Beta + Cancelled Nintendo EAD Video Games - Page 2 of 3

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is the second Zelda game for the DS, developed by Nintendo EAD and published in december 2009. The game was originally announced at the GDC in March 2009, so in the first screens and video released there are not too many differences, but Kirby64 was able to notice some interesting beta-changes:

These trees were moved and used in the snow realm

The floor blocks (swirl circle and the square) are changed in the final game

The purple thing (I think it’s a whistle?) was to call over the phantom,but in the final game it was changed to “Call” and the circle was blue not yellow. the phantom icon was changed to a pinkish color and it had pink eyes.The circle swirl on the phantom when it moves the color was green in the beta game but pink in the final game.

This picture here is going through the forest

the pole color was changed to a green color

this bullseye was changed to a x in the final game

this whip was remove and replace with a snake whip. I was reading a forum that the snake whip came from earthbound (note by Bill: the rope snake is from Mother 3)

this tunnel was remove from the forest realm and move to the snow realm

This was the cave going to the snow sanctuary and in the cave you found the monster that the anouki villagers were talking about,in the beta game I think this cave was going to the forest sanctuary and you had to defeat the moster.

Some more differences were noticed by Bill: in the first video you can see the train tracks on the DS differ from the tracks in the final game, and some land was changed into sea at the bottom left corner of the forest realm. Also, some town locations were switched around judging from the map. There are more few small changes in the trailers as the wooden shields used by those Zora Warriors were made into steel and some guards that are missing in the cut scene where Zelda gives Link his certificate.

Also, Gabrielwoj found some interesting things inside the ROM directory, let’s take an look;:

On the sound files of the ROM, there is an unused track. It’s the overworld of Phantom Hourglass. Maybe, doing the early development of this game, the team just was testing the music with this overworld for the new zelda, Spirit Tracks. The song was never used, and it’s on the ROM file. Maybe this song was to be overworld theme of the spirit tracks (yeah, the train navigation), but they decided to make an another, not just like from Phantom Hourglass

Interesting tough, it’s the boss battle music of Phantom Hourglass, again, the same copy and paste from the Zelda game to the another, I really don’t know why, but the music don’t makes any sense with the game, I mean, most of everything is by Pan Flute

At the Spirit Tracks rom, at the path data/MapObj/, there is a file called “DNGN.narc”, extracting this file, will have an “NSMBD” file, it’s the 3d modeling for DS games, this model is the Temple of the Ocean King of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, it’s the same exactly model and textures, an result of copy an paste (NOTE: DNGN file looks DUNGEON with 4 letters, at Phantom Hourglass rom, it’s called “temple_main.narc”, extracting it will have the same dungeon, MAIN means: The principal temple, if you remember, it’s the first Dungeon you enter in the game and the principal of the Story)

Inside the ROM, there is an Dbgfont, maybe, for Debugging:

First of all, for this image which will come, I have never heard that the Spirit Tracks was on an E3 (It was only announced, but not been played, as I know), as been said at the image, it was on E3 2009, some leftover images (already organized for better look) [Second image may look with E3, at the file name, it was E3x, and the palette don’t looks right]:

E3 Image Screen 1(CLICK for view)
and

E3 Image Screen 2(CLICK for view)

Thanks to Kirby 64, Bill and Gabrielwoj for the contributions!

You can find more info about Zelda: Spirit Tracks in the Zelda Wiki!

Videos:

GameCube, Nintendo

Animal Crossing [GC – Debug Rooms & Beta Stuff]

monokoma

24-03-2009

2 Comments

As ace.dark has made us to notice, in the Youtube Channel of BowserEnemy there is an interesting series of videos from various debug rooms that were found in the GameCube version of Animal Crossing! In these beta worlds there are even some unused and weird objects, like flying boxes, baskets on a pole and beta villagers!

Thanks a lot to ace.dark for the contribution and props to BowserEnemy for the find!

Videos:

Nintendo, Nintendo DS

New Super Mario Bros [DS – Beta / Unused Stuff]

U64 Staff & Contributors

22-04-2008

40 Comments

The working beta title for this game was Super Mario Bros. DS. Also, during early stages of production, Mega Goombas were going to be a generic species (the result of a Goomba colliding with a Super Mushroom and powering up) rather than an individual boss. (It is possible that other enemies were to be compatible with this situation, too, considering the giant enemies like Super Dry Bones and Super Piranha Plant that remain in the game in generic, already-large forms.)

There was also supposed to be a Mario and Luigi co-op mode at a time. Interestingly, an illustration of beta map icons still exists as a screenshot on page twelve of the final game’s manual. There were originally three item reserve spots rather than one. There also was an underwater stage which also featured Manta Ray in VS. Mode. Spindrift was also supposed to be in the game, but got replaced by the blue spinning platforms in World 1-3 and other levels.

