Hoshi no Kirby). While the list is labeled with the Wii name, a number of titles that were previously listed as being released on other Nintendo systems are listed on it as well. For a further note, quite a number of games have shifted from one system (presumed cancelled) and released on another. The December 2006 issue of Nintendo Power removed the game from the upcoming GameCube titles list, but did not place it in the upcoming Wii titles list. [info from Wikipedia]
During E3 2011, it was announced that a new Kirby Wii was coming out. This was to be the final product of what was started and known as Kirby’s Adventure for the GameCube. From the new Kirby Wii trailer and the old Gamecube trailers these games seem to run with a similar 3D engine.
As of January 28, 2011,the game was officially re-announced under the tentative title Kirby Wii, with a projected release date of fall 2011 in North America. Its final titles were announced in the following months, and was finally released for the Wii on October 2011 as Kirby’s Return to Dream Land.
Thanks to an Iwata Asks article, we can read more about the development and cancellation of a series of Kirby prototypes for the GameCube:
Kawase: Yes. To begin by introducing myself, I was originally a designer on a team called Jack and the Beanstalk Project and worked on games like Pokémon Snap4. Now I’m a producer in Tokyo. As for that 11-year gap between home console Kirby games, right after Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, we immediately began working on a new Kirby game. That was during the time of the Nintendo GameCube system, and screen shots were shown at the E3.
Iwata: “Were shown”? You sound so detached about it! (laughs)
Kawase: Oh, believe me, I’m not! (laughs) But after that, it never got updated, and I’m sure some people would wonder and ask, “Whatever happened to that?” To some, it had become an object of mystery.
Iwata: The release date went unannounced forever.
Kawase: Yes. Actually, there are three lost Kirby games. The first one is the one that pictures were shown of at E3. It was a Kirby game based on the concept of four-person simultaneous gameplay. That was when I learned how difficult it is to make a game that is both multi-player and single-player.
Kawase: That’s right. The second one was an experiment with extremely challenging gameplay that placed Kirby in 3D space and allowed players to freely move around. But unfortunately, we weren’t able to achieve the quality we hoped for and it never reached completion.
The third one involved an animated Kirby sort of like a pop-up book. We renewed the Copy Abilities, and tried to power it up. We spent 11 years… making and abandoning these three games.
Iwata: During that time, screen shots were shown and release dates went unannounced for a long time. Then the Nintendo GameCube system changed to the Wii console. Miyamoto-san says that video games are something you never really complete. It’s hard when a game simply refuses to come together.
You can find more about the released Kirby series in the WiKirby!
Thanks to Juan and Vahkiti for the contribution!
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The original Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble was an action / puzzle game published and developed by Nintendo for the Game Boy Color. It was first released in Japan on August 23, 2000 and in North America on April 11, 2001. The game uses a series of accelerometers to control Kirby: the goal of the game is to guide Kirby to the level’s goal within the allotted time by physically tilting the Game Boy in the direction in which the player wishes to move him. The game revolves around the collection of the numerous stars strewn about the levels. To beat the game entirely, one must collect each level’s secret star. [Info from Wikipedia]
At the Spaceworld 2001 a sequel was announced for the GameCube: with the help of the GBA as an alternative PAD and a special GBA cart with Motion Sensors, it was possible to play the game as the original GameBoy Color version.. something like the Kororinpa games for the Wii. In 2002 the development of Koro Koro Kirby 2 was changed, Nintendo removed Kirby from the game, and it became Roll-O-Rama: it was essentially the same project, but without the Kirby mascot. After some years of development, Roll-o-Rama just vanished and the project was quietly cancelled.
[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]L’idea alla base di Koro Koro Kirby era quantomeno intrigante, in quanto fu una sorta di anticipazione del pad del Wii. Tramite il collegamento GC/GBA Nintendo riuscì ad ideare un modo per muovere in maniera precisa, realistica e coinvolgente il piano sul quale rotolava la pallina rosa: attraverso un sensore da inserire nello spazio per le cartucce del GBA la piccola console Nintendo era infatti capace di rilevare qualunque inclinazione gli venisse impartita. Purtroppo, nonostante l’ottimo feedback ricevuto durante le varie fiere, il gioco venne accantonato e non raggiunse mai gli scaffali dei negozi, probabilmente anche a causa della scarsa diffusione del collegamento GC/GBA.
