There are some nice beta elements in this old video of Perfect Dark, like a different Light Switch, 2 aliens that help Joanna in the dataDyne building, a different HUD (especially for the weapon’s ammo), a different starting weapon (the Dragon), a beta weapon selection screen and some more… most of these stuff were already analyzed in my old PD64 Beta Article, but it’s in italian only for now, i’m sorry.
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When Perfect Dark for the Nintendo 64 was released in Japan, they changed Joanna’s face, to match a more oriental one. If you have more images from the Japanese version of Perfect Dark, please send us an e-mail or join our forum, your help would be really appreciated!
[Article by monokoma]
[Thanks to ShockingAce for the video of the japanese Perfect Dark!]
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Perfect Dark Zero started out as a prequel to Rare’s highly successful Nintendo 64 FPS title “Perfect Dark”. Originally planned for a release on GameCube, Perfect Dark Zero became a Xbox game as Microsoft acquired both Rare and the Perfect Dark franchise. Perfect Dark Zero first appeared on an E3 2001 list for the Nintendo GameCube lineup. However, it was not until Microsoft’s X02, where they announced the acquisition of Rare Ltd, that Perfect Dark Zero appeared again. While it was said to be released until late 2004 at latest, nothing but a few artworks of a cel-shaded Joanna Dark were shown, which saw heavy criticism from fans of the N64 classic. This criticism as well as internal issues led to the game being started again. While the game got a more realistic art style, several key people who had also worked on Perfect Dark left the studio including PDZ’s original lead programmer Brian Marshall, Jamie Williams and B Jones. Thus the title saw several delays. In late 2004, it was decided to release Perfect Dark Zero to Xbox 360, on which it was released as a launch title in 2005.
Mai-hem, a Chinese super villain with a comedy name. With her long pig tails weighted down at the end the idea was that she would use them as a fighting weapon even though she looked unarmed. In the final version Mai-Hem was still a villain, but looks vastly different and she no longer uses her hair as a weapon.
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Rare’s two N64 first-person shooters, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, received strong acclaim from critics and players, and demand for another title in the Perfect Dark franchise was high. Development of Perfect Dark Zero began on the Nintendo GameCube. At the time, Nintendo had a 49% stake in Rare, making Rare a Nintendo second-party developer. The game made a small appearance at Spaceworld 2000, an event exclusive to Nintendo. But apart from the confirmation that it was in development, few official announcements were made. Perfect Dark Zero, along with several other Rare games, was intended to be finished in time for the Gamecube’s launch, but did not.
In September 2002, after losing a steady trickle of staff for two years (including many of their Goldeneye 007 team members, who went on to found Free Radical), Rare Ltd was purchased by Microsoft. Around the same time, Rare released several images of Joanna Dark, the protagonist of the Perfect Dark games. The “cartoony” style of these pictures incited speculation that the final game — then intended for the original Xbox — would employ a less realistic graphical style than the original game; possibly an anime like cel-shading technique, (RARE had hired UK Manga artist Wil Overton to work with them, after seeing an anime-like image of the Original Perfect Dark game he had created for the cover of N64 Magazine.)
Development of the title was later transferred to the Xbox 360. Perfect Dark Zero’s senior designer Chris Tilston (also one of the project leads for the game) later revealed that the Xbox version was “about twelve months away” from completion when the switch occurred.
In 2005, one of the rewards in the OurColony viral marketing campaign for Microsoft’s next Xbox video game console was an image of Joanna Dark. At the official unveiling of the Xbox 360 on May 12, 2005, it was revealed that Perfect Dark Zero would be a launch title for the new system in the fall of 2005. The game’s development has therefore spanned three platforms: the Nintendo GameCube, the Microsoft Xbox and the Xbox 360.” – [info from wikipedia]
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GoldenEye 007 was a cancelled game for the Virtual Boy meant to be released along with Rare’s GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64. However, unlike the Nintendo 64 game, which was a first-person shooter, the Virtual Boy version looked to be some sort of action racing game. A brochure with the only known surviving screenshot of the game contained the following description:
“GoldenEye If you thought rush-hour traffic was a nightmare, wait ’til you get behind the wheel of 007’s car. Avoid obstacles and blow the other cars away. Buckle up for safety because, in this game, you never know what’s gonna happen.”
[source: Wikipedia / Planet Virtual Boy]
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