In another image, it’s possible to obtain the Blue Shell by first defeating a Blue Koopa Troopa. Then when the player Ground Pounds on the shell, the player gets in the shell and becomes Shell Mario. This feature is removed possibly because the designers wanted a power-up that can be obtained from a ? Block, however it survives in Vs. Mode.

Mega Mushrooms were also originally intended to be red. The advertisement accenting the Vs. mode revealed some levels that were not available on the final release, including a desert stage, an underwater stage and a few others. The Mega Mushroom was going to look like a large Super Mushroom rather than a chubby-looking mushroom that was yellow with red spots. [Info from Mariowiki]

The e3 05 had starmen, backflips, wall kicks and ground pounds the co-op was more of a competitive race, in the multiplayer mode there were lightning bolts that shrink the other player (still a lightning sprite can be found in the ROM somewhere), there were blue blocks that, if hit by the player behind, it would warp back the player in the lead. The demo at e3 05 had Field, Desert and Fortress levels to play.

Also, some unused gears models were found by Tanks in the games’ code! Some more info cames from UltimatePisman on Youtube, that went to Gameplay/TMF Game Awards 2005 and played a beta demo of NSMB.

“I’ve played only one level, through (the grass level).
But it’s not that I can remember much. In the menu’s, I could choose between a grass level, dessert level and underground level. There was a Warp Pipe, which shot me out to the other half of the level. And if I go to the Warp Pipe, which leads me to the right, I had to ground pound a giant Goomba. After that was finished, I had to hang on the flag at the end, with a block on the bottom.
Then it said “Thanks for playing”. That’s all I can remember.
Maybe that was Fortress. Looked like the Underground on the Menu.
Oh, and one more thing. I now remember the dancing mushroom platforms. And that the Giant Goomba became giant while touching a mushroom. It looked indentical to this one!
Only the Mario Kart Music couldn’t be there, since MKDS was in final, back then.
That mushroom with the Giant Goomba, I tried to get it.
But it hides back into the block. That’s the reason why I had to ground pound it. That’s what I remember, but I’m not sure about it, through.”

Some more info on the beta differences can be found at Flying Omelette. Also, more info can be found in the early interviews:

When you collect 3 special mushrooms you turn giant
There were mini mushroom powerups in the beta
There were mushrooms that bend over depending on where you are standing on them maybe like the purple ones in the final version
There were trees like those mushrooms they bend over
There was a blue block when it gets hit by you it brings your oponent to your posistion
There were starmen you could get them by ducking near a pipe
There were lightning bolts that shrink the other player
The red rings are checkpoints not making red coins apear
Mega mushrooms have to be pumped out of ? blocks a few times to make them come out

Mariofanatic64 and Hiccup are working on a new a Beta Remake of New Super Mario Bros. Here are the features it will include:

The beta grassland and castle level from e3 2005 (see videos below)
The beta desert levels from e3 (see videos below)
Other beta levels based around screenshots
Beta Graphics
Beta sfx and music

You can check a video from this beta remake in here.

Thanks to FullMetalMC and Hiccup for the contributions and videos! Credit to Treeki and Sgaagar the Barbarian for their NSMB hacks!

Images:

Videos:

marios voice for jumping insted of sfx
differant backgrounds
differant ground ,blocks, pipes, coins, koopas, ? blocks, bricks, goombas
mega goomba boss goomba eats mushroom to grow
mario has his normal animations when he is mega(running and walking insted of stomping around)
bowser stands there and hes dead in one hit and in an overworld level

co-op
classic smb jumping sound
differant hud:
all hud is on bottom screen
progress bar is green, round, higher up, has flag icon for end of level insted of castle
three item slots
differant item slot powerup icons
old fashiond stop watch thing for timer icon
differant mario/luigi model
differant yelow wooden bricks
differant giant dry bones behaviour: the giant dy bones act like the small ones, they don’t need ground-pounding to be stund/brocken apart
coins don’t have ridges
lava is like the unused lava in the final game (in the unused/lost level)
? blocks are squarer
koopas darker
mushrooms are more spotty and squarer
blue rings [they are checkpoints]
pirana plants that are in pipes are bigger and stick out of the pipes more
pipes are smaller and the metal pipe joiner is squashed
sharks from final game have differant behavour
mega mushroom is bigger chubier wobaly and red
mega goombas as normal enemies
punching and kicking
differant castle background and tileset
differant grass background and tileset
differant desert background and tileset
differant cave background and tileset
differant underwater background and tileset
castle level looks simmilar to world 4 castle