L’originale Koro Koro Kirby è uscito, sia negli Stati Uniti che in Giappone, in una versione pensata unicamente per Game Boy Color. Il gioco vendette circa 800.000 copie nel sol suolo del Sol Levante, quindi rappresentò un ottimo successo per Nintendo. Entrambi i Koro Koro Kirby erano in sviluppo presso il team interno R&D2. [/spoiler]
You can find more about the Kirby series in the WiKirby!
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Kirby Air Ride (known as Kirby’s Air Ride at the time) was originally in development during the early days of the Nintendo 64. It went through many changes during its elongated development period (it looked like a snowboard game for some time and rumors say that this proto could have somehow evolved into 1080°) before eventually being canceled and then resurfacing on the GameCube in the form of a short video preview in March 2003 at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas. We’ll never know how the various N64 versions could have been played, but the GameCube version is probably similar to the latest concept that Nintendo created for the N64.
[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Lui è kirby, è una cosa rotonda e rosa, vola e mangia i nemici, è il protagonista di platform, picchiaduro, flipper e probabilmente altro ancora, ed allora perchè non farlo diventare una star delle corse? è questo probabilmente quello che i ragazzi della HAL hanno pensato mentre ideavano questo Kirby Air Ride. Probabilmente, cosi come l’idea era arrivata, è stata cancellata per N64, per poi venire riesumata su GameCube. Voci dicono che le basi del gioco furono in seguito riprese per costruire 1080° Snowboarding.[/spoiler]
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Kirby 64 had a long and complex developed cycle, with many delays. The project was developed by HAL and it was designed to be a real sequel for Kirby Dreamland 3 for SNES. The beta screens in the gallery below shown an early version of the game, in which it seems that other playable characters (as Dedede) could have been used in many more levels. If you have more info on the differences in this beta, please let us know!
[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Kirby 64 ha avuto uno sviluppo piuttosto complesso, subendo ritardi su ritardi, cosa del resto poco sorprendente vista la storia del Nintendo 64. Ad occuparsi del gioco fu HAL, della quale è anche una sorta di mascotte. Venne pensato fin dall’inizio per essere un vero e proprio seguito di Kirby Dreamland 3 per SNES: in breve niente salto in 3d, ma formula classica riproposta con grafica poligonale in stile Klonoa. Dalle prime immagini mostrate, fino alla versione finale, non è che cambi molto, tutte le aree che si vedono nelle foto sono state proposte anche al momento della commercializzazione, così come i personaggi giocabili, seppur per brevi periodi (ad esempio Dedede, quello celeste e obeso).
La differenza principale, oltre alle varie rifiniture ed alla maggiore pulizia grafica, sta nell’interfaccia: se le stelle sono state rimpiazzate da alcuni blocchi rappresentanti l’energia di Kirby, i semicerchi dorati, così come i tre piccoli contenitori quadrati sulla sinistra, sono scomparsi nella versione finale (anche se i semicerchi, forse, sono stati sostituiti da una semplice barra orizzontale, che quando è riempita dona una vita); per il resto il contatore delle vite (il numero a sinistra) e le abilità combinate (a destra), sono rimaste immutate nelle sostanza anche se migliorate nella forma.
Per finire vi proponiamo una foto trovata recentemente (l’ultima, in basso), che rappresenta una fase realmente presente in Kirby (dotato di spada laser di Darth Mauliana memoria), ma mostra un’interfaccia che non esiste nel gioco finale: più schematica, quasi futuristica, ma uguale nei dati segnalati.[/spoiler]
[spoiler /Cliquez pour lire la version en français/ /Click on link to read the french version of this article/]
Kirby 64 eu un cycle de développement long, coûteux, complèxe, avec beaucoup de retardement. Le projet était développé par HAL et il était conçu au départ pour être une suite au jeu Kirby Dreamland 3 de la SNES. Les captures d’écrans du stade beta qui se trouve dans la gallerie en bas de cet article, montrent une version antérieure, dans laquelle il semble possible de contrôler plusieurs autres personnages (Comme Dedede), dans plusieurs niveaux différents. Finalement, le seul personnage qui ne semble pas pouvoir être contrôlé par le joueur, c’est Adeline.
Si vous avez plus d’information sur les différences entre la version finale et la version beta, s’il-vous-plaît veuillez nous le signaler!
(Ceci est une traduction intégrale de la version de l’article en anglais plus haut)[/spoiler]
Thanks to Joe Long, FullMetalMC, Nick, ToadTReborn, Hydrozor & Ultraman82 for the contributions!
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