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Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge [GBA – Beta]

Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge is the third instalment in the Banjo-Kazooie series, and the second in chronological order (in terms of the point of the beginning and end of the game – in fact, as time travel plays a significant part in the plot, most of the action takes place decades before Banjo-Kazooie). Developed by Rareware and published by THQ, it was the first Rare game released after being purchased by Microsoft from Nintendo. [info from Wikipedia]

Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge was originally announced at E3 2001. Initially, it was conceived to be a “What If?” story, taking place in an alternate timeline where Grunty’s sisters do not come to rescue her and thus Banjo-Tooie does not happen, with Grunty’s Revenge taking place instead. This idea was dropped some time before the game was released, and it was instead placed as a side-story in the Banjo timeline, between Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

Grunty’s Revenge is notable in that it is the only of Rare’s initially-announced Game Boy Advance titles to be released without any major changes due to the buyout of Rare by Microsoft, unlike Diddy Kong Pilot, which became Banjo-Pilot and Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers, which became It’s Mr. Pants. [info from The Rare Witch Project Wiki]

Thanks to YouTube user transparentjinjo, that uploaded 7 videos from the Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge beta, we can see a few differences to the final version of the game. For one, the textures and graphics are significantly less-developed in the beta footage. In addition, the layout of the worlds appears different, with several areas sporting different names to those in the released version (for example, Freezing Furnace is split into two separate worlds, Freezing Fjord and Fiery Furnace).

The introductory sequence is missing in the beta version, which also uses the “down” arrow to advance in-game text, as well as a few other small changes. You can view the videos, and other interesting development footage, at transparentjinjo’s YouTube channel.

Also, some concept arts and a couple of screenshots from the “3D collision preview tool” are preserved in the gallery below. Quite a lot changed through the development of Banjo Kazooie: Grunty’s Revenge. The game was reduced from 8-10 levels down to 6, and the story was cut down too.

  • The mad cow was the original boss on the farm level
  • The large mountain on the Fjord was removed when flying was removed from the game, and the remaining Fjord & Furnace sections were combined into one large level
  • The machine seen in “FURNACE_scene” was also lost when the 2 levels were combined
  • As can be seen from the Mecha Grunty pics, she was to have many transformations (tank, bazooka, drill etc) which were removed to save cartridge space
  • “Monster Kazooie” was a concept, but a decision was made to not implement it in the game
  • Swamp monsters (scorpion & spider) were not in the final game, the main swamp monsters were Bogfoot (Bigfoot with a different colour palette)
  • Klungo’s UFO was also too big to fit on cartridge, and replaced with Gruntilda’s ghost floating out of the rock & into the Mecha suit

As we can read from The Rare Witch Project Forum, you went to fight grunty through the lair entrance in the beta, there was a Baby Boggy.

Article by Franklint

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Sonic Heroes [GC PS2 XBOX – Beta / Unfinished stuff]

Sonic Heroes is a platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team USA and released in 2003 for the GameCube, Playstation 2 and Xbox.  Kieranmay linked us to many beta videos from the game, as you can see below! Many cutscenes were still unfinished and the songs were changed for the final version.

Also, as we can read at Sonic Retro, various Sonic Heroes betas were leaked online:

  • Sonic Heroes (GameCube prototype 10.8)
  • Sonic Heroes (GameCube prototype 11.18)
  • Sonic Heroes (MKDD Bonus Disc Demo)
  • Sonic Heroes (Xbox E3 version)

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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prototype of the early song “what I’m made of”

final version of what I’m made of

 

Sword of Sia: Lady Sia 2 [GBA – Cancelled]

Sword of Sia: Lady Sia 2 (aka Lady Sia II) is a cancelled action adventure / platform game that was in development in 2002 / 2003 for the Gameboy Advance by RFX Interactive and it would have been published by TDK Mediactive (as was the first game). It seems that Lady Sia 2 was almost complete (it was even rated by ESRB), but in 2003 RFX had to close down and TDK Mediactive was acquired by Take-Two Interactive. Lady Sia 2 vanished with the closure of its development studio and publisher.

The original Lady Sia was released in 2001 and it was one of the first titles published for the new at the time Game Boy Advance. The game was received well by the press and gamers; this cancelled sequel could have improved the formula its predecessor established and it’s a shame that we’ll never be able to enjoy it. We can only hope that a playable prototype will be leaked in the future.

A Lady Sia 3D prototype was also in development for the Playstation 2 and GameCube, but it was canned too.

Thanks to ReyVGM and Celine for the scan (from an old Nintendo Power magazine)! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Joe The Wall [SNES – Cancelled?]

Joe The Wall is a platform / action game that was in development by Ocean (?) for the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo. There is essentially no information about this project, apart from a short article published in Joypad magazine issue #8 (found by Celine). We examined Ocean’s SNES release list but did not find any title that looks like a potential match to this one, so we can assume that Joe The Wall was cancelled for some reason.

If you have more info on this game, please let us know!

Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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Environmental Detective [SNES GEN MD – Cancelled]

Environmental Detective is a cancelled platform / adventure game that was in development by Magicom for the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive / Genesis. There is scant information about the project, save for a short description in an old Mean Machine magazine, found by Rod_Wod. Players would have taken the role of “Ozone Kid” to solve various green-related puzzles.

The character was meant to be an environmental do-gooder who picks up trash in his home town, “Recycle City” and always takes his refuse to the recycling centre. His other numerous antics include stopping spray cans from making holes in the ozone layer and preventing the rainforest from being cut down by evil crocodiles (WTF?). The general idea of the game was to inform children of environmental problems… but something went wrong during the development and Environmental Detective was never released.

Thanks to Rod_Wod the contribution! Thanks to Jason for the english corrections!

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