classic smb jumping sound
empty ? blocks (? blocks after there hit) are yelow
no delay when you get a power up
phisics is differant (jumping + falling)
for the e3 demo there is no lives
! switches are big
platforms are differant (used in the final game once in turny platforms seen in this video as were in beta not unused)
! blocks (like from sm64)
doors are like the unused one in the final game (will be in my next nsmb unused/beta stuff video) (they make pipe sound in but not the final game)
differant boss room tileset
? switches are tiny and red
keys apear in the middle of the boss room (final game the key allways apears at the right)
? switch give you points and pops in a differant way and platforms oop differant when the key is got when they disapear
camera zooms in when key is got and boss defeating
mario does sumersult after getting key and defeating boss
mega mushrooms has to be pumped out of ? block a few times
kicking
mario can stomp run when he is mega
flag has empty block for base and red flag that faces right
camera zooms in when mario takes hat of at end of level
no castle
differant logo
differant sound effect for getting item out of item circles
blue ring [check points]

differant logo
says ‘MARIO START’
classic smb jumping sound
? blocks are squarer
coins have no ridges
mushrooms look differant
no power up delay
cannons blast higher
pipes look smaller
differant sound effect for getting item out of item circles
blue ring [check points]

Also, it appears that in some point of early development, NSMB could have been a 2.5d side scroller, much like Kirby 64, as 2 unused 3D models of a lift and Star Switch like the ones in Super Mario 64 DS, look awkward when seen in the view of normal NSMB levels. Either that, or they were meant for the world map.

GameCube, Nintendo

Zelda: The Wind Waker [Beta – Gamecube]

U64 Staff & Contributors

16-04-2008

2 Comments

The Legend of Zelda – 2000

At Nintendo’s Space World event in 2000, various videos were shown promoting Nintendo’s upcoming console, the Gamecube. One of the videos Nintendo presented was a short clip of a swordfight between Link and Ganondorf.

This clip led many fans to believe there would be a darker, more realistic Zelda on the horizon. Many other clips shown later became announced as full games (such as Metroid Prime), so it was fair to assume that this was the direction Nintendo was taking for their next Zelda project.

However, at E3 2001, Nintendo’s formal debut of the next Zelda surprised many players. Shown for the first time was a trailer that showcased a cel-shaded Link and much more cartoon-inspired art direction.

At this point, it’s likely the game had little content beyond essential gameplay mechanics and graphics. There was most likely little to no story in place at this time. The bulk of development would have occurred after this point.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker Beta

The development process of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was heavily influenced by the last two console Zelda projects: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. In a sense, Wind Waker widely acted in part as a tech demo for everything the Zelda team could not accomplish on the Nintendo 64. Things such as weather and a lack of loading screens in the overworld were all planned from the beginning.

Much of Wind Waker remained unchanged from initial concept to final release, largely due to the game being so concretely planned beforehand and not facing any major developmental issues, unlike its predecessors. What the game essentially started as was a technical showcase of everything the development team wanted in their last two titles. If anything, the largest changes pertained to the game’s storyline.

Wind Waker’s original story was much more related to the original story of Ocarina of Time (seen above), which initially followed Link undergoing his coming-of-age ceremony. While Wind Waker’s final story was quite different, many thematic elements of the game’s story relate to the concept of coming-of-age.

This method of storytelling was originally going to be something visually apparent in the game, where Link would visibly grow older as the game progressed. Many pieces of unused game elements have been recovered from the Wind Waker game data. While many of them are merely alternate versions of things that made it into the final game, there are still many oddities worth examining.

Unused Wind Waker Assets

Development Screenshot

Perhaps the game’s most discussed element is its cel-shaded art style. The Zelda team explained that they believed this approach allowed for much more emotion to be communicated by the game’s characters, as a realistic art style makes it much harder to convince a player of emotion. Resulting from this was a large amount of highly detailed and expressive characters throughout the game, as well as a very emotionally-driven story.

On this page you can see images taken from the various beta builds of Zelda: the Wind Waker, as well as old art of the characters that would later populate the world. As you can see, the differences are clear: in the first video from Space World 2001, which aroused so much buzz because of its original style, the Link design was even more minimalist than the final version’s design.

Another interesting detail is the color of Link’s shirt; it changed from brown, the color he wore in the first game of the series, to light green. The HUD and button layout were changed over time for many times. The old character concept art clearly shows a different Link design from the released version of the game. It’s interesting that Nintendo originally planned to use an “older” Link design for the story, even if he was always in cartoon-style.

Thanks to Jay and 8PM for the english corrections! Thanks to Bryan for the updated description!

You can find more info about The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker in the Zelda Wiki!

Images:

Videos:

GameCube, Nintendo

Super Mario Sunshine [Beta / Test Room / Unused Stuff – GameCube]

U64 Staff & Contributors

16-04-2008

5 Comments

Among the first Gamecube games revealed at Space World 2001, along with Zelda: Wind Waker, was a new Mario. In the presented video, Mario seems to stop to rest in the shade of a tree – that combined with the new sun/water HUD led many fans to believe the HUD was a thermometer that could detect real world temperature and report when the player should take a break. This was wild speculation. Now that we have all played the final game, it is clear that the HUD simply states the amount of liquid present in the “spray”.

After playing the final version of Mario Sunshine you may notice that this early beta shows a level that was not used in the final game. The city in the beta was probably just a test-level to try all the new elements: cables, swimming pools, spots to clean, balls (later become fruit), palms, new enemies and other objects that appeared in different areas throughout the game.

English translation by 8PM – Thanks to Jay for the english corrections!

The beta also reveals that humans were initially intended to be citizens of the plaza. FLUDD was going to be skinnier and Gooper Blooper was going to be dark blue and fought on top of the bridges of Ricco Harbor instead of in the market and helicopter area. There were some abandoned sprites as well, including Yoshi vomiting any water he may have swallowed.

There was also going to be a brown Pokey, and they were going to have white flowers. A test level is playable through an Action Replay. There the player can see Rock Blocks that were edited out, possibly in favor of Watermelons. Also, a small book can be found in an alcove of a cave in the bottom of the bottle in Noki Bay’s third episode. In one of the screens, Mario stands with Boos in the background, but their models are completely different. [Infos from Mariowiki]

In December 2009, Zeek from the X-Cult Forum posted some interesting models that are hidden the code, but unused in the final game, as a skull mask, the big beta enemy from the Space World video, called the Tramplin’ Stu, and a cardboard box with a “goal” text on it. As we can read at Rusted Logic Wiki, Super Mario Sunshine contains a test level which can be accessed with the Action Replay code JKGN-DDJZ-D58XJ FYUM-N4P3-QJUPC. A Tramplin’ Stu is in the test level, but it’s graphics are screwed up.

There is an enemy in the test level called “Hinokuri” that spawns, walks into a pit, then walks through a wall and disappears. You can kill it, and it drops a coin. This was probably a test enemy. This is the same enemy that was shown stomping around in early Super Mario Sunshine footage. One of the models in the game and its accompanying animations imply that some versions would have worn a large skull helmet.
Hinokuri spawns two types of enemies, dubbed “Swoopin’ Stu” and “Strollin’ Stu”, from a cone-like nozzle on its back end. One of these two enemies is spawned before the creature walks away. Swoopin’ Stus are spawned via a striped egg, while Strollin’ Stus simply appear.

Goomther noted that the model has a special property, which prevents the Tramplin’ Stu from displaying properly in both the test level and in model viewers.

[spoiler /Clicca qui per la versione in Italiano/ /Nascondi la versione in Italiano/]Il primo video del gioco apparve insieme a quello di Wind Waker allo Space World del 2001, e indubbiamente lasciava presagire molte novità. Se il logo in basso a sinistra infatti stava a segnalare con ogni probabilità il numero di stelle (o chi per loro) raccolte, quello in alto destra era del tutto ignoto al pubblico. Il contorno con dei raggi di sole e l’acqua nel mezzo, unito al fatto che Mario durante il video sembrava fermarsi a riposare all’ombra di un albero, indusse molti a pensare che fosse una sorta di termometro capace di rilevare la temperatura dell’ambiente e segnalare conseguentemente all’idraulico il momento in cui si sarebbe dovuto riposare e rifocillare. Pura fantasia, poiché, visto il risultato finale, è evidente che quel logo indicava semplicemente la quantità di liquido presente nello ‘spruzzino’ di Mario.

Ora che è uscito il gioco non possiamo far altro che notare che questa demo non mostrava un livello vero e proprio, nemmeno la città di Delfinia, ma piuttosto un contenitore dove testare i nuovi elementi inseriti in Mario Sunshine: cavi, piscine (le fasi in acqua hanno un controllo molto diverso rispetto a quelle di Mario 64), macchie da pulire, indigeni, palloni (poi divenuti frutti – da segnalare che nel 2002 si disputarono i mondiali di calcio in Giappone), palme, nuovi nemici e altri oggetti apparsi poi in diverse zone nella versione definitiva.[/spoiler]

[Thanks to sba sb3002 for some of these images!]

Images:

Videos:

Super Mario Sunshine Spaceworld 2001 Trailer